Good bpm when mixing dubstep tunes?

[Robert20]

Okay so we all know most dubstep tracks are created in 140bpm. I noticed when live its slightly faster, say around 144-150bpm? But it seems to have a better "flow" you could say..

Mixing at 140bpm makes me feel as if the tracks are playing for too long and then i feel as if i need to change the song immediately. how many bpm do you usually mix dubstep though?

[pundaddy]

If a song is at 142-145 or something, ill just set it to 140, it's just convenience i guess, you'll get a couple of dub songs that are set at about 90 bpm aswell, so it's just trial and error getting it on track with the song thats already playing.

[awesome88]

what about 70bpm? dunno if i'm right or not, but i always thought "dubstep" was about 70bpm and "brostep" was the ~140bpm, probably splitting hairs though.

but to answer i normally keep it about 70 for the slow ones, 140 for the faster, seems to work

[dim]

dude, playing music to suit the flow you feel it should have is the reason we all do this ey?

but anyway:

70 = 140 when your digital beat counter only counts every other beat.

BPM counters can normally get steady pulses right to calc BPM but can regularly guess the wrong number of pulses/beats to the bar.

same thing happens to d'n'b 90 = 180

and so if you wanna get jiggy hip hop at 90 can mix nice with d'n'b at 180 or r'n'b at 70 will mix with bassline or dubstep at 140.

RE: playing tunes faster live. There is a long history of vinyl DJs pitching up just a little because the extra attack at the point of impact with the needle = extra volume.

Also the "chipmunk" effect of pitching can impart energy on a dancefloor if done just right.

Personally I find if i'm playing a tune then i pick the next tune and it's banging I often get excited and energised. This can make me beatmatch in a fashion that leaves the new tune ever so slightly faster than the old tune. Not so much that the mix will fail but just enough to require a manual pull back every now and then, maybe speeding up by an 8th of a beat over 16 bars. . If the time for a slight pull back corresponds to when I'm about to fade out and I'm busy with fx/faders then i just let it slip as I fade as the new tune is now fulling taking over. I think the extra speed comes across as energy in the mix and that this adds to the "analogue" feel that people think is missing in DJs who Sync. (IMOIMOIMHO)

Anyway doing this every couple of mixes means my tempo slightly increases over time even when I'm using tunes that are the same speed.

[RichoKidd]

I try stay around 142. My first dubstep mix was 142 the entire way through, that worked well

[JonnyB]

not sure what has already been said.

but 70BPM is the same as 140bpm.

depends on the drum structure of the track as dubstep is made at 140bpm but the drums are half time, if there are plenty of kicks it will read 140.

but of a track where its kind of just like KICK........SNARE.........KICK.........SNARE it will probaly read as 70.

also the ones you see at 160-185bpm (80-90bpm) are Drumstep tracks, not dubstep. basicaly the same thing though.

[JonnyB]

oh and yeah depends what i playing, 140-142 for most things but if im playing some chilled stuff i may drop it down to 138ish

[legunner]

140 or 145. personal pref.

[LabRat]

140 most the time but I enjoy my steps at 145-148 (coz I'm complicated lol)