Why Beats Drift Apart on CDJS

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Tracks used in this video:
Palm Strings - Bart Skils, Weska
and
Keep on Flying - Gockel
volumo.com/album/214040-keep-...
This playlist is super cool to practise this exercise on as I found the BPMS fluctuated a lot. Mastering the below set really honed my skills, you can also watch it here: • How I Mix Techno
1. Smash up the Dance - Benji303, Geezer: volumo.com/album/218166-londo...
2. Overdrive - Charlotte de Witte
3. Mirazh - Thomas Schumacher, A.D.H.S.
volumo.com/album/212065-miraz...
4. When I Push - Layton Giordani, Eli Brown, OFFAIAH
5. Fall in Love - Lily Palmer
6. Palm Strings - Bart Skils, Weska
7. Keep on Flying - Gockel
volumo.com/album/214040-keep-...
8. Like How you Do It - Tenser
volumo.com/album/223619-utili...
9. Paradise - HI-LO, Danny Avila (ES)
10. Aksijan - Thomas Schumacher, A.D.H.S.
volumo.com/album/212065-miraz...
11. Venus - Jay Lumen
12. Hypnotic Trance - Alosoul, Maurice Burgbacher
volumo.com/album/212066-hypno...
13. Wiimbo - Heerhorst
14. Look What (Alberto Ruiz 80Monster Remix) - Dubsy
volumo.com/album/206947-over/...
15. Imagine - Mark Reeve
volumo.com/album/207515-body-...
16. Gravity - Space 92
17. Caronte - Yuuta
volumo.com/album/202266-matic...
18. Drop it Down - Joyhauser, Eli Brown
19. Inside - Daniel Sbert, NRICO
volumo.com/album/213780-insid...

[@gaddaitherage8204]

Interesting video! I once dj at a club and the beats were drifting faster than usual, despite the numbers matching. In the end I even hit sync and even that was drifting. Later I realized that the bass is so strong at the booth that the vibration is nudging the wheel 😂

[@djdeemz7651]

DVS users have this issue that was phase has become so popular with turntablists .. when on a big system the bass vibrates the needles and starts causing wav issues in the software

[@Drewability]

There's a very easy way to eliminate or substantially reduce the drift. If the bpm is at 140, set the fader to 140.1 and then VERY slowly to 140. This should put the tempo at 140.00. This works especially well if you set the tempo range to low.

[@adrock0801]

Yes, BUT you have to make sure to approach your wanted BPM from the same DIRECTION. E.g. you pitched track on player A from 135 BPM up to 138.0 BPM, now on deck B you want to pitch a track from 142 BPM down to 138 BPM, you have to pitch it down to let's say 137.9 (or less) BPM first, and then slowly up to 138.0 BPM. Why? This is because the BPM is only displayed with one decimal place and pitch steps are usually 0.05% (on CDJ 3000). So otherwise it may happen that track A is playing indeed with 137.96 BPM and track B with 138.04 BPM. Both will show up as 138.0 BPM on the display, but you will see drift as the difference is almost 0.1 BPM.

[@promovisualdesign4544]

Hi dear Andrew, so happy and thankfull to see your video after some time 🙏💥 No idea how your chanel is not way way more succesfull cos you my man are the best educator and the most positive and honest energy out there. Thank you for helping so many of us to spread the vibe and dance the crowds ✨❤️

[@ClubReadyDJSchool]

Wow, thank you. I should probably post more!! Thanks for your support.

[@BogotaBeats]

One of the most useful beatmatching videos out there 👍 that exercise putting bpms 1 unit away, then .5, then .2 really trains your ears to get comfortable identifying the drifts and correcting them 😮 just mind blowing thanks Andrew! You’re the best 🤌🏼

[@weaponlogic]

Dude you are always such a vibe. Thanks for your awesome videos and for these drills, much appreciated.

[@mgoad]

This answered a lot for me thanks andrew for helping me clarify in my head what went wrong on a set i just made ❤

[@gmazpeitia]

Awesome video man, and great energy. Subscribed!

[@oceanbronze8399]

With tons of repetition and practice, eventually it will become an automatic process( that’s what it should feel like at least) At the highest level of manual beatmatching, you can just place your hand on the pitch fader while listening to both songs and the tempo matches without even you thinking about it. I’m not totally sure, but it may be related to the ideomotor effect experienced with an ouija board. You, in essence, become the sync button.

