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Topic: How do other djs here get their track BPM spot on? - Page: 1

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How do other djs here get their track BPM spot on?

Normally, if it is a dance track, vdj will get it right, but there are some tracks that i have spent minutes working through each track(especially some R n B tracks) to sort out the bpm and get it spot on for mixing.

How do other djs solve this problem... do you all use the vdj bpm finder and edit other troublesome tracks manually (ie - Snoop dogg - Beautiful) or do ye use another program?

Any help with this would be very welcome, as i have a lot of tracks to go though!
 
Posted Wed 18 Apr 07 @ 1:10 am
Count it out using the BPM Tap button in the 'Edit BPM' dialog. If you don't know how to tap out a beat then you should really practice it and learn (not a dig at you, just a overall recommendation to all ).
Also, with the BPM Tab button you don't have to tap for a whole minute or thirty seconds like in the old days with vinyl to get a good reading. After about 20 - 25 taps I have found that VDJ is pretty much right there at the right BPM.

Hope that helps,
cstoll
 
I agree, you don't have to tap for a long time... I generally tap for a couple of seconds or I tap until I see the Big Square on the correct beat. Remember, the BPM doesn't have to be to the TEE just close enough and make ajustments as needed.
 
Thanks cstoll, but ive been tapping bpms since i was kid! :)

The bpm tap in vdj does work for me sometimes, but again it depends on the track... it could be right at the start, but way off towards the end of a track. Im not saying all my tracks give me bpm problems like this, but the ones i have left to bpm sort are a pain!

Any more ideas?
 
He's right, the tapper is great. If it doesn't give you the correct BPM, you'll be very close and from here you can perfect it to the right figure, this is usually done by rounding off the figure, for example a reading of 91.2 BPM is probably actually a 91 BPM song.

You can also use the seconday 4/4 (Dance/Techno) BPM engine which often gets Urban correct (although generally the "All styles" is more accurate). Sometimes it's just a case of multiplying or dividing by two.
 
accessfm wrote :
Thanks cstoll, but ive been tapping bpms since i was kid! :)

Like I said - don't take it as a dig at you. ;)

You could always try BPM Analyzer. However, be careful with it because it will write data back to the track's ID3 tags which in turn will make VDJ believe it's a new file [because the file size has changed]. Then manually change the value in VDJ using the Edit BPM dialog.

This would be my only other suggestion as BPM analyzer has proven it's self to be pretty accurate - not perfect - but closes to what you are asking.

http://www.mixmeister.com/download_freestuff.html

cstoll
 
Nah, i know its not a dig.

Thanks for all the info, i will try those out and at least now i know i am not the only person using the bpm tapper in vdj!

Thanks guys.
 
Hi,

Intersting stuff, I always scan all my tracks using the techno/house bpm engine because it's faster, but it gets it right most of the time as well!

As for correcting the bpm when it's wrong, i've found the most accurate way is to use the anchor beat system (first tab in the bpm window.

Incase anybody reading isn't familiar with it, here's what i do:

open the bpm window (i've got a shortcut to it on the letter b)

start playing the track and count along in your head (1-2-3-4,1-2-3-4,)

pause the song on the first beat of a bar (line the peak on the waveform up exactly with the white centre line)

press the anchor 1 "set beat" button

continue playing the track from that point, counting as you go

pause the track again after either 8,16 or 32 beats (depending how accurate you want to be)
(should be on the first beat of a bar to make it simple)

line the peak on the waveform up exactly with the centre line again

press the anchor 2 "set beat" button

Then type the number of beats you counted into the below the buttons.

Job done!

It looks a bit long winded written down, but it only take a few seconds.

Also, often VDJ gets the bpm right but puts the cbg (the squares under the waveform) in the wrong places, just off the beat or not having the wide square at the start of each bar.

For that i've got 3 shortcuts set up for adjusting the cbg

The "<" button moves the beat grid slightly to the left

The ">" button moves the beat grid slightly to the right

And the "/ " button moves the grid along one beat (so i press it repeatedly to put the wide squares on the first beat of the bar)

I think i read the shortcuts tip in djinnorway's blog, so thanks to him for that, very handy!
 
the easiest way...4 me is to move my feet to the beat...and try to mimic the kick inmy mouthand count it.....been doing that since i was a lil' fella.....momma said i looked retarded moving to the beat too much..i guess i was a dj since i was born..lol..i should've born with a pair of technics..lol
 
Yeah, I always have issues with the CBG's drifting later in the song. Would the anchor method be more beneficial for this problem?
 
I suppose what you could do is put an anchor beat near the begining of the song and then put another one quite far away, say 128 beats later on. That would be super accurate.

But then you'll be counting beats forever! :)

For me 16 beats works fine. But as you're playing the song you can normally tell whether the grid is in front of or behind the waveform.

