Beyond DJ's...beatmatching tips?

[Canucks3322]

I just picked up some CDJ400's with a DJM400 mixer yesterday and I am having a hard time beatmatching and lining up beats without a computer HAHA! Any tips? I swear the BPM counter on the CDJ is waaaay off sometimes too and it sucks because I never learned the proper way to beatmatch, I was using traktor before and looking at the beatgrids.....:dunno: At the moment, I would (mixing House/Prog/Electro):

1. adjust the pitch on 2nd deck to match the BPM on the 1st deck
2. put on headphones
3. listen to 2nd deck track and hit pause at the 1st beat
4. listen to 1st deck song playing on headphones and then hit play on the 2nd deck song on the 1st beat, take off headphones and move crossfader over and slowly fade in bass, mids, treble...

This was only working half the time as the beat would either drift or not match at all...I know I'm missing a few steps and need more practise but some tips would be much appreciated (I'm a completely self taught DJ)....

PS...anyone been thru the DJ classes at Voxbox? Is it worth it?

PS...anyone wanting to buy a mint condition Numark Stealth with DJ i/o with Traktor LE, PM me...

[D911]

practice, its all about the practice.

and dont trust the beat counters.

[Canucks3322]

Yea, I suppose if I want to REALLY learn how to beatmatch properly I'm gonna have to cover up the BMP display too....:(

What's are some tips for mixing old school hip hop, rnb if you have no turntablism skills whatosver?

[kokanee27]

yeah like what was said, practice
and just reading the bpm counters on the cdj's wont yield matched songs, use it more as a quick guide to get them into the same general range

remember a song with a bpm of 128.51 and a song with a bpm of 129.49 will both read as 129 bpm on the cdj

in comes down to training your ears to make the fine adjustments

[EK 2.0]

Match on the snare beat...not on the bassline for hip hop...once i figured that out beatmatching came pretty natural to me...

But, like said above...don't trust beat counters....

[97'Scort]

I'm interested in JUST the DJiO if you're selling it. Let me know how much.

[Canucks3322]

^ give me an offer...I have no idea how much it's worth, might be hard for me to sell the Stealth though without a soundcard....

I practised for a couple hours this morning while hungover...almost got the hang of it using the jog wheel to fine tune pitch...listening to snares will be a whole new challenge though for hip hop....

[DJ Lazy]

You bought gear for the first time yesterday, and you expect to be able to beat match by today? :rofl: Sorry, it just never ceases to amaze me that someone thinks they can go from a computer doing the work, to expecting to be able to do it immediately on their own with CDJ/Turntables.

Keep practicing for a few hours a day for a couple months (or longer, maybe less). It will take time for your ears to pick it up. DJing isn't something that comes over night.

SMALL adjustments make a big difference.

Kokanee basically said anything I would. So no need to repeat him.

Practice, Practice, Practice. :)

[Canucks3322]

Haha yea...this is harder than I thought...I have new respect for old school DJ's who don't rely on the software or even a BPM display.

[DJ Lazy]

Originally posted by Canucks3322
Haha yea...this is harder than I thought...I have new respect for old school DJ's who don't rely on the software or even a BPM display.

:thumbsup: .. Best thing you could have replied with. :D

It's much more satisfying to put a mix together that you know took work. Just put the time and effort in to learn and you won't rely on either of those either. ;)

[D911]

Still some purist out there vinyl only and pretty much barebones setups haha.

random question but how much did you pay for all your stuff?

[beyondpinoy]

yeah i picked up my NS7 a about 3 months ago, and im still relying too much on the BPM counter in the software, but i find its fairly good when using serato ich... 95% of the time its pretty close to being right in my case...

[Canucks3322]

Originally posted by D911
Still some purist out there vinyl only and pretty much barebones setups haha.

random question but how much did you pay for all your stuff?

$2330 at Axe Music...779 for each CDJ and 675 for the DJM400...I went with the CDJ400's because I could load my MP3 tracks directly onto it off a USB key so no need to use a laptop....

[Agent_Oorange]

Originally posted by Canucks3322


$2330 at Axe Music...779 for each CDJ and 675 for the DJM400...I went with the CDJ400's because I could load my MP3 tracks directly onto it off a USB key so no need to use a laptop....

One thing I didn't like about the 400's is it was insanely slow to load tracks off the USB keys, I usually keep the tracks in WAV format since you can properly seek on them too. 2000's are much faster loading tunes :D

[D911]

Originally posted by Agent_Oorange


One thing I didn't like about the 400's is it was insanely slow to load tracks off the USB keys, I usually keep the tracks in WAV format since you can properly seek on them too. 2000's are much faster loading tunes :D

lol the 2000s are better than the 400s at everything.
Not all of us have 4000dollars to spend on decks tho =/

[Canucks3322]

^ haha yea......the CDJ400's are pretty damn good value and great for getting used to the high end CDJ's used in the bars/clubs...that's why I went this route...

[be_y_ou]

I Just bought some mk2's and i dont have speakers for them yet but i tried using a guitar speaker with built in amp lol it doesnt seem to have enough power to play loudly. does anyone have any recommendations on speakers and amp i should get, (power ratings etc.) or have any for sale?