I've watched every video out there and read every article but, I still can't beat match for the life of me. I refuse to beat sync and I won't move on to learning anything else until I nail this. Any other tips, or suggestions for a noob guys?
Printable View
I've watched every video out there and read every article but, I still can't beat match for the life of me. I refuse to beat sync and I won't move on to learning anything else until I nail this. Any other tips, or suggestions for a noob guys?
practise makes perfect
nothing good comes easy
persist and you shall succeed
dont give up
etc etc
Telling us what media you prefer/are using would be nice.
it's in his sig.
I use a Traktor Kontrol S4/TP2 currently. Planning on moving on to Technics and Timecode later on. Everything digital (MP3) obviously. I play a little of everything. Don't mix genres though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Onimode
I don't read these things. :|Quote:
Originally Posted by fullenglishpint
Let's please not turn this thread into a sync argument.
There's not really much else you can do until you can mix two tracks together. Ahve you tried beat matching the same song?
Yep. I looped some Deadmau5 intros. Super easy but it gets all bonkers from there.Quote:
Originally Posted by photojojo
try practicing with actual vinyl.
And no one reads yours... bringing perfect balance to all our sigsQuote:
Originally Posted by Onimode
:p
Only sometimes. ;DQuote:
Originally Posted by BradCee
practice practice practice to the power of 1000... when i was young i used to walk around school visualising matching up two tracks click and tapping fingers.....then when i got a chance on my uncles turntables things slowly began to happedn....
have you tried matching up tracks around 70 bpm so u can distinctly hear whats going on..... altho matching at 130 bpm is by the easiest it can turn pear shaped very quickly if u aint skilled in BM...
good luck son
Small pitch fader movements. Gentle nudges.
This is a little off topic but now I figure is a good time to ask. A lot of us on here can beatmatch fine, took a lot of practice.
But at the same time, the majority of us are Traktor users. So I ask, how do you as software users utilize your beatmatching skills when the bpm and phase meter are right there in the software?
Hmm, set a cue point at a good kick beat start point. Key in the BPM to whatever the other channel is. Start from the cue. Nudge the jog wheels if your finger was a little bit too early/late when starting the cue. Kind of what many CDJ users are doing. Fixed BPMs makes this all so easy. But beat matching live funk drummers, that's another story.
PS: And with Traktor Auto-sync all this boring setup of beat matching is not needed.
PSS: If you want to learn *real beat matching* avoiding knowing anything at all about the two BPM values of the tracks, see:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/user/ellaskins#p/u/6/7zC5W5vfW2o"]ellaskins's Channel - YouTube[/ame]
when i was taught i was told to match the top hats as opposed to the kicks, simply because doing it live you would normally have the bass from the incoming track cut, thus making it easier, some people ive told disagree with it but it worked for me and got me started. but like everything just keep at it, it will come to you! just take two similar songs you know well and like and dont stop until you can do it without thinking.
edit: good luck! :D
if you want to learn start off with easy stuff first. Take two tracks that are exactly the same. At first keep the bpms the same, leave them in the middle. Play one then the other. You will hear it tremondously off. Trying nudging the wheel to get the tracks in the same point. Try that a couple times until you think you can hear it well enough to try two different song. Then move onto two different songs, same genre same bpm. House 128 to house 128. Try again. Nudge to beat match. Then move onto different bpms. Now you will learn to pull or push the slider and pull or push you jog wheel to speed or slow a track down. Hopefully by now you should be able to hear when you got the track push by jog wheel to the same beat, however you will notice a track come off a lot. You need to decide which track you want to manipulate its bpm. Usually the one coming in, however don't be afraid to change the bpm of the track playing, just do it slowly. Then its just a little push and pull via jog and slider to match bpm. So first get your track down beats in line then, then pull or push the slider to match the bpm. It will take a lot of time. I suggest matching bpm right when you start a new track until you master it. Once you are good you an literally beat match a track in under 30 seconds give or take.
