BEATMATCHING 101

Play one record.

in headphone, scratch other record on downbeat, or snare or whatever.

Let go of second record in time with the first record.

See if it's going faster or slower.

if it's a bit faster, drag on label/squeeze metal thing that record goes on/tap the side etc, while adjusting the pitch/tempo fader.

If it's slower, give it a little push, while adjusting the pitch fader.

Repeat till it's right.

It's easy, just takes some practice. The hard part is when the tempos are very close, listening close enough to notice whether the record is just a bit fast or a bit slow.

or when something doesn't count to four

sometimes it's the most fun to beatmatch shit in weird time signatures...and with real drummers who speed up and slow down, you have to stay on yr toes.

when I learned I started out using two of the same record

just a straight 4/4 house beat

then you know they're at the same speed and you can practice getting em lined up

after you've got that down move on to stuff that's at different tempos ....

that's a good idea

yes, after you've gotten used to starting the second record at the right time...randomly change the tempo of the first then beatmatch the second to it...actually harder then doing it with two different records because with two you can visualize in your head, ok, THAT beat is the one that is lagging, but when the record is the same it gets confusing.

Also, I have to admit for a while I was using those beatcounter devices, it helped give a shortcut to which was faster, which was slower.

it'd be cool to be able to put one record on each side of the cue

i made this thread in jest (because of the video) but I actually have to dj a wedding sun night in woodstock, ny. i am bringing the portable numark but i expect most of it will come off groom's powerbook.

dan, your points on blackcrack were good ones.

don't bother nah use just one turntable

jon...lots of mixers let you put each record on different sides of the head, it's called split cue. Some people really prefer it, but it messes me up. I like the kind of cue where you can adjust the relative volume so you can hear a lot of the cue and a bit of the program in your headphones, it helps especially when there's a delay if you don't have a good monitor.