Beat matching - JUUUUUST off, every time.

[light-o-matic]

I agree with the people who say don't let slightly bad mixes slide.. keep at it until you get it right. I *also* agree with the people who say don't worry if it's not perfect just keep going...

Because if you work on the same mix for hours you'll just get frusteated. If you have no clue why a mix sounded wrong then yea go back and try it again .. but if you basically did the mix right.. the tempo was pretty much on, it was phrase matched, you tried to get the levels right and mostly succeeded, you tried to do the eq right and mostly succeeded .. then I say move on and mix the next track. Because otherwise djing just becomes a soul sucking pain in the ass and no fun at all. Basically if you have a good idea of what you fucked up on then try to improve on it in the next mix, it's more fun that way. If you don't know what went wrong then stop and work on it.

[Not Applicable]

Because otherwise djing just becomes a soul sucking pain in the ass and no fun at all. Basically if you have a good idea of what you fucked up on then try to improve on it in the next mix, it's more fun that way. If you don't know what went wrong then stop and work on it.

This is true. I always made sure I had tracks I wanted to hear over and over again while I was learning to beatmatch.

You should be making mixes and listening to them afterwords. Then you see what worked and what didn't. If you stop for one track and try to beatmatch the hell out of it, it WILL suck.

[ImNoDJNo]

This is true. I always made sure I had tracks I wanted to hear over and over again while I was learning to beatmatch.

You should be making mixes and listening to them afterwords. Then you see what worked and what didn't. If you stop for one track and try to beatmatch the hell out of it, it WILL suck.

What? If you stop for one track and try to beatmatch the hell out of it you will get progressively better over time. This is called practice.

[aflexaflexaflex]

What genre of music are you mixing? Uptempo/House is the easiest you can mix since its a very standard 4/4 rhythm. Hip hop can get tricker since the drums can be syncopated, etc so track selection is also key. Some songs don't mix in as well even if its in the same BPM.

[Not Applicable]

How do you know if you have beatmatched correctly if you can't hear what you have done?

Also, when you beat match only one track, you may get good at that mix, but how are you gonna do when there is a different track with different elements?

[ImNoDJNo]

How do you know if you have beatmatched correctly if you can't hear what you have done?

Also, when you beat match only one track, you may get good at that mix, but how are you gonna do when there is a different track with different elements?

I really dont understand what you are saying.

You have either beatmatched or you havent. You can either hear flamming kicks or you cant. If you can hear them you havent beatmatched. If you cant hear the kicks then you need to put your headphones on.

Some tracks dont match together due to swing on kicks etc, but the technique is still exactly the same every time.

[ImNoDJNo]

What genre of music are you mixing? Uptempo/House is the easiest you can mix since its a very standard 4/4 rhythm. Hip hop can get tricker since the drums can be syncopated, etc so track selection is also key. Some songs don't mix in as well even if its in the same BPM.

Hip hop is still in 4/4. Syncopation doesnt change where the downbeats are. And its slower than house which gives more time to mix.

The hard part of mixing hip hop is phrasing all the vocals.

[Not Applicable]

I really dont understand what you are saying.

You have either beatmatched or you havent. You can either hear flamming kicks or you cant. If you can hear them you havent beatmatched. If you cant hear the kicks then you need to put your headphones on.

Some tracks dont match together due to swing on kicks etc, but the technique is still exactly the same every time.

I thought it was a given that you record everything and learning from what you did well and when didn't. Relying on your headphones alone is foolish, in my opinion.

When I start a mix, I disable my headphones so I can hear what the mix truly sounds like.

Headphones are good for listening to the incoming track, but it skews your ability to really decipher if you beat matched correctly if you keep them on while mixing. For people that can't mix without having their headphones on during a mix NEED to record and listen back. That is the only way to tell if it was a quality mix or not.

When I started out, I recorded everything. Not only did I learn from mistakes/successes, but I also learned my tracks down to know exactly where something is going to happen so you can decide where to mix the next record.

Also, mixing the exact technique for every mix is not a good practice to get into. Every track is different. You mix one way, what happens when there is a drop right after the short intro. Your limited mixing style you ruin a mix.

I don't understand your argument to NOT record and listen back. That is baffling.

[ImNoDJNo]

I thought it was a given that you record everything and learning from what you did well and when didn't. Relying on your headphones alone is foolish, in my opinion.

When I start a mix, I disable my headphones so I can hear what the mix truly sounds like.

Headphones are good for listening to the incoming track, but it skews your ability to really decipher if you beat matched correctly if you keep them on while mixing. For people that can't mix without having their headphones on during a mix NEED to record and listen back. That is the only way to tell if it was a quality mix or not.

When I started out, I recorded everything. Not only did I learn from mistakes/successes, but I also learned my tracks down to know exactly where something is going to happen so you can decide where to mix the next record.

Also, mixing the exact technique for every mix is not a good practice to get into. Every track is different. You mix one way, what happens when there is a drop right after the short intro. Your limited mixing style you ruin a mix.

I don't understand your argument to NOT record and listen back. That is baffling.

Firstly, i never made an argument to NOT record, youve just made that up.

Secondly, if you cant hear your beatmatch in your headphones, then you dont know how to use headphone cues properly. Theres really no other explanation here.

Your claim that you cant really tell whats going on unless you record is ludicrous. How do you think live musicians perform? It sounds like you just need more practice and experience with headphones.

On a loud stage you MUST use headphones to mix if you are actually mixing live and not using sync.

[light-o-matic]

I prefer to mix 100% in headphones.. I never have to worry about the existence or quality of the monitors.. and sometimes it's just too damn loud in the room, then the monitors have to be blasted. It's quieter and easier on my ears to use the headphones. And yea of course you can hear quite well what the mix sounds like listening in headphones. If it's not beatmatched you're gonna hear that.