Where to go after mastering beat matching by ear?

[ben mills]

I agree with the others - proper phrase matching is very important. I've heard some mixes where people are "phrase matching" at 4 bar intervals (16 beats). Sounds terrible to the trained ear. Even phrase matching at 8 bar intervals isn't the best. What I have found is that you should be phrase matching in 16 bar intervals (64 beats) for best results. Of course every track is different, so take that with a grain of salt.

Creative mixing is where it is at. Blending in and out during intros and outros, heck just a basic blend in other parts of the track, is about the most boring mixing you can do. It is fine if you are just starting out and learning to beatmatch and phrase match properly. But once you have these down to really take the mixing to the next level you have to start getting creative. I'm talking cuts, pumps, mixing through breakdowns while cutting and pumping, etc. The key to being able to do this (in addition to your phrasing and beatmatching being spot on) is having your levels adjusted correctly. This will allow your cuts, when done in rhythm, in time and in count, to sound smooth and natural.

Personally, I'm a big fan of two deck creative mixing. Someone that is really working two decks to get the absolute most out of them as possible impresses me a lot more than pretty much anything. It displays a true mastery of the technical skills of DJing, a full understanding and mastery of the concepts behind mixing and music structure, and allows for a confidence behind the decks in your moves that really comes out and can take the performance to another level.

Playing with confidence is another key. When you've really mastered the above techniques and are playing will supreme confidence and are mixing with concise and sharp movements, you establish a groove for yourself and for people watching and listening that is infectious. When mixing like this and you hit that double drop after a series of sharp cuts, pumps, etc., you'll even find yourself fist pumping to your own mix.

[Adzm00]

If you don't know how to phrase match, chances are you haven't "mastered" beatmatching, although you might be able to beatmatch, claming to be a "master" of it is a bit ridiculous.

[Sigma]

Yeah, you have to be careful when using the word "mastered". Don't use it to mean "I can do this consistently and fairly well", cos if you say "I'm a master of scratching" I expect you to sound like D-Styles, not Grandmaster Flash (no offence to Flash, but you know what I mean...).

I didn't mention phrase matching as that's a given, along with being able to set levels and a basic understanding of how to use EQs to good effect. I agreed with KLH's comment about creative transitions because a lot of DJs think that once you can get tracks in sync, phrase match them, and put together basic mixes, that that's it - it may be all you need to get by in a lot of clubs, but when I listen to a lot of hip-hop mixes now (for example) the beatmatching is perfect (probably because of auto-sync), the phrase matching is acceptable, but the mixing is just bland - the same style of blend over and over. It's like getting some chips from the chip shop without salt and vinegar on them.

[LoveBass]

add more turntables!

[Dantron]

add more turntables!

Exactly what I was going to say.

[nolimitz]

Also mastering beatmatching does not only mean initially matching the 2 songs. To master this skill you also need to notice when the songs drift mid-mix and align them with precision.

I don't mean to burst your bubble cuz when i first was able to match songs I felt like a boss lol but truth is there's more to it than matching tempo by ear.