I refuse to beatsync!

[Cybertrash]

<snip>.

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 speaker

[sarasin]

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!

[belchman]

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

[JSM]

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,

[Deejaesnafu]

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.

[JSM]

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!

+1 for a good explanation.

[Lew]

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.

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.

[youtube]NlB_OQ9bZbg[/youtube]

[Kelsey1B]

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?

Not everyone can! I can't play the trumpet. Tried once, and failed BADLY, nor can I do handstands. "Failure Is Always An Option"

[DJZILCH]

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)

[V-Hoff]

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

+1

And great to see you back belch!