Solution/s to that BAD transition

[CBG]

Ok, so I'm sure nearly everyone here has had one of those bad transitions where they just couldn't figure out what went wrong.

I'm here to tell you that I have discovered several reasons why, I've started this thread for other people to contribute as well.

[CBG]

Ok, so most dance music has a signature of 4/4 (quadruple). This basically means, 4 beats per bar and they are full beats.

Now, I have found, not very often, that some songs tend to ignore this rule of pattern, ussually only for one sequence (about 8 bars). But if that happens within the first 32 bars or so, it can completely ruin your transition.

For instance: say that first sequence in a song goes smoothly, launches into the 9th bar like it should, but then as it approaches the 16th bar, the music changes early! Say in the at the start of the 16th of halfway between 15 and 16. You're screwed!

I have found a pretty simple way to fix this.

Insert the track into Live and copy a beat from the sequence that was short and insert it again, to effectively have one more beat. make sure it doesn't effect the rhythmic balance though. So its much easier to do this with a kick or a tom, NO MELODIES

I'd like to hear what you guys think and if you have come across this.

[CBG]

Ok, bit slow to get going

If you want to kick a song in straight off the first beat and your not confident in how accurately you can press play.

Try launching a 4 beat seamless loop, letting that play at the start of every bar under your cue channel and launch it in when necessary, just remember to do all EQing before hand and don't forget to end the loop!

[Skank]

if im havin trouble findin the right transition i create a loop as well to get it spot on

[CBG]

yeah, once you have set up the loop properly, its a fool proof way to match the two songs.

[CBG]

Anyone else have anything to add??

[defanutley]

er cue points maybe and leave the bad transition behind for exsample mix out of 1 tune and mix of the cue point on the 2nd tune

[BarsTards]

Don't any of you adjust the pitch after you've Cued/Play ed or used the Hot Cue function?

Like on a CDJ 1000 you just turn the dial while monitoring the songs and on say Virtual DJ (I don't use Virtual DJ) I think you just press the < > under the pitch slider which initiates the Nudge mode function.

I hope this helps.

regards,

John Myatt (Darwin's DJ Master)

[JonnyB]

Don't any of you adjust the pitch after you've Cued/Play ed or used the Hot Cue function?

Like on a CDJ 1000 you just turn the dial while monitoring the songs and on say Virtual DJ (I don't use Virtual DJ) I think you just press the < > under the pitch slider which initiates the Nudge mode function.

I hope this helps.

regards,

John Myatt (Darwin's DJ Master)

We arnt talking about beat matching.

what we are talking about, is very un often but it happens, tracks will have say a 16 and half bar intro. mixing a 16 and a half bar intro into a 16 bar break/outro or what ever. just dosent go well.

we are talking about solutions on how to fix this

[CBG]

added some pictures to make it pretty

[Tomy]

just learn your songs. if your playing out on tunes you dont know well enough to mix out of / into, you have a problem already

[CBG]

indeed. I find listening to an iPod all the time and really listening to your songs.

A good DJ doesn't have a massive library necesarily, he just knows his songs really really well

[dapimp]

if im havin trouble findin the right transition i create a loop as well to get it spot on

i dont know if its my cdj 800 but when i loop the beats go off when beat matching. i could get the timing spot on but once i loop it it runs off

[CBG]

are you using the preset loop function, or doing it yourself???

And dont rely on the seamless loop to run perfectly, have your hand on the platter to make delicate touches.

[JonnyB]

yeah i find that the auto loop button rarely works perfectly, so the im always slowing down or speeding the platter up

infact i almost never use that function at all.

[dapimp]

yea auto loop doesnt work perfectly when it comes to beatmatching/transitions

in terms of getting bars wrong, i play trance/hard trance and hardstyle. so the last 1 min 20 secs or so and the first 55 secs of new song is usually pretty basic beats so its kinda full proof in most cases. not so sure about house n rnb tho

[Slippy]

yeah i find that the auto loop button rarely works perfectly, so the im always slowing down or speeding the platter up

infact i almost never use that function at all.

yeah me 2, its a shame, using a roll for 1 bar seems to hold better so i use that sometimes. its usefulle for what i wrote below ther also

the two transitions i will struggle with are sometracks that have a very short intro, or vocals very early in the song.

and also, there are just some tracks that i cannot for the life of me match to any other beat! rare, but one track i got recently is a remix of one more time(DP) and i know it back the front, but whenever i try drop it, just allways ends up trainwreckin it seems to change speed or something

[BeatLeSS]

Theres a few Jump remixes that slow down as well about half way through, just gotta make sure you've got your next track cue'ed up ready to rock n roll when it speeds back up.

[CBG]

i highly doubt the tempo is changing.

it will be transients on the kick drum.

basically u gotta make sure getting it right on the beat.

so try and match it to something that isnt changing like the hats or wateva else is in that band

[Slippy]

yeah i will try that CBG thanks man good idea because there is alot going on in this intro to this song.

how do you mean transients? i know them as the things in ableton lol, do you mean like a change in the sound of the kick or something?

thx for help mate appreciate it

[CBG]

basically its the very beginning of a sound, an attack transient in this circumstance. It may occur before the actual beat.

[Slippy]

cool thx mate!

[tubby]

i think the correct approach at the moment is to grabe a vuvuzela and make a far more annoying noise than the galloping beats of a bad mix.