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Do you write down the BPMs?


Riton

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bpm counters are totally useless !!!! I have never seen one that is accurate enough to fully rely on ...

493069[/snapback]

Mine is! :) At least accurate enough for me to mix with my vinyls and CDs to make some tapes. Don't know if it would work for a party, but I'll never dj psy at a party anyway so why bother. :)

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Mine is! :) At least accurate enough for me to mix with my vinyls and CDs to make some tapes. Don't know if it would work for a party, but I'll never dj psy at a party anyway so why bother. :)

493076[/snapback]

I don't believe you :P

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writing down BPM's is a cardinal SIN of mixing. It is simply unacceptable. The more you do it, the less decent DJ you will become.

 

 

You need to be able to listen to both tracks at the same time, and judge which one needs to be sped up / down.

 

Writing it down is WRONG!

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writing down BPM's is a cardinal SIN of mixing. It is simply unacceptable. The more you do it, the less decent DJ you will become.

You need to be able to listen to both tracks at the same time, and judge which one needs to be sped up / down.

 

Writing it down is WRONG!

493192[/snapback]

I don't agree. It's about making a good set and track selection. If you do the technical party by calculating the BPM, by writing them down or by hearing them does imho not make a difference. If it makes one, you have to tell me which one! :)

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writing down BPM's is a cardinal SIN of mixing. It is simply unacceptable. The more you do it, the less decent DJ you will become.

You need to be able to listen to both tracks at the same time, and judge which one needs to be sped up / down.

 

Writing it down is WRONG!

493192[/snapback]

what about knowing bpm's from the head is that wrong too ?

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You look like a prat beind the decks with a pen and a notepad.

493214[/snapback]

Oh I forgot, it's about how you look and not about the music you play... :rolleyes: As much as I know you write down the BPMs at the first listen and then still look in the booklet when you use the CD for mixing.

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I don't agree. It's about making a good set and track selection. If you do the technical party by calculating the BPM, by writing them down or by hearing them does imho not make a difference. If it makes one, you have to tell me which one! :)

493207[/snapback]

So let me see if I get this .... So if you're playing a track at 145 bpm, and want to mix in another track that runs on 145 but your cue point is not 100%. Do you just cue it up again if it doesn't sound ok the first time you press play, or do you adjust the jog wheel?
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So let me see if I get this .... So if you're playing a track at 145 bpm, and want to mix in another track that runs on 145 but your cue point is not 100%. Do you just cue it up again if it doesn't sound ok the first time you press play, or do you adjust the jog wheel?

493222[/snapback]

Maybe you should ask that the threadstarter and not me how he will use the written down BPMs?

 

IMHO the written down BPMs have the aim of giving you an idea of the speed, you sure have to make the adjustments of the track yourself by trying and listening to the beats in the headphone so see if you have them right or not.

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Maybe you should ask that the threadstarter and not me how he will use the written down BPMs?

 

Yeah I guess :)

 

IMHO the written down BPMs have the aim of giving you an idea of the speed, you sure have to make the adjustments of the track yourself by trying and listening to the beats in the headphone so see if you have them right or not.

493228[/snapback]

But yeah, you answered my question there. I've seen people who just press play, cue, play, cue, play, cue, play .... untill they get it right.

Nothing more, thanks :)

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without having the BPM written next to the tracklist, then i guess id be just cueing and playing over and over again in headphones until i get it just right...

With some reference it's much faster... and easier...

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You're welcome! :)

 

I also prefere using the jogwheel since it's a somewhat similar feeling like mixing with vinyls. But to each his own.

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Well, each to their own, but i never bother about knowing the BPM. i just mix. whats the point of knowing the BPM if your just gonna match it to the previous track's BPM anyways?  :huh:

493252[/snapback]

:unsure: I don't really get you?

 

If you do a beatmatch and let the tracks play together for a longer time instead of just making a fast switch, they have to have the same speed unless you wanna correct one track by hand all the time or unless you don't mind trainwrecks. If you know the BPMs for that, it takes less time to adjust the tracks, at least if you are not very good at it yet of course.

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:unsure: I don't really get you?

