Need help with BPM and Serato DJ Intro!!

[Daytes]

First off, some backround info;

WARNING: I do not *buy* any music, I don't know if that is frowned upon or not

but I simply cannot afford to bust out $2.50 on every song from beatport.

So I'm sorry.

Last year I started listening to edm of all sorts (prog, dutch, melb, trap etc)

and got really inspired to play in front of my friends and generally other kids

around my age. So I started collecting music from a site called YouTube2Mp3.

I got $350 for my 15th birthday and went to JB-HI-FI with my brother and

purchased the (new?) DDJ-SB's by Pioneer. I came home and tried them out,

using the 128 kbp/s songs I got from YouTube hahaha, was pretty shit.

Anyway, I've had them for about 2 months now and the reason above was

relevant is because even though I stopped using that website and used proper

torrents and websites etc, some of the bpm is really messed up? On Serato DJ Intro

(this came with the DDJ-SB'S) it loads up the bpm in the corner for each track,

and for about half of my illegally downloaded songs it shows a blank bpm?

None at all, I can't sync or beatmatch anything, and if you click it with your

cursor it just generates a random bpm? ie. 164.95 (click again) 196.14

(click again) 126.69

Could someone help me with this? Does this mean this track is completely useless

or is there a program I can find the proper bpm. The quality is FINE (I do not download

if it is less than 320 kbp/s, and I always check with a MP3 Tagger software afer)

and it plays fine, it was just a serious problem at my first and only gig a week ago.

Thanks for reading and please be patient, I am very new to this

constructive criticism is extremely appreciated.

Armchairs.

[ThatPartyGuy]

there should be a tap feature where you click the tab/area to the beat and creates a usable bpm. i use traktor but cant remember if dj intro had it as well.

someone else on here may have more experience with Serato to help you

EDIT:

Tap Tempo

If a track has no BPM information stored, the tap tempo box is displayed where the BPM is usually displayed in the track title bar.

Pressing alt + space bar activates the tempo tapper for the left virtual deck (press alt + space bar a second time to activate the tempo tapper on the right virtual deck). To calculate, tap the space bar along with the beat. After you’ve tapped the first beat, you can switch to double time tapping, halftime, start of each bar etc. The range is set by the first two taps, after that you can switch to any steady rhythm you feel comfortable with – quarter notes, half note, whole notes. The esc key resets the BPM, the enter key saves the BPM to the track. You can also use the mouse if you prefer by clicking in the tap tempo box and clicking the mouse button in time.

NOTE: You don’t need to be at Zero on the pitch slider, Serato DJ Intro does the math for you.

http://serato.com/manuals/dj-intro/software/1.0/main_screen_overview

[Narukami]

Hey man, welcome to the forum.

First off:

I don't know how the guys at ADJF feel about pirating but most other forums will flame the shit out of you even if you mention the word. I mean, I pay for everything these days but I posted in a production forum a few months back and mentioned slightly about how I used to crack software and I got shat on bad. You should consider buying music, I mean considering the fact that you use mp3 320bkps anyways (most people try to get wav of aiff format of beatport), buying music of itunes shouldn't be such a hard process, it's like $1.70. Think about it like this, if you were doing a gig and the guys didn't pay you for it, you'd feel pretty pissed off right?

Secondly:

I don't use software much but most of these software should let you edit info on individual tracks, right? Right clicking on each track should give like an "edit" option and you could just set the BPM individually. If you want to find the correct BPM, you can use Mixmeister http://www.mixmeister.com/download-bpmanalyzer.php. Works great but does have it's problem with pirated tracks. Another method is by doing it manually which shouldn't be too tough. I'll post the methods step-by-step if you're interested.

Also, i found this in a serato forum:

"Just double click the BPM of the song in the BPM column in your crate and you can manually type it in."

Lastly:

You should learn how to mix without sync button. It will save you a ton when your software screws up. In fact, once you've learned mixing properly, you would be laughing over the fact that you needed software in the first place. Plus, most "old school" DJs will respect you a lot more and even new school ones that use laptops. I DJ with Pio 350s and people always ask me where the laptop is. It's funny, these guys think I'm like a master DJ or something.

