Mixing into track with no kick at beginning of phrase + CD Managemenet?

[Inferno]

Hey guys

2 questions here i thought i would group

1. Im moving away from serato to learn better beatmatching unassisted by tech. My issue is, say a track starts with just a pad or something or the kick comes in 8 bars in mid phrase. If i want to phrase match with the playing track so for example new drop hits at breakdown of old track how do i do that if i cant start the new track easily and matched from the beginning of the 16 bar phrase? Hopefully thats clear. In serato its easy as you just get the beginning of the wave form lined up and its good to go...just wondering how I can handle this...

2. If i want to burn CD's how do you guys recommend doing it effectively? I used to burn 12 tracks on 2 CD's at a time but I find it hard to write down all the tracks on the CD's vs just 1 track per CD clearly labelled...

[Era 7]

1. 99% of the time in electronic music every element of the track follows the same tempo, meaning even when there are just pads going you can still count beats. you just have to figure out where the 1 count is at the beginning. if you don't have a kick drum, you have to focus on other instruments or elements to match them up. for example a melody or hi-hats. there really is no easy way here. you just have to train your ear until you are able to do it.

2. if you are using a CD-wallet, you can use a small sheet of paper for all your track info and keep it with the corresponding CD.

[Inferno]

1. 99% of the time in electronic music every element of the track follows the same tempo, meaning even when there are just pads going you can still count beats. you just have to figure out where the 1 count is at the beginning. if you don't have a kick drum, you have to focus on other instruments or elements to match them up. for example a melody or hi-hats. there really is no easy way here. you just have to train your ear until you are able to do it.

2. if you are using a CD-wallet, you can use a small sheet of paper for all your track info and keep it with the corresponding CD.

right yea, its just hard to go to a bit with kicks, tempo match then get back to the start, work out how to find a 1st beat with no kick and then get it all lined up properly. As you say most of the time theres a kick or hats but on the odd occasion it really screws me.

Also yea paper would work but i can see it getting worn out or lost etc

[xs2man]

Get a printer that prints cd's? Then get printable cd's. Then you can just use a smaller font and get all the track details on there.

CD's are cheap too, so you could reduce the number of tracks on a single cd to 6 or 8, and increase your font size.

As for the mixing issue. As Era said, it's just practice. Once you really know your tracks, and have the time put in to recognise the count, you can do it. It's not particularly easy, but do-able.

[Inferno]

Get a printer that prints cd's? Then get printable cd's. Then you can just use a smaller font and get all the track details on there.

CD's are cheap too, so you could reduce the number of tracks on a single cd to 6 or 8, and increase your font size.

As for the mixing issue. As Era said, it's just practice. Once you really know your tracks, and have the time put in to recognise the count, you can do it. It's not particularly easy, but do-able.

i didnt think about a CD printer i assumed that would be expensive!

[xs2man]

Nah, my last 2 printers were cd printable printers. They are usually just the same price as any other printer really.

£63 http://www.ebuyer.com/399459-canon-p...-fi-6219b008aa

[Sigma]

I also have a Canon Pixma printer (IP4700) that prints directly on to discs and it's great.

[drop1]

If you have tracks giving you trouble you can download audacity and copy another section of the track that has kicks and move them to the intro. Super easy to do.

[novadnb]

I just moved to using a single track per CD. If my CDJs handled flash drives I'd go that way, but CDs are cheap so no biggie. For tracks that are "quiet" in the beginning, I'll fast forward to where the beat comes in so I can get the track beatmatched to what's currently playing. Once it's matched you can start it from the beginning knowing the tracks will line up (or just need a little nudge to get in time).

[JackStalk]

Pioneer CDJ-1000s (and probably others) enable you to save cue points on the memory of the unit or on a cue card. I'll put the CDJ in stutter mode and set the cue point at the second the kick first starts coming into frame. The CDJs also have an auto-cue feature which, when enabled, will automatically cue up your track to the first kick if its withing the first few seconds of the track (some tracks don't have the kick exactly at 0:00)

I burn 12 tracks per CD, and make one other copy of that CD usually. Each track is in a different key on the camelot wheel (1A or 1B for track 1) and it enables me to know what key I'm in with a quick glance at the HUD.