Mix Club - The Remedial Class

Mad_Cyril ’kin ell, Mc, just use it, that’s what it’s there for. Is the Sync button such a filthy concept that people are afraid to touch it even when learning? Fuck that, get right into the thick of it, use every bit of the tech you can at your disposal. There was no sync back in 95 when learning to spin wax so it’s a great era to be learning in, the possibilities in a creative sense are far better than what they once were, embrace it, and don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks, even yourself.

LT42
Completely agree. Using the sync button allows you to be more creative during the transition and it gives you more time. Try mixing without any screens or BPM counters. Just using your ears & the pitch control. You can easily spend well over half a track just getting the bpm’s in time. Using sync is a no brainer.

Nah, it’s the devil. Have never touched it in the 4 years of having my DDJ-SX2

Along_the_Wire When I was learning to mix, I found it easiest to work with 32 beat segments for EQing. I use an Allen and Heath Xone 92, so have 4 EQs to work with, and by using 32 beat segments, I could bring up the incoming EQ while taking down the outgoing EQ for, say, the bass at the same time. After the next 32 beat segment, the mid level, and so on. Even if you don’t know your tunes that well, most records are structured in 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 beat segments, so there are natural breakpoints along the way that you can take advantage of.

I’ve been using the sync too MC…..did feel a bit cheaty but then got over myself….might as well not use the cue, bpm counter or anything else on there if you dont.

My Traktor set up (PX:5 and Xone K2) is impossible to use without sync when beatmixing. Feel no shame in that.

Mad_Cyril
Not having a go whatsoever mate.

I don’t think there’s any shame in it, I’m like MC, I just want to learn to beatmatch well

vinnyt77 That’s a lot of time though, you creating a 32 bar loop?

Dubman same here, you just sounded like you were apprehensive to use it based on a warped perception that it’s “cheating”. What does that even mean anyway? Fair enough if some megastar is rocking up to the booth, syncing everything and walking away with 10k but somebody starting out? No chance. All this cheating nonsense comes from vinyl purists anyway who think tech is the devil, bampots to a man. Drive on, MC.

Never touched the sync button and never will but everyone has their own ways of getting enjoyment from djing. If that involves using sync then there’s nothing at all wrong with that.

Unless you’re a professional DJ of course, then in that case, you’re either a fraud, or a lazy cunt.

Matt Bang on.

And like Hannu mentioned its a great addition when using extra tech, mixers, or systems you have. Anybody can “mix” using sync so the challenge then should be how to make your mixes stand out amongst all the noise. That’s motivation in itself which is why the “cheating” line sounds so silly. Track selection, programming/flow have always been higher up the skill ladder than beat matching anyway. I learned to beat match on a pair of belt drive Kams so when anyone threw that shit at me I just laughed in their pathetic faces. It’s all creative no matter what way you do it.

Along_the_Wire Not creating loops. Most of the tunes I mix with have a minimum 60 second mixing intro, but usually 90-120 seconds. 32 beats (not bars) is gonna work out at roughly 15 seconds if your tunes are around the 120bpm mark. If you’re mixing for 2 minutes, that gives you 8 distinct EQ adjustment points through the transition. If it’s a shorter mix, I’ll still stick to the main adjustments being on the 32 beat mark, but will make smaller adjustments between.

vinnyt77 32 beats makes more sense, thanks pal