Do you beatmatch manually or sync?

[drewjonn]

Yeah....especially with the way you're talking about intros and outros that makes no sense, I'm sure there's at least a terminology gap here. Sounds like a pretty big knowledge/skill gap as well. Which is cool....we all started knowing basically nothing. But I'm not sure of this discussion is actually helping.

took a private lesson for myself, just 3 meetings so far. trying to bring whatever i just learned to people to discuss, i know there will be flaws everywhere but thats how i learn and proceed.

[frankle]

I use sync these days, but mostly to get the BPM the same quickly, essentially I have sync off when I load the track, press play, double tap sync on then off, hit cue, keeps BPM same as master deck but I drop the track in manually from here and bend by ear.

Traktor BPM detection is normally right when I analyse a track, but it's detection of the start of the first beat is almost never right so I manually mark the first beat but as good and quick as I can set up first beat and load point (changed a few buttons on my X1mk2's to speed it up) it's never perfect so it's good to not keep sync (and snap to some degree) on all the time ... But with 10 years of CD and vinyl before moving to Traktor in 2007 I'll always trust my ears first.

Phrasing, +1 to working hard on this as your track transitions are something that can make you stand out.

[oznewbie]

I am new to this, and only been learning for a week ... so my beat matching needs a lot of work.

But using serato, I analyse all tracks, this usually picks up the BPM ok. Then adjust the bpm (if needed) to what it says when loaded up.

Drop it in manually and nudge it into time.

If I hear it going out Ill try and use the pitch to catch it, usually do ...... if I cant I'll check the waveforms and try and match it again.

Because I'm learning, if I run out of time I just bring the tracks back and try again.

I've played with sync. But don't like it, even though the beat grids look good, to me it still doesn't sound perfectly matched.
When using sync, do you press sync on both decks? or just the one coming in? Doubt I'll use it for now. But if I'm in a real predicament halfway into a decent set in front of friends, I would like to know.

[kooper1980]

If you zoom in on the wave form it looks off but when you use the metronome it's fine. I hardly ever have to adjust the grid. Probably one in every 20 I have to adjust.

[dsquareddan]

I really don't understand why beat matching is difficult for people nowadays. I've moved on from CDJ's to Ableton now after 6 years. But really, if you can see the bpm of one song, match the numbers (assuming you analyzed the song properly), count to 4, press play on the 1 beat. As long as that BPM number is the same, your timing is only going to be milliseconds off and need just the slightest adjustment on the jog wheel.

Unless you're playing vinyl (real vinyl not Serato timecode vinyl) you are pretty much already as close to sync as possible. Just analyze your tracks properly, match the bpm #'s to be exact same, press play on the 1 beat & match phrasing in bars of 16. This will work for 99% of the songs out there practically.

Not against sync at all. Totally for it, would rather hear a perfect mix than a off timed "real DJ" (does anyone else hate that term?). But manually beat matching is not that hard unless you are blind, deaf, or using legit vinyl

[mostapha]

It's not actually that hard with vinyl. It's just harder to do big, quick adjustments without people hearing it.

[ImNoDJ]

totally. one ranges at about 128 and one ranges at about 98.

You wouldnt attempt to beatmatch those tracks. Use another transition technique.

[ImNoDJ]

I really don't understand why beat matching is difficult for people nowadays. I've moved on from CDJ's to Ableton now after 6 years. But really, if you can see the bpm of one song, match the numbers (assuming you analyzed the song properly), count to 4, press play on the 1 beat. As long as that BPM number is the same, your timing is only going to be milliseconds off and need just the slightest adjustment on the jog wheel.

Its such a simple mechanical skill that anyone can learn in a few days with some practice. The majority of younger DJs are just lazy, its as simple as that. They want the instant gratification and cache of being the DJ without any of the effort or investment into the craft an culture.

DJing has a very low bar. Coming from a musical background, the difficulty of beatmatching is simply laughable compared to being able to play a chord progression on a guitar competently.

This is exactly why the general public has such a low opinion of DJs. %90 of DJs are talentless posing wankers that try to horn in on the cache of being a musician, without any of the practice or effort.

Ive always referred to Djing as the shallow end of the talent pool when it comes to musical arts.

But man, that last %10 of DJs that love the craft, the culture and love discovering and sharing music, thats what makes it all for me. I cant think of a single DJ i like that cannot beatmatch manually (Selectas excepted of course) , whether or not they actually do it now on any given rig.

The painful process of learning beatmatching always leads to better understanding of music, timing and phrasing. Its as simple as that and its obvious to tell the DJs that have skipped these stages.

The fact that sync DJs are too scared to actually press a cue without it being quantised to a beatgrid, and lacking the basic timing that lets them cut a loop in real time is simply lame in my eyes, and has nothing to do with 'performance'

[oznewbie]

Its such a simple mechanical skill that anyone can learn in a few days with some practice. The majority of younger DJs are just lazy, its as simple as that. They want the instant gratification and cache of being the DJ without any of the effort or investment into the craft an culture.

DJing has a very low bar. Coming from a musical background, the difficulty of beatmatching is simply laughable compared to being able to play a chord progression on a guitar competently.

This is exactly why the general public has such a low opinion of DJs. %90 of DJs are talentless posing wankers that try to horn in on the cache of being a musician, without any of the practice or effort.

Ive always referred to Djing as the shallow end of the talent pool when it comes to musical arts.

But man, that last %10 of DJs that love the craft, the culture and love discovering and sharing music, thats what makes it all for me. I cant think of a single DJ i like that cannot beatmatch manually (Selectas excepted of course) , whether or not they actually do it now on any given rig.

The painful process of learning beatmatching always leads to better understanding of music, timing and phrasing. Its as simple as that and its obvious to tell the DJs that have skipped these stages.

The fact that sync DJs are too scared to actually press a cue without it being quantised to a beatgrid, and lacking the basic timing that lets them cut a loop in real time is simply lame in my eyes, and has nothing to do with 'performance'

I imagine your right, to a degree.


But what about people who bedroom DJ? Do they also do it for the fame and fortune? In fact I'd guess quite the opposite, they'll quite happily invest 1000s with no return.

People may have low opinions of DJs, but id imagine that's somewhat to do with the image that comes with it. The festivals, night clubs etc. ... younger generations, getting in a mess, taking drugs etc etc
They still wont respect that 10%, who live and breathe music. Who, some of which, have studied the musical arts. A lot play other instruments.

.... And not to mention the commercial "dance" music teeny bopper sh*t that they play on the radio. That's not going to help our cause.

I never plan to play to an audience, but I want to play songs that I want to hear, have fun doing it ........

...... guess I'm lame !!

But I can beatmatch, sometimes.

(its only been a week since i've gathered my equipment though).

[dj wo k]

Hi ,when you sinc you also need to beatmatch manualy by the way to "MOVE GRID MARKER" it's a wrong to think the sinc is a auto ... i play in sinc on 4 decks + also real vinyls on 3 decks ,if you want playing synced decks +vinyls or cd's etc you need to assigne on your gear" tempo bend master ",in sinc you can play vinyls + maschine easily "we all speack techno logic music"