I'm a beginner DJ. Only just learning. I'm using 2 Stanton T.80s and a Behringer VMX300 Mixer.
There are some tracks i can mix pretty good. And it sounds like a smooth mix. Sometimes i can beatmatch quite quickly and have spare time before i need to actually mix them. But sometimes i don't have enough time! :( And sometimes i find it hard to beatmatch certain tracks.
Is it just practice? If i keep at it, will beatmatching any track become soooo easy without any effort?
Thanks.
clay
yes, but there will always be curtain "problem tracks" which for some reason can be impossible to mix smoothly no matter how much you try or practice on it. after a while you understand what tracks fits together too. oh and the stantons are good to learn on but the motors are pretty weak compared to sl1210s so you should eventually switch to those, and you will love it when you do, but the stanton are good for learning.
Radders2003
Ah ok then. How long do good DJ's take to beatmatch? It just takes me too long. If i had a couple minutes longer, i would be fine. But by the time it needs to be mixed in the first track has finished! :stongue:
clay
after a while youll be better at correcting "live" so you dont need to have it perfectly syncing.
Radders2003
What do you mean?
clay
you pitch bend the platter or vinyl during the transition to correct for badly synced records. some good djs manage to make flawless transitions without even using the pitchfaders, they raise the pitch by spinning the vinyl around faster or holding it back during the transition. when you are awesome at this you dont really need much time to get the tracks in good enough sync and you can focus on interacting with the crowd instead. i suggest you search for "how to mix" or something on youtube. there might be video links in the stickies btw. it takes years of practise to be good at vinyl mixing. watching other djs technique also helps for ideas.
Polt
You will be able to beatmatch faster over time to the point where it is trivial and you don't really factor it in to your mix. As Clay mentioned, some tracks are just tricky as BPM variations can occur for a variety of reasons.
Imagin
There is no set "when". It honestly just clicks. Just repetition and eventually you get it. Some can get it in a few weeks, months theres even folks at it for years who still cant beatmatch. When its your time itll click and youll enjoy it so much more.
P.S. This video by ellaskins (DJtutor.com) is one of the best explanations of beat matching ive watched.
jdat
few key points to keep in mind
notes bars phrases (when is the right time to start the incoming track and stop the outgoing(start/stop can be merely pressing the button toadjusting the volume).
pitch control
and alignement between the tracks by pushing or pulling
clay
quote:
Originally posted by jdat
and alignement between the tracks by pushing or pulling
please explain:conf:
jdat
ugh I'm confused with the terminology here
if both tracks are playing at the same speed yet the incoming track is started half a beat early or late they still won't be so much in beat sync as in speed sync.
you need to accelerate or slow down the incoming track temporarily in order to get the beats hitting at the same time.
some people do this using just the pitch fader, once the speeds are synced they quickly speed up or slow down to get things aligned and return to the synced speed (as the djtutor video posted earlier demonstrates)
others push or pull on the vinyl record or on the platter
this shows how to do it
beginners often forget that syncing is two things
beat align and speed sync. two things.
clay
oh i think its called pitch bending (used to be a button on denon decks which only pitch-rise or hold back when you hold the button and then moved back to the pitch faders position once released. of course very important yes. on a 1210 i just turn the little knob in the middle to pitchbend up, or hold back the platter on the side to pitchbend down. really effective and you also then understand when the speed is wrong. i have always considered these two things as one but it might make more sense to split it up in two "actings" yes.