Heres what i did:
1) made a simple beat 3 minutes long of a kick on a 4 count 1---2---3---4
2) made a beat 3 minutes long of a kick w/hi on the half count K-H-K-H-K-H-K
Load up the first beat and practice syncing 2 of the same track
Load up the first beat and 2nd beat and practice matching again
using sample 1 and 2, match the first beat to the H (half count) -- if its right it will be a kick then kick+hi then kick etc etc...
After I did that:
I loaded BIG hypnotize and practiced juggling the first beat back and forth, and then the "hot slicker than your average" with the first beat, and back spinning the other before the "come on"
After that, try some minimalist techno, ( I used Studio 1 ) as minimalist techno is very easy to keep count on while adding other sounds to your mix.
most all electronic will work though, most have a easy 4 count just make sure to skip the build up of a song if its doing something wonky.
should help ya out...
and fyi, ya stop the sync threads.. nobody cares ... COOL STORY BRO :P
Don't ever look at the screen that much, but if I did, my answer would be either go ahead and sync to save time. or........ glance at the numbers so you can more quickly get your pitch faders close before fine tuning, Lately ive been mixing alot of 150bpm music with stuff in the 80 range, so glancing at the numbers and halving them seems to work, Reggie mONQuote:
Originally Posted by Gryz
I got lazy... Plus they can be turned 'off'Quote:
Originally Posted by Gryz
I try to do this, but I find that I'm having a really hard time hearing the different tracks (especially the difference in beats) when I'm listening with one ear in my headphones, and the other to the speakerQuote:
Originally Posted by guiltyblade
You can have them both playing in the cans mate.
You need to start the track on the first down beat of the phrase. Make sure you start your incoming track on its down beat too.
So as the beat drops you press play at the same time.
Then tap or bop up and down to the beat of the main track. do it so you not concentrating on tapping your foot.
Then listen to the new track....is it too fast or too slow.
If its behind ....nudge the jog wheel forward to allow it to catch up to the main beat.
If it drifts again...its either too slow or too fast. Then adjust the pitch fader and keep using the jog to keep the beats aligned.
Once it no longer drifts....stop and go back to the start of your incoming track.
Then drop it again on the first down beat....
Now it should not drift as much as before. you might have to make slight adjustments.
When its perfect.....restart the track.
It should now stay in time.
now MIX!
:)
there's so much stuff out there to help you, and a lot of these posts have been really useful - i say just keep practicing and you'll get it eventually.
beatmatching is often seen as the super skill that makes you a DJ and puts you a cut above the rest. IMHO, it's the absolute bare minimum skill to have in order to mix dance music, even if you use sync to match the bpms and all that (like i do).
more than anything, it's fundamental to be able to hear when a beat's in or out - period.
so dude, just keep trying and you'll get there :)
as you already have the turntables, why not buy two identical 12" 's (or a remix version of the same song), start from there.
Once you have the BPM's the same, it's a matter of long hours of practice. When you have matched them, adjust the speed of one and try again. Gentle movement always, if you are heavy handed you will never get it.
Only when you can beatmatch vinyl, should you think about "non sync" DJ'ing in digital, it can get a little confusing if you can't grasp the basics ....
You can cheat like my mate does, he's the worst DJ in the world (sorry), he just doesn't get beatmatching at all. So i showed him the bars in traktor that show beat position and now he DJ's visually but he can only handle two songs at a time. ... at least it doesn't sound like a train crash anymore,
one trick that really helped me when i was learning :
Drop the pitch fader as slow as it will go on the track you are trying to mix IN. This way you pretty much know it will be too slow. Cue the song, listen... do they stay in time? if not , speed it up a notch and re-cue it, listen again... are they in time yet? repeat this until they sound in time.
the mixing 2 identical tracks is only really useful in learning to cue the songs imo, so if youve mastered cueing , then try what ive suggested. if you still need practice with throwing them together, then 2 identical tracks works good for this.
