Is it a crime to change a track's speed while playing it?

for instance if I wanted to play a faster track after the one i'm playing at the moment; is it ok to make it get gradually faster (within some limits of course)?

or is it an absolute no-no in djing?

 

I do this on a regular basis, nobody has complained yet.

 

Of course you have to do a bit of this, otherwise how are you going to beatmatch? It's a lot more subtle with time stretching as well, since you don't get the accompanying key change.

 

Hell, that's my favourite trick to change music genres. Go from a 80bpm slow R&B song, slowly start moving it up to a 100bpm pop song and then move up to a 120bpm trance song. People do notice, but with timestretching on nobody really gives a damn as far as I see.

 

If you do this correctly, you can have a very large range of styles and bmp's that you can play. I do it ALL THE TIME.

My favorite big jump is to loop a 8 or 16 measures and and start to mix this in to the song that's ending. Then after the old song has ended, I'll pretty quickly speed up to the song that I'm introducing while ending the loop and the crowd doesn't get jarred - in fact it's quite dramatic, but smooth.

 

i would say this is an absolute yes. i play tunes ranging from around 100bmp upto 140bmp in a set. it's part of the deal - embrace the pitch and time stretch sliders...

 

One thing I forgot to add...

What you do in your set is up to you! This is what defines your style. There are no rules. However you want to play is what you'll be known for. It's best to be who you are and develop your style; instead of worrying about being someone else. If you feel that radically changing tempos isn't your style, then don't do it. But don't not do it because you think it' goes against some 'unspoken DJ rule.

 

The rules are there are no rules. With Traktor's Pitch and Timestretch controls we have unprecedented mixing possibilities that up to now have not been possible - enjoy it!

 

time stretch is really a great feature and i also change speed while playing a song to get it to the level of the following track, if necessary.

I wonder if it is possible to raise speed on both decks simultaneously and identically ?!
Has anyone tried this yet?

 

@Steve: as long as your computer is fast enough to keep up, you can stretch both decks without a problem.

 

tis pretty standard to change the pitch if you are changing the temp of your set, whether that be slower or higher!

 

@Steve

I change the tempo on two decks at the same time quite frequently. You can often use it to a very good effect.

 

i would think you would want to be careful not to overdo it. if your mixing all over the place BPM wise, you're going to lose people who just want a steady flow. something used judiciously for dramatic effect is one thing, something used all of the time whether its called for or not, just hasn't worked hard enough on perfecting his setlist... my 2 cents.

 

a technical question: how do you change speed simultaneously...

... with traktor ? can you join the two tempo controls for both decks, so that if i change one deck's speed, the other deck's speed is changed to the same amount ?

 

never tried that. Maybe while the sync button is lit up in deck 2, adjust the tempo in deck one.

 

almost forgot. dmitri from paris album 'after the playboy mansion' or whatever it is - ripped one of the tracks off it to play with and couldn't for the life of me get the beat grid to ride straight through the entire track. after a minute of fuss and frustration, I noticed that the pitch of the track towards the end was more than a full step higher than at the start! but he had been punching up the tempo so through the whole track that I didn't notice it on my first listen. even pros do it.

mashing the tempo up or down quickly can be used to good effect as segway between genres.

 

Re: a technical question: how do you change speed simultaneously...

yes.

Master tempo.

Use the 'mst' buttons on both decks. this locks the tempo to the tempo in the Master section. Then increase/decrease the tempo of both tracks a will.

A nice trick:
Say you are cruising along at 126 bpm's, but want to move up to 132 bpms while mixing 2 songs.

Since the default is 120 on the Master tempo, let's say you have the 126 bpm track in Deck A.
With both Decks having the 'mst' button unlit, hit the 'A' in the Master section to make the master tempo the tempo of Deck A.
Then hit the 'mst' button in Deck A. This locks the tempo to what ever the Master tempo is. Since you just told the Master tempo to be what ever Deck A was, nothing will change.

Then in Deck B put the 130 track. Hit the 'mst' button of Deck B. This will also lock the deck to the Master tempo of 126 bpm's. (You can unlight the Join buttons and set the key to 0.00 for some nice time stretching action.)

Then while you are mixing. slowly but the Master tempo up to where you want it to 130 and both decks will increase at the same time.