In that case you can open the bpm window again, but intstead of tapping or re-setting the anchors just go to the "edit bpm" tab and use the < or > arrows next to the bpm value to line the grid up with the beats. This works great as long as the start of the song is dead on. If it's not, then you need to re-tap or re-do the anchor beats.
 
VDJ Should really improve their BPM Engine. When talking about any type of music, not just dance music, BPM is wrong about 50% of tracks. I use MixedInKey Software to detect BPM because it gives correct BPm around 90% of time in any type of music. It is superior.
What I mostly do is copy BPM from MixedKeySoftware and move beat grid to right position. It takes around 5 secs.

BTW I haven't came across a track yet that VDJ would detect correct BPM, and MixedInKey would not!

 
That's a good point, before vdj I used the mixmeister free bpm counter to get track speeds. Only ever got about 2 wrong as far as i remember (In Da Club is a tricky beat though!)

Also, ablton's beat analysis is amazing, it always gets it right. And not only that, if the song is old and doesn't have a constant tempo, it will automatically stretch the beats that are too short and speed up the beats that are too long! That is ridiculously cleaver!!!!

I keep meaning to buy a copy of ableton and put all my old disco tracks into it, just to get them at a constant tempo.
 
I'm curious, could the beat counter work in direct proportion to the machine using it. I'm not saying the all your machines are bad machines, but not everyone is having difficulties with the analizer.

If I put new set of song on my external and get to the club. The first I do is analize those songs. Then I pick a song with like BPM to find out how I want to throw it in the mix that night. I've had songs off by 1%-2% and find this out during my cueing, just make the adjustments.

I also realized the the analizer will oviously analize the whole song but the intro is a different BPM ( dance & hip hop )... example: Fergies= Glamorous (sp).

The thing that I started doing is marking my songs for multi cueing. This way i can play a loop of a song then hit a particular cue point. I know a lot you are going to say I don't have time to do that! Well, get to work a little bit earlier and do a couple songs each time.

Usher=Yeah " loop the beginning, hit cue point for end of song with Luda's rap, hit another cue point for 16 beats into song then mix out as normal.

You just created a remix but you also avoided the different bpm's. ( I know there are no BPM differentials in this song )

remember we are " ARTIST " and there is no rule saying that you have to play a song as recorded.

Last weakend, my monitor went out and I had no actual for my cueing. I really tried to listen for the beats of the club but there was a slight delay in timing. I did a lot of headphone mixing with little transitions. I did cut a lot of songs short but when you got people in front of you and you can't fully enjoy your set because on the non monitor. You do what you can to keep the party atmosphere.
 
After you use a beat Per min tool like MIxmeister , can you then transfer that info to Virtual dj? thanks Michael
 
Learn how to beatmix by ear.

OO
 
andytaylor125 wrote :
Th!)

Also, ablton's beat analysis is amazing, it always gets it right. And not only that, if the song is old and doesn't have a constant tempo, it will automatically stretch the beats that are too short and speed up the beats that are too long! That is ridiculously cleaver!!!!

I keep meaning to buy a copy of ableton and put all my old disco tracks into it, just to get them at a constant tempo.



Must be me because everbody keeps saying this, but I have found Ableton pretty crap at automatic warping for a lot of dance tracks.
 
just use your ears! listen to the music. you are the dj, not the machine. if you do so make a playlist and......... well you no what i mean. this is not to make people angry but you do not have your ears for nothing, use them. best greetings goapmr
 
guess d best thing would be to learn how to mix to the sound ...pretty easy and useful when u have to work without VDj or when using other software that dont count BPM like Virtual DJ Studio...

dj soniq
 
andytaylor125 wrote :
I suppose what you could do is put an anchor beat near the begining of the song and then put another one quite far away, say 128 beats later on. That would be super accurate.

But then you'll be counting beats forever! :)

For me 16 beats works fine. But as you're playing the song you can normally tell whether the grid is in front of or behind the waveform.

In that case you can open the bpm window again, but intstead of tapping or re-setting the anchors just go to the "edit bpm" tab and use the < or > arrows next to the bpm value to line the grid up with the beats. This works great as long as the start of the song is dead on. If it's not, then you need to re-tap or re-do the anchor beats.



This is close to what I use to fix the nasties. I anchor the first beat and use 16 beats as well. However I have found you don't need to count at all to get the accuracy of 128, 256, or more beats. Once you have it close enough with the 16 beats, it should automatically measure the beats in between and get them right. Simply go way forward in the song, and use the one count at the start of any drop in the track. Especially in house music make sure you use the first count of a major part of the song, as this will eliminate any errors due to shuffle. I have found this works very well to get the grid perfect and the beginning and end. Of course if the track varies you and your ear are on your own : )
 
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