BASIC BEATMIXING CONTINUED

WHAT IS A BEAT?
Beat matching is probably the most fundamental of all DJ skills. Once mastered it allows you to take two separate tracks that will inevitably be different speeds and blend them together creating that seamless mix sought after by all DJ's.

The concept behind beat matching is quite a simple one, take two tracks and synchronise them. 'Sounds easy' I hear you say. Wrong!

First, without trying to sound over simplistic we must define what a beat actually is. When you are listening to a track, the beat is usually the bass drum. I say usually because other things such as high hats or symbols can be used. For this tutorial, we will use the bass drum, as this is by far the most common.

So what happens then when the bass drum is not play during part of the track? Does this mean that there is no beat? The answer here is no. Think of the beat as rhythm. If you find yourself tapping your feet, nodding your head or shaking any other part of your anatomy, it's the beat that you are doing this to. Let’s not wiggle too much though as people start to think you're a bit weird waving your arms all over the place… lol This is specially true for modern pop, rnb, hiphop and alike, that’s why it can be harder to mix than house and trance that has a repeating bass drum (or other beat) almost constantly through the whole track.

Finding the beat in some records can be tricky but if you listen to it carefully, you will find it eventually. It's important to remember that during those quiet sections on a track, the beat still goes on but you will have to mentally count it in your head.

Now that you know exactly what a beat is the next thing you should now is that they are placed together in groups of 4, 8, 16, and 32. Try listen to a song, and count 1-2-3-4… 1-2-3-4… that’s the beat.. and it repeats itself by 4 ..

This grouping of beats into multiple of 4 is true for virtually all tracks and is a concept that is important to grasp.. You may be able to get both records to the same speed but if you mix one into the other without taking into account the 'position' you are mixing into you'll drop it in like a lead weight, it will be easy to hear you are mixing, even if they are right beat mached, because they have a “wrong” positioning towards eachother. The idea is to create a smoooooth mix that is almost undetectable. Don't worry if you not too sure about this at the moment because it will be discussed again later on.

So, the important thing is to keep the bass beats flowing through the sets, not that means there's always bass drums banging away, just that the beat is constant between tunes, so the people on the floor don't have to do a quick 2 step shuffle to get back in time with the beats. In other words:-

Beat - -beat - - beat - - beat - - beat - - beat - - beat - - beat - - beat :-
is the kinda thing you're aiming for

beat - beat beat - be-beat- beatbe- beat - bebeat - - beat - beat - - beat
isn't really going to flow.

Tune 1 - Beat - - Beat - - Beat - - Beat - - Beat - -
Tune 2 - Beat - - Beat - - Beat - - Beat - - Beat - -
Is the preferred method of mixing, where the beats of tune 1 and tune 2 occur together. What you don't want is:-

Tune 1 - Beat - - Beat - - Beat - - Beat - - Beat - -
Tune 2 - Beat - Beat - Beat - Beat - Beat - - Beat - -
Where the beats of the two tunes are out of sync, and the people on the floor aren't too sure as to what beat they're supposed to be following when the dance. Get me?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
---------------- BBBBBBBBBBBBB
--------------------------- CCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Where each letter is a differnt tune. How, where and for how long these overlaps go on ?


The point of beat-matching is to take two tunes, and make them run at exactly the same tempo (BPM). Why? So you can play the two tunes together and go from one to the other without there being a change in the beat. Why? So that the people on the floor don't have to shuffle step to get back into the rhythm of the music. Why? coz otherwise they'll leave. Why? SHUT UP!!! (lol…)

Now…. When starting to practice, don’t go starting with some advanced beat songs of Beyonce or some crazy break-beats… Take 2 house songs (they are easiest to beat match), and two house songs with a clear dominant bass drum would be even better. It's a nice idea to find a tune that doesn't have a “beatless” intro - you will get more luck out of one that starts immediately into the beats.

Now, load those 2 songs into each deck in vdj, and set the pitch to zero in both decks.
Now, move both songs (use the wave form and drag), so that both songs are positioned just before the first bass beat, and press the cue button here.