How to Beatmatch BY EAR!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ม.ค. 2015
- Beatmatching is one of the the first steps in learning how to mix. Beatmatching well can hide transitions from your audience and surprise them by taking them in a new direction that they didn't even notice. But it has to be smooth! Otherwise it can have the opposite effect and make you look like a noob. In this video I will show you the basics of controlling both the speed and the phase of two tracks. In this demo I am using CDJ2000Nexuses and a DJM2000, but you can learn to do this on nearly an DJ hardware/software.
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Demo Tracks:
Noir- Clickit
Chris Malinchak - If U Got It (Mark Knight Remix) - เพลง
When I started practicing beatmatching by ear I would have one song playing on one deck and keep it on a loop. Then I'd use the other deck to beatmatch. Once I got it I spun the jog wheel to mess it up and then beatmatch it again. I'd do the same with different songs over and over. It really helped me and hopefully this helps someone too
NYC 2044 simple yet very practical tip. Thanks!
I am really loving the DJ community y’all are the most helpful folks fr
This definitely helps, but I think mixing full tracks also gets you into a habit of realising when to mix in and out of tracks. Start with a small collection of songs with varying tempo, then build your library as you get more confident with beat matching.
HI,
I dont know if it is the CDJ version i have of the CD Player but i find the loop function is horrible since you can hear a fine click sound, or miss if you can call it that, when you create the loop. I do of course try my best to press the buttons on the beats as possible. Ive tried to do 4 beats - so beat 1 press and then beat 4 end and even 2 beats or even 8 beats, i dont know.
Sometimes i get it perfect but its not always, and the thing is in the live mix you cant afford to have a cla-cla sound as it will ruin the tune.
@@CollosalTrollge turn on quantize
Imo you don't explain enough the working of jugging the jogwheel and adjusting the pitch fader. So i'll explain it in a more clear dummy way: You cue up and let go on the first beat of the bar. Listen and if it sounds bad you start jugging the wheel forwards or backwards untill it starts sounding "ok", leave it for a second or 2, listen and when it starts to sound bad again adjust the jogwheel again. Do you have to jugg forward to make it sound better? Ok now you know 100% sure the track you try to beatmatch has slower bpm then the main track playing out loud. If you have to jog it backwards to make it sound better the track you try to mix is obviously faster bpm.
Now each time you turn the joggwheel to a point where it starts to sound better again you adjust the pitch fader in the corresponding way. If you have to turn to joggwheel backwards (so counterclockwise) that means you try to slow down your track so you should adjust the pitchfader up (wich is MINUS) Always keep turning the joggwheel untill the beats are matched and listen how fast the beats start to drift out of sync again. The faster they drift apart, the bigger the adjustment needed on the pitchfader. There will be a moment where they will stay in beat like 10-15sec and slowly drift again, but that means you have them nearly beatmatched and the pitchfader should be adjusted VERY slightly.
The joggwheel is just a temporary adjustment of getting the beats in line, you keep them in line by actually adjusting the pitch with the pitchfader. The joggwheel is just pushing the beats, it is not adjusting the tempo of the actual song. So its prety much: joggwheel - pitchfader - joggwheel - pitchfader - .... untill you don't need to turn the joggwheel anymore and the songs are beatmatched.
nice, thank you!
I wish you made a video about this. You explained that so nicely using words... imagine with a video!
Very well explained, thank you.
Thank-you for this explanation.
I've been considering making a beatmatch video and hitting all these points you're talking about. You nailed it. It's about listening to the beat, waiting a second, keeping it in time with the wheel, and adjusting the pitch fader accordingly. Repeat as necessary. You can be really concise about it. No need to explain why you moved the jog wheels or the fader. That's what the ears are for. If you can't hear one beat differing in speed than another, you can't beatmatch.
In a couple seconds, knowing the relative speed of the new track and adjusting as needed is the whole crux.
That, and, making sure you launch your tracks on corresponding 8, 16 and 32 bar counts. Keeping track of where the phrase is on the OLD track is key to landing concise mixes.
Can't do that? Then force yourself to do it. Put a piece of paper over the waveform and tempo (all of it, not just the tempo. You can still 'cheat' by looking at the waveform and watching the beat devisions on the screen) and just learn it. Our ears are our best asset. Might as well use them.
If someone is stuck looking at a screen to beatmatch, what happens when you're on a day time stage and the sun is exactly at the right angle where you can no longer see the screen? You're fucked.
