What's this "beatmatching" thing?

Beatmatching is a disc jockey technique of pitch shifting or timestretching a track to match its tempo to that of the currently playing track. This allows beatmixing, smooth mixing between the tracks without stopping the beat or changing the tempo.

The technique was developed to keep the people from leaving the dancefloor at the end of the song. These days it is considered very basic among DJs in electronic dance music genres, and it is standard practice in clubs to keep the constant beat through the night, even if DJs change in the middle.

Beatmatching is no longer considered as a novelty, and new digital mixers have made the technique much easier to master.

it's begun! Euclid is officially a dinosaur! =)

btw i too dislike live, if only cause i tend to shy away from virtual approaches these days. and kids showing up with just a laptop to rock the house just seems wrong. it's a workflow preference though, really. in 20 years when a laptop is the size of a tic-tac, what difference will it make? demeaning other artists is a bad road. i've already got friends who i know look down on sample based music, though they'll be ok with compositions in reason, or with a sampling kb, and what is that but a preset batch of samples you had less say in?

Ha ha... I was joking Euclid. I know what beatmatching is...

I thought so, but you never know.

speaking of this,all of you should check out the new book by grandmaster flash-i forget its name-but it should be in the music section of any major book store..i was flipping through it tonight-the stories of how he basically invented beat matching and break extending/scratching techniques,the ways in which the ideas came to him,& how peole didn't grasp what he was doing are truely incredible

yeh....live is my other music half. the first being my sp. it seems to work this way, having the bare raw simplicity of an sp, and also the megapower of ableton. I didnt realise its power till i tried other programs...sorta took it for granted! Amaising how it is so good for hiphop of any sort, trance, breakbeat, dnb, house, electro....i sound like a fukin ad...but its truth imo...
ive used acid, and i have to say thats probly what id be using if i didnt have live, its a very usefl program!

It's called 'The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: my life, my beats'. Flash was one of the early hip-hop break DJ's but beatmatching had been around since disco and Francis Grasso is usually credited with being the first. The whole story is in 'Last Night a DJ Saved My Life' by Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton. It's a good read, and surprising how much DJ culture has influenced music over the years.

I'll have to peep that book. Thanks guys

I'm about half way through the Flash book and so far it's pretty good. makes me want to throw a block party. except nobody in my neighborhood would come unless there was a skynyrd cover band or somethin equally lame

dont diss skynard. I would love to hear a band cover free bird

*off topic

I love this forum cause I get in contact with so much different styles music, I proberbly would never discover on my own.

"Free Bird" is dope juxt. Thanx for the hint...

*edit
Yo sorry I have to sneak in again. "Simple Man" is dope, too.
Never heard of that band. What a suprise...

i can't believe i just watched someone discover skynnard. i'm from jacksonville, where they were from. i didn't realize there was anyone left who hadn't heard them. they are a big redneck band, and it's a running joke here in the south that at every concert some drunk has to yell "Play Freebird!" hahaha...

I love me some Skynnard. Now I'm free as a bird.

haha,I used to talk to this young chick from BC and LS was one of her favorite bands
Yeah,the eclecticism on this forum is fresh!!