Beat matching driveing me insane!!

I can see where he is coming from saying about the THC, i believe this the psychological effect of euphoria that is found after inhailing enough of this. Makes you 'feel' the music more. I find that can mix stoned and sober, but if i am too stoned i cannot for the life of me get them to click in, i get sloppy. Same applies with alcomohol, but as soon as ive had a zoot or 2 or a few beers, i crave a mix. Odd.

With Killers, I dont actually own the vinyl, ive just tried to mix it when mates have brought it over for a mix or im at theirs. I just find it confusing. Probably me just not used to it, the only hazard tune i own is western riddem and thats a pain, but tbh i dont really use it so thats probably why. Me Being Stupid :D

* I forgot I have Mr Happy & Busted, But they love being mixed. Strange.
 
Last edited:
I'm not exactly sure what it was but about 6 months ago it clicked, and I got loads better literally overnight. Don't even need to count any more.
 
SmallVictoriez said:
I'm not exactly sure what it was but about 6 months ago it clicked, and I got loads better literally overnight. Don't even need to count any more.
Click to expand...

Yeah that happend to me, i need to count if im really not sure of the tune, But i can pretty much hear it now, using standard patterns, Half phrases can be a bit confusing if they catch you off guard... Its just practise and experience, gets more rewarding the more you do it!
 
djmotiondnb said:
why do you need BPMs to mix the tunes though? your never gonna remember the BPM from looking on chemical.. just whack it on if its too slow speed it up and vice versa

surely not?
Click to expand...
I reckon I could tell you the bpm of pretty much every tune I have, defo all the ones I play on the reg.
 
To be honest its just personal preference and what type of d'n'b you mix, i like liquid so i find mixing during the breakdowns and quiet bits is quite useful.

Get it in pitch and key before the breakdown, then during it mix in the other song. Can create quite an atmospheric mix in my opinion.

It all depends on the feel of the tracks and the feel of the mix you want to create.

Remember, theres more to mixing that beat matching, dont get too worked up about it, just practice and it will come. I woke up one morning and i could just do it, was pretty damn weird.
 
also try beatmatching just with the kick drums - most dnb songs have very imilar kick drum patterns and hey'll (almost) always be one on the first beat of the bar. Just try and cancell out all the other stuff.
 
most tracks have 16 bar sections which you'll find very handy to use for going from one track to the next. u'll recognise them as sort of mini drops, or build-ups, usualy introducing a new sound or taking one away or totaly changing the track, once u've gotten used to beat matching, introduce the tracks at these points (if appliable) and it will make transitions between tracks sound alot more natural, but as mentioned some tracks don't always sit nicely together, even if beat matched or whatever.
I also like to keep one track on one of my turntables, and just go back and forth between the rest of my tunes, i.e.
Deck 1 - spy - camouflage > Deck 2 - track 1 > Deck 1 - Spy - Camouglage > Deck 2 - track 2 > Deck 1 - Spy - Camouflage > Deck 2 - track 3
etc etc
i've only been practicing like a month now myself and just think of it like this, your only learning so don't get angry if u fuck up a mix, everybody does it, don't get frustrated if u can't get 2 tunes to sit well together straight away (maybe even at all, ever) just keep practicing, learn your vinyl, don't think its cheating by looking up BPM's sometimes its not always obvious! i have a marky track thats like 168 BPM, totaly threw me off even tho i managed to beatch match it with something else before, madness
http://www.chemical-records.co.uk/sc/servlet/Info?Track=MOVEP2

anwyas yeah, from one beginner to another hehe!
p.s. S.P.Y tracks are quite nice for beatmatching and blending n stuff, he has a very distinct production style and most of his tracks are around 174/175, and all fucking awesome! :P
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Have a look at this, I've been going for a few months and still not quite got it, but I'm getting closer. This really helped me. Really describes the structure well, and have a look for the 16 bar rule. Think ellaskins does quite a good video for it too. Just keep on practising :). Good luck.

http://music.hyperreal.org/dj/AVH/Mixing.html

---------- Post added at 14:25 ---------- Previous post was at 14:18 ----------

Normally I use about 0.2 or 0.3% per bpm as a general rule of thumb.
 