 

If you do a beatmatch and let the tracks play together for a longer time instead of just making a fast switch, they have to have the same speed unless you wanna correct one track by hand all the time or unless you don't mind trainwrecks. If you know the BPMs for that, it takes less time to adjust the tracks, at least if you are not very good at it yet of course.

493256[/snapback]

I suppose if you knew the BPM's of the tracks off by heart it would make it easier to mix. If one track was 145, and the other 148. you;d know it was only "slightly" faster. If i had all the BPM's of all the tracks written down in front of me, im sure it would make it a lot easier (and quicker) to get them in sync. I tend to sync them manually via the headphones until they are perfectly matched, then leave the pitch as it is.

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Its funny how all the really good DJ's here *cough,cough,Pr0fane,cough,cough* never offer advice as to how they mix.  <_<

493278[/snapback]

Thanks for the nice words ;)

 

I don't consider myself better than some of the others who commented in this thread though, for instance Lepton and Krell are both really top-notch skilled dj's. Krell actually taught me a lot of what I know about dj'ing, and I agree with a lot of his points made in this thread.

 

In my cd-case I have the bpm's of all the tracks written down - I mean, I am carrying all these cd's in a case, and therefore I have to make tracklists for each cd anyways - so why not write down the bpm as well? I can beatmix tracks without having the bpm's at hand, but I don't really see why I should do it, when I can easily save some seconds on each mix this way, and therefore concentrate on other aspects on the mix.

 

If that makes me a "lesser DJ" in some peoples eyes, then so be it.

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Thanks for the nice words ;)

 

I don't consider myself better than some of the others who commented in this thread though, for instance Lepton and Krell are both really top-notch skilled dj's. Krell actually taught me a lot of what I know about dj'ing, and I agree with a lot of his points made in this thread.

 

In my cd-case I have the bpm's of all the tracks written down - I mean, I am carrying all these cd's in a case, and therefore I have to make tracklists for each cd anyways - so why not write down the bpm as well? I can beatmix tracks without having the bpm's at hand, but I don't really see why I should do it, when I can easily save some seconds on each mix this way, and therefore concentrate on other aspects on the mix.

 

If that makes me a "lesser DJ" in some peoples eyes, then so be it.

493414[/snapback]

Well, i take it back. I guess having that extra information at hand can only help you, and make mixing easier. I might try it actually...

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Guess that's the whole point of it, to make it easier. :)

493272[/snapback]

Not easier, just faster :-)

 

Its DUMMY WORK, for christ sakes.

 

Getting the pitch set right is not hard at all - why spend time on something ridiculous when you can spend it on something fabulous instead ? :-) The less time I spend cueing up tracks in the headphones the longer my ears will last.

 

Best Wishes

 

Krell

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Its funny how all the really good DJ's here *cough,cough,Pr0fane,cough,cough* never offer advice as to how they mix.  <_<

493278[/snapback]

AFAIK pr0fane and I share almost the same techniques/methods regarding mixing, I got him into DJing / encouraged him to start doing it (he actually played his first set ever at one of my birthday parties - With Happy Birth tune and all - was great hehe).

 

Differences between the way pr0fane spins and I do at the moment are mainly how long time we spend in the mix and also which kinds of flow we like to present in our sets.

 

While pr0fane focusses very much on the softer/uplifting side of music and groove + tribal inspired stuff - I move on into those aspects as well as dark psy stuff (stopping around suomi style).

 

Now - I learn things from pr0fane, he still learns things from me - I think, to some degree, any person who is really interested in DJing will try to learn from others since their heart is "in it" :-)

 

I learned some from Lepton also (from listening to one of his sets online), for instance how to exploit track structures better.

 

Best Wishes

 

Krell

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Hey, a moderately good-natured thread :)

 

I also believe that getting any of the dummy work out of the way just increases time available for the more creative aspects of DJing. Having BPMs handy is also important for harmonic mixing, which I try to keep within a +/-2 BPM range. I think it helps a lot that I learned on vinyl, with no reference to BPM, without any time-saving tools or special technique. I had the raw essence of the music drilled into me... but it's not necessary to remain so low-tech. Any time-saving measures instituted on aspects of the craft which aren't part of the creative mileau of DJing seem like a good idea to me.

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