DJ lesson 7: How to beatmatch - and is it a 'sin' to sync?
If you’re reading this, then you want to learn how to DJ the right way. Pretty much all digital DJ kit these days – players and controllers – have a sync button (which automatically locks two tracks in time with each other). But should you use it?
There’s no right answer.
An older, experienced DJ isn’t going to rate you too highly if you use sync during a club gig. But if you’re doing at least some adjusting with the jog wheel, he/she’s going to think you know what you’re doing.
Learning to beatmatch means you’re respecting the ‘art’ of being a DJ, that you care about the history of DJing, and want to learn the craft just as all your DJ heroes did.
If you care about that, learn to beatmatch.
It’s a skill that requires you to listen to music, and really feel it. So you should try to learn.
The good news is that while it feels impossible at the start, with a bit of practice you’ll soon be controlling that fader with confidence.
What is beatmatching?
Beatmatching is about getting two songs playing at the same speed. It’s essential for mixing between songs.
You need to be able to listen to two songs, work out which one’s playing faster, and adjust it until the beats are matched. Sound easy? It’s not.
How to beatmatch
The first time you play two tunes, it’s hard to separate them and just sounds like one big confusing mess.
Here’s how to make it simpler…
1. Choose two songs that start with a simple kick-drum rhythm, such as Losing it by Fisher and Okay by Shiba San.
2. Make sure you can hear one record through the speakers, and the other through one ear of your headphones (use the PFL button above the fader to select this).
3. Now hit play on song 1. Can you hear it through the speakers? Ace
4. Now cue up song two on its first beat. Auto cue on a CDJ or controller will do this for you. Tap the cue button on song 2 in time with the kick drum on song one. So if song one’s going boom, boom, boom, tap the cue button so song two goes boom, boom, boom.
5. Now you’re going to count. Restart song one and count the beats in sets of four. So 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1,2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.
6. What’s important here is the ‘one’. When you say ‘1’, emphasise that one. The one is very important, because it’s the beat where you need to start song 2.
7. Restart song one again and count 1,2,3,4 four times. On the one that follows, hit play, so song 2’s first beat plays at the same time as the ‘one’ beat on song one.
Don’t get excited! You haven’t beatmatched yet, but if you can cue song two in time with song one, you’re ready to crack on with some beatmatching.
To start with, don’t look at the digital reading of bpm on your laptop or player screen. Cover them over.
Now, start your second record again in time with the one that’s playing and ask yourself, which one’s faster? Listen really closely to the beats.
If you hear a clear, single kick drum sound, they’re in time, but if one’s faster thing’s will quickly get messy. You’ll hear b-boom and then the gap between them with start to stretch – and then start pulling back together.
If you think song two’s faster, move the tempo fader in the minus direction. If you think song two’s slower, speed it up.
Does it sound better – or more out of time?
Go back to the beginning and start song two again. Now you’ve adjusted the fader, do the beats stay closer together for longer? If so, you got it right, which means you’re starting to ‘get it’ or have just been super jammy.
Now keep practicing.
After a few attempts at restarting the song, you can use the job wheels (the circular discs on each player) to help beatmatch the tune too.
Why? Because you might have got the songs playing at the right tempo, but if the beats aren’t in line, it’ll still sound horrible. The jog wheel helps you get the beats in line, by nudging the song forward a little, or dragging it back (just like it would if you put your finger on a real vinyl platter or spun the spindle in the middle).
See if this diagram helps.
Song 1 BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT
Song 2 BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT
You can see here that song 1 is playing faster than song two. The first beats are in time, but then things go Pete Tong. Because song 2’s slower, the beats are more spaced out, so quickly they move out of sync and sound horrible.
HOW TO FIX: Use the tempo fader to slow the tempo on song two and use the jog wheel to pull the misaligned beat back, so it lines up with the beat from song 1 again.
If you get the speeds matched, but the beats aren’t matched, things will look like this:
SONG 1 BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT
SONG 2 BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT
See how the speed is the same, but the beats aren’t synchronized.
HOW TO FIX: This one’s easy. Just pull the side of the jog wheel towards you (a couple of little spins) to bring the beats in line. And open a beer, because you’ve successfully beatmatched.
If you’ve combined tempo adjustments with jog wheel adjustments a few times and you’re nearly there, but not quite matched, stop song two and cue it on the ‘one’ again. Because you’ve done all the hard work, you’ll see things are much more closely aligned than they were before, and you can make a few more small adjustment to make sure everything looks like this…
SONG 1 BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT
SONG 2 BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT BEAT
Now practice and practice until you’re getting pretty good and can start to hear which song’s faster instinctively. When you’re there – you’re almost a DJ!
One way to test things quickly is like this.
Start with song two on 0. If you think it’s too slow, move the fader down a centimeter (or up if it’s too fast). Go back to the start and cue it up again.
If it’s still two slow, pitch it down another centimeter. Go back to the start and cue it up again.
Keep doing this until you think it’s now too fast. When that happens, you’ll know the correct pitch is somewhere between the point where it was too slow and that centimeter where it became too fast. Now you can narrow things down – and remember the correct answer might require the tiniest of tiny adjustments.
One thing I remember from my own DJ apprenticeship was that the correct tempo actually sounded too fast to my ear. In the end, my brain got used to that, and now it’s easy to find the right tempo quickly.
How to beatmatch faster
What you’ve just read (unless you skipped straight here, naughty) is how I learned to beatmatch on vinyl turntables in the 90s. It takes weeks, if not, months of effort before you’re any good, but it’s also fun and rewarding. Especially when you’re pulling all-nighters with your mates and learning (and taking the piss out of each other) together.
While I don’t recommend wannabe DJs use the sync function, there is one function on your DJ gear that helps you beatmatch faster: the individual bpm (beats per minute) readings on your players.
Make sure your pitch faders are at 0. Now, look at the bpm on song 1 (for example, 122ish if it’s a house tune or 175ish if it’s drum and bass). Now go to song two and before you even hit play, match up the bpm using the tempo fader.
Now play song one, and cue song two up as before. Start song two on the ‘one’ of song one and listen out for any small differences. Unless they were recorded at the same speed, you’ll need to make some small adjustments with the fader and jog wheel just like before.
If you didn’t go through the process I described before, you might find it hard to make small adjustments. Again, it takes practice, late nights, and trial and error.
Sometimes you’ll feel like the correct speed just isn’t there – but it always is! You just need to keep fine tuning.
If you think your tunes are perfectly matched, but they’re still drifting apart, you have a couple of choices.
If it’s drifting within two or three bars, correct it before you start mixing. If it’s drifting after 16 bars, then you’re close to being perfect and can make any final adjustments during the mix.
Now you’re ready to mix like a champion. So let’s get started.