[wrxfiend]

Stealing tunes is wrong, but we've all done it, have a search there are a few threads about all the copyright issues we face as dj's.

I myself cannot lie, I steal samples daily for making my beats, BUT I only do this non professionally, if the day ever comes that someone achally says " damn rob, thats the phattest beat i ever heard, here have a large some of money" I will have to pay for the rights to the samples I use.

I dont get paid gigs as a Dj, just love mixing tunes for mates at parties and weddings etc. i'm assuming you're prob doing the same atm, in which case i will play the tunes i d/loaded years ago. But after meeting some of my idols in the hip hop scene, i realise that they do it tough, and buying what you enjoy from them should feel rewarding in itself.

As for serato, ive been on it since day 1 and i can tell you bpm analyser, the one linked above, is a perfect partner for serato. But with the scratchlive version i run, it now seems to auto bpm very well, there is a option to turn it on in settings.

As suggested above, learn to mix with out software assistance, use your ears, its tricky at first, but def def def worth the effort!

Happy spinnin!

[Scottie]

First off, some backround info;

WARNING: I do not *buy* any music, I don't know if that is frowned upon or not

but I simply cannot afford to bust out $2.50 on every song from beatport.

So I'm sorry.

Last year I started listening to edm of all sorts (prog, dutch, melb, trap etc)

and got really inspired to play in front of my friends and generally other kids

around my age. So I started collecting music from a site called YouTube2Mp3.

I got $350 for my 15th birthday and went to JB-HI-FI with my brother and

purchased the (new?) DDJ-SB's by Pioneer. I came home and tried them out,

using the 128 kbp/s songs I got from YouTube hahaha, was pretty shit.

Anyway, I've had them for about 2 months now and the reason above was

relevant is because even though I stopped using that website and used proper

torrents and websites etc, some of the bpm is really messed up? On Serato DJ Intro

(this came with the DDJ-SB'S) it loads up the bpm in the corner for each track,

and for about half of my illegally downloaded songs it shows a blank bpm?

None at all, I can't sync or beatmatch anything, and if you click it with your

cursor it just generates a random bpm? ie. 164.95 (click again) 196.14

(click again) 126.69

Could someone help me with this? Does this mean this track is completely useless

or is there a program I can find the proper bpm. The quality is FINE (I do not download

if it is less than 320 kbp/s, and I always check with a MP3 Tagger software afer)

and it plays fine, it was just a serious problem at my first and only gig a week ago.

Thanks for reading and please be patient, I am very new to this

constructive criticism is extremely appreciated.

Armchairs.

1. Pirating music, especially linking or discussing to resources where you can do this, is frowned upon here. Don't do it. Great, free tunes can be found if you look hard enough at up-and-coming artists on Soundcloud, and many bigger artists will put out free EPs every now and then.

2. Mixmeister has always worked well for me to get the right BPM's. Sometimes Traktor or other DJ software gets the BPM completely wrong, so I never use them to write BPM tags to my files. Only problem is the interface is pretty old and can be a little confusing at times.

3. Just because it says 320 in the tags, does not mean that it is true 320. So many times I've seen people use 320s downloaded from dodgy websites that are really just re-encoded 128s. There are plenty of free spectrum analyzers that can show you whether or not it's a real 320.

4. Learn how to beatmatch. Seriously, get that shit down as early as possible before you're too reliant on it. Looking at the sort of stuff you're mixing, it shouldn't be too hard as it's a standard 4 kicks to a bar and BPM's should be similar.

[wazza]

What you need to do is pay for the update to serato dj...it's only $129 us

Then you can start downloading free music from whitelabel.net

All whitelabel music are Bpm out for you and have the beat grid set and are 320

There are 1000,s off tracks in whitelabel ...it the best $129 you will spend

Now for your shit pirate tracks......in your serato into off line player ...you need to analyse tracks with beat grids on ....and then edit beat grids so you Bpm show up right

[wrxfiend]

Yeah i forgot about whitelabel, i had a look around on it when we first got access, but there wasnt much hip hop.

