tips for beatmatching quickly

[mostapha]

I used to do that. I got to the point where just riding the pitch was about as fast and harder to screw up.

[Fressure]

What the hell is riding the pitch I've never heard that term before

[padi_04]

What the hell is riding the pitch I've never heard that term before

[MyUsername]

Beatmatching on TTs:

When I let go on the 1 that record is always out of phase, it's always behind the other one.
So what I'm doing now is that I let that record go a little bit before the 1 and usually I have to give some small pushes.

Am I doing it right ?

[Gryz]

Beatmatching on TTs:

When I let go on the 1 that record is always out of phase, it's always behind the other one.
So what I'm doing now is that I let that record go a little bit before the 1 and usually I have to give some small pushes.

Am I doing it right ?

Your reaction time when letting go of the platter will never be as quick as the oncoming 1 beat, so give the platter a little push instead of just letting on when you get to the one. It should stay in sync a lot better.

[funke]

I'll usually do some baby scratches the last four beats and that seems to work best for me as far as lining the beats up out of the gate. I also don't ride the pitch. Seems my hand is always too heavy/light when touching the platter and it just screws me up. Just up and down a few times on the pitch fader works best for me.

[Nosferatu]

Here's a practice drill me and my friend used to do when we were starting out...

Question and Answer Speed Mixing

1. I mix 2 songs
2. I pick the next record for the other guy to mix (this is a blind selection by just grabbing a record out of the crate)
3. He mixes the tracks, then selects a track for me.

The key is to mix as fast as possible, while trying to stump the other with a "gotcha" track that can't be mixed.

Some of the mixes involved mixing tracks beyond the pitch range... in which you would have to spin the platter manually with the motor off.

It was fun, and I attribute my beat-matching skill to those practice sessions.

Today, I can usually match beats to 99% within a few seconds (less than 10 secs)

[funke]

Some of the mixes involved mixing tracks beyond the pitch range... in which you would have to spin the platter manually with the motor off.

Really? That is one of the most abstract mixing techniques I have ever come across that actual sounds like it would make one very skilled in record handling.

One technique that I saw mentioned on this site is holding the "33" button with one finger and tapping the "45" button on a Technics 1200 to momentarily speed the motor to 45rpms and back down to 33. Very effective, but I have not practiced this technique as it makes me curious at what is going on in the circuit board when I do it.

[Bassline Brine]

Practice. I'm still not at the point where I feel completely comfortable with my beatmatching, but I've noticed HUGE improvements by hitting the decks most days for at least a 30 minute mix (most the time I usually do an hour and a half on the tables when I have the time).

I use Serato, and still use the visual queues. But I'm moving away from it slowly. It's really quite helpful though to get some basics down, and I know I would have had a much harder time getting to where I am now without it.

I do a combination of both pushing the record, and moving the pitch. A lot of times I'll physically speed up an incoming record by hand as well if it's slower. When a track is coming in faster, I still have a bit more trouble, but working on it.

I haven't perfected "riding the pitch" yet, but it's something I plan on putting a lot of effort into within the next bit.

Being able to beatmatch well, and quickly, is what I'm waiting to be able to do before I let myself hand out CDs or play out anything more than a house-party. And it's a lot of fun to learn, but shit IS hard lol.

Reminds me of practicing an instrument when I was younger honestly, and I suppose it's very much the same thing. Just keep at it until you get it.

[jimbrowski00]

Drag your fingers on the "dots" and or pinch the spindle to slow down a bit and nudge if you need to speed it up. Simultaneously ride your pitch if its more than a phasing issue.

Also, I prefer to drag my finger on the dots of the record thats going faster that nudge the record thats going slow.

Drop it on the one and watch your phase meeter so you know if there are any corrections that need to be done.

And then finally just practice. Sometimes for fun while im driving listen to my turn signal blinker and watch the cars in front of me and try to figure out which is going faster than the other. #blinkerbeatmatching ftw