Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst ... 234
Results 31 to 37 of 37

Thread: Riding The Pitch

  1. #31
    New Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2020
    Location
    melbourne, australia
    Posts
    36
    combination of 'riding the pitch' and touching the platter works best, get some black tape out for your bpm counters,im not sure about the less noticible thing, and personallly i enjoy hearing a minor adjustment in a set(really minor) or a little bass phasing- just so you know its not a pre-recorded job...

    when im spinning without headphones im always making minor pitch adjustments... as for beatmatching a 128bpm track to a 130bpm track you can i guess ride the pitch... but then again that takes ages compared to a platter movement... i dunno, just practise it for fun.

  2. #32
    I think it's a "safer" way to keep the beats aligned, albeit slower (edit : and you risk forgetting the previous position).. with low-end turntables pressing the platter too hard the motor could chug (on a direct drive) or on a belt-drive displace the belt (which is when you're screwed I guess) and it'd trainwreck even worse so making the adjustments electronically via a knob/slider was a way to avoid those pitfalls (and many upon upgrading to professional decks would continue to do so because it's their 2nd nature)

    Many newer (they're collectively called OEMs) turntables have pitch bend buttons (like mine, but I never really used them because I knew Technics SL-1200mk2 and the later versions didn't have those so as not to learn to rely on them, smart move I guess.. same with BPM counters, these days it'd be not to use sync but sometimes you're stuck in a situation with poor monitoring or too drunk/busy to beatmatch so you'd sync your way through it)

    Then there's the center label which can be nearly frictionless so you'd use the actual groove area which is a big no to some old school DJs as the records get greasy and dirty (in scratching it's a different thing)

    With CDJs I use the platter for bending but only from the side because if it were in vinyl mode the track would pause whereas with a turntable I'd only brake the record from the side of the platter (funny thing to notice but I rarely speed it up, mainly because it spins very fast as the further you get from the center the longer the travel is.. I remember reading a technique advice to either keep the track intentionally playing faster or slower so you always know which way to bend), with CD players I'd bend up too.. or then on vinyl use both hands, other on the side of the platter and other on the pitch control.

    Then there's the spindle thing.. it's sort of the same as bending from the center label but it's a bit more accurate.

    Another important reason for riding the pitch is not to accidentally hit the cartridge.. also touching the record may cause the needle to skip (with light needle weights, say ~1,5g.. I consider 2,5-3g heavy, 3,5g+ would press the cartridge on the needle or even the record)

  3. #33
    Junior Member Heliotropic27's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2020
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    86
    I'm a center label man. That's how I make minor adjustments but I am trying to ride the pitch more when I first match up the beats.
    Original music and some live vinyl/Serato mixes: https://soundcloud.com/totallybreakfast

  4. #34
    New Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Location
    Philippines
    Posts
    22
    Hi all, I didn't see this posted in the thread yet it's quite an interesting tutorial and explanation of the concept.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zC5W5vfW2o
    Best,

    I/O

  5. #35
    New Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2021
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    25
    I`m by no means an expert, but as far as I can tell the only reason to be adjusting the pitch whilst beatmatching on a controller is because the BPM analysis on the track is off.

    Assuming the above is correct "Riding the pitch" is a concept exclusive to vinyl, because of the absence of digital track analysis on that format.

    Therefore the only people who ride the pitch on controllers are old vinyl DJ`s who like doing it because they prefer using vinyl mixing techniques.

  6. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by scoob101 View Post
    I`m by no means an expert, but as far as I can tell the only reason to be adjusting the pitch whilst beatmatching on a controller is because the BPM analysis on the track is off.

    Assuming the above is correct "Riding the pitch" is a concept exclusive to vinyl, because of the absence of digital track analysis on that format.

    Therefore the only people who ride the pitch on controllers are old vinyl DJ`s who like doing it because they prefer using vinyl mixing techniques.
    Not just vinyl.. I was playing on CDJ's starting in 2000 until about 2017 and you still had to beatmatch by ear. Now the CDJ's/XDJ's have sync but most of the time I don't use it.. and because I don't use it I'm not comfortable with all the modes.. so I keep not using it... A few weekends ago I played a party and the DJ before me had sync+quantize turned on but I couldn't remember how to shift the bpm without screwing everything up or how to turn it off without screwing everything up... so I just asked him to turn it off for me... But then, last weekend I played another party and my slot was near the end of this very very long party, so I was tired... Well when I got up to the decks sync+quantize was on so I just decided to leave it on, I had to mess with it till I remembered how to change the tempo. Worked ok except the quantization was off sometimes and I had to tweak it....

    But basically yea, unless you grid your tracks ahead of time.. I mean.. if you let the software determine which beat is #1.. then it'll be wrong sometimes and you have to know how to override that. For those of us who lived without it sometimes it's easier to just not bother with it.

  7. #37
    Moderator pete's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    old orléans
    Posts
    2,527
    Quote Originally Posted by scoob101 View Post
    I`m by no means an expert, but as far as I can tell the only reason to be adjusting the pitch whilst beatmatching on a controller is because the BPM analysis on the track is off.

    Assuming the above is correct "Riding the pitch" is a concept exclusive to vinyl, because of the absence of digital track analysis on that format.

    Therefore the only people who ride the pitch on controllers are old vinyl DJ`s who like doing it because they prefer using vinyl mixing techniques.
    Also a lot of old music (even 80s electronic music using basic unreliable equipment) does not keep perfect time.
    So pitch riding may be necessary.
    Sometimes also the way the bass drums line up can sound "off" as the waveforms cancel each other out when perfectly lined up.

    So a little manipulation of the pitch is required to keep things going nicely.

    There's also the point of syncing all the tracks and pressing play is pretty boring and loses a "live" element of the DJ working the equipment and holding it all together manually. Using all the benefits of digital could eventually lead you down the route of just pre-mixing it all onto a USB and having no real interaction with the equipment and the crowd.

    There is the argument that by having it all synced gives the opportunity to pay more attention to stuff like live loops and FX. But people have been doing that and manually mixing on many decks for decades. Really there's no excuse for not giving 100%.
    bored, curious, deaf or just bad taste in music?
    finally a mix by me
    and what's this, another shoddy mix...another dull mix

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
a