In order to beat match you will need the following:
* Two decks (D1 and D2)
* At least two records (R1 and R2)
* Sound System
* One mixer
* Headphones
If you're not sure what these are or what to get then check out our article on basic DJ equipment HERE.
Now you've got the equipment plugged in and ready to go we can begin preparing to beat match.
Choosing songs
To begin learning you want to choose two records which are reasonably similar in style and speed with long intro's/outro's and a good beat. This is where you need to get yourself down to a proper DJ shop and get listening to some tunes (your mums record collection won't doJ). House records are usually a good place to start as they will usually have a good beat throughout.
Learn the tunes
Dance tunes are usually made up of multiples of 4 bars with each bar having 4 beats, this is where the 4/4 time signature comes from. Any changes that happen in the song will generally happen after 4 bars (16 beats) or multiples thereof. To try and make this clearer below is a sequence of B's, each B represents one beat, a change in style (i.e bold/italic) signifies a change in tune such as a new instrument coming in.
BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBBBBBB BB…
You can see from this that the first change comes after 4 bars (16 beats) then there's another change after further 8 bars (32 beats). Listen to your tunes and learn the structure so you know whether a section is 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128 bars in length. When you DJ you generally want to begin mixing at the start of a section otherwise if you bring in a record on the 3rd beat or 2nd bar for example it will sound odd whilst what your trying to achieve is for the sounds of one track to fade as the other track is beginning to build up, or whatever effect your trying to achieve.
Cueing
While one record is pumping out over the main speakers, you are using your headphones to listen to the other record and trying to find a good starting point, this is usually the first drum kick of a measure (the correct name for a section of a record made up from a number of bars) and so to start with you could just use the first beat on the record. To find the beat just use you hand to move the record back and forth to find the correct point, once you think you've found it let the record play for a bit to make sure it's the correct beat. Once your sure you've got the right point hold the record still with your hand so it is effectively paused and listen to what is playing through the speakers, your waiting for the right point in the track that's playing to the crowd to push off the other record and beat match ready for the mix.
Beat Matching
R1 should already be playing out to the crowd and R2 should be audible in your headphones, find your starting beat on R2 and on the first beat of a measure on R1 push of R2, you should now be listening to both records at the same time. Now the difficult bit, as you listen you will here R2 speeding ahead or dropping behind R1 and you will need to correct this by slowing or speeding up R2 to try and get it to match then adjusting the pitch to remove this difference in speed. Initially it is best to make all adjustments on D2, so that the tempo of the music playing to the crowd isn't changing.
So R1 is playing on D1 and audible to the crowd, R2 is spinning on D2 and audible in your headphones:
1. Cue R2 on D2 to first main beat and hold it
2. Count beats on the R1, and get ready for the first beat of a measure.
3. Start R2 to correspond with the first beat of R1 by pushing it off slightly. Now listen to both records, most DJs do this by listing to the headphones in one ear and leaving the other one uncovered so they can hear the main track. Some mixers allow you to fade between both decks in your headphones, and so you may prefer to do it this way.
4. If the R2 is speeding ahead of R1 then slow it down either with your hand or the pitch control then adjust the pitch control so that D2 is running slightly slower then when you pushed the record off. If R2 is lagging behind R1 then you need to speed it up either by nudging it forward or using the pitch control, then set the pitch control so D2 is running slightly faster then when you pushed the record off. You will probably need to repeat steps 3 and 4 a number of times before the tempos are actually locked together. You will know that you have succeeded when even after listening to R2 for a (relatively) long time it will stay perfectly synched with R1.
5. Try to keep pitch changes to less the -2% or +4% more then this and the record may begin to sound odd (unless this is an effect you are trying to achieve), if R2 is much quicker/slower then R1 then slowly adjust (so the crowd don't notice) R1 so you don't have to change the pitch so much for R2.
6. Cue up R2, as described above.
7. Count beats on R1 and push off R2 at the correct point. As mentioned this will be the first beat not only of a measure but of a 4, 8, or 16 beat section.
8. Listen closely and make small adjustments, if needed, to the record either by nudging it forward, slowing it down or using the pitch control so that it is perfectly in sync with R1.
9. After the right number of beats (4, 8, 16 etc) begin mixing in R2, it should still be in sync with R1. You have now beat matched.
10. Fade out R1 when ready.
With a lot of practice you will eventually be able to layer one record over another and create smooth transitions between different songs and you will have the basis for virtually everything else you will do as a DJ.
