Finding BPM Without Visual

[Jaz]

So after starting out on software and always having the BPM displayed in front of me i want to know how you all do it by ear?

i mean yeh it will be easy enough to tell 80 BPM from 140, like i would be able to tell the difference but not put a number on it...

even though my up n coming CDJ400's will have the BPM displayed id still like the learn the now ancient art

please do share

[tubby]

Short of measuring against a watch you'll never know exactly

you will get a feel for what speeds work for each genre you play, and most tracks sound odd if you go

outside +\-4 or so from their original speed

[CBG]

cant be explained, you just learn over time. you learn to understand the song transients, the velocity of tge kicks.

you just learn. doesnt take long.

and you dont learn the 'bpm' you learn one song is quicker or slower than the other.

once u get a gd feel for the platter and ur headphones...you'll do it eeeeasy.

u gotta get the numbers out of ur head

[Skank]

wat id say to do is cover the bpm on the cdj with some tape or paper and just guess like genres usually have there min an max bpm i think at the end of the day the number doesnt matter its just that the beats match

[Jaz]

oh so think more generally speed in genre's and pitch rather then BPM numbers

from what ive learnt so far by ear and numbers and correct me if im wrong

house electro trance - usually around 120-130 with 128 being most common

drum n bass - bit fast passed around 140ish...(guess)

Soulfull house - slower then disco house n trance etc

hip hop usually pretty slow around 80-90

pop (like charts shit,Lady gaga n the rest) all over the place really

thats what im gonna have most trouble with, because im doing mobile DJing and all the teens want random pop its so hard for me to mix, let alone when im about to be fresh on CDJ's

sorry if its sounds like im havin a winge but i am devoted and cant wait to learn, spesh since my Austar gets cut off in a week so ill be off the couch n on the decks for hours or else bored shitless

[CBG]

General house is... 125-130bpm. Trance is about 130-138 depending on intensity.

Quite commonly though the BPM is an even number, just cus... why would you produce a track at 127.34?? you're just being an arse. 127-128-129-130. very common.

Only its a strange tempo is if the track is based around an acapella that was recorded at that tempo and they want to retain it... such as... speak no americano or something

[DJ_Raptor]

oh so think more generally speed in genre's and pitch rather then BPM numbers

from what ive learnt so far by ear and numbers and correct me if im wrong

house electro trance - usually around 120-130 with 128 being most common

drum n bass - bit fast passed around 140ish...(guess)

Soulfull house - slower then disco house n trance etc

hip hop usually pretty slow around 80-90

pop (like charts shit,Lady gaga n the rest) all over the place really

thats what im gonna have most trouble with, because im doing mobile DJing and all the teens want random pop its so hard for me to mix, let alone when im about to be fresh on CDJ's

sorry if its sounds like im havin a winge but i am devoted and cant wait to learn, spesh since my Austar gets cut off in a week so ill be off the couch n on the decks for hours or else bored shitless

Mixing by ear is the most satisfying thing i think. once you master it, youll think using a bpm meter is cheating

Dont worry if certain songs dont mix. You can use transitional tricks like vinyl stop effects etc... or simply let the music die and then press play on a track that youve specially queued up to kick in with some massively popular vocals that will make the crowd screem! I always thought djing had to be smooth mixing EVERY track and all had to flow, like house.. then slowly speed it up to dance... then back down and up... and dramatically changing genres a big nono.. but nothings further from the truth.. if you know your crowd and what they love, you cant go wrong.. dont go to wild lol but dont be afriad to "mix it up"/

I was in a club which played hi-nrg and then the dj pressed stop and played some grunge song (which was the biggest most popular songs at the time) and was requested in the down stairs rooms al the time... so the guy pressed stop in the middle of an NRG set... pressed play and the crowd went so mental.. never seen anything like it.. screw the rules!

[Jaz]

ok guys that actually help a fair bit cheers

but there still the problem with the pop that ever teen drunk at a party wants to here. like i mentioned, lady gaga , jason derulo, usher n the rest that are popular right now

if you are force to mix it how do you go about it? i only have 2 techniques under my belt for this style so far, basicly your classic volume and eq fade and bring the next song in, or sometimes i tend to tease a bit by grabbing a popular lyrics or beat section in a loop and bring it in every so often towards the back half of the song so they can kinda guess whats next then just exit the loops and quickly cue it before the other song finishes

n thats all ive got so far for pop....

[CBG]

loop a bit of music, then quckly wack it across..

loop then filter

loop then turn pitch adjust off and drop the tempo so it slows... called a brake i think

[DJ_Raptor]

Or... download extended versions of those songs... yes they do exist...

[Jaz]

actually thats another 1 i do but rarely, drop the pitch, but some songs just sound wack

anyway thanks guys, just excited to get the Decks and because i cant get them till saturday im kinda post training for them i guess you could say

[eggssell]

top advice above for me too.

as per tubby and skank yeah peeps would bpm their tracks and write it down just to give you some indication as to what to pitch it at. so i think knowing what the bpm of the next track helps then its All ear from there

[eggssell]

as to mixing pop tracks w vocal there is a thing dubbed the pop theory. there was a good article on djtt about it that i think was posted up here. ill try to find it.

[Jaz]

cheers eggssell that would be tops

[CBG]

pre training?

[Jaz]

well im training with my mind and practicing with info because i dont have the decks till saturday

[eggssell]

http://www.djtechtools.com/2010/07/03/b ... -classics/

hey man here is the article i was talking about. it was called pop phenomena and its the tail end of the article. you prob already know the phrase music structure bit at the top.

so funny when i first read this article almost a year ago it seemed really insightful. rereading it just seems like common sense shows how clueless i musta been

basically just says dont f with the chorus. mix intros or instrumentals i. the chorus such that you go frm chorus to first/ last verse respectively.

[Jaz]

ok cheers man will give it a read

[callmeyo]

i heart serato

so i dont have to do this ha

[ruggs]

download some transitions songs man so if u get asked to play a slower song and your up around the 130 and need to go down you use one of these songs then drop the track they wanted after i have heaps of them they work wonders

[J0rdz]

My only advice, especially to newbies whom are starting out with CDJs that have a BPM counter = COVER THE BPM COUNTER UP.

Learning to beat match by ear is a fundamental skill that should be learnt early on when DJing. Relying on BPM counters is a really bad practice.

Beginning to see it more and more with CDJ DJs.

So sad.

[Jaz]

Mine tends to change its mind on the BPM from time to time so i ignore it anyway lol

[J0rdz]

Mine tends to change its mind on the BPM from time to time so i ignore it anyway lol

Yeh man, smart move. Cover the entire thing up, or atleast try to only use it as a rough guide. Most of the time they'll be out.

[DjDennis]

there is software out there that reads bpm's

just google it!

[Jaz]

yeh mainly a rough guide, shit with some songs it will change start at 80BPM then 20 seconds in will change to 128BPM