I may actually do this video. I'll have to borrow a camera..... but.... A multitrack recording of the cue feed and the main mixer output, then mix them down in ableton, roll off some of the highs from the mixer output (to simulate the sound in the headphones) while beatmatching and cut the cue channel once that's done. Probably hook up a mic and have short explanations in real time. "Too fast, jog, move fader, listen. Slightly too fast, slight jog, fader, listen. listen. slight jog. Good. Mix it."
Short, concise, to the point. Use your ears.
Great tutorial. I've seen many beatmatching tuts out there but this is one of the best. Great job!
You dont even know how big of a help you are in this video. Im a beginning house dj, defiantly like this video man
Hey man, this is a great video! I just bought a basic DDJ-SB3 kit, so I'm starting to do my homework and found this video super easy to follow! Can't wait to work on the techniques when my hardware arrives, and thanks again for the info!! Be well :)
amazing , thanks so much for taking the time and effort to do this. please keep doing what ur doing
I'm glad I stumbled across this video. Very helpful and insightful at the same time.
good job! first video which gaves me important and elementary skills. short and clear communication - like it! Your way of creating this contribution helped me a lot. your implementation is precise, comprehensible and easy to understand. thx a lot!
its a good tutorial. my main sttyle is dnb and its a little bit harder. you must focus on the snare/clap (2 and 4), cause the kick can be on 1, 3.6 and 4. but the way u explain it you can do it on every style. and most important: you can do it on every dj device. controller, cdj and (in my case) turntables... its always the same and the classic oldschool beatmatch. i used the same technic like you on my turntables so i can realy say: good tutorial for the beginners.
I am learning and this was so so helpful. Thank you for posting.
Thanks man you're the best! we need more videos like this!
That's why I love old school DJ's ❤ i really love your skills like I use
Djs today don't know there born. It was a real skill to get a vinyl to match. No bpm, no wave screen or auto sync
4/4: when the kicks starts, you start.
Breakbeat: you may match SNARES instead if the kicks (see jungle for example).
Actually you need to examine each sound how the one can blend into another one.
Holy mother of God!!! Nice setup bro!! Oh, and great video ;) But practice is key for sure. I would suggest for beginners to keep that tape on the BPM counter to really learn how to hear the mix and beat match; a skill that once learned, will never leave you.
that is how all started ! ... well done !
This tutorial was very amazing! Thanks alot!
Hi, Thank You for this good hints, I really like the one beat loop catch up, really good trick :)
Man I really liked this vid!! is just awesome!! Blesses and greetings from Colombia! :D
If your just starting out, I'd recommend beat matching on tracks at the same/similar bpms. So for me for example, I play tracks that go between 127.9-128bpm. As those fit perfectly together. It's well easy to do this without headphones once you get the hang of beat matching with headphones
LOL
Super helpful, thanks! If only I had equipment to practice on...
that mark knight remix though! love that song...
Hey Christian is is possible for you to do a room/setup tour at some point? Would be relly nice to see more of your equipment. Nice and entertaining vids also, keep up the good work! :)
hahaha shoes in the dryer is an awesome metaphor. Love the videos dude!
Really good tutorial, Vibezzz !!!
Highly informative,thanks!
Nice setup! Cheers from Lincoln Park Seattle
This is the tutorial I needed!
Very nice video. Nice voice too. Thanks a lot it helped me a lot.
Nicely done. I've been a vinyl DJ since 1986 and you are right on point. I recently went to digital and even with all the cool technology I still use this method to beat match. It just comes naturally to me. unfortunately some younglings have no rhythm and depend on the pretty colored buttons to do what our ears can do. I'm not knocking anyone It's just that some people don't have it.
Are you still around? I've been. Dj since 96 and want to start again but this new equipment is a little intimidating.
Beatmatching with your ears requires hand and ear coordination. Constant nudging or pitch bending doesn't help and becomes a crutch. Most people who do this all the time can't seem to grasp using the pitch control.
Louie Vega, Tony Humphries and David Morales, masters of using their ears, pitch control and nothing else. Their headphones don't come down until the mix is finished.
Close your eyes, use your ears, plant your hand on the pitch control. Learn how to use your headphone levels properly. Use a booth monitor if necessary. So many Djs never use a booth monitor and they blast the music from the mains trying to hear the music. Most of all, practice.
That is down to knowing how a turntable pitch control reacts and the tunes that you are mixing.
You can jerk the pitch up or down using the pitch control instead of touching the platter edge.
When you know and trust a Technics turntable, there are both options.
I have an Audio Technica AT-LP1240 deck and it is a different beast and less predictable with the pitch control way of working, it takes longer to settle to the pitch you land on after a spiked change of pitch, up or down. With that, I find that platter play is necessary until I find the sweet spot.
