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quick question concerning beat matching
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| progressivepey |
i may be a newbie to ta.com, but i'm not totally new to spinning trance.. i've been spinning for at least an hour every day for about a year and i feel that i am getting progressively better and better as the months pass by but...
how long does it generally take you guys to beatmatch? and by beatmatching.. i mean matching it so perfectly the two songs you're mixing can be played together for a good minute and a half while staying in sync. i listen to some of the great djs of our time (armin, tiesto, pvd, etc) and i notice that their beats aren't 100% perfect all the time. if you listen real closely you can even hear a few of tiesto's mixes where he doesn't match them perfectly.. is it humanly impossible to match beats so accurately that they play together perfectly matched forever? or do i just need some more practcie. i can usually match beats by around 2:00 minutes, but they are generally +0.005 or -0.005 off.
any ideas?
pEy |
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| Chris d(-_-)b |
| I usually get the beat right in about 30 sec but in 1 min max. Breakbeat and 2 step is always harder to mix because the "uneven" placement of the beats. I think the main problem is that some tracks have a bpm of something like 137.34, wich makes it difficult to match with a TT pitch slider. The variations are usually so small that they can be controlled by pushing or applying a bit pressure on the vinyl. |
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| Boomer187 |
I stopped caring about letting them go together for like 3 minutes and concentrated more on noticing the beats going off and fixing em quickly. It usually only takes a bit less than 30 secs to totally match, it is especially easy when you have been matching a track a lot. But even then they go off a little, so I just help it out a little.
oh and I have been spinning for a little over year. |
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| waxHead |
i think it's pretty tough to get two tunes matched perfectly for a long period of time. by virtue of the minute pitch and bpm differences, it's nearly impossible to line up two tracks w/in a min or so and not have to touch them for the next few mins. one track will almost always be slightly faster/slower and will get more out of phase as time passes.
I definitely agree w/ Boomer187, in that its much more important to be able to recognize which tracks are going out of sync and get them back together as quickly as possible. that way, you know you can fix any phase problems, rather than thinking you can get a perfect beatmatch every time.
I've been spinning a bit over a year as well. |
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| JohnSmith |
| quote: | Originally posted by progressivepey
i may be a newbie to ta.com, but i'm not totally new to spinning trance.. i've been spinning for at least an hour every day for about a year and i feel that i am getting progressively better and better as the months pass by but...
how long does it generally take you guys to beatmatch? and by beatmatching.. i mean matching it so perfectly the two songs you're mixing can be played together for a good minute and a half while staying in sync. i listen to some of the great djs of our time (armin, tiesto, pvd, etc) and i notice that their beats aren't 100% perfect all the time. if you listen real closely you can even hear a few of tiesto's mixes where he doesn't match them perfectly.. is it humanly impossible to match beats so accurately that they play together perfectly matched forever? or do i just need some more practcie. i can usually match beats by around 2:00 minutes, but they are generally +0.005 or -0.005 off.
any ideas?
pEy |
wow, lotsa people here spinning for just over a year eh? me too. :)
anyway, yeah, it takes me about 30 seconds to get it "pretty good" and a minute to two minutes to get it perfect usually. and by perfect i mean good enough that i can walk away from the tables and have it play together for 3 minutes or so.
perfection in DJing is a simply an unatainable goal. the pitch sliders are analogue, therefore you theoretically have an infinite level of adjustment, therefore, how close can you be? a millionth of a percent off? could be, but nobody could tell.
actually, i notice you said you were "+0.005 or -0.005 off" how do you know that? just a guess? or are you using CD decks that are that precise? I suppose with CD decks it could be possible to have the perfect beatmatch, as they are analogue not digital.
I also agree that the most important thing is not the perfect beatmatch, but knowing how to correct it when it goes off. it will almost always go off a bit, you just have to know if it's faster or slower and by how much. also you have to know the RIGHT method of fixing it.
