Beatmatching; a lost art?

[Michielygil]

Finally i've got my hands on an Audio DJ 8 recently and have been playing with the 4 decks for a few weeks now. Being brought up with turntables and learning skill of djing by trying to beatmatch in my room for hours and hours, I more and more notice how little of my time i'm spending on beatmatching while playing.

Here's the thing; with Traktor there's no need for beatmatching anymore. When you've set your beatgrid right, there's nothing in the world you have to worry about as long as you've got the sync button assigned. Of course, you're doing a whole olot of other things instead, playing around with effects, making your mixing like a madman and playing 60 tunes per hour, but still...

Maybe thought for an interesting discussion:

Is being able to beatmatch still a neccesity for being a good DJ? Is controllerism leading to a shift from the more classical beatmatch-based Djing to a more effect-based, cut-and-paste kind of DJing-style?

[MisterMoleyMole]

i think it will become two seperate camps eventually as people only just getting into djin digitally have no need at all to learn beat matching. Although you will still have people who want to learn it as they want to use turntables. The latter will eventually be a minority though i think.

[DvlsAdvct]

I think this is a discussion that has been brought up everywhere a number of times (see here, here, and here for examples just in our forum), and I think it will be an argument that remains in preference.

I think learning to beatmatch is necessary to being a good DJ. That doesn't mean that one should swear of sync (I use it all the time), but my understanding of mixing is different (not better, but different) because I can beatmatch manually. I think practicing and learning to beatmatch teaches people how sounds and rhythms overlap to create a more seamless mix.

But I also think that the quality of a DJ should be judged just as much on the end product as the tools used in getting there.

[alien2k]

My friends my opinion is that beatmatching skills are totally necessary. I use Traktor as well with multiple decks. But if you want to be a professional Dj you will get to a point when you will have to manually beatmatch. For example I was requested to play with another dj on gig (on the spot, without any preparation) but he used vinyl, and we played kind of a versus set. If I was not confident with my beatmatch skills i would not be able to do that. As a matter of fact as I did not practice beatmatch since a long time I swet as I was being tortured, now I practice a bit of beatmatching every day. What if your equipement fails? you rather say sorry guys my pc is not working, or just open your cd case and continue rocking with 2 decks? Also if you have good beatmatch skills you will tell instantly if your beatgrids are not correct. I think that now a days you don´t need to put beatmatching as the fisrt lessons to Djing but should master it soon or later.... you should be able to play with anything ... that is my humble opinion.

[wrong chris]

beatmatching is one the fundamental skills all DJs should have a grip on. it's just as important as one's knowledge of timing/measure, eqing/mixing and knowledge of music.

I think a DJ should be just a comfortable mixing on turntables as he is with software, like alien2k mentioned you never know when you'll be asked to use a different mixing medium for a performance.

[Monika.mhz]

Everyone's medium is different. If a drummer's drumset breaks, she can't play the drums. If your computer fails, you won't be able to beatmatch.

Ultimately though, it's a good skill to have. It's like learning to play the piano/keyboard. You may not use it every day when you DJ, but there will be days you're sooo grateful for that knowledge.

Once you learn it's like riding a bike. You'll NEVER forget or lose that.

[darrel855]

There is no art to beat matching it's plainly a science that anyone can learn . Now mixing and selection is where the art comes in . That being said I think everyone who aspires to dj should learn to beatmatch . All it really is is another skill that makes us better at what we do .

[alien2k]

Everyone's medium is different. If a drummer's drumset breaks, she can't play the drums. If your computer fails, you won't be able to beatmatch.

I totally agree, but usually when a drumset breaks there are no spare drumsets around.

[DvlsAdvct]

If my computer fails I can throw some backup CDs in a deck and still beatmatch

[charo]

i must be old school as i can't imagine anyone calling themselves a dj that can't beatmatch.

imo if u are using the sync button u had better be doing something so complex that u wouldn't have the time in the mix to do beatmatching. ean has an article called microwave djs or something like that that go into this more.