Tempo Range?
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 14

Thread: Tempo Range?

  1. #1
    Tech Student
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Posts
    3

    Default Tempo Range?

    Hi guys, I was just wondering after an 'interesting' discussion/argument with an amateur DJ the other night at a club (he was truly awful: no beat-matching, relying heavily on effects and rewind tricks to transition between tracks - no technical ability at all)... about the BPM range that you choose to play during a live set? I know this is a vague and general question but it would be good to get some other's opinion. Basically I asked him why he wasn't beat-matching and actually mixing his tracks, instead opting to cover the outro of every track with tons of annoying phaser and delay effects in order to bring in the next... and his reply was "I'm not interested in beat-matching, who wants to just play the exact same bpm stuff all night? No ability in that".

    ... Which made me think: if you house DJ's are playing a live-set, or you techno heads, how much do you really vary? I normally climb up and down through +/- 10 bpm on an average set, going through a range of keys, too... this is what I would consider a 'well put together' set. But this guy disagreed with keeping a continuous rhythm at all, i.e. playing the same tempo stuff all night is a 'weakness'. What are you thoughts?

  2. #2

    Default

    Traktor is configured to +/- 8% However I generally stay within a +/- 4% range.

  3. #3

    Default Tempo Range?

    This depends sometimes I will do 3 hour sets 45mins top 40 house mixes at around 128ish then a good hour of proggy house and breaks at around 130 then will increase to trance at 137-140 usually using effects tricks to pitch up when doing the big jumps. Bouncer or filters during first breakdowns.

    Would likely be important to mention I used to do this with pitch shift on a djm800 when I'd spin vinyl in the late 90s early 2000. I found you have to find a way to mask the pitching or else it is not worth it. Lots of time my tracks I'm going to use to pitch up I'll run trough my cue and try different effects to mask it sometimes phaser flux but mostly filter and bouncer together.

    May ways of doing big jumps


    Sent from my jailbroken iPhone

  4. #4
    Tech Student
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Posts
    3

    Default

    I don't know. I think it depends on the club. I've seen DJ's beatmatch for an hour, and not play anything the crowd wants to hear, playing to an empty floor. I've also seen DJ's mix up all kinds of favorite songs at different tempos, and have the crowd going wild. I think reading the crowd is more important than being technically perfect, but YMMV.

  5. #5
    Tech Wizard
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Columbus/Cincinnati Ohio
    Posts
    57

    Default

    I agree with mdouble... While beatmatching is a fundamental and very important, the most important thing is if the crowd is dancing or not. My club sets jump bpm quite frequently. I'll most likely start with top 40s then move to more electro house type stuff, from there jump to hip hop and midtempo/ glitch hop and end my set with dubstep/drumstep. Regardless if you stay within +/-8% or if you jump all over the place as long as the crowd is digging it and gettin down then you did your job for the night.

    Also just because you don't stay within a given bpm range and have long mixes doesn't mean your not a DJ or that you have a lack of technical skills. Mixing all those bpms and making sure the beat never stops and having no awkward transitions can be a challenge. Club settings are much different then shows or live performances. People come to clubs to meet people and get drunk with friends (and hopefully dance). You are just there to make this process smoother. At a show you are showing off all of your skills and really only playing music that speaks to you. This might just be me but when I dj clubs I think to myself "What can I play to help this poor dude in front of me get laid." As dumb as it sounds it really helps keep me focused on keeping everybody rocking and me not dropping something the crowd isn't ready for yet.

    Rant over lol sorry

  6. #6
    Tech Mentor
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Brooklyn, NY
    Posts
    141

    Default

    I say pretty much the same for the most part....125-129 bpm

    But 124-131 has been a range of some of my sets.

  7. #7
    Tech Guru DJ SB's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Los Angeles
    Posts
    771

    Default

    For the majority of the time I'm usually between 126-132 but definitely go outside of this on the reg.

  8. #8
    Tech Wizard EssBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    CA
    Posts
    65

    Default

    +1 J Hollow

    70 to 140 bpm if it's more than an hour. With moombahton becoming increasingly popular these days it's pretty easy to keep a flowing set(electronic music) going while dropping the bpm. Not to mention there's tons of transition tracks out there for big jumps, and it's not too difficult to make your own.

  9. #9
    Tech Mentor Frank112916's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Posts
    394

    Default

    when you play open format, there is no such thing as a BPM range. You just play whatever your crowd wants to hear and use transition tracks and other techniques to make the BPM shift.

  10. #10
    Tech Wizard
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Posts
    43

    Default

    There are times to do drops, go from 128 to 80 if the time of the night warrants a change. But to suggest that you can mix up and down the BPM ranges all night AND keep it smooth and logical shows a serious lack of understanding of how to DJ.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •