How to precisely drop a beat without sync?

[deathsupport]

I've been bedroom DJ'ing for a while now with my Hercules RMX and Traktor Pro, and I'm familiar with the sync vs no sync debate. This isn't about that. For the record I've had a go at beatmatching more than once and didn't find it to be that difficult, and I'm sure if I sit down and spend a few more sessions I'll get the hang of it.
My question concerns dropping a beat. For example, Track A has a build up and at the drop I want to play the highs and mids of Track B. Up to now I've been relying on the sync button after I hit play to beatmatch the two songs, specifically to ensure that they are in phase. How can I avoid using the sync button for this scenario?
I've thought of starting Track B with no volume earlier on, beatmatching by ear, and then throwing the volume fader up at the drop. This doesn't appeal to me because I can easily under/overshoot the position of the volume fader. Instead, I can use the xfader but the same concern applies, just a little less so. Also, starting a track earlier means I have to set all my cue points X number of beats before the actual drop. This doesn't appeal to me either because, for logical purposes, I'd like my cue points to be set at a drop.

Can anyone give any insight as to how they do this without hitting sync?

[xs2man]

Practice.

[Pri yon Joni]

^^^^^ agreed

[DJNR]

If you have quantize on it should work.

[Sigma]

Regarding the under/overshoot of the volume with the line fader, make sure your gains are properly set and then you can just whack the line fader to the top. Check the pinned Gains 101 thread if you don't know how to use the gains properly: -

http://www.djforums.com/forums/showt...ow-to-use-them

I tend not to drop a track in before the actual in point (the point where the mix goes live out of the speakers), but you can do that. It takes some of the risk out of it, because when you drop a track in at the exact point you have to get it right, while if you drop it in early with the line fader down, you have some time to quickly nudge it into line if you dropped it in just slightly out.

The technique I use a lot with turntables - and I don't know if this will translate over to your gear, but I'll mention it anyway - is "baby scratch cueing". So I would cue up the track at the point where I want to drop it in. The gains and beatmatching have already been sorted. Then I baby scratch it back and forth in my headphones in time with the track that's playing, before opening the fader and dropping it into the live mix at the same time. So nobody actually hears the baby scratching cos it's just done in my headphones. While I can just drop tracks in while holding the record still and doing it, I find that the baby scratch cueing technique helps with two things - timing, because the motion you're doing is in time with the beat, and in the case of vinyl mixing it means that the record has forward momentum when you let it go, which prevents any slurring that can send the tracks out of time.

[aaron altar]

The technique I use a lot with turntables - and I don't know if this will translate over to your gear, but I'll mention it anyway - is "baby scratch cueing". So I would cue up the track at the point where I want to drop it in. The gains and beatmatching have already been sorted. Then I baby scratch it back and forth in my headphones in time with the track that's playing, before opening the fader and dropping it into the live mix at the same time. So nobody actually hears the baby scratching cos it's just done in my headphones. While I can just drop tracks in while holding the record still and doing it, I find that the baby scratch cueing technique helps with two things - timing, because the motion you're doing is in time with the beat, and in the case of vinyl mixing it means that the record has forward momentum when you let it go, which prevents any slurring that can send the tracks out of time.

^^^That's how I do it with vinyl. With my controller I tap in time next to the play button until I get the beat I want to start on and then tap the play button. It's like button mashing with cdjs. It takes practice but you get better at it in time. I tried baby scratching with the controller but it didn't react the same for me on my set up.

[Sigma]

Yeah, the way you do it with a controller is how I would do it too. I would only use the technique I mentioned if the particular controller I was using accurately mimicked how a turntable worked, but like you say, some don't react in the same way. That's one advantage of vinyl really, because you are interacting directly with the medium itself and you never get any latency or digital artefacts, but obviously digital has advantages of its own too.

[Baller95]

Yeah, the way you do it with a controller is how I would do it too. I would only use the technique I mentioned if the particular controller I was using accurately mimicked how a turntable worked, but like you say, some don't react in the same way. That's one advantage of vinyl really, because you are interacting directly with the medium itself and you never get any latency or digital artefacts, but obviously digital has advantages of its own too.

Yeah that's what sucks about controllers, I guess it'll be pretty tough to replicate TT's without having a fair sized (12" is ideal) motorized jog wheel.

[Stigna]

sounds like you are confusing beatmatching with dropping the track.. unless i'm confused as to what those controllers are capable of..

you have to match the speed of each track - either by ear, DVS, or sync.

Then you must drop the track on beat at an appropriate time

[deathsupport]

If you have quantize on it should work.

Someone showed this feature to me... I was pretty amazed, it does exactly what I want. I turned it on in my Traktor but it didn't change anything at all, strangely enough. Maybe it's my install, maybe it's time to upgrade to 2.5.