Question on bpm, keys and beatmatching

[Dubzteppa]

if it's a perfectly made tune and rig they should all be set at unity gain
otherwise based off your first tune. it's called mixing for a reason heh

yeah i was just wondering what to keep them at once a tune is fully in.. so basically most people run them at the centre, not all up full?

[morigami]

The EQs at the centre point is how the tune has been produced to sound like. Just like in producing you cut more frequencies than you boost. So if you want to the treble on deck one to be more prominent, cut some treble on deck two. Saying that, if I get a really quiet tune that is noticeably quiet than the other even with full gain, then I will boost each EQ channel a little bit to compensate.

[deadly_habit]

just to get easy eq and mixing wise get some house
it's alot more forgiving than dubstep etc and a great starting point

[serox]

hey everyone, noob question coming up..

well, ive just started dj'ing a few weeks back and have a question about beatmatching,

When people choose what songs to mix do they take into account the BPM and key, for example, do people mainly mix say a 140bpm song into another 140bpm song that both have similar keys (say 7b and 8b)?

or do people often mix say a 140bpm track into a 135bpm track both of which have disimilar keys? and do people always take note of the bpm and key of the tracks, or just do it by ear?

i know im putting this in a really awkward way but im having difficulty mixing certain tracks together, i have a set of cdj's and a mixer that do not have a bpm counter and am finding it really hard to get the beats to match without clashing or sounding nasty with two tunes that have diff bpm's

any tips or advice for a noob who really wants to improve?

I never really pay much attention to what key things are in. Dubstep is all around the same tempo so you don’t really need to watch the bpm. What is more important is the pace of the tracks you are mixing. Try and get records that feel like they are the same speed if that makes sense? Hi hats/percs can make a record feel slow or fast I think. You may want to try and keep the same vibe going. Some artists feel have a different vibe going on to others so picking tunes/artists that sound similar will help avoid the problem with sounds clashing.

[Dubzteppa]

another question, ive just bought a citronic cds6 and am loving it apart from a few things im not sure on..

why does the bpm reading often show the halftime 70bpm or otherwise?

and why when i know for sure a tune is 140 bpm, does it say its 149? and then swap around, varying loads even going to like 90

i was hoping to use this function as a way of mixing say a 140 tune into a 149 tune (btw, more of a guide till i get the feel of it, i am NOT beatmatching digitally forever)

but this function has not helped at ALL, and has only confused the hell outta me.. please someone help!

[morigami]

This isn't the answer you want to hear, but don't rely on the bpm counters in any shape or form especially if you are starting out. Beat-matching isn't easy and takes a while to get to grips with, but it'll take longer to get the longer you rely on bpm counters.

[karmacazee]

Man, split hearing takes a while to learn, doesn't it?

I've been practicing for a few months, and only now I'm starting to naturally 'know' whether something's faster or slower, but I still don't get it every tune, and still have to rely on the BPM counter to give me a reference. Wish I'd learned on decks that didn't have a handy little BPM counter on them.

I like to stick a bit of masking tape over them sometimes when I feel like challenging myself, and it really helps.

[Dubzteppa]

thanks for the advice everyone.. yeah it is pretty difficult haha.. can someone just make clear for me, is this normal behaviour for a cdj, or is their something wrong with it?

[karmacazee]

Mine does it too, shows all sorts of odd values. Usually things with a lot of swing or loads of triplets will confuse it.

[Dubzteppa]

Hey guys, question on song structure and mixing...

Right, ive noticed dj's doing this often and have often wondererd how it is done properly (its happened to me a few times but its always been just a nice coincidence)... anyway,

when mixing how do you line up drops? like say your mixing out of a track and it has a nice build up before the drop, how do you line that up with the second track you are mixing in, so that they basically drop at the same time (and then you can take one out or do whatever).

is it something to do with bars? like each track has a verse then breakdown then drop? im kind of confused but would love to know how to learn this technique as it sounds so good when a track finishes off with a vocal sample or whatever and is then blended with the next track.

please someone help!

[morigami]

Pretty much every tune will follow this general structure:

Intro
Chorus
Verse
Break
2nd Chorus
2nd Verse
Outro

These sections will usually be multiples of 16 bars. Use this as a template for the example: 16 bar intro, 32 bar chorus, 32 bar verse, 16 bar break, 32 bar chorus, 32 bar verse, 16 bar outro. Say you want to mix in a tune that has a 16 bar intro and have it kick in on the 2nd chorus: you mix it at the beginning of the first tune's 16 bar breakdown and the two chorus sections will kick in at the same time. But if you want the 2nd tune to kick in just before the break starts, then you mix it in 16 bars into the verse.

So when to mix in? Depends on what you are trying to achieve.

-If you want the energy to keep going and not have to go through a breakdown, then mix in your 2nd tune before the 1st's breakdown.
-If you want a chilled gentle mix, then mix in the breakdown.
-If the 2nd chorus drop on the 1st tune is different from the first, or is just generally kick ass anyway, then start mixing it in on or after that bit. You can tease the 2nd tune in earlier than this and cut out again.
-If you want a proper double drop, then line up the 2nd tune so that it'll kick in when the first tune 2nd chorus kicks in.

There's lots of ways to shake it up a bit, don't just rely on the one method.

[morro_e]

thanks for the advice everyone.. yeah it is pretty difficult haha.. can someone just make clear for me, is this normal behaviour for a cdj, or is their something wrong with it?

nothing is wrong
it always does that for something as loose as dubstep is. its not the house music.

[Mutiny]

Hey everyone, this is Dubzteppa (i created a new account)

I just wanna say a massive THANKS to all that have helped me! I played my first ever set at a nightclub last night and it felt great haha, without all your little tips i still wouldnt even understand beatmatching, so yeah i just wanna give a huge big up to all you helpers on the forum, thanks so much!

[morro_e]

your chest!