beat matching do you or dont you
beat matching do u or don’t you
do u press the sync button. do u think u need to understand beat match now days or is it a skill that will die out
i do, have done since 1998…but i will admit when i first got traktor i did play out a few times at commercial venues using sync, but then got bored…
…however the T Squared venture im half of, we use sync for obvious reasons…when juggling 4-8 channels of audio its essential
??
Well…you DEFINATELY need to know and understand beatmatching and phrasing in order to DJ effectively.
Without this fundamental skill…you will not feel very proud of your skill set.
I have been beatmatching for more than 10 years and know I can do it in my sleep.
I have proved I can be tight as fuck…over and over.
No need to prove it to anyone anymore I feel.
I don’t press the sync all the time. I use Sync Lock. So this leaves me time to do other MUCH more interesting things than Beatmatching. Makes DJing MUCH more fun for me…
However, sometimes I don’t beatgrid my tracks well enough and they will be out.
Then its just a matter of Pitch Bend to correct it.
I do feel that it is something you need to know in order to be a good DJ.
Sure, you could be able to kill it in a session without ever having beatmatched before…due to Traktor helping you there. But I am sure if you are skipping that aspect and skill…you will skip others too. Just mixing like you would with Vinyl or CD’s and a mixer…on Traktor when using Sync is just NAFF. Its a cop out.
You doing nothing more with the time saved by Syncing. That to me is a FAIL!
Sync is there to save you time…in order to give you time to do cooler things.
Not stand and Pose!
The actual skill in beatmatching is not getting the tracks to be the same tempo…any monkey can restart a track while adjusting the pitch. In time…you will find it. Practice and it comes faster!
The actual skill you learn is being able to hear WHICH track is losing or gaining time and fix it without the punters noticing. The skill is knowing whether to speed up or slow down. If you having to check both sides…then you don’t really have it yet.
You have it when you can hear the instant it is off beat and know whether to nudge forward or backwards.
IMHO.
weekly sync appreciation, nice.
i tend to walk to work. i like to prove i can put one foot in front of the other. using a car to save time to get to work while talking on the phone is just
NAFF
as you put it?
what does that mean, anyway. not a yank term, im afraid.
I think people that say you don’t need to learn how to beatmatch now a days is being quite arrogant. Its a skill that i think everybody should get the basics and be able to beatmatch for at least 30 seconds..
I have proved many many times to many fellow DJ’s i play alongside i can be rock solid at beatmatching. I still have no interest in using Sync but don’t have a problem with people who do. I just think people should know how to do it.
learning how to mix two records, tracks, or whatever, is a fundamental skill all djs should know. but, with all the technology available now, you gotta keep growing.
i learned how to dj with records and how to ride a pitch on funk 45s (7") and old disco tracks. i even taught myself how to scratch. but, now i’m learning how to dj all over again with this traktor s4. and with 4 audio sources and the effects and other tools i’ve mapped to my other midi controller, that is a lot to keep up with. and having to babysit all that manually would be too much.
no respectable club is going to book someone who can’t beatmatch.
its a very basic and imo the most important skill any dj can learn.
many people think that because everything is digital they can just let the computer do all the work.
well, i’ll put one question out there.
say your doing a gig, and your software crashes, or your controller breaks, or some form of not being able to use your computer
what are you gonna do?
my answer would be use the club’s set up. which is most likely 2 turntables and 2 cdj’s
well. how are you gonna mix now, since your so used to the computer doing everything?
i have been a digital dj my whole life.
BUT. i learned all the basics and some advanced techniques to mixing using turntables.
the best and hardest way to learn.
so in short.
yes learn to beatmatch. it will help you out ALOT in the long run.
Even for those enslaved to the sync button you need to understand how to beatmatch, especially when the DJ on previously is using the decks or CDJs and you want to blend into what he’s doing …
you must be from a different planet than i’m from.
there are plenty of clubs who book hacks that can’t mix a tune to hold their salt. but, they sure can bring people in to keep the bar busy all night, all while keeping people on the dancefloor.
where i’m from, the clubs don’t just book people off the street
if you can’t mix a tune, or keep good progression, then their not going to want you playing at an event with well over 300 people
Beat matching is useless. But, while you’re learning to do it, you learn phrase matching and track structures (hopefully). If you can learn that on your own, fine. If you don’t learn that, it will always be audible in your mixes.
I also don’t understand what you’re supposedly saving time for. Everyone I’ve heard use that excuse just doesn’t seem to understand anything about what they’re doing (Ritchie Hawtin aside) and adds useless garbage to ruin every song they play. Or they do things in a harder way than they have to just to show off what you can do with sync.
I–on the other hand–use sync because it’s there. It works fine. I can fix it when it doesn’t work. And there’s nothing even remotely artistic about sync. It saves trouble.
That being said, if CDJs incorporated key shifting and–now that I’ve grown to love it–‘beats to cue’ in a reasonably priced player…I’d switch without hesitating.
quick scratch drop and slam the crossfader keeps the top40 crowd going all nite. 
At my new gig (400+/wed/sat) I do not beat match crap except the 130bpm stuff. It is all about knowing when to do the quick cuts and drops.
that’s a pretty naive statement coming from a 17 year old kid. i’ve been clubbing longer than you’ve been alive and djing long enough to know your statement is bunk.
i’ve even been to huge massives where were “big name” djs haven’t been on their A game, wrecking every other track. that doesn’t stop people from going there to see them.
hell, i’ve even had bad nights where i can’t even mix for shit, but somehow i’ve got a full dancefloor. be it the alcohol flying around or the girls in heat.
thats top40 crowd
not edm crowd
i guess the clubs where i’m from are different then other clubs.
but all of our clubs play edm and attract a very huge edm base
HEHEHEH…NAFF…is kinda like…sad…gay…dodge…
UNCOOL!
i’m just saying. its different depending on what area your from.
as i said. the area that i’m from has a very huge edm scene.
and by fucking up a mix, it really takes from the energy.
the more bad transitions the more the energy slowly fades away, the less people dancing.
Agreed!
Digital DJing is MORE than (or should be more) than just DJing.
Boosting the volume…cutting over the bass…fade out volume.
How BORING!
Digital DJing allows you to do creative mixes using FX and loops and samples.
You can remix on the fly.
Its MORE than DJing…period.
Epic Beatmatching FTW!
I can beatmatch on vinyl or CDJs if i’m spinning house or anything 4/4, but when i’m spinning breaks and DnB i rarely bother with beatmatching, since overlapping rhythm sections sounds horrible most the time, i just make sure everything is phrased correctly and let the tracks do the work.
I use sync, but only for music that i could beatmatch manually, as i don’t bother to beatmatch most dnb/breaks i just utilize good selection.
Yaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwn. Why are people still arguing about this non-issue?