| > After mixing for awhile, you will learn to listen in a different way than just someone listening to music. There is a whole other side to song selection which is reading the room and figuring out what the audience needs next. That side isn't visible until you happen to start actually playing for an audience but it's ultimately the most important one, I think. > If you then have to adjust the pitch for beat matching, how does that affect the key of the song and how it now mixes? Music hardware/software can now do a pretty good job of changing speed and pitch independently. "Time-stretching" is the older term for how those algorithms work and they've gotten pretty good over the years. I don't know how newer DJ software behaves by default you when change tempo. It's been a long time since I DJed. But, also, producers making music for dancefloors know what they are doing and anticipate this. Most tracks made for DJs will have a long intro and outro that is mostly drums and other atonal instruments. That way DJs can mix without having to worry about keys clashing as much. It always feels really good when you find two tracks that harmonize well with each other and you can mix their tonal parts together in the transition. > The physical controller is precisely why I love vinyl. 100%. Beatmatching vinyl is one of those lovely zen activities, like driving a manual transmission, catching the wind in a sailboat, or hitting balls at a driving range. You're always chasing the perfectly smooth execution and never quite getting there. |