Beatmatching by ear, two questions
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  1. #1
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    Default Beatmatching by ear, two questions

    Hi guys,

    I very recently bought a Numark Pro to try a little bit of mixing because I am a big fan of electronic music. I think I know the very basics by now, and I recently started to learn to beatmatch by ear. All I do is pure bedroom DJ'ing, I am not expecting anything out of it for now. It's pure for fun. Would love to have the skills to play in a club or so in the future, but for the moment it is just a hobby. I was wondering two things:

    1. I am having a lot of problems to beatmatch two songs if they're having a different audio source (1 from cue headphones, 1 from monitors). Is it 'acceptable' / a good way to simply beatmatch with purely with headphones (both songs going through the headphones)? Or is it really crucial to learn to hear one song from monitors and one song from the headphones?
    2. Beatmatching two 4x4 dance songs is going pretty good.. but sadly there are loads of songs with harder patterns and songs that are more noisy, is there any trick or there any easy tips to mix songs together?

    I hope my questions aren't too newbish, this is just my first post here. It's all bedroom DJ'ing but I would love to get a solid start, that's also why I avoid the sync button. Other advise or beginner tips are welcome as well.

    Cheers

  2. #2
    Tech Mentor Mr_Moo's Avatar
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    Learn to mix through the monitors (and your cue'd track in headphone) and also through your headphones alone. Sometimes in a club/party thats too noisey (sound wise) or no monitors or broken monitors or you just need that reassurance, then you might need to mix in your headphones.

    A good tip is adjusting your monitor levels AND your headphones levels to suite and compliment each other. I cannot stress this enough.

    Also, headphones placement is important. I NEVER have it covering my ear. One can sits on my shoulder so my ear is maybe 1 to 2 inches away so I can hear the high hats/percussion (important this) with the high hats/percussion from the monitors.

    If a track is all kick drums to begin with, try your best to mix it or find a part where the percussion starts.

  3. #3
    Tech Guru astromech's Avatar
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    I'd say that you should do what works best for you. Workflow will be different for everyone. As a side note, it might actually be useful to be comfortable mixing in just headphones. A lot of club PA systems have a significant delay in the audio between your mixer and the speakers.

    One tip my friend uses is to listen to the hats and other higher frequencies and use them for matching. GJ on wanting to learn the fundamentals of the discipline!
    A&H Xone:96 | Xone:K1 | 2 x 1210s | Traktor Pro 3 | Apple Macbook Pro (2015) 13" | Sennheiser HD7 DJ | Maschine Mikro Mk3
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  4. #4
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    Try using the CUE/MASTER knob on your software/controller/mixer/whatever to balance the sources into your headphones, I find it very helpful (nonetheless I am a disaster in beatmatching).

  5. #5
    Tech Mentor Daily Crisis's Avatar
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    You can do this in 3 'easy' steps!

    Step 1. Practice
    Step 2. More Practice
    Step 3. Even More Practice

    Quote Originally Posted by Patch View Post
    Have a large glass of water and a wank. Problem solved.

  6. #6
    Tech Mentor Daily Crisis's Avatar
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    Nah seriously, if you practice, you'll do it. It's best if you don't use Sync and it's good if you don't get in to the habit of using sync all the time for your mixes. Try beat matching with just your monitors (both channel faders up) and then develop it using one ear on one track with headphones (cue mix or whatever the fuck it's called) and the other track on the monitors... You'll get the hang of it

    Quote Originally Posted by Patch View Post
    Have a large glass of water and a wank. Problem solved.

  7. #7
    Tech Guru Patch's Avatar
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    DC - you missed Step 4.

    Step 4. Goto Step 1.
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  8. #8
    Tech Mentor Daily Crisis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patch View Post
    DC - you missed Step 4.

    Step 4. Goto Step 1.

    Quote Originally Posted by Patch View Post
    Have a large glass of water and a wank. Problem solved.

  9. #9
    Tech Guru astromech's Avatar
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    One option to take baby steps would be to use tempo sync so you get a hang of the phrasing and how the jog wheels affect the music, and once you're confident, turn off sync and learn the pitch fader.
    A&H Xone:96 | Xone:K1 | 2 x 1210s | Traktor Pro 3 | Apple Macbook Pro (2015) 13" | Sennheiser HD7 DJ | Maschine Mikro Mk3
    read: http://djworx.com/author/dan-morse
    talk: http://facebook.com/bleeptechno
    listen: http://mixcloud.com/bleephudds

  10. #10
    Tech Mentor Daily Crisis's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by happydan View Post
    One option to take baby steps would be to use tempo sync so you get a hang of the phrasing and how the jog wheels affect the music, and once you're confident, turn off sync and learn the pitch fader.
    I still need to learn the pitch fader :s

    Quote Originally Posted by Patch View Post
    Have a large glass of water and a wank. Problem solved.

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