Perfecting Beat Grids... need a little advice
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  1. #1
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    Default Perfecting Beat Grids... need a little advice

    Hi all,

    Before I get into topic, I want to first mention that I understand beat-gridding is not the end-all-solution for everything. Yes, there are tracks with fluctuating tempo, sure as hell can't grid that. Yes, sync and quantize won't help you when you need to mix into different tempos, that just takes practice. But I'm one of those that firmly believe "hey, if it's there to help me, why not?"

    I mean, are the old-school-vinylers really still waging their Holy Crusade on us new MIDI kids? (joking joking, don't rip my head off please.)

    Anyways, to cut to the chase: I'm quite OCD about my beat gridding, and I really need you guys to shoot me some pointers because this is driving me nuts.

    Do I set my grids here:
    Screen Shot 2016-06-09 at 8.14.20 PM.png

    or here?
    Screen Shot 2016-06-09 at 8.15.08 PM.png

    Reason why I'm asking is I realized some tracks I go with the former, and some tracks the latter. I really want to try and get them all on the same page. Yes, the difference may be super tiny but I swear sometimes I can hear that kick double-up like a quick double tap. (maybe just placebo effect?)

    What do you guys think? Here's the spacing difference:
    Screen Shot 2016-06-09 at 8.14.51 PM.png

    Thanks in advance, love ya mean it.

  2. #2
    Tech Mentor Chael's Avatar
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    When I comes to traktor grids I find everyone does things a little differently but the principles are the same. I would say both are set a little too early, you want to be aiming for getting it as tight as possible to the first transient of the kick. The best way to do this is using your ears instead over the waveform as a visual aid. Obviously you can use your eyes to get it in the "ball park" area but then tweek it using you ears and the metronome until it falls into place. Once you have one track sitting on a tight grid use that one to grid all your other tracks, that way you have a common anchor for the rest of your collection and everything should be lined up in a uniform fashion. One thing to listen out for is phasing issues, I find with traktor beatgrids some kick drums seem to loose their clarity when synced with certain other tracks (no matter how tight my grids are) which can leave some mixes loosing the punch of the drums. If I ever end up doing something complicated with loops and numerous tracks rolling at once and I do use sync I mix with I make sure tempo sync activated in the settings, this way I can nudge it slightly to the left or right to get that punch of the kick back into the mix. Check out Ean's beatgrid tips video on the DJTT youtube channel that should pint you in the right direction

  3. #3
    DJTT Moderator Dude Jester's Avatar
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    Put it a right up against the first peak, even a tad more. You can grid up most tracks in a matter of seconds with a little practise.
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  4. #4
    Tech Guru astromech's Avatar
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    It doesn't matter as long as all your beatgrids are consistent.
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  5. #5
    DJTT Moderator Dude Jester's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by happydan View Post
    It doesn't matter as long as all your beatgrids are consistent.
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  6. #6
    Tech Guru Patch's Avatar
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    Not so sure... Something about transients, and the difference in distance between grid markers and the start of the transient.
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  7. #7
    Tech Guru astromech's Avatar
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    Personally, I beatmatch to the metronome tick, but my friend only ever adjusts if Traktor reads incorrectly. Potaytoes/potahtoes.
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  8. #8
    DJTT Moderator Dude Jester's Avatar
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  9. #9
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    Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by happydan View Post
    It doesn't matter as long as all your beatgrids are consistent.
    Word on this, was basically what I was going off of this whole time.

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