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Tips for learning to beatmatch vinyl

Its good practice to not actually touch the record but 'ride the pitch' and constantly tweak it. You'll zero in on the right speed.

Once you get one particular style sorted, switch to another genre. It will be a leap, but will greatly improve your overall skill and will teach you to listen to different parts of the tune.

Generally in hip hop you will want to do quick mixes where you drop the next tune in, while in techno you will want long seamless where you cut from one to another. Learning the nuances of each style means you will start to mix them up. Genre hopping is really rewarding when you get it right!
 
Its gotta be done really! I don't want to be the one who gets asked to play somewhere and then have to say, "oh I can't because I can't beatmatch"

Im gonna start off something blendable.... I've stopped using the sync on my controller to get me into the habit of trying to get them in time..... It'd be good to slow my mixing down too, I fly through tunes like no tomorrow when I'm all synced up.
 
ska invita said:
personally i speed up a record by giving it a twist at the pin at the middle, slow it down by brushing the edge of the platter - adjust pitch after that
Click to expand...

I do touch the vinyl myself - but I shouldn't really. Try just using the pitch shifter - its really quick and feels lot more 'accurate' ...... in my mind at least!
 
ska invita said:
personally i speed up a record by giving it a twist at the pin at the middle, slow it down by brushing the edge of the platter - adjust pitch after that
Click to expand...
Me too. I've heard that you get a tighter mix if you don't do this and just do it via the pitch control. However, I'm not sure how that works if you're in a seat of the pants oh shit I just noticed that this side of the record has two tunes on it not one, oh shit, I need to get this mixed NOW kind of situation.
 
sim667 said:
Its gotta be done really! I don't want to be the one who gets asked to play somewhere and then have to say, "oh I can't because I can't beatmatch"

Im gonna start off something blendable.... I've stopped using the sync on my controller to get me into the habit of trying to get them in time..... It'd be good to slow my mixing down too, I fly through tunes like no tomorrow when I'm all synced up.
Click to expand...


Yes Ive noticed a common gripe amongst my friends who dont go out much these days. They say laptop DJs switch the tunes too quick and break it up so they can't get into the groove.

I imagine this is because the laptop DJ gets bored with just syncing and have to fuck around
 
magneze said:
Me too. I've heard that you get a tighter mix if you don't do this and just do it via the pitch control. However, I'm not sure how that works if you're in a seat of the pants oh shit I just noticed that this side of the record has two tunes on it not one, oh shit, I need to get this mixed NOW kind of situation.
Click to expand...

i hear you, I do the same! But if you can hold down the panic and just use the pitch its really smooth.

So you speed up by a fair bit (to catch up) and then slow down by a bit to go back in time.
It works!
 
Moronik said:
Yes Ive noticed a common gripe amongst my friends who dont go out much these days. They say laptop DJs switch the tunes too quick and break it up so they can't get into the groove.

I imagine this is because the laptop DJ gets bored with just syncing and have to fuck around
Click to expand...

Exactly.....

Another thing is a lot of tunes don't really go anywhere either.... the second half of the tune is just the first half repeated...

I like my tunes quite off key though.......
 
Dropping the second record in on the 32nd or 64th or 128th beat will often make for a smoother blend, as you'll often find that it's around these points that different aspects of the track change, e.g. the bassline drops or the melody kicks in or whatever.
 
Moronik said:
I do touch the vinyl myself - but I shouldn't really. Try just using the pitch shifter - its really quick and feels lot more 'accurate' ...... in my mind at least!
Click to expand...
if the pitch knob is very close to being at the right speed to then go an fling it up +3 to speed the record up and then back down means it will end up in a slightly different spot - i find fingers far more sensitive to the task!

a good trick is if you are in the middle of a mix and you are worried people will hear you shifting the speed then make the adjustment at the end of a bar or phrase and on the crossfader cut back to the original track so you can't hear the incoming track as you pitchshift it
 
Nothing helpful to say about the technicalities, but I would reiterate magneze's advice: record everything. I went through a long phase of recording an hour mix, then pissing about on the internet while listening back, then recording an hour mix, then pissing about on the internet while listening back, then...

