Heads up: This is post is not just about 'Beatmatching', it's music theory in general.
As a newcomer to DJ-ing, the first thing I did (as anyone would do) was to research endlessly on the internet on how to improve skills. Almost every forum thread I came across, the emphasis was on beatmatching. Wait a min? I thought that was to be taken for granted, especially with mixing tracks in the same genre. So why was everyone emphasizing on learning beatmatching skill? I felt it was mandatory enough with DJing that maybe I should stop calling it a 'skill', like it was something special.
It's like saying, "While learning to drive a car, one of the skills is learning to steer." You wouldn't be driving a car if you didn't learn to steer. It's Mandatory.
General advice goes like this - Match the BPM - Match the downbeat - Match the bars - Match the phrases, etc. But that information is not advice. It's supposed to be known and felt. As a DJ (or someone aspiring to be a DJ), one should first develop a deep understanding for music itself. This means, to develop an ear for beats, bars, phrases, keys, scales, everything technical required for mixing. These aren't concepts to be learned when the situation demands, these are to exist in the head, before even touching the decks.
Let's take the example of a person learning to be a guitarist. First, He's got to understand basic musical theory (before even touching the guitar), or at least have a pretty good feel of how music works. Then, he moves on to putting theory into practice. Right from pressing down the strings, to plucking and strumming, it's all practice, but not without primary understanding of music itself. Without the music theory, his practice is just robotic and blind memorizing. A guitarist would know this perfectly well. Did you ever come across someone who says, "I can play the guitar!", you hand it over and all they play is a line of "Happy Birthday to You"? That's robotic playing. For a guitarist who knows what he's doing, the next note or chord is not played just out of memory, it is anticipated based on how the song is flowing. It's... natural. It's music after all.
When we translate this to DJing, sadly, musical theory is thrown out of the window and people just jump onto the decks and start mixing. I think this is why DJing quality is deteriorating rather quickly. Moreover, established DJs complaining about the newbies using automatic tools, aren't even hitting the right spot. Beatmatching is only the tip of the iceberg, there's a lot more to be known than just 'beatmatching'. People with no knowledge of musical structure, tempo and scale just dive into this saturated pool.
I hate taking advice, so it would be hypocritical of me to give advice. But I would just like to state that for me, DJing is more than just beatmatching or phrase matching or other technical things that should have already been known in the first place. I'm not saying you should know how to physically beatmatch without even touching the decks (that's ridiculous). It's about already understanding how it works. It's about pre-visualizing a track before it's even played. It's about breaking down a track into smaller components in your head, without forgetting how it sounds when put together. Suddenly the SYNC button usage, the Vinyl vs Digital wars, and other 'shortcut tools' are irrelevant ramblings of frustrated people.
You're playing out music to an audience. You're playing out an emotion. Understand why you feel a certain way with a certain track. Understand how you can fill the gaps in the current track with subtle elements of the second track. Mixing is not simply, the 'skill' of aligning beats perfectly and crossing over from one song to another. You're trying to find that perfect piece that fits neatly into the gaps and solves the puzzle. When you step back and look at the larger picture, you and your audience have made a beautiful musical journey.
As a newcomer to DJ-ing, the first thing I did (as anyone would do) was to research endlessly on the internet on how to improve skills. Almost every forum thread I came across, the emphasis was on beatmatching. Wait a min? I thought that was to be taken for granted, especially with mixing tracks in the same genre. So why was everyone emphasizing on learning beatmatching skill? I felt it was mandatory enough with DJing that maybe I should stop calling it a 'skill', like it was something special.
It's like saying, "While learning to drive a car, one of the skills is learning to steer." You wouldn't be driving a car if you didn't learn to steer. It's Mandatory.
General advice goes like this - Match the BPM - Match the downbeat - Match the bars - Match the phrases, etc. But that information is not advice. It's supposed to be known and felt. As a DJ (or someone aspiring to be a DJ), one should first develop a deep understanding for music itself. This means, to develop an ear for beats, bars, phrases, keys, scales, everything technical required for mixing. These aren't concepts to be learned when the situation demands, these are to exist in the head, before even touching the decks.
Let's take the example of a person learning to be a guitarist. First, He's got to understand basic musical theory (before even touching the guitar), or at least have a pretty good feel of how music works. Then, he moves on to putting theory into practice. Right from pressing down the strings, to plucking and strumming, it's all practice, but not without primary understanding of music itself. Without the music theory, his practice is just robotic and blind memorizing. A guitarist would know this perfectly well. Did you ever come across someone who says, "I can play the guitar!", you hand it over and all they play is a line of "Happy Birthday to You"? That's robotic playing. For a guitarist who knows what he's doing, the next note or chord is not played just out of memory, it is anticipated based on how the song is flowing. It's... natural. It's music after all.
When we translate this to DJing, sadly, musical theory is thrown out of the window and people just jump onto the decks and start mixing. I think this is why DJing quality is deteriorating rather quickly. Moreover, established DJs complaining about the newbies using automatic tools, aren't even hitting the right spot. Beatmatching is only the tip of the iceberg, there's a lot more to be known than just 'beatmatching'. People with no knowledge of musical structure, tempo and scale just dive into this saturated pool.
I hate taking advice, so it would be hypocritical of me to give advice. But I would just like to state that for me, DJing is more than just beatmatching or phrase matching or other technical things that should have already been known in the first place. I'm not saying you should know how to physically beatmatch without even touching the decks (that's ridiculous). It's about already understanding how it works. It's about pre-visualizing a track before it's even played. It's about breaking down a track into smaller components in your head, without forgetting how it sounds when put together. Suddenly the SYNC button usage, the Vinyl vs Digital wars, and other 'shortcut tools' are irrelevant ramblings of frustrated people.
You're playing out music to an audience. You're playing out an emotion. Understand why you feel a certain way with a certain track. Understand how you can fill the gaps in the current track with subtle elements of the second track. Mixing is not simply, the 'skill' of aligning beats perfectly and crossing over from one song to another. You're trying to find that perfect piece that fits neatly into the gaps and solves the puzzle. When you step back and look at the larger picture, you and your audience have made a beautiful musical journey.