+1 for a good explanation.Quote:
Originally Posted by sarasin
That's sort of how I learned, except that I set the incoming track to be too fast. I found this video to be very helpful.Quote:
Originally Posted by Deejaesnafu
[youtube]NlB_OQ9bZbg[/youtube]
Not everyone can! I can't play the trumpet. Tried once, and failed BADLY, nor can I do handstands. "Failure Is Always An Option"Quote:
Originally Posted by DjMonstar
here's a hint that may not make sense whatsoever to you
if it goes b-bump you nudge it up, if it goes br-ump! you slow it down
(weird explanation but sooner or later you will get what i mean)
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by belchman
And great to see you back belch! :D
Get a large bag of amphetamine, two crates of records and a set of decks and a mixer. It'll all make sense somewhere around the 36hr mark.
:)
we need a like button!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Bastard
That, with the best will in the world, is utter bollocks. Playing the trumpet is a lot, lot harder than beatmatching.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelsey1B
THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO BEATMATCH.
Another old trick that people did is just basically pull the pitch down one direction. All the way. That way you can only go one direction. I never really did this but I know many who do this. If I'm totally clueless on a track I'll rely on this. It can help.
And try mixing in your headphones. Have both play in your headphones, you should be ables to hear a difference pretty easily. Learning to mix in tour headphones is a real asset. I've been in so many situations where I've had no monitors, if I didn't know how to mix in my headphones I would have been pretty screwed. Now it's the only way I like to mix because it's always works.
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by sarasin
Also, don't use the headphones to start with. Just have the crossfader set in the middle and do it that way. It will sound trainwreck but is easier to learn to beat match. If you get confused about the tracks have the one you are mixing in slightly louder that the other.
Also starting slow then just getting faster is good advice.
I think it took me about a month of practising to get it. I was on direct drive soundlabs that basically had no torque so you had to be super delicate. First time I used technics after the soundlabs it was actually a doddle :)
And I daresay all the examples are false. Trying and failing once on the trumpet doesn't mean you can't learn to play the trumpet. It only means you didn't really try. There isn't a musical instrument existing that you can learn to play on the first try. Practice practice practice. And don't listen to the fools who post that they learned beatmatching in 45 minutes. Take your time, be patient, and listen to your tracks when you practice. Eventually you will be able to distinguish which beat is from which record, and which is going faster than the other. But it's not going to happen overnight.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Bastard
Learning to beat match techno/minimal/house et rest is easy. Learning to beat match and transition classic funk and similar 'human centric' recordings takes a lot of practice.
As already said its just practice. Why waste time though? One press to sync and you're done. After years of nudging a fader i find sync to match very liberating. Hate playing locked into sync but as a time saver for tempo match it's ace!
Sig'd :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Bastard
a little bit of music theory can help give you context here, especially via text.
ok, so most dance music is in 4/4 time. that means a bar is 4 beats (aka quarter notes) (the bottom number), and the top number (the first 4) represents how many quarter notes are used per bar.
now, that said, first thing to do is load up 2 of the same track. then play one and just start counting off. when youre comfortable with that, with the pitch sliders in the same place, start track 2 between beats 1 and 2 on purpose with sync disengaged.
now what we have here is 2 of the same track and the same bpm, with the 2nd track out of time with the first.
we have 2 options here.
1) using the outside edge of wheel 2 or the outside edge of wheel 1 to either nudge track 1 forward 1/8th note (half a quarter note), or use the outside edge of the wheel on track 2 to nudge track 2 back 1/8th note.
or
2) you can do the same with just the pitch fader. this is known as "riding the fader". to do this, you use a quick motion moving the ptch fader from the middle position (+0) up and then back down to the +0 position. or down.
try that, and try to think about that little music theory lesson. it will really help you keep context of what the music is doing in a logical way.