Home 2023 Forums Digital DJ Gear Cue/Beat Matching

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  • #2181981
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Cue is the beginning of the track. Depending on player or software this is either fixed, but usually an adaptable setting. It will set itself upon first load to either the actual beginning of the track, the beginning of sound (skipping any silence at the beginning of the track), when sound reaches a certain volume level or to the first (down)beat of a track. Again, depending on gear/software and the way it’s set.

    You can redefine the cue point if you want it something else (like when it’s at the beginning of sound or on another than the downbeat or if you want to skip a particularly nasty intro). Usually this involves hitting play to find the part you want to set the cue to, hitting pause, using the jogwheel to get it to the exact position you need and then hitting cue. This is the most common behavior (CDJs also do it this way), but some players/software do it slightly different.

    Hot cues are cue points that users can set at places in the track that they want to be able to jump to. Like the beginning of a break or a vocal bit or any other part that you want to skip to with the push of a button.

    Hope that helps on the cues.

    As for the beat matching. Get the How To Digital DJ Fast course by Phil Morse. Or find any of a number of youtube tutorials.

    It’s not hard, but find a course/tutorial that allows you to start practicing the correct way.

    #2182121
    DJ Tucker
    Participant

    Beat matching is super easy, all you need to do is practice. Just take a few house songs and mix them in for about a half hour a day for a few days then you’ll be fine. I highly recommend the digital dj tips courses for a whole host of reasons if you are new to mixing, but beat matching just takes practice and it’s really easy. The hard part is learning when to mix in (song structure) that’s where Phil’s course shines.

    #2182551
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Sorry alt.rock, have to disagree. There are various ways to tackle beat matching and some are very clearly better than others. I know, I have tried several over the many years. Coming from vinyl, then experimenting with CD(J) and now on controllers.

    I have seen DJs that claim to be able to manually beatmatch, and granted – they could, but who made my toes curl because of the way they went about it. Taking longer than necessary, not getting it quite right, you name it.

    Obviously, when you have the right way to practice, then indeed, half an hour of practice every day will get you pretty proficient within too long. The danger in starting to learn and practice the “wrong” way, is that it will take much more effort to unlearn and relearn the right way.

    #2183051
    Jason Nankoo
    Participant

    It can be hard to know where to start when it comes this. I think you first should learn how to manually calculate the BPM’s of your tracks by learning about what beats and bars are and how to count them.
    Then you’ll be able to analyze individual tracks and hear a pattern when particular sounds appear and disappear. This will help down the line when it comes to knowing when to mix two tracks together.

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