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hey guys. ive been djing about a year now and i can beatmatch fine, espescially when i use pioneer cdj's. but at home i use stanton t62's and when i use them i find i have to concentrate so much more to get the tracks in time. could it be the motor on my beginner decks isnt strong enough and could sometimes go out of time? also do the needles on turntables affect the quality much? coz i think that could also be a problem aswell as my mixer being shite. i hope to upgrade all this at some point but at the moment im trying to get a mac n stuff together.

thanks

Yeah I think you answered your own question there dude.

The motors on budget price decks are shite. Not only that but the pitch controls tend to waiver too.

The plus side is that once you have learnt to mix on budget decks you will find that mixing on pro decks is a piece of piss by comparison. The mixer shouldnt affect the record slipping in and out of time but it may effect how well/early you hear the beat beginning to slip out. Good quality needles will last longer and be more gentle on your expensive vinyls so always get the best ones you can afford.

Good luck man.

most decks will have a different feel to them, some are easier than others thats just how they are made. Just gotta practise on as many as you can I guess just in case you get a weird model come up at a gig.

needles make a difference to the sound,
the mixer also does, make sure it isn't going into the red

well the t62s are direct drive, so unless the motors or pitch controls are going, i'm going to say it's probably just because you are used to looking at the bpm on the cdjs instead of actually listening and being able to match by ear without visual reference. i started on belt driven and i've been using cheap numark tt200s heavily for the past 8 years or so with no problems. you definitely have to be careful with belt driven and i pretty much only used the pitch controls to make corrections and never touched the record or platter...too sensitive.

nah i learnt on my t62's its just when i use my mates cdjs i find it a lot easier. what im trying to say is that when iget the beats perfectly matched in my headphones i will then take them off and drop the track it'll have gone slightly out of time. that doesnt seem to happen on cdj's for me and ive never played on a really good pair of turntables so i dont know if its a lot different etc

perhaps i am touching the platter too much actually. dont really know how to correct it any other way though

JFK wrote:The plus side is that once you have learnt to mix on budget decks you will find that mixing on pro decks is a piece of piss by comparison....

Definitely true, it's embarassing to admit, but i learned on belt-drive turntables. by ear, i learned to get the BPM as close as possible with the pitch-control and then i would pinch the top of the platter just slightly with a certain frequent rhythm(the little thingie that keeps the record in place, what the hell is that called?) and this would let me keep the beat matched for up to hours if i wanted. as a result, i ended up training my ears to focus on 2 beats at once at all times... when i finally got to technics, it was really easy. Last time i DJed, i think i annoyed some people dancing because they just wanted to hear one track(their favorite track unaltered), instead of a nicely matched mix that lasted for almost 10 mins(admittedly, after calming down my ego, i realized that part of being a DJ is probably knowing when to say when for your audience... i suppose...?... )... Excellent ear training at the very least!

cool i'll try that. to be fair i am probably also slightly out of practice as i left my decks at uni over summer haha

well if it goes out of time, then it's probably not matched exactly. that or your motors/pitch controls are off. try playing doubles at the same speed and at the same time and see if either drifts. that would at least help you determine if it's your tables or just your beat matching skills. as long as you're using the same technique for cueing up records as you do cds, i don't see why there would be a difference unless it's just in your release. only difference is you're pushing a play button for cds and letting go of a record on tables. with both there is still the chance to play/release too early or too late and you have to correct accordingly. touching the record or platter is your worst enemy unless you're super gentle. i think it's better to learn using only the pitch controls to make corrections, but i'm constantly riding the pitch and pinch/spin the spindle or drag/spin the label gently to make corrections. everyone's got their own techniques, you just have to use what's easiest and most comfortable for you.

oh yeah the torque on my decks are really bad i kinda have to push it as i release, i cant just let go which is annoying

TIME TO UPGRADE

JFK wrote:The plus side is that once you have learnt to mix on budget decks you will find that mixing on pro decks is a piece of piss by comparison.

this is the one! very good point

DO NOT change your shit turntables man! thats what i keep on telling everyone whos into learning to beatmatch. even at home i have a pair of shitty vestax and 1210 ones. so on my desk i have one of each! and everytime i go on the other deck - everything changes! the resistance, the engine speed all this shit is very different btween the two so it makes some kind of artificial obstacles in front of you, making you stronger in the end. i knew people who learn to breakdance with weights tied to their legs!