I have the bad habit of touching the platter or spindle to speed it up/slow it down. this is noticeable in the song, especially if strings or a melody or continous tone is playing, you hear a noticeable warble in the song. the better way to to it is to "ride" the pitch by putting it slightly up/down, then back again. this is much less noticeable, and less risky because the record is less likely to skip. however, i always end up overcorrecting with this method, and having to ride the pitch the whole mix! practice makes perfect i suppose. |
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| waxHead |
| quote: | Originally posted by JohnSmith
practice makes perfect i suppose. |
a truer phrase was never written :) ...well, maybe "almost perfect" :D |
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| waxHead |
now that I think about it...
when I mix my incoming tune, I check it against the playing one first, get it lined up/matched fairly close, then find the cue spot. once I've decided on a cue spot, I don't always send the cued tune right out to the speakers. I find my mixes sound much better when I start the incoming tune in my phones at the right spot, then fade it into the playing one. gives me a few secs to match it up well, then it sounds much better than if I'd just started it playing immediately.
I realize I just need to practice getting the release right, I'm just curious how everyone else here mixes their incoming tunes. |
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| Boomer187 |
| quote: | Originally posted by waxHead
now that I think about it...
when I mix my incoming tune, I check it against the playing one first, get it lined up/matched fairly close, then find the cue spot. once I've decided on a cue spot, I don't always send the cued tune right out to the speakers. I find my mixes sound much better when I start the incoming tune in my phones at the right spot, then fade it into the playing one. gives me a few secs to match it up well, then it sounds much better than if I'd just started it playing immediately.
I realize I just need to practice getting the release right, I'm just curious how everyone else here mixes their incoming tunes. |
every mix I do I start in my phones then either fade it in or use another method. I would never just start it live with the active track. If I am understanding you correctly this is what your doing. |
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| waxHead |
| quote: | Originally posted by Boomer187
I would never just start it live with the active track. If I am understanding you correctly this is what your doing. |
yeah, though it's just one way I mix tracks. I asked mainly out of curiosity, though I'd thought more experienced djs do this more often than not. |
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| montie |
it takes me about 30 sec to get the tracks beatmatched. I then spend the rest of the time perfecting the mix. Letting the two songs play together and adjusting the pitch ever so slightly, until the two tracks can playtogether for along time without me having to pitch one up or down to catch up.
I like to get the tracks as close to the same speed as possible, because i don't like to ride the pitch when i'm doing my mix. I like to keep my hands free so i can work on mixing the EQ and volume of the mix so the mix sounds very fluid. I don't like having to move my hand back and pitch adjust a song so everything stays on beat.
Nevertheless this is never avoidable. No mix is guarenteed to be prefectly on. There are too many variables. When you push start you affect the placement of the beats, you can't push start exactly the same twice. when you adjust the pitch to keep the beats on, you are moving the slider from its original location where you thought it was exact. The motor in the turntable isn't turning at exactly the same speed every time. it fluctuates off by fractions of a percent.
its just a matter of practice of being able to get them as exact as you can and being able to notice the slightest slip and fix it correctly. |
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| diesel0 |
I never hit the start button to start off a record i usually already have it playing, i just keep movin the record back and forth till i feel I should start the premixin in my headphones, this gives me a better feel for the beat as well.
I dont know if thats what alot of people do.. I've only been spinnin for about 8 days now but Ive learned to beatmatch and I will be puttin up my 1st mix ever up on the web soon for all to hear :) |
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| Boomer187 |
lol I was just readingt over this listening to ETS global broadcast and Piet Blank just train wrecked...hehe
anyways, 8 days, nice. My only trouble at 8 days was I had 4 records.
I guess it boils down to style differences. I always start it only cued to make sure I start it right on, then mix it in. I usually keep count of what phase the track is in so I can match them up and start it a bit before I want both tracks to be active.
eh, just experiment and it will come with time. |
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