When two songs are not in sync but are at the same tempo, it can be kind of difficult to tell exactly which song is ahead and which is behind (for me at least... i have no experience). To me, it just sound cluttered and clearly off. Do you guys consider it "cheating" to use the level meters on the mixer as a visual aid to get them in sync? Is there a better way to do it?
I don't see how you could consider that cheating, although not really optimal imo. I just use my ears. Once you learn the tracks a little bit and get used to beatmatching you'll be able to get a handle on it. Try pulling one track ahead, see if it's better or worse. If it's better, keep going with it until it matches up. If it makes it worse, just pull it in the opposite direction until you get the desired result.
Take off your headphones and play around with 'em. I learned real quick which one to adjust.
DJM-850 | Technics 1210 M5G x 2 | CDJ-900 x 2 | RCF 312A MKIII x 2 - Soundcloud
1-v-1 Battle Record: 1-0 / 1-v-1-v-1 Battle Record: 0-1
it gets easier as you get the hang of it, soon becoming second nature allowing you to notice if you have to speed up or slow down.
Try this, if the beats are similar, try zoning in on a specific element of the incomin track and try to get that in tempo with the other track. Instead of only listening for the kick, focus on the hi hats. Not sure if makes sense to you, but Its all about trainning your ears.
What equipment is giving you the bpm readout? Not everything is perfect. Especially on the pitch altered track. The best bpm counter you can trust are your ears. If the bpm counter shows to the whole number, i.e - 125bpm, then its not realiable.
Decimal readouts are more accurate cuz trust me, there is a difference between 125.14bpm and 125.54 bpm. That half of a beat difference can and will cause the songs to drift. Remeber, your ears are the best tool. If they are the same bpm but still are "out of sync", nudge that platter. With time your ears will be trained to hear the track ahead/behind.
What kind of an asshole makes a song at 125.54 BPM?Originally Posted by nolimitz
If a song is pitched up or down it wouldnt be an even whole number...would it?
Lots. Why is that an asshole thing to do?
Right now, I'm just using Virtual DJ while I wait for my gear to arrive... so I haven't even tried it with headphones. The other half of the problem is that I'm using my laptop's trackpad to "adjust" the track, which isn't realistic at all. Just thought I would try a free software to get some concepts down, but damn is it hard to not look at that visual aids on there. Hopefully, once the gear arrives, it'll make a lot more sense. Thanks for all of your input.
Visual aids are the devil. I use or rather used to use VDJ too. I can tell u first hand that those beat markers are wrong and so is the bpm readout. I usually tap my songs when I prepare. But yea those boxes are wrong half (read:most) of the time.
Do not rely on visual aids either, they are so inaccurate. Your ears man, your ears will show u the way. The best thing for you to do is to tap out the songs, which you can do by right clicking around the bpm area and select beat tap and click the tap box to the beat of the song. Do it for about a minute and u'll get the real bpm of the song. If you know how to count beats then it should be easy.
If you have any problems with that I'll throw on VDJ and i'll double check it for you.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks