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Beats rate when mixing
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az0000000
When I am going to mix should I stick to a certain BMP rate and match all tracks to fit that BMP or do I start with slowest BMP tracks and go forward to faster and faster BMP tracks?
I tried starting the mix with slowest BMP tracks and going up to faster BMP tracks but still sometimes there is a big BMP rate difference between the track playing and the next track to be played, so, how do I match BMP of those tracks? Do is increase slowly the BMP of the track currently playing to match the BMP of the track that is next, or do I decrease BMP of the track that will be played next and than when playing it increase BMP back slowly?
My question might seem stupid or ridiculous, but forgive me as I am new in mixing techniques, and I strongly want to learn those mixing techniques.
Thanks.
Jarjar
I'm no Pro DJ at all, but I usually start with the slow tracks and progress towards the faster, by sloooooowly changing the pitch while records are playing. If you change by 0.1% and wait for a few seconds at least, it's pretty hard to notice, and less than 0.4% per phrase is pretty much impossible to hear.

But on the other hand, you shouldn't start a tune at 133BPM and end it at 140... ;)
az0000000
thanx for usefull info mate!:)
djxtension
You should always adjust the pitch of the record you are bringing in next, because you can do that in your headphones, and the crowd won't hear it change.

Let's say you have a record playing @ 133 BPM.

If you want to mix in a record that is also 133 BPM, you won't have to change the pitch of that record, because the BPM of the two record are the same.

But if you want to mix in a record that is 130 BPM, you would have to increase the pitch of that record, because it is slower than the record playing @ 133 BPM.

Usually, if you start at 133 BPM, all records that you mix after the first record will also be 133 BPM, unless you change the BPM after you have mixed two records.

There's no need to change the pitch after you have mixed two records.

Example:

Record A is 133 BPM
Record B is 130 BPM

You want to mix Record B after Record A. That means that you will have to increase the pitch of Record B, because it is slower than Record A.

You can even calculate the pitch-adjustment if you want:

130-133 / 133 * 100% = 2.25 %

Now, when you have increased the pitch on Record B by about 2.25 %, the tempo (BPM) of the two tracks should be the same.

After you have mixed Record B after Record A, the tempo of record B will be 133 BPM, the same as the record you started with (Record A).

If you want to mix an a third record (guess what: Record C), you would have to change the pitch of that record to match the BPM of Record B.

It's a long story, and I hope you understand what I was trying to say.

Good luck with your mixing!
Jarjar
djxetnsion: Yeah, but if you do that, you can't start out with slow, proggy tracks and end with more energetic, melodic tracks in long sets, since they will all be played at 133BPM. :)
az0000000
it is a very clear explanation!
thanks a lot!
i think things are preety clear for me now!
djxtension
quote:
Originally posted by Jarjar
djxetnsion: Yeah, but if you do that, you can't start out with slow, proggy tracks and end with more energetic, melodic tracks in long sets, since they will all be played at 133BPM. :)


First:

You got my name wrong ;)

Second:

There's nothing wrong with changing the BPM of a set as you progress towards the end, and I never said there was. I just tried to explain that it is not necessary to change every record's pitch back to 0 after you have created a mix. Ofcourse you can always slow down or speed up a record when you are done with a mix, the only thing you have to do is adjust the next record's pitch accordingly.
tvmann
Usually I work my way upwards in bpm's because I want the sound to become more and more exciting which means faster in general. Although some slow tracks can be more exciting or energetic than fast ones.

If I am playing one track at 130, and the next track is 133, and I will be planning on also later adding more tracks at higher bpms, I would

- slowly raise the playing track from 130 to 131.5
- slow down the next track from 133 to 131.5
- beatmatch and mix in and transition to the next track at 131.5
- slowly raise the new playing track to its normal 133 bpm or higher assuming I am doing a set that is generally rising in bpm

This way I do not need to change the bpm of either track by 3 bpm which might make it sound unnaturally off in pitch or tempo, it is only a change of 1.5 bpm
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