Beatgridding

Quick question, if a track does not start on a beat, do you set the grid marker to the actual start of the track or do you move it to the first beat of the track (which may be, for example, 30 seconds into the track)?

Also, if a track has a BPM like 130.001 or 127.785 or 113.999 after being "Async"-ed by Traktor does this always mean that they will need to be rounded to the nearest even integer?

Thank you

Ben

 

If you are going to manually beatgrid the track then I would throw the beatmarker on the first downbeat even if this is some of the way into the track. Traktor will still put gridlines from that point back to the beginning of the track.

I never round anything off. It is very shortsighted to assume every piece of music will always have an exact integer BPM. Drop you grid marker on the first downbeat of the track and then jump to near the end and adjust BPM until the gridlines line up with the music again. This is the BPM of the track. If it is not a whole integer then so be it. You want your gridding to be correct not conform to some idealists idea of what BPM's should be. Only certain genres are ever likely to match up on whole BPM's but if you are like me and spin different genres all the time then you will find things don't always work out like you think they should.

 

Your right but I doubt any producer in a DAW is going to make at track at 127.997BPM, it's most likely a problem with the way Traktor has beatgridded.

Some tracks with Analog drum machines and older tracks i've found to had wierd BPMS, like 125.567, I usually leave these alone or manually mess around with them.

 

the last point is exactly what almost always worked for me,
with more then 3000 tracks!
if there`s 121.999 - you can set it to 122.000,
i do (if only for the "eye").
but, go and try, you won`t hear any difference, i bet!
if you do, then adjust to what sounds best, of course.

but if you do the math, the difference over 5 min. of 0.001 is meaningless.

 

Thanks guys. Great advice from all.

Beatgridding is a pain the a*se...or is it just me?

I have found, with one track in particular that no matter how much i try and move the beat grid forwards or backwards, it wouldnt budge....I adjust the BPM but the grid would not move and it was definitely out of sync with the metronome. Whats with that?

 

Either your grid isn't right, the grid is locked or the bpm fluctuates

 

does that track have a "grid-marker".
i used to have this several times, until i found out that not every track gets one after analyzing.
you have to store a cue-point and turn it to a grid-marker first, (or hit the lillte icon right left to the trash-icon)- before you are able to adjust the grid fore-/backwards.

on beatgridding in general:
i look at it that way:
i take every track that i want to have in my collection and do a little work with it first.
i import, do the proper tagging, import cover, if needed.
then i have a playlist where all imported tracks go, called "gridding".
that`s, of course, where i grid the tracks, every time i find some spare time, i will come back to this list and do some of them.
then,
once gridded, i put them into another playlist, called "make cues".
-( and delete them from the "grid"-playlist, of course. )

there, i go over the whole track and make cue points at every important change in the track.
so, when i finally put them into the playlist labeled "ALL SET"
i know they are prepared!


i found out that i do most of my gridding when i am in a good mood,
my ears are not tired (me also) and then, believe it or not, i am much faster gridding a bunch of tracks.
it`s always the same thing,
enable the metronome, (or have a loop playing in another deck)
play the track until u find a good spot and loop it, lower the gain, to hear the metronome, - if needed, i even use the internal filter to cut out some frequencies.
everything to make sure that i can hear the metronome.
then, i start adjusting the grid.
if it`s hard to judge, i put the grid way off,
and then make my way to find the "sweet spot".
where the whole loop sounds good.
sometimes, i find it coming from ahead, sometimes from behind the beat.
a matter of trial and error.
usually, a beat that has some groove applied, will not always make sense on every hit, but as a whole, you can pretty much feel it, once you hit the right spot.
and i really mean "feel", you will know when you`re there, the sound of the metronome will make the bass/kick sound different, almost stick out more.

nudge it further back/forth, to hear the difference, and then, go back to where you were, mostly that`s just it.

you get used to it, once you lock the grid, you are done with it!

good luck

 

there's an option in the preferences which either sets always on analyzation a grid marker or never.

simply, because a track WITHOUT a grid marker doesnt have a beatgrid...

 

milesahead and Freshfluke thanks so much.

I guess first step is ensure cue point is set and set it to the first downbeat before beatgridding.

Why would a track with a BPM of 128 exactly be in time with the metronome (after being "beatgridded"...) at the beginngin of the track but when i cruise to the end of the track it is out? How do you avoid this? I saw in Endo's tutorial that he says play with BPM, do you do this even if it is at 128.00?

 

They don't, however the length of the actual exported track and how it's cut off will cause the tempo to for lack of a better word shift... giving you the intergers...

 

Sometimes the way the track gets encoded especially if get converted to mp3. Thats why it can be a couple of points off. It's no use arguing that a producer will make the track 128.000 if at the end of the day your grid is off at the end of the track. Adjust it till it's right even if that means it ends up being 127.997 (or whatever)

 

I also find this Beatgridding very annoying.

I often play with my System and friend DJ of mine. He just adds his mobile storage device to my notebook and imports his tracks. Theres is no time for manual beatgridding. The only option we have when his songs aren´t gridded acurate is to Tap the beats, quick and dirty. In my opininion the best way. Or syncing the songs just with the "ears". So, why wasting time with "Beatgridding"?

 

yes,
before you go that long road of taking the time with every track in your library,
(and these can get big these days in very short) -
you have to make a decision, wether you want to use beatgrids or not!

once you go for it, - set up the best (fastest) way to get it done!

 

Siod - great point and any DJ should be able to beatmix audibly and yes, I can and have spent years (i would say perfecting but im not that arrogant as to say im perfect at it, who IS perfect?) how to do this so, when you have the ability to let a machine do it for you so you can concentrate on creating cool loops, FX and samples to cut tracks up to make them a little more unique for your audience....why wouldnt you?

 

AMEN !
that is exactly what made up my mind to go in that direction,
and i would never go back.