beatgrid video question

[aiden]

In ean's beatgrid video, he said that he likes to drop his beatgrid on the snare so that "it has a better chance of syncing up with other tracks." Why is it better than dropping it on the kick?

[Fatlimey]

In ean's beatgrid video, he said that he likes to drop his beatgrid on the snare so that "it has a better chance of syncing up with other tracks." Why is it better than dropping it on the kick?

I'm guessing that's his kind of music - strong on the 3's and 7's. It's definitely easier to hear and visually find the snap of a snare in an audio stream while you're mixing, and snares or clap hits usually continue when the bassdrum is removed for a breakdown. Many good reasons to use them.

Personally I grid off the first BD in a phrase and use my rhythmic sense to get the sync. I rely on having sample-perfect cue points to do this - really zoom in on that waveform and place the cue point right on the rising edge - so that when I cue a sound the imperfections are reliably due to my actions not to sloppy cue points. My actions I can read quickly (as in "Oh shit, screwed that one up") and react to quickly but b0rked cue points just throw me out. Was it me? Was it the cue? Was the key sticky? First signs of Alzheimers? Wuh?

That's my style, Ean has his style. Do what works for you, but always try to work towards mixing from the sound not from the visuals.

[aiden]

ya, i found ean's answer to this in the blog.. that pretty much sums it up

[aiden]

So if traktor obviously has it right can u just leave it without a grid?

[DvlsAdvct]

I grid it anyway, but I'm anal like that, and I use them for cue points. Traktor might have it right in the numbers but the beat lines in the track might not be right. For example, the track might be 133bpm, it might read out at 133bpm, but there might be a section where traktor has beat marks on the upbeats too, and that can throw a sync off something fierce if it goes unchecked. :-)

And it's really easy to set a beat marker.

[Fatlimey]

So if traktor obviously has it right can u just leave it without a grid?

Exactly. I rarely grid, using it only for long breakdowns or weird tracks. I have also been known to take tracks into Live, force a grid onto the music and re-export it "regularized".