i just tried out my friends geminis and this was my first time using turntables ever, and i beatmatched on my second and third try.

but then again, ive use traktor and ive listened to 123048799482359082340 sets...


i cant do it on the fly, but i pretty much got it second try.

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Broken Beats: DJ B-Rock live on Techno.FM every Sunday 7-9pm
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Well ProdigyChild was my mentor when I started to mess around on his crappy xl500's. almost everytime I at his place I would mess around for awhile trying to beatmatch... and I was never really good at it, but I kept praticing, and one nite, semi drunk, and mixing, i finally beatmatched my first 2 tracks ever.. it was like the best feeling ever.. (I did fuck up the mix after that one tho ) So since then I have gone out, picked myself up some Gemini PT-2100's and a Gemini 676Pro2 mixer, and started DJing at home. its prolly been over a year since I actually started playing around with DJing, but I have had my own equipment now for like 4 months, and I can pretty much beatmatch now... prolly like 90% of the time... So it really just takes loads of practice...

I bought my first cd decks about 7 months ago, and my TT's about 3-4 months ago. CD beatmatching came pretty quickly, but the TT's were harder. I spend A LOT of time spinning in my room...around 2-3 hours a day. it's something I decided I wanted to take really seriously. I woudl say my beatmatching is very good. It usually takes me about 30 seconds to get the match almost perfect, and then another 15-30 seconds or so to touch up and get it so they stay together for a few minutes. Again, I spend a lot of time practicing, and ultimately thats what you need to do to get good at it. The most important thing to do is KNOW YOUR RECORDS. When I buy new records and throw them on for the first time, I usually fuck up the mix. But as soon as I get familar with the song, it becomes almost automatic.

oh, I don't know if this wil help or not...but it's the way i tought myself to beatmatch. I always start the cued song so it's faster than the one playing. I find it easier to slow the song down and make corrections going slower than speeding the track up. So, I always come in too fast....slower, slower, slower, closer, closer, closer, BAM, matched. it's just easier that way for me. This way you're not guessing which way you're off. And it's easier just to tough the platter to decrease speed, than to push the record ahead a little bit.

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Originally posted by zizack oh, I don't know if this wil help or not...but it's the way i tought myself to beatmatch. I always start the cued song so it's faster than the one playing. I find it easier to slow the song down and make corrections going slower than speeding the track up. So, I always come in too fast....slower, slower, slower, closer, closer, closer, BAM, matched. it's just easier that way for me. This way you're not guessing which way you're off. And it's easier just to tough the platter to decrease speed, than to push the record ahead a little bit.

LOL, I am the complete opposite. I always try to speed up the next record. It is a habit now, they could be perfectly matched and spinning just fine but I will have to speed the one up a little.

Thats just me though.

IMO it's better to overshoot how fast the record is going when you're mixing so that way you can slow it down when needed instead of having to speed it up. Mainly because when you have to speed it up fast some people use a combination of pitch AND pushing the record with their hands for final touches. The bad thing with that is the mix night not be exact when you push it with your hand because you don't know how much you have to adjust the pitch in order to get it right. Also if you try that while doing the actual transition and there are vocals on the track, it will fuck up the vocal. If you are already pretty fast on the cued up track then all you have to do is slow it down via pitch and then adjust it (keep doing that) until it becomes perfect.

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Und ich tanz einfach weiter...

It took me less than a week to start beatmatching as I want. Now it's 4 months that I spin resords for 2-3 hours every day, I record my mixes, and I can say that the 90% of the records are perfectly mixed. I mix everything, trance, techno, house, progressive, old tunes, and sometimes together to create new sound and melodies. Before using with my decks I used a few time the cdj100s of a friend, but not for beatmatching, only to use the "wah" effect, tath I love! I even love the music in its every aspect and rapresentation, I listen a lot of music everyday, for hours and hours... The next summer I think I would go to play in some clubs, I know some right places!

Good luck to everyone that try to start djing, it's an awesome thing!

bye

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* Nu-NRG - Bonsai
* And If - Finest Dream
* Fisherspooner - The 15th (Sono's Widesceen Dub)
* Conjure One feat. Sinead O'Connor - Tears From The Moon (Tiesto ISOS Remix)
* Yahel - Voyage

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Originally posted by Prestige If you look at the bpm counters while you mix in the dark (like a club,) it starts to mess up your retina, and you will eventually go blind.

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Originally posted by Endlesswave IMO it's better to overshoot how fast the record is going when you're mixing so that way you can slow it down when needed instead of having to speed it up. Mainly because when you have to speed it up fast some people use a combination of pitch AND pushing the record with their hands for final touches. The bad thing with that is the mix night not be exact when you push it with your hand because you don't know how much you have to adjust the pitch in order to get it right. Also if you try that while doing the actual transition and there are vocals on the track, it will fuck up the vocal. If you are already pretty fast on the cued up track then all you have to do is slow it down via pitch and then adjust it (keep doing that) until it becomes perfect.

yeah, thats exactly what I meant. it's easier and more precise, for me at least to overshoot teh speed, and then slow it down.

