Beatmatching or Beatmixing is an intergral part of modern DJing, and for iPod DJing has always presented a challenge due to the lack of pitch control, there have been DIY solutions to help iPod DJs to Beatmach but they talke longer to setup and are not an ideal solution to beatmatching, you can find out more about Beatmatching with an iPod here, this DIY technique allos iPod DJs to beatmatch using some of the most simple and basic iPod DJing setups, however for a professional sound and mix, an iPod DJ would be better off with the Numark IDJ2 or the Cortex Dmix-300.
Beat matching on the Numark IDJ2 or the Cortex Dmix-300 is identical to beatmatching on vinyl or CD DJing setup, and as both units have pitch control, you can alter the pitch of the track mid mix, giving you more functionality and freedom as a DJ. So how do you beatmatch on the umark IDJ2 or the Cortex Dmix-300?
1. play a track from one channel
2. get the BPM
3. put a track on the second channel, and adjust the BPM to match the first channel
4. play the second track an try and line up the beats, using the pitch fader to control the tempo/pitch of the second track
5. once the two tracks are beatmatched, take the second track back to where you want to play from and wait for the first track to get to the point where you want to drop in the second track.
6. use the crossfader to bring in the second track
7. use the high, mid, low knobs to bring in and excentuate elements of either track to make you mix more interesting.
Whist the iPod and iTunes are fantastic in their own right and offer tons of functionality, they have a major short coming, you can’t alter pitch on the iPod, or iTunes, to alter pitch you need DJ specific equipment to do this, which can be costly. However, as mentioned here, there are solutions to this iPod short coming.
Why is altering pitch so important for DJing? simply because of Beatmatching. Beats are matched from one channel to the other altering the pitch has the effect of altering the BPM (beats per minute) of the track. Assuming you’ve organized your music in the format shown here, you’ll be able to DJ music within the same BPM group, this will allows you to bypass the inherent flaw in DJing on the iPod.
BPM is calculated using various software that you can find free online, here are a few that you might be interested in:
iTunes BPM inspector
Vocalist BPM inspector
Whippinpost BPM inspector
Alternatively youc an calculate BPM by counting the number of beats in 15 seconds, then multiply that by 4.
You want to make sure you calculate BPM consistently on the most stable beat, so if your doing breakbeat you might find counting the cymbals more effective than the kick drum or snare for example.
Once you’ve got the BPM for a track it will make DJing with that track on an iPod a lot easier, and a lot more fun.
Assuming you’ve chosen not to use some of the iPod DJing units available, there are still ways to take advantage of the iPod in a DJing context.
By treating the iPod as a deck, you’ll need two iPods, preferably with screens but you can opt for an iPod Shuffle, from a cost perspective, the ipod mini or iPod nano, are the best compromise between the needs of iPod DJing and price.
First you need to organize your music on your iPod as shown here.This will help you to overcome some of the challenges DJing on an iPod will present, i.e. Beatmatching.
you need a mixer of some sort, if your on a budget, any basic mixer with two or more channels will do, however if your looking for portability there are mixers that will help you check them out here. Connect up the iPods to each channel.
Select the track you wish to play from one channel, move the cross fader to that channel. in the second channel, select the incoming track, make sure your headphones are hearing that channel, use the pause button, to set the start point. (assuming you have chosen two tracks with the same BPM or the same BPM smartlist on your iPod) once you’re ready, wait for the Beat on the first track and press play on the second track, listen in your headphones and make sure the two are aligned…then move the crossfader accross.
Once the two tracks are aligned you are in the mix, so thats when you can start to doing interesting stuff with the EQ or cross fader. As you can see once you have smartlists of the BPM of tracks and only mix tracks with same BPM, there’s very little difference between iPod DJing and other DJing. No doubt soon there will be an add-on to iTunes and the iPod that will allow you to alter the pitch of your music, this will make the iPod far more DJ friendly and allow DJs to beatmatch properly and with songs of different BPM.
