Who taught you how to beatmatch?
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  1. #1
    Tech Wizard
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    Default Who taught you how to beatmatch?

    Ive watched the videos and read a lot but after months I still haven't mastered beatmatching without looking at the BPM readout.

    How did you learn?
    I hear a lot about how people were mentored or learned from a friend.
    Im craving to be able to play strictly analogue.

    I don't have anybody that I know that knows how so I'm kind of in a hole

  2. #2
    Tech Guru lethal_pizzle's Avatar
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    I taught myself. It's something that you don't get; then you get. It's easier done than described.
    Use 2 copies of the same record. You'll get noticeable phasing when the beats are properly lined up.
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  3. #3
    Tech Wizard
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    I can match beats with the same song (Thats pretty easy)
    I struggle with songs with different BPMs without the readout

  4. #4
    Tech Guru synthet1c's Avatar
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    my mate showed me after I bought some tables a few years ago... then practiced and failed for about a month.... after 3 i could match anything poorly... after 6 could do it well... after a year I didn't even think about it and it just happens automatically with ear-hand co-ordination and muscle memory.

    the only good vid I have ever seen that explains what is happening is MICL's animation on youtube... that said it's not something that can be taught but the paradox is you can learn it... that's some zen shit there lol
    Why did the elephant get lost... Cause the Jungle is MASSIVE!

  5. #5

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    Its the best to learn on TTs. Most genuine way to learn the craft. What really helped me a lot when I started out was DVS. I took the beginning of Warp 1.9, with its sharp clock click sound and just looped that shit, and beat matched it to to several songs. With a sharp loop like that, slight fluctuations like it hitting too soon or too late are really obvious, you can focus on getting a feeling for the speed control. When I felt good about it, I started looping drum beats and beat matched that stuff, then eventually worked up to songs, then mixing on phase.

    Just keep practicing. Persistence is key. You will get it.
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  6. #6
    Tech Wizard zco14's Avatar
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    my cousin who DJs in Chicago taught me when he was visiting, great thing was he taught me by ear so its something I'm used to
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  7. #7
    Tech Mentor NathanWard's Avatar
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    I taught myself on Turntables and CDJs this week. I already knew the theory behind it, so it was a matter of putting it into practice, and practicing for hours.
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  8. #8
    Tech Mentor deckard26354's Avatar
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    Wow, that take's me back. In 97 or 97. At a late night party session in deepest darkest Chorlton-Manchester. Tried for week's after a generous friend borrowed me his decks (moving house) then one night under tuition from him it was a 'Eureka' moment.
    After that I was teaching him how to mix DnB. About the time DnB in Manchester was all about Techstep, in my humble opinion the best era of Drum and Bass.

    I Digress.

    It's always a goof idea to have your hand on the pitch hovering over the vinyl at the same time to begin with. Don't stab at either the pitch or vinyl. Finesse. Bit like riding downhill on a mountain bike with brake's.
    Practice with the same record's, preferably two with distinct high hat's and deep bass. Best to focus on the High's of the record to get the beat and tempo matched correctly.
    As I said without tuition from someone who know's it's a learning curve but persevere and it'll be another 'Eureka' moment for you.

  9. #9
    Tech Wizard
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    ye Just comes with practice really haha, if you use cdj's, make a set list with different bpm from track to track. cover up the bmp screen and just keep practicing beatmatching from track to track don't worry about whether the tracks are in the right key or not its just practicing a technique, just make the set list contains tracks with different various beats figure out which go with which etc start with tracks that only have a couple of bpm difference then 4 bpm difference, then mix it up eventually youll get it. if your using a controller with a laptop have a friend use the laptop facing away from you and load different bpm track into each channel for you so you dont know what each tracks bpm is

    If the track playing is faster then the track you drop, I find it easier and quicker to speed the track up faster then the one playing then slow it down to match the bpm, it takes longer to try catch up with a track. If the track you drop is faster just slow the track down. if im not movin around nodding my head to the beat I tend to lose concentration, your body acts like a human metronome lol I always count with the track playing out loud then when you drop a track eventually you hear straight away when you dropped the track in - slightly to earlier \ to soon or whether the track slows or quickens out of time

  10. #10
    Tech Guru djproben's Avatar
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    Taught myself on vinyl quite a few years before there was any kind of media player with a BPM readout available. When I learned CDJs only the Pioneer CDJ 1000 mk1 was available so the BPM readout was totally unreliable anyway, but I never played CDJs often enough to really master them the way I did vinyl.

    Why not just put some duct tape over the BPM readout so you stop looking at it? It will suck at first but if you force yourself to not look at it you'll get much better at doing it by ear.

    Of course even with vinyl I used to write numbers on my records, so it's not that far removed from a BPM readout I suppose. Even used to do math in my head using the percentage lines on the pitch fader. So it all depends how "blind" you want to be.
    "Art is what you can get away with." - Marshall McLuhan

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