Beat-Matching Tutorial Regarding Beginners
What is Beat-matching?
It is an art of mixing two musical compositions together seamlessly by speeding up or slowing down one of the tunes to align their rhythms.
A good DJ knows a way to beat-match, and I am going to share with you 7 steps to getting started.
Step 1: You need to have a method to listen to one track in the headphones while another track is playing on the main sound system.
Step 2: Play a track through the sound system.
Step 3: Find another track in your headphones you want to beat-match with the one playing. (This is done on a DJ mixer by turning on the Cue for the track you wish to hear.)
Step 4: Find the first beat of the track you are going to mix in, and hold it right there. If you are using turntables you can just grab on to the pinnacle of the record to fundamentally pause the track where the beat begins.
Step 5: Hear the beat playing through the main speakers. Wait for it to get to the first beat of a cycle. (Music in 4 / 4 timing typically is all built around cycles of 4 and 8 counts. Ie. 4 beats in a bar, and 4 bars segments that lead to builds and changes in the music. ) When you are feeling the music hit on the first beat with a crash or whatever, that is right when you would like to play the beat you are mixing in.
Step 6: Straight after releasing your hold on the record, you must listen closely in your headphones with one ear to detect whether the beat you are mixing in is going slower or faster than the one already playing. If it’s actually going slower then adjust the pitch slider, and maybe even give it a little push to help it catch up to record A quicker. If it is actually going quicker than record A then turn down the pitch slider on the turntable accordingly to make it a same speed. You can even need to touch the side of the turntable plate to slow it down quicker.
Step 7: Once you have the beats aligned perfectly (or close to anyhow), move the cross fader on the DJ mixer to the center with the bass cut on the beat you are mixing in. Then when it seems like the right time switch the basses either slowly or fast and the switch over to the next track on the first beat of first cycle.
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