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Originally posted by zizack oh, I don't know if this wil help or not...but it's the way i tought myself to beatmatch. I always start the cued song so it's faster than the one playing. I find it easier to slow the song down and make corrections going slower than speeding the track up. So, I always come in too fast....slower, slower, slower, closer, closer, closer, BAM, matched. it's just easier that way for me. This way you're not guessing which way you're off. And it's easier just to tough the platter to decrease speed, than to push the record ahead a little bit.

Hey folks,

That's interesting as I have some facts that may make you think a little differently about that. It's not that I'm picking out Zizack in particular but this just happened to be the post I saw. So my apologies to you Z.

Some DJs will jump up at me and say that what I am saying isn't so but I promise you that it is.
When you slow down a deck (Technics that is) by touching the deck plate, the motor will always compensate for that slowing down by giving the overall speed 0.whatever% more. So by slowing the record down by using resistance you are making your mixing harder. I'm not saying that you wont be able to do it but you will make your life more difficult.
I use a couple of different methods of correction but for the most part I will ride the pitch. It's harder to do it this way but the correction will sound less offensive. The other as I have mentioned before is to hold down the 33 button and tap the 45 (This only works with 33s though) sort of like a pitch bend on a CD player.
From a technical point of view it's better to start slow and speed up, but then it also depends on how you hear it.

All the best
Nem

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https://www.mixcloud.com/Calvin_Karass/

good story, congrats..

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Originally posted by SUNWmsf I started on some gemini belt drive tables back in 1991. It took me about 5 months (16hrs per day). the first 5 months, I had no clue of what i was supposed to do, or even what to match. I just played records together, and adjusted the pitch until i didnt hear out of sync snares. The song would run out before I was able to match the beats... During my learning time of DJing, I didnt have any help cuz i didnt know any other DJ's personally. I guess I am one of those "self-taught" DJs....(so i really dont know any of the tricks and stuff that the DJ's do cuz I wasnt exposed to any of it...) I had stopped DJing for awhile cuz my tables began to not work properly. The speed of the platter would change if the turntable was playing too long, the pitch would not adjust when I moved the slider..., etc... stuff like that. So I stopped DJing for about 5 yrs and started skateboarding.. Anyways... , I got a new girlfriend whose brother was into DJ'ing and also did Sound for concerts and performances at clubs. So I eventually got back into DJ'ing using his equipment. The both of us (my girlfriends brother and myself), did fraternity parties, weddings , hall parties..., stuff like that, and I got back into DJ'ing. After awhile, my girlfriend started getting jealous that I would go do shows and i guess she noticed that girls were peeping me out... So since my girlfriend was jealous, she wanted me to not do shows anymore. So, I stopped... I broke up with that girl about 2 yrs later, and started hangin out with some new fools... One of the guys was into music and he wanted to get some equipment. So the both of us went to guitar center and picked up some 1200/m3d's and a PMC05-pr mk2 mixer. I used his equipment for about a year, just to do bedroom DJing , and also parties at his ladies house when the parents would leave. I just recently go my own equipment this year ( ~Mar 2003). I can beatmatch on the fly , but If i want precision and have the time, it will probably take me about 20 secs, do get it. (NO adjustment - minor adjustments needed for 20 sec record pitch setup.) My new girlfriend wants me to DJ cuz it makes me happy. and when I drink alot, it sobers me up cuz i get all hyped up. My new girlfriend is cool... im getttin married to her in Dec. Im 30 now.

Great avatar!!!

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Originally posted by DJ Lazy Well ProdigyChild was my mentor when I started to mess around on his crappy xl500's. almost everytime I at his place I would mess around for awhile trying to beatmatch... and I was never really good at it, but I kept praticing, and one nite, semi drunk, and mixing, i finally beatmatched my first 2 tracks ever.. it was like the best feeling ever.. (I did fuck up the mix after that one tho ) So since then I have gone out, picked myself up some Gemini PT-2100's and a Gemini 676Pro2 mixer, and started DJing at home. its prolly been over a year since I actually started playing around with DJing, but I have had my own equipment now for like 4 months, and I can pretty much beatmatch now... prolly like 90% of the time... So it really just takes loads of practice...

b4 i started spinning, i didnt even know what a bar/measure was. i had taken piano lessons, but i just memorized the notes and played them, didnt time it or anything, plus a horrible teacher. then about 4 months of just dropping in the 'break part' of tracks my friend who i hadnt seen in a while asked me if i knew about 16/32 count measures, oh boy. that was such a HUGE shock and HELP. the people at my local record store wouldnt tell me that, f*ckers. so after that it took me about 1-2 months, but didnt really get it down to 20-30 seconds until i learned to properly monitor it. and i didnt learn to monitor it properly until about 2 years into mixing. but now, i am well on my way. i was a true musical virgin and moron before spinning. ill admit it.
why would a local dj working at a record store just tell you to 'get the 2 songs going, and kinda pull one in and the other out'. what type of foul treachory is that?

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Unity in Diversity-