[@stephaam_music]

Great one, man! Thank you!

[@LePerrit]

Very nice tips bro!

[@-TimZambra]

Sync is great, but it tends to exact quantise where sometimes you want the second track to be slightly behind or ahead of the beat and that's all about feeling the tracks.

[@liftedaura99]

I like your funny words magic man !

[@DJTHORR..]

Nice video Andrew great tips..i noticed on CDJ's playing tracks that have further apart bpm percentage values of more than +or-5% tend to drift more like if i have a 150bpm track and then wanted to mix in a track that has a say default bpm value of 135bpm even tho i have the tempo matched to 150bpm on the track im going to mix in its likely going to drift faster and im going to have to adjust it on the fly...Always trust our ears❤

[@LucasAres]

Thanks

[@gavinbroughton]

Maybe there is some sound engineers out there loosening sync cables 😂 I actually think learn with sync first, because track selection is the MOST important thing. When you're smashing that, get more technical, because manually syncing is a more technical skill.

[@AT-wl9yq]

If you go into the settings on your DJ software, some have a feature where you can change between one and two decimal places.

[@swiftnevisonbushwrangler6905]

I suggest learning with vinyl first

[@ravien6794]

Great video as always 😀

[@Tacoma0ridge]

This was awesome to see that it exist and I wasen't crazy vecause this can happen in the mix and it's an esy to ust nudge the mix back in to place. I was also wondering would using the decimal values after the bpm help the tracks from sli[ing out of place since one is eathier on beat of slowy moving away from the beat?

[@ClubReadyDJSchool]

Yes you can play around with that too. I guess this is more on the fly feel thing about nudging the wheel and fine tuning your ears - makes it kinda fun :)

[@Aidyba81]

There’s a tolerance with the BPM, move the pitch control to have the whole number. I.e 131.1 and move back 131.

[@Hslaw.-]

That’s an old technique used on technics slide the pitch

[@thisguyrools2807]

How’s a cdj 900 nexus in 2024? Currently learning on a Denon SC Live 2 but further down I want cdjs, looking into some cdjs 2000 nexus or cdj 2000 nexus 2. The only dealbreaker about the 900 is it doesn’t have hot cues.

[@christianbauerakac4nrg891]

A mix with beatmaching and this little drifts makes a dj set more organic and interesting. A full sinc dj set sounds for me boring. I love this and that's also my doing in mixing drifting tracks. Thanks for your nice video ❤

[@Michael-ul3rx]

Hearing, every so often, a micro beatmatch get fixed live is soo satisfying to hear

[@ClubReadyDJSchool]

I really agree with this and know a lot of people that feel that way, it really is like driving a manual car, more control, feels organic, love it - but I get too many speeding tickets in a manual lol!

[@themenace3145]

I agree with this , it’s like mixing on vinyl , grafting like mad to get it absolutely seamless is such a beautiful sound when them two beats collide perfectly . Great video mate

[@Kirbyluver2]

Really? I find this odd. I HATE hearing offbeat tracks when im at a live set. MFs so allergic to sync they’d rather have the crowd hear offbeat drops consistently over pressing a button

[@Michael-ul3rx]

@@Kirbyluver2 enjoying a train wreck isn't for the weak. it's an acquired taste 😆

[@pudlah]

there are some old italo house tracks (early 1990s) on Beatport which bpms increase during the track. Anyone come across these tracks like these ?

[@jmrub06]

Hello 👋 do you have any videos specifically on mixing with CDJ’s?

[@ClubReadyDJSchool]

I have one called controller to club perhaps check that out :)

[@earthlyng_official4599]

I mix dnb and i never use synch… but the micro moves is a constant if you’re going from 170-175 and all inbetween

[@biancatregurtha635]

This was me last night, constantly having to adjust the platters 😅

[@brandonfloreslewis]

He said "Micro Beat Matching" and my brains went 🤯 that sounds like a damn challenging skill to learn

[@ClubReadyDJSchool]

You've got this, thanks for watching

[@XTrobXx]

Would you do this with Master cue and incoming track cue or just incoming and the booth speaker?

[@ClubReadyDJSchool]

Master cue and incoming cue :) Good question!

