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Thread: Beat Grid for 80's music

  1. #1
    Member Dj DussT's Avatar
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    Beat Grid for 80's music

    I'm trying to get better with my ddj-sx and serato, one of my popular sets is on VDJ was a 30 min long 80's dance mix. A bunch of my songs don't have the correct beat grid in serato, and I can't seem to correct it. Is it just some 80's music in general? For example, I know a song is 110bpm, I slide the grid to cover the beats for the intro and 1st verse, but somehow by mid song the beats are off, if I do a very small adjust, then the intro is off beat. And then when I "edit grid" and hit X to set down beats, the latter portion of the song is even more messed up.
    I don't seem to have this problem with my newer music. Thanks.

    (2 of the many songs are My Sharona by The Knack and I'm coming out by Diana Ross)
    Last edited by Dj DussT; 04-07-2015 at 05:48 PM.

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    A lot of those 80's songs where recorded with a real live drummer instead of an electronic drum machine, so the beats are all over the place. This makes them just about impossible to beat grid correctly. The best way I found to beat grid live drummer tracks is to fix them in Abelton Live by warping the songs. This is not an easy thing to do correctly, and it is also very time consuming. The beauty of fixing the songs in Abelton Live, is that once they are fixed, the songs will beat grid correctly in any software like Serato, Traktor, or Rekord Box, without you having to re-beatgrid them. I'm Coming Out is a very tough track to fix due to the weird intro, and the inconsistent drummer. I went ahead and warped it for you so you can try it out. You can download it here: http://www.mixcrate.com/panotaker/im...warped-9190147 Just download it, then analyze it in Serato, and the beat grid should be perfect from start to finish. It should show up as 114 BPM. Don't try to fix the intro, I already fixed it. The main beat should kick in perfectly on the 25th bar. If you need to learn how I did it, just let me know. I haven't messed with My Sharona yet.

  3. #3
    Hiya DussT

    This video might help you a bit if you have not seen it


  4. #4
    Member DJ Boom Bap's Avatar
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    I just lay a new down beat marker on every "1" beat. It's time consuming, but if you are good you can do it in one listen of the track.

  5. #5
    Member Dj DussT's Avatar
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    Thanks for the info guys.
    Panotaker, thanks for the download. I don't have Ableton live, back in the day I edited using Cool Edit Pro (now Adobe Audition). Is there a video out there on how to do it?

  6. #6
    The only way to fix this is to warp the track like Panotaker mentioned.

    A lot of times, it's not worth the effort. In that case, just find 4-8 beats that DO align fairly well and use the cue/loop functions to transition.

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    The only video out there that shows you how to warp old skool live drummer disco tracks as far as I know is my video. I made it last year. It shows you exactly how to warp a live drummer track from start to finish, and when you are done, it will be absolutely perfect! There are plenty of videos that show you how to warp tracks, but they way I do it, I warp every single beat. I never post the video because I don't like to argue with people that don't like my method, but the results pretty much speak for themselves. If you play a lot of old skool live drummer tracks like I do, and you are tired of riding the pitch, Abelton Liive pretty much pays for itself. I don't recommend you start off trying to learn how to warp with the Diana Ross track. That track was a nightmare to warp correctly. Start off with an easy track like I used in the video. The only problem with warping using my method is that it is very time consuming, and it takes a while to get the hang of it, but once you learn, you can pretty much warp anything perfectly. I have warped my whole disco collection. It took me over a year, and I have put in hundreds of hours doing it, but it is done and my songs are a piece of cake to mix now, just like mixing modern music. You can see my video here:
    https://youtu.be/xMKL7AGZJSU

  8. #8
    Member Works's Avatar
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    I realise you're on serato but to anyone using rekordbox, I'm pretty sure you can bypass this by analysing your tracks in dynamic mode, meaning that it will analyse any and all BPM changes within the track as it plays, and it will reflect this in the software and on any pioneer rekordbox supported software that you play the analysed tracks through.


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    A very late reply - sorry!! There is a service for that (disclaimer: I work on the service).

    It's called time editing, and it involves carefully removing the timing imperfections and then, even more carefully, mixing down the fixed audio into new files with a mastering chain to counter any ill effects on the audio. If you're using Ableton Live, you really need to pay attention to the effects on the audio quality of your warping. My experience is that the Repitch warp mode has the least negative effects on the overall audio quality, but only if the master bpm is set to the tracks average seg bpms and if the seg BPM readings aren't too varied in too short of a space of time. In cases when repitch sounds bad, you'll need to resort to complex or complex pro warp modes. Sadly, these are also problematic, however, a decent mastering chain can counteract the negative effects of these warp modes and produce clean files that sound good. Just choose the best warp mode for each track on an individual basis, and then construct your mastering chain based on the results and you can successfully time edit anything and produce files that sound great and beatgrid in any dj software without any problems.

    We've been perfecting this service for over 10 years at warpingableton, and now at djfile. Here's more info: https://djfile.com/auto-mix/time-editing-service

    You're absolutely correct. The process is very time consuming, but the results can be worth it. I hope this helps somebody
    Last edited by cockers; 02-19-2018 at 10:03 AM.

  10. #10
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    Ive warped a few songs in ableton live. It’s your best option.

    Quote Originally Posted by Panotaker View Post
    A lot of those 80's songs where recorded with a real live drummer instead of an electronic drum machine, so the beats are all over the place. This makes them just about impossible to beat grid correctly. The best way I found to beat grid live drummer tracks is to fix them in Abelton Live by warping the songs. This is not an easy thing to do correctly, and it is also very time consuming. The beauty of fixing the songs in Abelton Live, is that once they are fixed, the songs will beat grid correctly in any software like Serato, Traktor, or Rekord Box, without you having to re-beatgrid them. I'm Coming Out is a very tough track to fix due to the weird intro, and the inconsistent drummer. I went ahead and warped it for you so you can try it out. You can download it here: http://www.mixcrate.com/panotaker/im...warped-9190147 Just download it, then analyze it in Serato, and the beat grid should be perfect from start to finish. It should show up as 114 BPM. Don't try to fix the intro, I already fixed it. The main beat should kick in perfectly on the 25th bar. If you need to learn how I did it, just let me know. I haven't messed with My Sharona yet.

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