Over and over and over and over and over and over.
 
Old Gergl said:
Nothing helpful to say about the technicalities, but I would reiterate magneze's advice: record everything. I went through a long phase of recording an hour mix, then pissing about on the internet while listening back, then recording an hour mix, then pissing about on the internet while listening back, then...

Over and over and over and over and over and over.
Click to expand...

This a hundred times over!
 
Well actually, I just need some records, doesn't have to be techno or house.... if anyone sees any dirt cheap job lots on ebay lemme know ;)
 
sim667 said:
Well actually, I just need some records, doesn't have to be techno or house.... if anyone sees any dirt cheap job lots on ebay lemme know ;)
Click to expand...
ive got a bunch id be happy to let you have for dead cheap
house and techno...maybe some trance! (not originally mine these records - passed on to me)
 
ska invita said:
...a thought - if you've got no tunes to beatmatch why learn?
Click to expand...

Really I want to learn to beatmatch because quite often when I'm b2b with a mate we're switching between traktor, cdj's, serato, etc etc Basically everyone I know plays a different way.... and we all keep saying "lets have a mix" all the others can because they can beatmatch, where as I can't because I can't beatmatch.

I bought my decks because I'm starting to get quite the reggae 45 collection now, and for the sake of buying 5 or 10 vinyl to learn beatmatching on I may aswell go the whole hog and learn from the ground up so I don't have to rely on a laptop/sync button to have a mix. Also technology fails, I can back up all my tunes (and I do), but if my laptops broekn and im meant to be playing somehwere they're useless to me if I burn them to a cd and I can't even mix them properly.

Basically I should have started mixing years ago, my parents are a bit old fashioned and would never have helped me get into something like that, and encouraged me on spanish guitar and photography(I still can't play a thing on guitar, photography is kind of the family trade).... But when I went to 6th form college I was the token one who was into metal and drum and bass, and a few freinds (who only listened to to stuff like red hot chili peppers etc) borrowed drum and bass tapes off me, borrowed hip hop mixes off another freind, and started buying decks and stuff from there..... Basically I should have learnt on their stuff at that age, they basically all learnt as one, on one or two peoples stuff. But i was far too busy getting blazed and trying to lose my v plates. So basically I'm playing catch up technically, musically my closest freinds are still coming to me to ask about new music in the areas that we have common interests in.

One of my best mates has been trying to get me to mix for at least a decade, and then about 2 years ago I bought a laptop, and thought sod it, so got a second hand controller for £30.... learnt the traktor basics and then bought my s2 as an upgrade, since then I've gone a bit mad with vinyl decks etc, but I've always had a vast collection of music ever since I was about 13 or 14 (led zeppelin, rainbow, black sabbath - on vinyl and cd) so i guess its just an extension of that. I do have a habit of starting stuff a bit late.
 
Sorry that was a ramble...

I think its interesting to hear peoples backgrounds an musical footprints.

Tell me YOURS!!
 
If we can work something out I'd kind of rather DNB than house/techno, but second hand techno seems to be a lot cheaper.

Are you not somewhere obscure in the world though Metal Malcolm ?
 
Oh not that obscure at all.... have you got a few you're willing to be rid of on the cheap?

Same goes for ska too, Id happily buy a couple of each of you and then I can practice with the two different speeds.
 
sim667 said:
Oh not that obscure at all.... have you got a few you're willing to be rid of on the cheap?
Click to expand...

I've got an absolute ton of tunes. If i'm honest? There's quite a lot of crap ones you can have for free, although I don't want to get rid of the better ones. You in London? If so, you can pop round sometime soon and pick a few. Any preference of style of DnB?
 
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