[@XTrobXx]

@@ClubReadyDJSchool Is this how you mix in Clubs as well? I find it challenging to mix with the booth. Any tips?

[@l-dj2436]

Hello ! How crazy is the universe, I faced that problem 2 days ago, when you published this video :D However, I still have a question. You said early in the video that you would talk about how to make those micro adjustments without the crowd hearing it but the only solution I got from this video is to loop the coming track to anticipate the drifting and knowing which way to nudge. This doesn't feel as an end solution to me because it would mean having to do that for every transition, while the problem occurs only really rarely... Even more, sometimes the drifting is so slight that it could still occur only after you brought the track in even if you did beatmatch for few loops, and in that case we haven't been able to anticipate which way to nudge. Hence my question is, is there a way to know which way to nudge if I get SURPRISED by the drifting (wether because i didn't loop or because it drifted only after i beatmatched the loop) while both tracks are playing out to the master ? I think I am able to hear the drifting very early, so if I nudge the right way on the first nudge, it's clean and nobody notices it, but it's if I nudge in the wrong way that then it is terrible....

[@AT-wl9yq]

You look at the waveforms. When you see them start to drift, make the adjustment until they line up again. If you adjust the track that is behind, turn the jog wheel clockwise, or go the other way for the track that's ahead.

[@l-dj2436]

@@AT-wl9yq Yeah I can definitely do that since I play on XDJ XZ which has one screen for both decks. But it is not my point, if you play on CDJs you don't have the waveform on the same screen, so you have to do it by ear. That's why I am asking this. So far the only solution I can think about is to distinguish which track is drifting and in which direction by ear and that's all... I am not sure someone can be good enough at beatmatching to reach this level ? Am I imposing self limitations here ? Any beatmatching god can answer this please ?

[@pmuppuehtemulov]

@@l-dj2436 thats the sync cable he's talking about for cdjs. you can set the screen on deck 1 so it displays the wave form for the lead track and the wave form from deck 2 and vice-versa. and manually adjusting the position of a track by ear to get it properly in line so it's beat matched with another track is not as difficult as you may be imagining. if you want to practice getting really good at it, put something over your screens so you can't see the wave forms. start out simple and choose two tracks that normally match really well. bring in the first track. use your headphones and cue channel 2 so you'll be hearing only the second track from deck 2. then when you're ready drop the second one in. have your faders up so you can hear it come in immediately on the master. if it's lined up when you bring it in, then fantastic, great job. but if you hear that the beats are off then you know you need to nudge the wheel on deck 2. identify if it is ahead of or lagging behind track 1. if it is ahead, you will need to nudge the jog wheel so it is going counter-clockwise which would be to the left. if it is lagging behind, you will need to nudge the jog wheel clockwise to the right. you should practice this over and over and with different tracks. once you feel comfortable and confident, uncover the screens and practice the same way. you'll now have the ability to listen by ear to identify the different tracks separately and the movements of nudging the wheels will be locked into your muscle memory. being able to see the wave forms on the screens is nice, but now you won't have to rely solely on them for beat matching. it will take practice, but it is by no means a skill that's out of reach for anyone. and in no time i'm sure you'll just be doing it without really thinking about. it's a great foundation to have and you'll be that much better of a dj for knowing these fundamentals.

[@WorldMixNation]

❤️🎧❤️

[@Trippple917]

Easy solution, go from 136,9 to 137.0 on both songs. I use this on cdj 900, these dont have a decimal at all.

[@adrock0801]

Yes, this. You can then even mixing exact without any decimal places.

[@justino9042]

What i hate the most is when the songs are variable bpm cause the grid is just wrong and everytime i try to fix it i make it Even worst and is just Bad to blend that happens a Lot with those mashups and multi genre songs that progressively goes faster or progressively goes slower and the software just analyze them wrong. That's why a Lot of times i just decide not using those songs or just use the part that is more convenient usually i can't use the whole song because of that or when i want to do a double drop just doesnt work because of that.

[@ravien6794]

Ohh i know that feeling and you try to fix it ant it gets worse and Worte:-)

[@ClubReadyDJSchool]

I agree, the path of least resistance is easiest - you'll have to do your own mash ups on the fly :)

[@sensationdeep...5935]

it's always better to learn the basic and don't use the sync button all the time... like you say in the video, when something is wrong with the 2 or 3 players, you are yappy to know how to beat match and save your face in front of the audience 😅 Thanks for the video 🙂

[@jmrub06]

Take away, bring your own CDJ link cable to ensure beat sync works 😂

[@ClubReadyDJSchool]

haha what if the link cable input is faulty - I have seen it - it's not the cable itself but the input's loose lol!!!!

