bpm counters

[drake89]

So I just got another NDX400 and am starting to practice beat matching with my pair of CDJs. Surprise, surprise the BPM counters on them are totally whack! I know I can label the bpms of each song to make things easier, but it's hard to know how much to pitch a tune when the bpm is off in the first place! So should I get a pair of BPM detectors? Anyone use any or recomend any?

Inb4 cdj400s etc...

[FuzionDubstep]

your gunna get some abuse for this post..
you're supposed to be able to beatmatch in your head, its a skill you need to learn.. although if you're mixing dubstep then it tends to be around 138-145bpm its not a big threshold, just play the song your about to mix through your headphones and make sure it sounds in time and then bring it in.. you don't need to rely on technology all the time

[legend4ry]

DJing is something what comes with practice.

You WILL learn when a track sounds off and how it is off (to fast/to slow) and how much pitch it needs.

Load the mp3 up to your DAW and then see what BPM it is (this is easy, load it in at 140 and see if all the grid matches up, if not move it up/down) because its always nice to know what BPM your tracks are and then you can roughly get an idea of how much pitch it needs. Like I know if a tune is 145bpm and I am trying to mix it into a track which is 140bpm at +4 on the pitch (on a pair of technics) it'll roughly be around +2 /+2.2 on the pitch give or take to get it in time.


I must admit that CDJs make this a pain in the ARSE - with vinyl (what I primarily play) you can speed up/slow down a lot easier but because of the fickle digital-ness of CDJs I find myself going back to the first beat all-too-often when playing on CD's.

[Teknicyde]

DJing is something what comes with practice.

You WILL learn when a track sounds off and how it is off (to fast/to slow) and how much pitch it needs.

Load the mp3 up to your DAW and then see what BPM it is (this is easy, load it in at 140 and see if all the grid matches up, if not move it up/down) because its always nice to know what BPM your tracks are and then you can roughly get an idea of how much pitch it needs. Like I know if a tune is 145bpm and I am trying to mix it into a track which is 140bpm at +4 on the pitch (on a pair of technics) it'll roughly be around +2 /+2.2 on the pitch give or take to get it in time.


I must admit that CDJs make this a pain in the ARSE - with vinyl (what I primarily play) you can speed up/slow down a lot easier but because of the fickle digital-ness of CDJs I find myself going back to the first beat all-too-often when playing on CD's.

This this and more this.

Practice, and more practice, itll be second nature to beatmatch stuff. Your gonna get yourself used to crutches before you can walk essentially though playing with bpm counters... not good practice. Just learn it with your blood sweat n ears like the rest of us.

But. To elaborate, totally agree with what you said about pitch-riding being alot easier on vinyl, but you have to admit the CD's digital-ness helps it stay on time once you DO have it locked. On CDJ's, i can find my pitch, set it, and go about mixing as I see fit without sweating if its going to tremble off beat like I do if im mixing vinyl...

not starting the vinyl/digital debate, just saying each has its ups n downs when your beatmatching.

...OP dont be lazy, practice more until you get it.

[drake89]

Yeah, honestly I can figure out the pitch% in VDJ but that kind of defeats the purpose of using your ears like you guys were saying. I'm just practicing on some older dubstep which isn't terribly difficult. Hopefully I'll be able to start mixing in other genres soon, just need to find a long riser to use for transitions. like the one in basshead that's must be 8 bars long, but fuck if that song hasn't been rinsed.

[MikkiFunk]

I don't wanna start the old dog rant 'that's not what dj'ing is' but I will anyway, because I simply can't believe you just used the words 'beat matching' and 'bpm counters' in the same sentence. How lazy are you? You might as well get a good software/ and controller with a decent 'sync' button so you can be like all these other silly DJs that get two tracks up and whack 'sync' on and basically spit in the face of any one who's ever learnt how to beatmatch and calls themself a dj for a good reason.

But look, abuse aside, WHAT is the point of learning to mix if you're going to use a bpm counter. With time you will just know within seconds which track is too fast or slow. You want to get to the point where you can get 2 tracks cued and at the same speed in around 10 seconds. When you get to that point you will be laughing that you ever wanted to use some shitty computer inside a mixer to do it for you!

Seriously, drop the beat counters man, you say they were 'whack' but personally you were just as 'whack' for trying to use them. Do some proper mixing.

*Also, if you WERE just using a program on its own or whatever, then I could understand the annoyance of trying to mix 2 tracks by fiddling/ moving a virtual fader with a mouse, but you aren't, you have 2 (or just one?) decks with actual pitch sliders, so sorry, but there's not much excuse man.

[legend4ry]

But. To elaborate, totally agree with what you said about pitch-riding being alot easier on vinyl, but you have to admit the CD's digital-ness helps it stay on time once you DO have it locked. On CDJ's, i can find my pitch, set it, and go about mixing as I see fit without sweating if its going to tremble off beat like I do if im mixing vinyl...

not starting the vinyl/digital debate, just saying each has its ups n downs when your beatmatching.

Yeah thats what I meant - CD's stay locked when they are but sometimes getting that pitch is awfully fiddly.