* Two decks (D1 and D2)
* At least two records (R1 and R2)
* Sound System
* One mixer
* Headphones
If you're not sure what these are or what to get then check out our article on basic DJ equipment HERE.
Now you've got the equipment plugged in and ready to go we can begin preparing to beat match.
Choosing songs
To begin learning you want to choose two records which are reasonably similar in style and speed with long intro's/outro's and a good beat. This is where you need to get yourself down to a proper DJ shop and get listening to some tunes (your mums record collection won't doJ). House records are usually a good place to start as they will usually have a good beat throughout.
Learn the tunes
Dance tunes are usually made up of multiples of 4 bars with each bar having 4 beats, this is where the 4/4 time signature comes from. Any changes that happen in the song will generally happen after 4 bars (16 beats) or multiples thereof. To try and make this clearer below is a sequence of B's, each B represents one beat, a change in style (i.e bold/italic) signifies a change in tune such as a new instrument coming in.
BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBBBBBB BB…
You can see from this that the first change comes after 4 bars (16 beats) then there's another change after further 8 bars (32 beats). Listen to your tunes and learn the structure so you know whether a section is 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128 bars in length. When you DJ you generally want to begin mixing at the start of a section otherwise if you bring in a record on the 3rd beat or 2nd bar for example it will sound odd whilst what your trying to achieve is for the sounds of one track to fade as the other track is beginning to build up, or whatever effect your trying to achieve.
Cueing
While one record is pumping out over the main speakers, you are using your headphones to listen to the other record and trying to find a good starting point, this is usually the first drum kick of a measure (the correct name for a section of a record made up from a number of bars) and so to start with you could just use the first beat on the record. To find the beat just use you hand to move the record back and forth to find the correct point, once you think you've found it let the record play for a bit to make sure it's the correct beat. Once your sure you've got the right point hold the record still with your hand so it is effectively paused and listen to what is playing through the speakers, your waiting for the right point in the track that's playing to the crowd to push off the other record and beat match ready for the mix.
Beat Matching
R1 should already be playing out to the crowd and R2 should be audible in your headphones, find your starting beat on R2 and on the first beat of a measure on R1 push of R2, you should now be listening to both records at the same time. Now the difficult bit, as you listen you will here R2 speeding ahead or dropping behind R1 and you will need to correct this by slowing or speeding up R2 to try and get it to match then adjusting the pitch to remove this difference in speed. Initially it is best to make all adjustments on D2, so that the tempo of the music playing to the crowd isn't changing.
So R1 is playing on D1 and audible to the crowd, R2 is spinning on D2 and audible in your headphones:
1. Cue R2 on D2 to first main beat and hold it
2. Count beats on the R1, and get ready for the first beat of a measure.
3. Start R2 to correspond with the first beat of R1 by pushing it off slightly. Now listen to both records, most DJs do this by listing to the headphones in one ear and leaving the other one uncovered so they can hear the main track. Some mixers allow you to fade between both decks in your headphones, and so you may prefer to do it this way.
4. If the R2 is speeding ahead of R1 then slow it down either with your hand or the pitch control then adjust the pitch control so that D2 is running slightly slower then when you pushed the record off. If R2 is lagging behind R1 then you need to speed it up either by nudging it forward or using the pitch control, then set the pitch control so D2 is running slightly faster then when you pushed the record off. You will probably need to repeat steps 3 and 4 a number of times before the tempos are actually locked together. You will know that you have succeeded when even after listening to R2 for a (relatively) long time it will stay perfectly synched with R1.
5. Try to keep pitch changes to less the -2% or +4% more then this and the record may begin to sound odd (unless this is an effect you are trying to achieve), if R2 is much quicker/slower then R1 then slowly adjust (so the crowd don't notice) R1 so you don't have to change the pitch so much for R2.
6. Cue up R2, as described above.
7. Count beats on R1 and push off R2 at the correct point. As mentioned this will be the first beat not only of a measure but of a 4, 8, or 16 beat section.
8. Listen closely and make small adjustments, if needed, to the record either by nudging it forward, slowing it down or using the pitch control so that it is perfectly in sync with R1.
9. After the right number of beats (4, 8, 16 etc) begin mixing in R2, it should still be in sync with R1. You have now beat matched.
10. Fade out R1 when ready.
With a lot of practice you will eventually be able to layer one record over another and create smooth transitions between different songs and you will have the basis for virtually everything else you will do as a DJ.
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