Tempo Changes

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Tempo Changes

I’ve been mixing for a while now, and my mixes are starting to get smooth around 75% of the time. I have been a digital DJ from the start, so I’ve never really worked with tempo control. I try to get my beatgrids done right, so I mostly just press sync. I have learned to beatmatch on CDJs, so I do know a few things about tempo.

My problem however is that most of my mixes stay at the same BPM all the time, which is mainly dictated by the first song, since I just sync all the others. I know this isn’t going to make me a good DJ, so I would like some tips from you guys.

I mostly play techno/house, so most of my music will be 120-130 BPM, because of this the tutorial by Ean is of no use to me, since I just want to change the BPM to control the energy on the dance floor, and to have the songs sound the way the producer wanted them to, if you get my point.

How can I work subtle BPM changes into a set?

2

By slowly changing the bpm up or down?

3

That makes sense…

I was kinda hoping for awesome stuff with effects or breaks or something like that :stuck_out_tongue:

4

It’s not magic it’s really the basic stuff that makes or breaks a good set you can throw in all those special effects and one shots and it may help the mood but if your just trying to up the flow I usually start at around 123BPM and slowly work my way to around 130-131. Slowly upping it every song that way the change isn’t noticed.

5

What he said. If I want to make a drastic change I’ll wait for a break in the song or something with less beat and move it a bunch then, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. :slight_smile:

6

from 128 electro to 140 dubstep

  1. beatmatch dubstep trak to 128 bpm electro
  2. wait for break in electro/drop in dubstep
  3. cut to dubstep trak and cut to 140
  4. ???
  5. profit
7

When going from 128 Electro to 140 dubstep, I usually wait for a build up in the electro track, ramp the tempo to about 135 and meet the drop of the dubstep track there.

8

Thanks for the tips!

9

Breakbeats always sound “slower” than house tempo even at the same tempo, so this is an easy was of using the tricks above to get 10BPM higher in one go - go from straight 4/4 house to a break in a breakbeat song. When the beat comes in again, it’s faster but as it’s a breakbeat it kinda feels OK.

10

You could beat juggle your faster track at the same speed as the slower one, then wack that in at a faster speed.

You could echo out the old track as per Ean Golden’s tutorial on the front page somewhere, then have it speed up to the new track.

11

yeah normaly it works. the crowd won’t recognise the tempo change when the brake is long enough and no basse and other deep tunes are around. but don’t change more than about ± 5 BPM otherwise the change is to hard.(for my taste)

12

X2

13

Good tips, this was something I’ve been meaning to ask as well, thanks for posting it OP.