I shall have another look.....

[Daytes]

Thankyou so so so much guys I can't believe how much support there is already on this post.

The big problem is that I literally can't afford to buy the multitude of tracks that I own.

I've collected about 230 songs that I would mix live, or about 18.5 hours solid playback.

Usually I divide the playback by 3 to account for mixing etc, so I'm fine for a 5 hour party.

However I just can't think how much money I would bust on the music alone, I need a

new laptop, new speakers, maybe some headphones and I'd like to upgrade to some CDJ's

pretty soon.

Of course it's all unprofessional at the moment, except for djing at peoples parties from my school.

Yet again, thanks heaps for the help with the BPM on Serato.

I also have another question:

I'm thinking of recording a live minimix (4-5 songs) on my decks and uploading this to soundcloud,

where I can share it on facebook and social networks etc. Firstly, is that what people usually do?

Recording an actual live mix on their decks and uploading to SoundCloud? Secondly, will I be

flagged for pirating or copyright on SC, even though theyre mixed/remixed?

Thanks again guys

[Daytes]

Lastly:

You should learn how to mix without sync button. It will save you a ton when your software screws up. In fact, once you've learned mixing properly, you would be laughing over the fact that you needed software in the first place. Plus, most "old school" DJs will respect you a lot more and even new school ones that use laptops. I DJ with Pio 350s and people always ask me where the laptop is. It's funny, these guys think I'm like a master DJ or something.

Hey man, thanks for the advice, but with the SB's I honestly have no idea how to beatmatch manually.

I mean I know sync is 'cheating' but how do you learn to do it yourself in the firstplace?

Note: I mainly mix Generic & Big Room House, Melbourne Bounce, and I'm really getting into deep house atm. (Oliver Heldens, Tchami)

Thanks again mate

[Narukami]

I also have another question:

I'm thinking of recording a live minimix (4-5 songs) on my decks and uploading this to soundcloud,

where I can share it on facebook and social networks etc. Firstly, is that what people usually do?

Recording an actual live mix on their decks and uploading to SoundCloud? Secondly, will I be

flagged for pirating or copyright on SC, even though theyre mixed/remixed?

Thanks again guys

What do you mean by "live mix"? Most softwares should allow you to record mixing on the go. I hope you're not talking about like, recording the whole mix through a mic. If you're not, then I'm pretty dense for thinking that bahahha.

Well yeah, most people do that but Soundcloud only allows users for like 2 hours of uploads which honestly sucks. Also, they're extremely worried about copyright laws so they could remove your mix. I believe mixcloud is the better way to go. I think they're not to worried about copyright laws (the whole website is just DJ mixes) also you can set up like a little list of the tracks you played.

Lastly:

You should learn how to mix without sync button. It will save you a ton when your software screws up. In fact, once you've learned mixing properly, you would be laughing over the fact that you needed software in the first place. Plus, most "old school" DJs will respect you a lot more and even new school ones that use laptops. I DJ with Pio 350s and people always ask me where the laptop is. It's funny, these guys think I'm like a master DJ or something.

Hey man, thanks for the advice, but with the SB's I honestly have no idea how to beatmatch manually.

I mean I know sync is 'cheating' but how do you learn to do it yourself in the firstplace?

Note: I mainly mix Generic & Big Room House, Melbourne Bounce, and I'm really getting into deep house atm. (Oliver Heldens, Tchami)

Thanks again mate

I was always pretty good at beatmatching and mixing songs without the use of a the BPM counter on my decks from the very start. I watched a bit of YT tutorials and mostly taught myself how to mix. I know it's a bit tough to learn like this for others.

If you're interested , I made a (pretty embarrassing) tutorial on how to beatmatch. I took everything I did when I beatmatch and divided it into steps so it was easy for beginners to understand. It was honestly the most awkward video ever. The reception I got was mostly positive, though. The good comments were from both beginners and people who already know how to mix telling me that it was an awesome way to look at beatmatching. There was like one actual constructive comment and the rest were idiots who are like "HURR DURR, WHO NEEDS 2 LRN HW 2 DJ W/O SYNC BUTTON?!".

