What is Beat-matching?
It is an art of mixing two musical compositions together easily by speeding up or slowing down one of the tracks to align their rhythms.
A good DJ knows how to beat-match, and I am going to share with you seven steps to getting started.
Step 1: You have to have a method to hear one track in the headphones while another track is playing on the main sound system.
Step 2: Play a track through the sound system.
Step 3: Find another track in your headphones you need to beat-match with the one playing. (This is done on a DJ mixer by turning on the Cue for the track you want to hear.)
Step 4: Find the first beat of the track you are going to mix in, and hold it right there. If you are using turntables you can just grab on to the top of the record to basically pause the track where the beat begins.
Step 5: Listen to the beat playing through the main speakers. Wait for it to get to the first beat of a cycle. (Music in 4 / 4 timing typically is all built around cycles of 4 and 8 counts. Ie. 4 beats in a bar, and 4 bars segments which lead to builds and changes in the music. ) When you’re feeling the music hit on the first beat with a crash or whatever, that’s right when you need to play the beat you are mixing in.
Step 6: Straight after releasing your hold on the record, you need to listen closely in your headphones with one ear to see whether the beat you are mixing in is going slower or quicker than the one already playing. If it’s actually going slower then adjust the pitch slider, and maybe even give it a little push to help it catch up to record A quicker. If it’s going quicker than record A then turn down the pitch slider on the turntable accordingly to make it a same speed. You’ll even want to touch the side of the turntable plate to slow it down faster.
Step 7: Once you have the beats aligned perfectly (or close to anyhow), move the cross fader on the DJ mixer to the center with the bass cut on the beat you are mixing in. Then when it feels like the perfect time switch the basses either slowly or fast and the switch over to the following track on the first beat of first cycle.
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