I Get Thrown Off! (BPM)

K

Kid Ambition

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i didnt really want to post about something that has already been discussed, but what i am looking for i can not find. i just started djing and my main thing is to learn how to mix. the problem is that when i have a record playing and throw the other one in to mix it in the bpm is off, some times i can fix it, but i get too confused with both beats going off at the same time and i cant tell which drums are going off. so what happens is that i mess witht the wrong deck and slow or speed up the wrong vinyl, which really throws me off. What the hell! this is so frustrating. and i suck at counting beats but dont want to get a counter. man i need serious help before i change my name to dj baldy.
 
It's cool, man! Everyone sucks when they first start!

Naw, im just playin, but for real, all it takes is PRACTICE!! And lots of it.

What kind of music are you spinning? Hip hop, house, trance? If its hip hop, then its actually pretty easy to manually count out the bpm's. I started out with just a wristwatch that counts seconds on it. Now i just use the clock on my computer. Just start the downbeat of the song on a regular interval (o, 15, 30, 45 seconds) and count the number of beats there are in one minute. Boo yah, there's your BPM.

Hope that helps.

And PRACTICE!
 
thanks a lot. i guess imma have to mix with a watch in hand huh. i wanna know how can you tell the two apart when you are trying to mix. i get confused and cant tell which is which most of the time. if its just the drums im ok but when the melody is going im lost.
 
Sorry, man, i guess I wasn't clear enough. You dont do the watch thing while in the mix. Do it before you even start mixing, and write down the BPM on the record sleeve or a piece of paper or something, so you know the BPM before you even start mixing the song. Then you know approximately how far you have to adjust it to match another song. A song with a lower BPM means you have to slow it down and vice versa.

And as far as not knowing which record needs to be sped up or slowed down, that where having an idea of the BPMs comes in handy, because, for example, you had a record playing at 93 BPM and wanted to mix a song at 96 BPM, you need to adjust the pitch of the new song (96) about -3 or 4 %. Then make fine tuned adjustments. It really just takes practice, man. You'll get it pretty quick.

Edit: BTW, you spin hip hop, right?
 
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Sorry, and I hate to say it, but the best advice is simply to practice. Ears are a pretty wicked invention, you just have to give them time to learn what they're supposed to do -- which in this case is differentiating between opposing sources.

It's kind of like riding a bike, whistling or blowing bubbles. It's tough to explain it to someone who is just starting. It's tough to figure out how to do if you're just starting. But at some point, the light goes on and you're like "Ahhhhh --- THAT'S what I'm supposed to do..."
 
thanks a lot there man. i dont know what i was thinking. imma write down all my bpms, man imma go crazy. alright let me see if i got this right, i hope you understand what im about to do. ok so 1 for example goes" BOOM BAP BOOM BOOM BAP)? YEA I DO HIP HOP AND r&b my main goal is to be sick enough to go from sinatra to large pro. thanks again jizle.
 
I don't really get what you're saying with the boom bap boom boom bap thing, but after you get the hang of it, you'll be able to tell which song is faster or slower before it gets to the point of chaos. Also keep in mind that knowing the BPM of a song helps to know which songs you can mix it with, but some things will be too far out of range and will sound like crap if you adjust the pitch more than 6-8 %.

Im glad i could help, man. Just PM me if u got any more questions and i'll try to help you out.

And Practice! :D
 
you have to train your brain to beat match

some cats pick it up lickity split and some dont

Im still training myself after 2 years to get the beats on exactly.

you will have to make minor adjustments "in the mix"

but with time and heaps of practice it will become second nature.

good tip here that i used when i started.

play the track your cueing up in your cans real quite---its easier to tell if its faster or slower.

also try matchin the beats with no headphones--just play em both on your speakers---get used to sending the records off on the rite beats and at the rite time.....

its really just a matter of time b4 it all "clicks"

just dont give up----

NickB
 
Tons of good info. good loking out to everybody who has posted and has given advice to me so far.
 
BRS said:

It's kind of like riding a bike, whistling or blowing bubbles. It's tough to explain it to someone who is just starting. It's tough to figure out how to do if you're just starting. But at some point, the light goes on and you're like "Ahhhhh --- THAT'S what I'm supposed to do..."
Click to expand...

thats exactly it. nobody can tell you how exactly to balance and ride a bike - and at first you're going to take a digger. then you might get good enough to get to the end of your street. after lots of practice, you're racing downhill, or doing trials.

it will click for you - and thats just what it feels like too. my first suggestion is to start with some music that is more simple than hip hop. try to mix some house music together - you might hate house music for all i know, but the point is that it is simple for mixing purposes. when you get that down, then its like being at the end of your street on the bike.

honestly, i think hip hop is considered to be one of that toughest genres to mix well. i have been doing this for over 7 years now, and this is my experience.

simplify, and build from there. . .
 
along the lines of starting simple -
maybe grab doubles of a record, start one out and cover the pitch slider with a piece of paper so you don't know exactly where it is, then try to get the other exactly matched. also its repetitive and boring, but go back n forth between two records (that go well together) over and over and over - that will help the mechanics become more second nature and your ears will start to pick it up.
it takes time, and some people have epiphanies, where all of the sudden it clicks, and they're unstoppable - others its less clear, but one day you look back and realize you're pretty damn good.
if you stick with it:)
 
Along with using doubles and covering the pitch slider of one turntable I found that starting the pitch all the way up or down was a good trick when I first started, then there is only one direction to your guess. If it's not on, move the slider by about 1/2 notch and try again. Repeat.
In addition, always adjust the record which is not in the mix, or is 'least' in the mix. If the track has a melody avoid adjusting the pitch if you can. Melodies bend even if you just use the pitch slider to adjust records (learn to do this as soon as possible it's an important tool for doing in mix adjustments, touching the record or platter is bad news for the sound)

After a while when you pick up a record you just intuitively know what speed it needs to be at. I alternate between about 134bpm and 142bpm (depending on the style I'm playing). I can just feel the difference in a track as soon as I put the needle to it. 5 seconds later I'll have the pitch mighty close. You get so fast that without a third table or efx unit you get bored back there. Everyone says it, but practice makes perfect.
 
Just out of curiosity, how is your monitoring and how loud to you have your headphones turned up? Things like this can make it annoying as hell when you're first learning. Personally, I turn down the headphones until I hear the monitors over everything, then slowly turn them back up until they're at just the same volume as the monitors. It might sound a little strange, but you'll hear it if you give it a shot.
 
Posted by Tranceient
Just out of curiosity, how is your monitoring and how loud to you have your headphones turned up? Things like this can make it annoying as hell when you're first learning. Personally, I turn down the headphones until I hear the monitors over everything, then slowly turn them back up until they're at just the same volume as the monitors. It might sound a little strange, but you'll hear it if you give it a shot.
Click to expand...

I usually just use the left headphone to monitor everything. You gotta have the headphones turned up enough so that you can hear your next tune over whats playing on the speakers, obviously. Its just personal preference. If you need to get some stereo separation in there, just pull the headphones back from your head, and listen to the snares or something.

I mix hip hop, so I dont have very long to mix the next track in. I dont know about that whole "fading in the monitor volume" thing, I need to hear whats goin on in the next song.
 
I just meant when I first get on so the headphones are pretty well adjusted. Then I don't worry about it and just go to the mixing.
 
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