4x4x4

[Kaon]

i work a job which involves a lot of walking around and i have headphones in at all times. for the most part, unless im suffering from hangover/bakeover/etc i will walk everywhere in time to the music. which bring me to realise that my average brisk is about 130bpm, this seems to be the bpm of (dare i say) most popular music, anyone see any relevance there?

[nem0nic]

Just about anything you're ever going to play in a nightclub is in 4/4. Even "step" music, breaks, and D&B are almost always in 4/4. In the example that RSDJ gave in on the first page, ALL of those songs are in 4/4 time (so is the Bangalter track).

The time signature on a song not only gives you the beats per measure and the beat value, it also gives the musician reading the music the FEEL of the music. So if a song is in 3/4, the music will have a "triplet" feel (like a waltz). In 4/4, beats are of course arranged in groups of 4. The reason certain time signatures are used has NOTHING to do with how easy they are - it's because they're meant to convey a feel as well as timing data.

But just because a song uses triplets doesn't mean it's in 3/4. Likewise, it's quite possible to have 4/4 shuffles. What makes 3/4 identifiable is the sound of it. Musical ideas complete in groups of 3 instead of 4. A good example of a 3/4 song is Obscured by the Smashing Pumpkins. On a very basic level, if you only nod your head or tap your foot once per measure, it's probably in 3/4. If you detect 2 downbeats per measure, it's probably in 4/4.

There is no such time signature as 3/3. It is not a "complex" time signature. If you disagree, please supply me with a piece of music using it.

Also, as a DJ, when you mix you're doing (at least) 2 things - you're syncing the tempo of the 2 songs (matching their BPM), and you're aligning the song's PHRASING. You can have 2 songs BPM aligned and mix them together and they'll still sound like shit if you haven't aligned the phrasing. But they will mix into each other (it will just be VERY obvious that you're mixing).

I won't get into the reasons why people don't understand how musical notation works, because I'll end up on a rant, but it's a good thing to learn for a number of reasons - even if you don't plan on producing. Knowing about musical notation allows you to identify good musical structure, which your crowd responds to at an instinctive level. It will help you pick out music that might be a problem for your dance floor. It also helps you understand how music is put together, so the act of mixing itself becomes more natural and musical.