Beatmatching - NIOLDSKOOL

Beatmatching is one of the most important parts of mixing. It allows you to make a transition between two records without the two records conflicting.

It is what allows the DJ to switch between songs without having the audience notice.

What you are aiming to do is synchronizing the beats of the current song and the song you are playing so when you make the transition, the two records flow together. To do this, you have to be able to recognize which song has a faster or slower tempo and adjusting the pitch to compensate for the difference. At first it is going to seem impossible to tell which song is going faster. The beats will sound all jumbled and random. However, if you keep practicing, you will eventually find that it will get easier and easier to do this. It's just one of those things that come with time and practice. Start the second record in time with the first record and see which record's beat is faster. Just keep on doing this until it starts to come naturally.

The next step is to adjust the pitch of the record to try and make the tempo the same. You always want to adjust the pitch of only the record playing in your headphones. After you have adjusted the pitch try and match the beats together again so the beats of both records lie on top of each other. You can do this in several ways:

You can brush the side of the platter with your fingers to slow it down until the beats match.
You can squeeze the spindle on the platter with your fingers to slow down the record until the beats match.
You can put pressure on the label of the record to slow down the record until the beats match.
You can twist the spindle in the direction the record is rotating to speed up the record until the beats match.
You can push down on the label and rotate the platter to speed up the record until the beats match.

Once the beats are matched, you want to listen to see if they start to drift apart. If they stay on top of each other for a couple bars then the two records are beatmatched. If they start to drift apart you have to listen to see if it's because the second record is too fast or too slow. Once you figure this out adjust the pitch accordingly and match the beats again to see if they are beatmatched.

This is the basics of beatmatching. It takes a lot of practice to get good at it, but when you get it, you will take your mixing to a whole new level.