I could post it later if you're interested.

[yizzle]

..If you're interested , I made a (pretty embarrassing) tutorial on how to beatmatch. I took everything I did when I beatmatch and divided it into steps so it was easy for beginners to understand..

post it. i personally would like to see it. it will do more good than harm anyway to share with ADJF

[Narukami]

..If you're interested , I made a (pretty embarrassing) tutorial on how to beatmatch. I took everything I did when I beatmatch and divided it into steps so it was easy for beginners to understand..

post it. i personally would like to see it. it will do more good than harm anyway to share with ADJF

Please enjoy my rockin' hair and my awkwardness hahaha

[yizzle]

even though this focuses on CDJ's Armchairs & i know you use a DDJ-SB

you can do all of this on your DDJ-SB so its very worth a watch.

it does all come down to being able to mix no matter what software u are using.

I use traktor and I still dont rely 100%, less even on its BPM results. because frankly, sometimes they are wrong.

[Daytes]

I also have another question:

I'm thinking of recording a live minimix (4-5 songs) on my decks and uploading this to soundcloud,

where I can share it on facebook and social networks etc. Firstly, is that what people usually do?

Recording an actual live mix on their decks and uploading to SoundCloud? Secondly, will I be

flagged for pirating or copyright on SC, even though theyre mixed/remixed?

Thanks again guys

What do you mean by "live mix"? Most softwares should allow you to record mixing on the go. I hope you're not talking about like, recording the whole mix through a mic. If you're not, then I'm pretty dense for thinking that bahahha.

Well yeah, most people do that but Soundcloud only allows users for like 2 hours of uploads which honestly sucks. Also, they're extremely worried about copyright laws so they could remove your mix. I believe mixcloud is the better way to go. I think they're not to worried about copyright laws (the whole website is just DJ mixes) also you can set up like a little list of the tracks you played.

Lastly:

You should learn how to mix without sync button. It will save you a ton when your software screws up. In fact, once you've learned mixing properly, you would be laughing over the fact that you needed software in the first place. Plus, most "old school" DJs will respect you a lot more and even new school ones that use laptops. I DJ with Pio 350s and people always ask me where the laptop is. It's funny, these guys think I'm like a master DJ or something.

Hey man, thanks for the advice, but with the SB's I honestly have no idea how to beatmatch manually.

I mean I know sync is 'cheating' but how do you learn to do it yourself in the firstplace?

Note: I mainly mix Generic & Big Room House, Melbourne Bounce, and I'm really getting into deep house atm. (Oliver Heldens, Tchami)

Thanks again mate

I was always pretty good at beatmatching and mixing songs without the use of a the BPM counter on my decks from the very start. I watched a bit of YT tutorials and mostly taught myself how to mix. I know it's a bit tough to learn like this for others.

If you're interested , I made a (pretty embarrassing) tutorial on how to beatmatch. I took everything I did when I beatmatch and divided it into steps so it was easy for beginners to understand. It was honestly the most awkward video ever. The reception I got was mostly positive, though. The good comments were from both beginners and people who already know how to mix telling me that it was an awesome way to look at beatmatching. There was like one actual constructive comment and the rest were idiots who are like "HURR DURR, WHO NEEDS 2 LRN HW 2 DJ W/O SYNC BUTTON?!".

I could post it later if you're interested.

Hey man, thanks for replying.

I think I'll try my luck with SoundCloud for the moment. If it does get taken down is there really any harm?

Anyway, I watched your tutorial and it was actually very easy to understand, and I think I've done something like it

when I was bored once (Sliding the fader to halfway and hitting the cued beat in time with the main song)

I'll definitely try manual beatmatching tomorrow after school, should get some sleep now.

Thanks guys!

[Scottie]

Even if it does get flagged on Soundcloud you can always just add 5-10 seconds of silence at the beginning and it should be okay.