How to DJ - Beatmatching Records

This is easily the most basic and sought-after DJ skill among beginners, and the most common question: “How do I beatmatch records?”

“Beatmatching” is the ability to take one record and match it to the tempo and beat of another record. The affect is a seamless transition between one record and into the next and allows for all sorts of creative mixing-and-matching. I won’t get into the timing on dropping records into a mix in this tutorial, it’s another lesson entirely on its own.

First, I should tell you that beatmatching is a lot like swimming or riding a bike. Just like a biker can maintain their balance and focus on watching traffic and pedaling, a DJ can learn to instantly tell the speed of a song relative to another, make adjustments, and still concentrate on their music selection. It takes work and experience more than anything else – however – there are methods that will make this easier and with hours of practice, you’ll become a skilled expert!

1. For this setup, we have two records: Record 1 and Record 2
2. Record 1 is playing LIVE through the stereo
3. While Record 1 is playing, select and cue up Record 2
4. Turn Record 2 on in your headphones using your mixer. (Some mixers will only play one record in the headphones, some will play both, and more expensive mixers usually will do all three. This depends on your mixer, but the methods are the same.)
5. Start Record 2 playing in your headphones on the beat of Record 1, getting them as close as possible on that first beat
6. Listen carefully to Record 2 with the beat of Record 1 keeping the pace in your head
7. Determine with your ears if Record 2 is playing faster or slower than Record 1
8. Make a pitch adjustment on Record 2 using the Turntable’s pitch slider
9. Match the beat to match Record 1 again, either by lightly tapping the record, twisting the spindle in the middle, or restarting the song. The latter is probably the easiest with CDs.
10. Repeat steps 6 – 9 – the process of listening, adjusting, and matching the song -until the beats are moving at the same speed.
11. When ready to mix, drop the song in at just the right time, switch to hear both songs together in your headphones and make sure the match is flawless, and drop the beat in when you’re ready.

1) When starting out, practice with identical tracks for Record 1 and Record 2. Play with the pitches, don’t sweat it when you can’t match songs up immediately. This will make it easy to hear what a song sounds like when it’s matched up, and help you practice hearing when your “Launch” of record 2 is offbeat or not.

2) Start off with house music, nothing faster than 130 BPM. Styles like Hardcore, GOA, etc. are going to be more frustrating for a newbie. Take some time to learn and once you have the ear for it, you’ll be able to beatmatch anything.

3) Spend some time NOT mixing, but just listening carefully. Tap your foot to Record 1 and start Record 2. Taking as long as is required: Is Record 2 playing too fast or too slow? How quickly does the music get off track?

4) Listen for at least 32 beats before you determine they’re matched. Sometimes the first 8 beats or so will sound spot on, only for the later beats to slip away. This is often fixed with just a minor adjustment to the pitch of one song and a slight tap on the side of the slower record.

5) In addition to Step 5, with longer mixes you’ll want to keep an ear open just to be sure the records stay in alignment.

6) If you’re having trouble determining which is slower/faster, one thing that helped me was practice doing this:

• Find two standard “four on the floor” house beats that you’re familiar with. They should run about the same BPM but not identical.
• Start Record 2 playing at the same time as Record 1
• ONLY use the pitch adjusters to speed and slow down the record. Use them as much as you have to, even to speed up or slow down the other record.

7) When learning this, don’t get frustrated if Record 1 plays all the way through before you get Record 2 matched up. Yeah, you won’t have a smooth mix, but this is practice after all. Do what you can – with experience it will take you less than 30 seconds to get a track matched up. With a lot of experience, you may just be able to drop in live records and adjust them Live as they’re playing.

8) Don’t give up. Likely, you’ll turn on a couple records one day and it will just come to you after lots of practice. It’s like an “enlightenment” that dawns on you, and once you get it down, it’s a skill you’ll likely always have. And this sounds cliche as hell, but most newbies either stop caring or stop trying to get this down. Even the best will take weeks to get it down, for most it takes months, and to master it takes years. It’s the skill that brings many fulfilling years of music enjoyment, so don’t give up.