Last edited:
if your having trouble understanding bars an phrases an all that, get virtual dj. seriously, wikid program to help you know your tunes. you can pretty much load a tune, look at the audio an see - yep 32 bar intro, 32 bar break etc..

one of my mates just was not grasping the concept, and after playing around with that program he has a much better understanding.

---------- Post added at 15:50 ---------- Previous post was at 15:47 ----------

also beat matching, just turn down all the bass an mid EQ, just match using the highs. i find it alot easier to beat match doing this
 
yea i started by messin around on VDJ and i gotta say strngly does work, helped me if anything just get used to tunes and how they work together.

And knowing the bpm of a tune does help i think, if you do your research and learn the rough bpm of a tune youll instantly know where abouts the pitch will have to be in relation to the other pitch if that makes sense.
but tbf as tedious as it sounds practise does make perfect
 
I said this in another thread and I'll repeat it here because no one else had said it. And I know this is a D&B forum, but if you really want to learn to beatmatch properly and more quicky...


Start with some house or other 4 on the floor beats. Much easier to match than any breaks, and they don't change as much so you have time to really listen before things get crazy and break down and drop and stuff.

Once you feel comfortable with those beats you can move onto the more complex rhythms. The other key is to tape yourself and listen back, even if the first few tapes sound like crap, you'll start to develop an ear for what went wrong.

Fundamentally, it's a very easy concept, make one record as fast or slow as the other. If you listen to your left record on your speaker, and your right record in your headphones, just listen and see which one is faster or slower. Then make incremental adjustements to the pitch of the right record. Go back and listen again. Did it get closer? Keep going until you get it.

another trick is to take two of the same song and start with different pitches. You know you'll be able to match them anytime becuase it's the same record. But listen to them when they are unmatched and slowly adjust until they match so you can train your ears to detect the difference between the two.

It's all about training your ears. And that's just the start... then you have programming and keymatching and EQing and knowing when to drop and come back in or cut and all that stuff. But best of luck man. It's a very fun and rewarding craft.
 
I was very much in the same boat about 6 months ago when I started out, couldn't beatmatch to save my life.

My mate gave me this advice: Start with 2 tunes you know, that have distinct and simple beat patterns. Learn to mix these 2 until you can confidently match them every time. Then add in new tunes and practice until you can beatmatch each one confidently.

Eventually when you learn a new tune it should be as easy as mixing the 2 you stared out with.

No video will ever be able to magically teach you to beatmatch and learning is not a quick process and can take years to perfect. Practice is the key ...

Hope this was helpful :)
 
Easy, just listen for the kick drum or bass drum in any track and beat match that !!! (Synthetic journey) on Juno Downloads !!! ;)
 
Just listen to loads of decently mixed mixes and try and tune into what the djs doing, get some more simple minimalish dnb (but not too minimal, stuff like patience by Jubei) in the standard drum format i.e. kick .snare...kick snare, and try and tune your headphone ear into hihats and snares and your speaker ear into the kick and bass of the other track, then in ur head your not trying to distinguish one set of snare, hihats or kicks from another, also try using the pitch controller to beat match rather than endlessly flicking the records back and forth on the turntables, and practice practice practice. Try recording some short mixes of yourself to, that way you can sit back when ur not concentrating on mixing and see where you need to improve. Oh yeh and I always mix in sets of 16 bars to make my mixes flow better, so if your not already, you could pay some attention to that. Hope this of some help, thats what i did anyway....
 
Last edited:
rewerx said:
Just listen to loads of decently mixed mixes and try and tune into what the djs doing, get some more simple minimalish dnb (but not too minimal, stuff like patience by Jubei) in the standard drum format i.e. kick .snare...kick snare, and try and tune your headphone ear into hihats and snares and your speaker ear into the kick and bass of the other track, then in ur head your not trying to distinguish one set of snare, hihats or kicks from another, also try using the pitch controller to beat match rather than endlessly flicking the records back and forth on the turntables, and practice practice practice. Try recording some short mixes of yourself to, that way you can sit back when ur not concentrating on mixing and see where you need to improve. Oh yeh and I always mix in sets of 16 bars to make my mixes flow better, so if your not already, you could pay some attention to that. Hope this of some help, thats what i did anyway....
Click to expand...

good advice mate. Good to see another Brightoner on the forums aswell!
 
I find it fairly simple to get the kicks and snares matched, but what puts me off is the hat patterns in alot of tunes, and that throws me off...
 
Back
Top Bottom