Riding The Pitch

[Joe Like]

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.

[efinque]

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)

[Heliotropic27]

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.

[Interior Outlines]

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