Anybody use Traktor 3 or Pro for dubstep mixing?

urbanfabric · Post by **urbanfabric** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:47 pm

I'm having trouble setting beat grids for dubstep and wanted to know if anyone on the board can give me some tips on setting the grid proper?

Thanks...

entheogen · Post by **entheogen** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:48 pm

I have Traktor 3 set up with a Korg Zero 4 mixer. I found this tutorial among others on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBzejpuGk5Y

However, even following that I am also having trouble making accurate beatgrids. Even though I follow the instructions I still find that I get a tighter mix by simply using the auto 'sync' button at regular intervals. I could really do with someone who knows what they're doing showing me in person.

urbanfabric · Post by **urbanfabric** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 1:45 am

Thanks for the video link. I'll check it out.

paradise · Post by **paradise** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:11 am

Here's how I set up my grids for dubstep:

Let Traktor guess the bpm of the track. If you're using legal downloads, this is very straightfoward: the tracks will (in the vast majority of cases) be a whole number or maybe .5 (140.00, 142.00, 138.50, etc). If Traktor says its 139.97 or something, just round the number up in the bpm window.
If you're using vinyl rips, beatgrids don't work so well. Most decks are never *exactly* spinning at the right speed, and you might have a couple of tiny skips in there which would through the grid off track. If you're using vinyl rips, then, I'd say just don't bother with grids.

Next, find a kick or snare that is on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th Beat of a bar (I normally go for the first kick if its on time), and place your grid there. If it gets placed slightly before or after the kick, just finely position it with the arrows in the bpm window.

If you've done it right, that should be it - job done!

The only things you can do wrong, then, when gridding dubstep are
a) Getting the exact bpm wrong (but this is unlikely - out of my 300 odd tunes there's maybe 5 that aren't whole numbers or XXX.5bpm)
b) Putting your grid in the wrong place - you just have to listen and put it 'on the beat'.
c) Trying to grid with vinyl rips - pretty much impossible, don't bother.

Hope this helps.

urbanfabric · Post by **urbanfabric** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:22 am

After watching the video again (I had already seen it once before) I tried placing the beatmarker on the snare and going through the whole track lining up the grid.

However, when I move a section of the grid in another part of the track because the grid was not lining up with the snares, the whole track some how never stays locked in.

I don't use wax and all my dubstep is purchased from Beatport, iTunes, or Junodownload.

@Paradise I'll try your suggestions. Thanks for the input.

At this rate I will not attempt to mix dubstep this weekend during the Heavyweight Selection. Although, there will still be a healthy dose of it during the show.

s.i.e · Post by **s.i.e** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:24 am

i use traktor every week as a third deck for my radio show and never bother with the grids, i just use it as u would a cd deck.

urbanfabric · Post by **urbanfabric** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 9:46 am

S.I.E wrote:i use traktor every week as a third deck for my radio show and never bother with the grids, i just use it as u would a cd deck.

So do you mix in CD Mode in Traktor?

entheogen · Post by **entheogen** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 6:42 am

Paradise wrote:Here's how I set up my grids for dubstep:

Let Traktor guess the bpm of the track. If you're using legal downloads, this is very straightfoward: the tracks will (in the vast majority of cases) be a whole number or maybe .5 (140.00, 142.00, 138.50, etc). If Traktor says its 139.97 or something, just round the number up in the bpm window.
If you're using vinyl rips, beatgrids don't work so well. Most decks are never *exactly* spinning at the right speed, and you might have a couple of tiny skips in there which would through the grid off track. If you're using vinyl rips, then, I'd say just don't bother with grids.

Next, find a kick or snare that is on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd 4th Beat of a bar (I normally go for the first kick if its on time), and place your grid there. If it gets placed slightly before or after the kick, just finely position it with the arrows in the bpm window.

If you've done it right, that should be it - job done!

The only things you can do wrong, then, when gridding dubstep are
a) Getting the exact bpm wrong (but this is unlikely - out of my 300 odd tunes there's maybe 5 that aren't whole numbers or XXX.5bpm)
b) Putting your grid in the wrong place - you just have to listen and put it 'on the beat'.
c) Trying to grid with vinyl rips - pretty much impossible, don't bother.

Hope this helps.

Cheers for the advice. After reading this I bought all my vinyl rips as FLAC downloads from Juno and now my beatgrids are doing the job. I have a some more questions:

1) If I I round the BPM of the track up as you suggest my beatgrid seems less accurate, what is the point of doing this?

2)How useful are the 'Snap' and 'Quant' buttons on the Traktor UI? When and how should I use these functions?

3) Any recommendations for auseful set of cue points?

Many thanks for the help so far, it's helped enormously.

paradise · Post by **paradise** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:10 pm

Entheogen wrote: 1) If I I round the BPM of the track up as you suggest my beatgrid seems less accurate, what is the point of doing this?

Simply because most tracks are produded at a bpm that's a whole number. If Traktor comes up with a bpm like 139.997 or 137.492 the chances are that the real bpms are 140 and 137.5. If you're finding this doesn't work, leave the bpms as they are, set your first grid point, and then follow the track, increasing/decreasing the bpm so that the grid eventually lines up throughout.

2)How useful are the 'Snap' and 'Quant' buttons on the Traktor UI? When and how should I use these functions?

I'm not sure where the 'Quant' button is? I play in Snap mode all the time - it means that when you click near a grid it 'snaps' to the nearest point exactly. Also useful to put loops in snap mode imo.

3) Any recommendations for a useful set of cue points?

I put cue points at the drop and just use the beatjump buttons to skip around the track 32 beats at time (the structure of most tracks is built around phrases 8-16 bars long). Otherwise you might want to put one in places where you like to start bringing tracks in; anywhere where you want reminders really.

numbskull · Post by **numbskull** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:15 pm

get some decks

lomax · Post by **lomax** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:43 pm

can anyone explain to me what all the different grooves do on the timecoded vinyl?

I swear i only ever use the first track on one side.

entheogen · Post by **entheogen** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:23 pm

Cheers for the advice Paradiso.

NumbSkull wrote:get some decks

Have mate, Stanton ST150s, pure lush with the timecoded vinyl. To be honest I just love mixing, and the more tools I have and more choice e.g. vinyl/digital, just makes it all the more fun. Might even get a CD deck. Digital at 48khz via my Korg Zero 4, XLR out to powered monitors sounds proper tasty, although the sound from vinyl is still my favourite.

LOMAX wrote:can anyone explain to me what all the different grooves do on the timecoded vinyl?

I swear i only ever use the first track on one side.

I only use one side but the the two final sections on the vinyl allow you to scroll through your track library.

Anybody use Traktor 3 or Pro for dubstep mixing?

Anybody use Traktor 3 or Pro for dubstep mixing?

Who is online