SYNC button advise

Im not trying to start a flame war here of murdering each other over the sync buttons purpose, I see how its bad and how its good and im just looking for advise

I read the Qbert and ean interview and at first sight of Q saying Sync was ok, i was pleased... i thought i was on the right track for a beginner to start on. Then Ean went on to say how it isnt right if your trying to do real mixing, saying that you should have "the beat behind the drum" or something along those lines. This worried me.

First thing i thought was "How do i edge away from the sync button?"

Then i realised i shouldnt worry so early on, im 16 and ive only had the decks for about 3 weeks!
Im hoping to play at the next house party nearby, so i guess the sync button is ok to keep the angry drunks from going mad at a badly mixed set.

So my question is, How, when and where do i get away from the sync button? Do i wait till im confident at the basics of mixing tracks, learning all the musical words (Im a epic n00b to musicial context like pitch and tempo and etc, i know what they are i just dont know the names :|)

PS> Sorry if this is a repeat of another post i just wanted to get your attention

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Originally Posted by LIVEMAU5

Im not trying to start a flame war here of murdering each other over the sync buttons purpose, I see how its bad and how its good and im just looking for advise

I read the Qbert and ean interview and at first sight of Q saying Sync was ok, i was pleased... i thought i was on the right track for a beginner to start on. Then Ean went on to say how it isnt right if your trying to do real mixing, saying that you should have "the beat behind the drum" or something along those lines. This worried me.

First thing i thought was "How do i edge away from the sync button?"

Then i realised i shouldnt worry so early on, im 16 and ive only had the decks for about 3 weeks!
Im hoping to play at the next house party nearby, so i guess the sync button is ok to keep the angry drunks from going mad at a badly mixed set.

So my question is, How, when and where do i get away from the sync button? Do i wait till im confident at the basics of mixing tracks, learning all the musical words (Im a epic n00b to musicial context like pitch and tempo and etc, i know what they are i just dont know the names :|)

PS> Sorry if this is a repeat of another post i just wanted to get your attention

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just start learning how to mix the old fashioned way. with the same two tracks and mix those over and over. then switch over to two tracks with relatively close bpm. other than that just be familiar with your music and how to pick out phrases in tracks to use to mix in and out of.

there are plenty of youtube tutorials for this. you should take a look at them.

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Originally Posted by Jason Cerna

just start learning how to mix the old fashioned way. with the same two tracks and mix those over and over. then switch over to two tracks with relatively close bpm. other than that just be familiar with your music and how to pick out phrases in tracks to use to mix in and out of.

there are plenty of youtube tutorials for this. you should take a look at them.

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Thanks, ill keep that in mind next time im practicing.

Well the way i see it is picture yourself in a club, the dj before you says "your on" and you start looking for the sync button on the CDJ's...You're not gonna find one, what do you do then, aside from stopping the outgoing track or asking the other dj to do it for you. I dont care what anyone says, beat matching is possibly the number 1 thing you should learn as a dj/controllerist, hell its the main principal behind it all "blending 2 tracks together" pretty much anybody can pick up a controller and press sync move the cross fader and hope it sounds good ("40% of the time").

All this is not saying it shouldn't be used, merely saying that you should learn how to beat match as soon as possible, maybe (i'm gonna assume you use traktor) turn off the phase moniter in the preferences cue up two tracks, play Deck A and tap to the beat, then press play in deck B and try to get the two track beats in sync manually using the jog wheels to slow/speed up deck B until the 2 beats sound as if they are 1.

Thinking about it, maybe take the start of track B and loop an 8th(8 beats) and the end of track A and work from there, that way you dont have to worry about time and you can mess around with the "dry drum beats" of both to see how they sound when in sync and when out of it.

Hope that made sense, and sorry about the rant at the start....

:p

*Edit* Jason summed up what i said pretty much...

here's what i mentioned in a post about beatmatching from a forum i moderate on. http://www.djforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=271653

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it takes practice.

now with youtube and all the available videos around, it should be easy to learn.

when i started learning by myself on vinyl, youtube didn't exist. so, i just had to watch other djs in my area while at their gigs. then, i would go home and practice.

to make things easier for yourself, after sorting your music by genre, subgenre, etc. tap out the bpm to your tracks, or if they are digital, have them analyzed and sort by bpm.

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Haters gonna hate bro, do what'cha want to do. I find it less effective and down right disrespectful not using a program, you spent your hard earned money for to its full potential even if that comes with an ease of access.

If your looking to not use the sync function, just do exactly what it does manually. Turn the tempo knob to match the Master tracks tempo and have the tracks playing in sync by highs or lows (claps/kicks). You may also want to look into how to beatgrid to get you highs and lows grid correct. Try to find tracks with a BPM within around 20ish together so they don't sound to off key or stretched. Unless that's what your going for.

Knowing your songs really pays off. Even though you have two tracks perfectly sync'd, they still might sound a bit off or fugly by the samples (hi hat/cymbols etc) in the song. Knowing good drop in and out points, good transitions. I set my 8 hot, then go back and label where other goodies are with the extra cues that are available in Traktor.

Have fun with it.

What I have done to teach myself is to get certain songs that you will always know the tempo of. Kind of like a reference.

Get the basics down, start knowing your tracks well. After a while, stop using the sync button and rely on the phase meter and manually adjust tempo so that theyll match (or be very close, upgrading to the new 1.4 firmware, if u have the VCI, will help in this loads). After some time try not to look at the phase meter and start relying on your ears, only looking when you are absolutely not sure. Then, start practicing with the phase meter turned of entirely.

Depending on how much u practice, this process can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months.

Hi Bezzle