Hello people. If you really want to learn beatmatching start with slow hip-hop instrumentals (even if you don't like hip-hop). Slow music is much harder to mix but once you master it, you'll have no problem mixing house/techno etc... I promise!
Lust for Low-End alright I'm taking your word!
I think that uptempo is kinda harder to mix than slow bpm music
Or „old“ music which isn‘t produced on a computer, the tempo isn‘t 100% accurate the whole track, so you need to adjust all the time
I will argue the opposite. Techno and house are so phrased so perfectly to help a newbie pick out the transitions quicker.
Just my opinion, i started with 120-128 bpm-based techno/house. Its much easier to phrase and beat-match.
Do what works for you, but try everything! Fail fail fail! But keep trying. After hours of frustration, I figured out what works for me, and as it turns out, its the SAME technique our boy here is using!
Try mixing 70s 80's 12" versions... bpm jumping up down down up.. fuck hip hop r n b old school..... Master that master anything... FACT.!!!!
great stuff very easy to understand
Great video very helpful. Question though, when beatmatching in your headphones do you have it all the way to cue or do you let some of the master bleed into the cue?
If you were beat matching by ear you’d have covered the waveform as well would you not ? Just saying.
No, but you would cover the phase meter (but only if he was actually using link)
His voice is soothing ❤️💕
holy shit, that setup!
This is excellent
i have 2 tips for this.
1: set the pitch high as fuck, that way you know its faster than the other track. nudge the jogwheel backwards and slow the pitch at the same time. do this until matched.
2: slow the pitch down, but not as extreme as tip one. nudge the pitch up and down until you are matched. the nudging starts off with big movements and ends with really, really, small movements.
both works on cdjs, virtul programs and vinyl. the 2nd tip dont need nudging.
*2nd tip dont needjogwheel nudging.
great tut, thanks a lot
Would be amazing If you make a video about gain control and equalizing when mixing in tracks.
Good video Man
Nice work
Good video man!!
Nice setup....
This helps the DJ Beginner a lot maybe
Because some new DJ didn't beat matching with their ears but their machine lol
BTW, greeting from Taiwan
Nice job
Nice mixer mate
Add improper monitoring, a tricky crowd and the basic pressure of an event and you’ll be happy if you have beat sync as a backup or if not then loops and cues will be the next best thing.
I had the worst time the first time a played with CDJ, i didnt know that the bpm can change while mixing, it did it the whole set!
Thank you for the tips
you need more views man best vids out
Minute27 :)
What I usually do is a quick ride on the pitch untill im pretty close to the correct bpm and then start the mixing process and then start using the jogwheel and doing more precise beatmatching. But that requires a bit more trained ears.
I liked yr qiuck fix method using the loops) Cool, will it try tomorrow) A little late to try right away, my neighbors won't appreciate it at 1 morning)
excellent video, pls more...But mixin by ear on cdj 2000 nexus is like:"learn to drive stick in Mercedes benz S500"
awesome!
hey man, you got any videos on mixing on key? thanks
Even with the BPM meter taped over you still get a lot more assists on this digital setup than you do on a vinyl setup with only the sound and no readouts.
Great vid.Do you always keep the bass of the incoming track up at 12 o clock when mixing?
DROOOOOOOL at that setup
Wauw,, mad skills.
I actually loved when you started on the 2 instead of the 1. Made it better for me 4 some reason
Nice vid how bout doing same with couple of 70s 80's 12"versions... that will really test your/anyone's skills...
sick setup
great video :)
Thank you soooooo much🙏😭
Thank you!!!
really helpful thanks :)
Thank you so much
Good video and everything but i watch a lot of these tutorials and the DJ uses house/EDM music for all the demonstration. I'd like to see a video where someone uses hip hop or pop, maybe even reggae to make their point. something with lyrics, chorus, bridges. That's the type of music i play. I just think House/EDM music all sounds relatively the same and is around 124-128 BPM.
+Brenton Jenkins You probably would have better luck looking for Mobile DJ's doing video tutorials. That might give you a better variety of music that's up your alley. I spin Drum and Bass which is much more variant than this 4 on the floor house/trance stuff but it's still 4/4 timed (same with hip hop too, all 4/4 time) -- all these tips can apply to any style of music that is 4/4 time.
Beatmatching simply is training your ears to listen to both tracks at the same time, identify if the incoming track is slower or faster and adjust, then getting the first beat of the current phrase in-line and boom you're beatmatched. Now practice that day in and day out and it will eventally become second nature to beatmatch by ear, it will just come naturally like riding a bike. Best of luck man and have fun.
ultra great
I'm a 1200 technic DJ that has to deal with the fact they're not going to be 1200s everywhere I go to spin. So my question is how do I set up the tempo control to mimic a 1200 turntable? And yes can we get an example of spinning hip-hop, salsa, funk or any other challenging genre of music? Thanks!!
