Table of Contents
Why Some DJs Hate The Sync Button This was a time-intensive process of understanding the music and understanding the gear. In the old days, there were no displays showing the BPM of a track. Beatmatching is a difficult skill to learn and many beginner DJs gave up thinking it was too hard or too time intensive to learn.
What do you need to mix music?
8 Essentials for Every New Music Producer
- Daw (Digital Audio Workstation) What is it: A DAW, or Digital Audio Workstation, is a software application for editing, recording, and creating audio files.
- MIDI Controller.
- A Pair of Studio Headphones.
- An Audio Interface.
- A Studio Recording Mic.
- Subscription to a Sample Service.
Pro DJs do use sync to beat match, not all Pro DJs, but some DJs use the sync feature. The benefits can help DJs implement more technical and creative mixing where more time is required to achieve this type of technique.
How can I get better at DJ mixing?
- Don’t over complicate your DJ set.
- Get to know your DJ hardware inside and out.
- Learn one new trick at a time.
- Learn to scratch mix.
- Learn to mix and entirely different musical genre.
- Learn from other DJs, they are not your enemy.
- Learn to beat-match, don’t rely on beat-syncing software.
- Create your own vocal samples.
Should you use sync as a DJ?
Established DJs use the sync button to allow them to do more complex and creative mixing and mix transitions, for example adding FX, 3 deck mixes, mixing vocal acapellas. Beginner DJs can use sync to help them create DJ mixes, however should not rely on sync for beat matching.
Do DJs use sync?
There are two simple answers here: yes some DJs use sync, and no, you shouldn’t feel like you’re cheating if you do. Personally, I don’t use sync – I love that “live feel” whether I am out dancing or at home making and listening to mixes.
Why do DJs avoid mixing two tracks at the same time?
Most DJs avoid doing this as it adds a fair bit of complexity to your mix. But this advanced mix technique can be aurally exciting and show of your DJ skills too. Essentially you want to mix two tracks of different tempos together with a transition period where you adjust the tempo of both tracks.
How does sync work with kick drum instruments?
At its most basic, sync matches the tempo of the new track to that of the old one (“tempo sync”). Most nowadays move past that, by also locking the kick drums (“thud”, “thud”, “thud”) together so you don’t have to manually “nudge” the tracks or keep pressing the button to keep them in time.
Is select-SYNC DJing a dead-end?
In How To Move Past Select-Sync DJing last week, we looked at a common dead-end that novice digital DJs sometimes find themselves in, caused by trying to DJ with massive, poorly-chosen music collections, and leaning so heavily on the sync function of their software that they end up missing a lot of what DJing is really about.