Mastering BPM

[dj tandav]

How do somebody can Master the art of BPM.... Today lots of equipments gives you BPM but it is said that its not fair to depend on the technology. How do you master this..

pls help

[Sigma]

You could be talking about 1 of 2 different things here: -

1. Figuring out the BPM of tracks and hearing a track and thinking "that's a similar speed to tracks A, B and C".

2. Beatmatching, i.e. getting both tracks to the same BPM.

In both cases, it's just something you pick up with experience.

Also, if you're using vinyl or burning tracks to CD, don't be afraid to write the BPM on there as it can be helpful. With vinyl, try and use labels that are easily removable though, because you never know if any records you own will become collectible a few years down the line and writing on the record label or sleeve can devalue it.

[Sedna]

^ Write down the BPM if you don't have accurate counters.


Counting beats isn't hard to learn, but it's certainly not necessary every time you load a deck. I'm a Physics major, and if I manually calculated every single equation I deal with by hand I'd fucking off myself. Same thing applies to DJing. Some pompus asshole telling you to always count beats because that's the "real" way is probably just trying to make himself feel prestigious and important.

[Finnish_Fox]

Today lots of equipments gives you BPM but it is said that its not fair to depend on the technology. How do you master this...

Do you have ears? If you answered yes, you are all set!

[Finnish_Fox]

Counting beats isn't hard to learn, but it's certainly not necessary every time you load a deck. I'm a Physics major, and if I manually calculated every single equation I deal with by hand I'd fucking off myself. Same thing applies to DJing. Some pompus asshole telling you to always count beats because that's the "real" way is probably just trying to make himself feel prestigious and important.

Ummm... unless you are playing a set where the BPM varies wildly, perhaps. Never found the need to write down BPMs for just house music, for example.

[Finnish_Fox]

You could be talking about 1 of 2 different things here: -

1. Figuring out the BPM of tracks and hearing a track and thinking "that's a similar speed to tracks A, B and C".

2. Beatmatching, i.e. getting both tracks to the same BPM.

Are they really that different? Doesn't #1 play into #2?

In both cases, it's just something you pick up with experience.

Practice! Practice! Practice!

Also, if you're using vinyl or burning tracks to CD, don't be afraid to write the BPM on there as it can be helpful. With vinyl, try and use labels that are easily removable though, because you never know if any records you own will become collectible a few years down the line and writing on the record label or sleeve can devalue it.

That's why you buy doubles, if not triples or quadruples in some cases.

[dj tandav]

So just by listening you can judge the BPM ??? i guess there shud be some science to it...

[Finnish_Fox]

So just by listening you can judge the BPM ??? i guess there shud be some science to it...

By listening, I can judge the relative BPM of track B - whether it is slower or faster than track A - and make the necessary adjustments. I've personally never been quizzed about the native BPM of my tracks... I've only been asked to mix them together.

[Ohmega]

After countless hours of mixing it starts to make some sense. You get used to what staple tempos sound like, such as 125, 128, 132, 135, 138, 140. From there its just a matter of simple deductions. At 128 BPM a 1% move will be 1.28 BPM resulting in either 129.28 BPM or 126.72 BPM depending on if you speed up or slow down. It's as simple as moving the decimal place over one. You start to use this "unknowingly" to calculate pitch adjustments. After that its truly a matter of practice and listening to your tunes properly before bringing them into the mix. Most of the time I find people get close but do not properly check the mix with the headphone cue features or PFL vs Master relations. That slight .01-.02 offset becomes a big deal when you are doing long overlays.

There are various software freeware that will look at the BPM of a track and give it to you so you can either write it down on the vinyl sleeve or catalog your CD disks. I am a bit of a fanatic of this. I have all my CDs with the BPM listed and what genre they belong to and when they were purchased. On my vinyl I have small sticker dots (like the ones you used in elementary school) on the vinyl sleeve. I have a dot for each tune on the vinyl and it stated the BPM for quick reference. I also used neon dots so they illuminate in the black light.

Building a catalog and BPM matching kind of go hand in hand. Wild swings from 128 to 140 will just not work so selecting the right track at the right time is key to almost everything with DJing. The right tune does not need an overwhelming amount of work to fit, a risky chance tune does and often results in a off color mix. At least that has been my experience in the 10 years I have been at this.

And sometimes you just have to ride the pitch fader to make things work due to poor track creation from the artist. Anyone with a computer can make music these days, does not mean it fits the proper beat structure though...

Well thats my 2 cents on this issue, hope it helps.

[dj tandav]

Hi Ohmega, i got what ur trying to say... i hope writing bpm on your catalogue initially make sense for the beginner but my next question is i have lots of songs collection how do i identify BPM in it and write on cd catalogue i may sound bit nursery kid but im sure everybody goes thru it