OK.... BEATMATCHING:
you have 2 SONGS. One plays at a certain speed. One plays at another speed that'z completely different. Your job as the DJ is to keep a dancefloor dancing. If you just run one song into another, the people will have to shuffle-step between songs. Then they get sick of that and leave. Then they don't buy any more alcohol. Then the club owner gets pissed. Then you get fired. So the idea is to make it so that 2 songs are playing at the same speed. That'z where an accurate pitch adjust comes in.
song 1 = 135 Beats Per Minute
song 2 = 140 Beats Per Minute
Mathematically, song 2 is 3% faster than song 1. Therefore, in order for song 2 to flow into the mix, it must be slowed by 3% on the pitch fader, or song 1 must be sped up by 3%. But you don't want to touch the record that is playing for the crowd, or they will notice, think you suck, and leave. So you always adjust the track that is playing in your headphones, or the CUED TRACK. You bring the songs so they are playing at the same speed, and then, hold the CUED TRACK on it's first beat. When the time is right, you let the second track go, and make fine adjustments until they come into line with one another. And since they are (THEORETICALLY) playing at the same speed, the beats from both records should be totally synchronized. Now you can crossfade the song 1 to song 2.
Now, for the DISCLAIMERS:
1) No matter how good you are, it is IMPOSSIBLE to PERFECTLY beatmatch 2 songs. After a certain amount of time, the 2 WILL DRIFT APART. The idea is to make that time as long as possible, long enough for you to execute the mix.
2) Most of the time, you WON'T know the Beats Per Minute (BPM) of the records you are playing. So all you can do is just LISTEN to which record is playing faster, and make the adjustments. And THIS IS WHERE PRACTICE COMES IN.
3) Don't bring a calculator to do your sets. You will look dumb. I only gave the above example to explain a theory.
4) DJ'ing is not EASY, nor is it CHEAP. If it were, everyone would be doing it.
any more questions, further explanation, e-mail me at:
dj_matrix2001@yahoo.com