[@dejavuking]

Serato is currently a broken mess. Tracks are drifting quicker than I can bring them in I mean within 5-10 seconds there completely out of time. This is despite me having manually best gridded them, double checked the bpm is correct..still happens with 95% of my music which is all local hardrive music. Furthermore 75% of my tracks have wrong BPMs on serato I’m talking 50bpm wrong and not due to Instant doubles/half’s etc. I’ve totally wiped serato, uninstalled it and it still happens. It was fine before stems were introduced. IMO if serato can’t do the very core basics then just kill the programme, hopefully alpha theta will gut serato for its good parts and kill it off. That’ll be an unpopular opinion but it’s like say BMW adding wings to the three series BMW when it overheats and breaks down after driving five meters. Make sure it does the basics first. The thing is I thought it was me to start with but I’ve now established serato is an unfit for purpose broken disgrace of a mess!. Please nobody learn on serato pick engine dj or rekordbox.

[@CSdjcdog]

What happened to Doing it by ear alone. When I first started DJ, we didn't have All this technology that many d j's I feel almost totally dependent on. In my opinion, learn the craft. Then take what you've learned and apply to the technology. And by the way, if i'm only transitioning between two tracks, I never use the sync button But if your life depends on it, do you lol

[@embracedmadness]

Beatmatching is advanced? 💀

[@pmuppuehtemulov]

The sync button taboo is rather silly, especially now since we know it's not the magic cheat button everyone used to think it was. One has a lot of preparation to do with their tracks beforehand if sync is even going to be effective. And even if all your tracks are properly on the grid with the downbeat on the one, you still have to know the proper timing to phrase two tracks together, etc. Still, the sync button should be avoided as a beginning dj, not because it's cheating, but because it will probably end up getting you into more trouble than not. And as an experienced dj, using the sync button is just like any other tool you're using on a cdj or mixer. You know it's application has it's time and place and that it can sometimes get you out of a sticky situation. I'm probably going to nudge the jog wheel 99% of the time as it is usually a lot quicker and just more intuitive for me but I have no shame using sync when I need to.

[@annamcclaccen1860]

I don’t disagree with most of what you’ve said, but maybe assumed it was obvious or looking at a different way. There is quite literally a special video that a fairly well-known instructional DJ on KZbin just put out that is teaching people how to “nudge a platter“ and is called an advanced technique. I would say the sync button has done a bit of damage. Oh it’s this video if you didn’t gather. 😊

[@pmuppuehtemulov]

@@annamcclaccen1860 Yes, this is the video I commented on with my opinion which may or may not be similar to the authors.

[@TheRunapc]

Maybe u should try to mix with your ears!

[@annamcclaccen1860]

Really showing my age here, This is just called DJing. I guess now it’s called “how not to use the sync button“. I can’t believe you had to make a video about nudging a platter with some of the work I’ve seen you do. Really a sign of the times. I wouldn’t be making this comment if this was titled beginner video 101 beat matching but you literally said advanced. This is embarrassing for the dj community. Learn your craft people. This is why people think DJs don’t do anything because you don’t.

[@timburke4297]

Word is born

[@OHM.R1210]

Back in the day, we would start off on belt-drive turntables. It would prepare you for direct-drive tables. Then, we'd mix on three and take it from there. Not to mention learning how to scratch, beat-juggle, etc. Doing away with building skills made everybody and their momma think they're real djs. Technological advancements are great but can also be detrimental.

[@ronanp9245]

Having sync still on the gear. Is just putting useless djs with big followings (Insta, tik tok) on big stages. Grimes springs to mind. So annoying

[@bogdanazarov804]

херня

[@djtingler808]

Proper djs use vinyl

[@atiegs]

Not anymore!

[@luisrodrigogarciaortiz7285]

That's as asinine as saying proper musicians play real music.

[@OHM.R1210]

We used to beatmatch and pitch ride on 3 turntables. Cdjs are extremely easy and quick. It's almost too easy.