I started with CDJ‘s now with a controller and laptop, sometimes, just for fun, I mask the screen, so I can‘t see the bpm, just so you don‘t kinda loose it ^^
Thank you buddy
So beat matching with just 4 on the floor is not an issue for me, I have issues with beat matching tracks I’ve never heard before kind of like sight reading when you play piano but you have no idea how long the intro is or when the drop happens unless you look at the wave forms. I HAVE to do it like this most of the time because I have hardly anytime to listen and study these tracks since I get them daily by submissions. Another thing all the tracks submitted range from 70bpm-160bpm and the tracks vary in styles from trap, house to dnb but all under the same umbrella since they’re all mostly under a sub genre called Wave. Any advice besides “you have to study the track before hand”? I do listen to it once or twice usually but hardly over and over.
My mix show is mainly about new releases.
It's especially easy to beatmatch tracks from today or from 2000+. In the 90's the beats could go offbeat in a single track because of the analogue sounds and how it's made, it's way harder with old rave or techno tracks from the 90's.
not really. learn how to pitch ride and you can mix any track on the spot
it's really helpful
Nice tutorial :)))
Hey it's a very good video , you really helped me how to match well , that was one of my biggest mistakes djing , but I have some doubts yet , could you please make a little video about matching songs with of different genres like , dubstep with basshouse or trap with trance , something like that , or maybe not making a video just teach me how to mastering that kind of things , because I don't want to play just trance for example , I mean mixing 128 bpm to 124 bpm , change the rythm , you got it? please help me with that Great video again
wow !!! i was more caught up in your equipment
Christian can you do a video on when to load the incoming track correctly coz I suck in that
u da man
Informative
Someone who knows how to dj at last!
In some of the other videos im watching the the tempo from the jog wheel can go out of time soon after correctly beatmatching and on some they stay locked in. does that have to do with the master lock on the cdj or something else?
First off it was never my intention to make you feel guilty about not having turntables. I was just stating that beat matching with vinyl would hone your mixing skills better. I do realize a good set of decks aren't cheap but if you keep up with djing. I guarantee you'll be spending money on equipment and there's no 2 ways about it. I admit I'm bias towards turntables because I'm older and started djing with vinyl. But I've also embraced the digital world and believe me that wasn't cheap either. Have you seen the price of a new serato sl3 lol. Look I have mad respect for all dj's whether young or old, analog or digital. But it is an expensive venture whether it's a hobby or you're pursuing a career.
As for my opinion about turntables I think there's sooo much more selection now then when I started. Technics are great but expensive. You have a lot of options with companies like Numark and Stanton so it's just a matter of doing your research and what you feel more comfortable with.
And again I meant no disrespect my friend. Without younger people getting interested in djing the art will be lost.
nobody likes the "shoes in the dryer situation" lol
Can you do this by ear on analogue, well ok cover the display completely. you had wave form showing, I have vinyl and no visuals to aid me, so would find that really helpful. many thanks
Same with Dnb you match the kicks
Simple and great tutorial, thank you :)
it helped me thanks
Because I mix dnb predominantly using the bpm slider usually takes far to long when I’m trying to go for things like doubles, switches or triples as I usually have my hotcues set 16 beats before the drop, I know how to beat match because with stuff like house and garage it’s not as quick. But dnb I struggle and have to use sync else I’ll miss the queen points. How do you change the bpm quicker than the bpm slider?
Personally I don't think dropping off the 1 is a problem or a mistake it gives the mix a different energy in the same way as colouring or eq especially if you've waltz into a drone, where you've been playing too similar bpm, key or style.
This is not beat matching by ear. You have a visual indicator. i.e. the Wave Form on your CDJ's. You had a good intent, I would like to see you do that again with the whole screen covered. I actually don't get why people are upset about the equipment. There's nothing wrong with using new equipment and new techniques to improve one's DJ set.
Do you not need to still adjust on the pitch control when correcting with the jog wheel? :)
+xamela1 only if the bpm changes during the song.
Are you supposed to hear both songs in the headphones or just one? I find it tough to beat match when there’s one song outside and one in the headphones so I play them both in the headphones. Is this wrong?
Thanks --good video, btw whats that silver unit on top?
+Marco Ramsaroop Pioneer RMX1000 effects mixer
I knew this guy was real when he was like, "I have tape"
Mushed Vibes Media lol u know don't ya
Are those 2000s or 2000 nexus cdjs? If 2000 how do you get the top waveforms
Where would you start for this différents genre?
Dancehall Moomba Afrobeat