Beat mixing is one of the basic technical skills common to all good DJs regardless of their music preferences. Blending heads and tails of songs can keep a club or party in constant, fluid motion. Science becomes art when DJs master their techniques (no pun intended) and craft new songs or remixes on the fly with two or more records playing simultaneously.
A DJ matches beats by altering the pitch of each record until the rhythms are properly synchronized. The term bpm refers to the beats-per-minute tempo of any given song. You can slow down or speed up a record approximately 8% (of the bpm) in either direction with the turntable pitch slider while listening to the beats coming together (or falling apart). For fine adjustments on a Technics table, you can also lightly touch the side of the platter to slow down the record while it's playing, or gently nudge the record forward on or near the label to speed it up. Obviously this requires some ear and hand training. Knowing the bpm of your records can be helpful - you can find songs within mixing range, and match them faster because you've eliminated some of the rhythm guesswork.
Measuring bpm is easy: listen to a song at zero pitch, and count the number of beats in a one minute interval. Other counting methods are just variations of this simple formula. Here are a couple of bpm counting programs for you to try...
Info mixed by Gerry Villareal, gerryv@massive.com.
Welcoming corrections, additions, and comments.
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