Beatmatching; a lost art?

[DvlsAdvct]

see, to me, there is no difference from beatmatching on vinyl than on CDs. I prefer mixing on vinyl to CDs cause of the tactile response, regardless.

[Iceman]

in few words, my opinion is that art is when someone does something new within a limitation that is appealing to emotion

The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.

-- OSCAR WILDE

From Oscar Wilde's "The Portrait of Dorian Grey." I highly suggest everyone read the Preface (will only take 2 minutes). Wilde has a very interesting opinion. Real good book too in case anyone reads!! Link below for the Preface

http://classiclit.about.com/library/...de-pic-pre.htm

[Zac Kyoti]

Just to weigh in on topic, I would say absolutely a dj must know how to beatmatch. Why? Simply because there is so much amazing music out there that does not and will never have a grid, owing to the fact that it does not have a computer controlled tempo. The tempo is fluid and live, and you can either spend 3 hrs trying to tame it in ableton, losing any human feel in the process, or let it be what it is, and mix it with flavor. If a dj only uses tracks that beat with a computer's heart, they are missing out on a vast world of sounds, grooves and emotions. It makes me sad when I see djs that own 500 nu-NRG-rave-whatever records, and can't even pull out something else to save their lives.

[Kaon]

The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.

-- OSCAR WILDE

From Oscar Wilde's "The Portrait of Dorian Grey." I highly suggest everyone read the Preface (will only take 2 minutes). Wilde has a very interesting opinion. Real good book too in case anyone reads!! Link below for the Preface

Preface

that link was a dud....

what are you trying to get across anyway? art is useless don't do it?
sure its only use is emotional stimulation but thats extremely important to our small world of irrational, emotional beings. without emotion we wouldnt have that yearning to communicate, and thus we wouldnt be getting any more intelligent very quick from an evolutionary point of view.

i guess art is the only way we can really communicate emotion as mere words are just vocal representations.

[Iceman]

that link was a dud....

what are you trying to get across anyway? art is useless don't do it?

Fixed the link I think.

And by no means do I mean to imply that. Oscar Wilde sure didnt and he is one of the most famous modern artists (as a writer) of our times. Wilde mean to imply people should just do art for arts sake, even if it is vulgar or excessive or whatever. And I agree, I think art is as close as humans can get to perfection.

I just think his opinion on art is interesting. The man is a fabulous wordsmith. BTW, Wilde thinks music is what all art aspires to. Good for us!!

[BentoSan]

Just to weigh in on topic, I would say absolutely a dj must know how to beatmatch. Why? Simply because there is so much amazing music out there that does not and will never have a grid, owing to the fact that it does not have a computer controlled tempo. The tempo is fluid and live, and you can either spend 3 hrs trying to tame it in ableton, losing any human feel in the process, or let it be what it is, and mix it with flavor. If a dj only uses tracks that beat with a computer's heart, they are missing out on a vast world of sounds, grooves and emotions. It makes me sad when I see djs that own 500 nu-NRG-rave-whatever records, and can't even pull out something else to save their lives.

Actually using digital technology its possible to digitally beatmatch your other material to the "grid" of live music all digitally(traktor doesnt support this), all it essentially is alot of fluid tempo changes made in the music.

The big thing that all the beatgrids in the world cannot cover is phasing that occurs when playing 2 tracks at the time same - this takes human intervention as a computer cant decide whats the best phase to have 2 tracks sitting against one another.

As long as people have a good understanding of the technology that they are using and whats going on with the audio all is fine - beatmatching is just a wonderful way of people to learn about these things but i can assure you its not the only way.

[Zac Kyoti]

Actually using digital technology its possible to digitally beatmatch your other material to the "grid" of live music all digitally(traktor doesnt support this), all it essentially is alot of fluid tempo changes made in the music.

Yes, you're absolutely right there. Forgive me my Traktor-centricity - This is a feature I've been wanting to see in Traktor for a long time (ability to have fluid grids or respond to other softwares' grids), but if somebody is using Traktor, they'd better have an understanding of beatmatching if they want to match up older, looser material (Just my humble opinion).

The big thing that all the beatgrids in the world cannot cover is phasing that occurs when playing 2 tracks at the time same

Definitely.

Beatmatching just trains the ear. And I support the idea that beatmatching isn't the only way, it's just a tool to use when presented with certain limitations. But if an ear can't hear two tracks out of phase, god help that dj try to use technology to sound tight.

[w3bsp0t]

Personally Djing is an art form and so is everything else with it, now as in anything there are good artists, ok artists and great artists.

I don't think there has been any great djs that couldn't beat match. Even if all the current software gives people the added assistance and security of not going off beat it still does not make them a great dj.
Sure they can beat match and perhaps blend the 2 songs at the right place to give it an endless feel but that in no way means what he/she does any better or lesser then the Dj who took time out and previously prepared, remixed, warped, bend, mashed a track to take that feeling a step further.

Unavoidably beat matching would be and is a requirement if one is to further their art of Djing. Just like Harmonic mixing with the circle of 5ths if a dj wants to further their technique in the Art of Djing.

[midifidler]

Fixed the link I think.

And by no means do I mean to imply that. Oscar Wilde sure didnt and he is one of the most famous modern artists (as a writer) of our times. Wilde mean to imply people should just do art for arts sake, even if it is vulgar or excessive or whatever. And I agree, I think art is as close as humans can get to perfection.

I just think his opinion on art is interesting. The man is a fabulous wordsmith. BTW, Wilde thinks music is what all art aspires to. Good for us!!

yea sorry the link didnt work so i didnt really know what you were gettin at

[wbskates]

i tend to agree with your opinion, but when thinking about it some more i think that it might not be true that it helps. Maybe it even works against us? Maybe someone that doesn't think in BPMs and beatmatching can DJ more freely and creating something entirely new and fresh and interesting? I dunno

A saying I first heard in the 80s pertaining to DJing:

"Don't sacrifice selection for the mix."