WHY You Must Use the SYNC and You Must Not to Become a Better Pro DJ

0:00 I've got one of those dodgy arms hold

Alright ladies and gentlemen, that right there is the sync button. And you're going to find that, well there's two there actually, there's sync or master but we won't go into that in this video. But basically what they will do is they'll let you become the world's best DJ. But I'm going to show you in this video by using these you can indeed become the world's best DJ but also using them at the wrong time in the wrong place can make you just an idiot. So anyway, without further ado, let's move that like that so I can see a little bit better what I'm doing. I've got one of those dodgy arms holding the camera but it works. Okay, so if we go back in time to vinyl turntables, you didn't have sync. That was it, you didn't have it.

And then the technology came about a few years ago where you could press a button and the two tracks playing or the three tracks or the four tracks for that matter would align to exactly the same BPM and you'd have a seamless mix. Now that was great for the established DJ because they no longer had to spend time beat matching which is what I will explain towards the end of this video. But what it did... What it did mean is that the modern-day DJ basically had a way and means of forming some smooth transition within 50 seconds of starting to use the controller let alone, you know, taking out the box. I mean, you could pretty much start doing a mix as soon as the postman delivered it, maybe not. But anyway, I think you get where I'm coming from now what I want to explain in this video

Is why you should definitely not use the sync and why you should definitely use it. And hopefully, I'll get a thumbs up and you will agree with me if you don't again put it in a comment but I'm just this video is about pure logic so you're a new DJ you plug your laptop in you've got some form of controller with sync and the software gets all the tracks ready for you in key. So you've got your track set in BPM and you put one track on one side, you load up the other one you set your beat grid, you look at your screen, you can see the drops, you can see the breaks you can see what BPM it's going at. You press your sync and you form some kind of seamless mix and all of a sudden even though you've only just had your controller for the past 15 minutes

You've become the world's best DJ because you're putting these seamless sort of sets together and you upload them on SoundCloud.com. You have Mixcloud, YouTube and everyone loves you because you're the best DJ since the last best DJ who did probably the same as you. But you see what you're missing out on is understanding how the DJ industry not so much maybe not the industry no we won't go too deep but how the ethics of DJing starts how you should start, what you should do because if you don't learn the hard way you'll have a time later on in your life when you'll probably fall flat on your ass and I will explain that in the video as well. So when you start to DJ and you've got your laptop plugged in, your controller set up

3:55 Your beat grid make sure they're

You need to learn how to beat match and DJ the hard way. You have to. You've got to if you can once you've loaded one track load the other one make sure they're in key close your laptop and start to use your ears more. Your brain is going to sit there fall asleep while you're forming a mix and you're going to wake up think what did I do and your brain won't even know. You see the trouble is with the sync it's so easy to just set that from the word go look at your beat grid make sure they're in line press play and that's it you've formed a seamless mix you're not pushing yourself enough now I will talk a little bit about that soon but let's get to the next level now where you are an established DJ you can

Beat mix no problem key mix no problem and all that and you want to just take it to the next level. You've got a controller and you're able to mix on three or four decks now this is when sync is an amazing piece of ingenuity because what it allows you to do is not have to think about beat matching tracks. Not have to spend the time to get them in beat but you've got more time now to elaborate on your mix to make it sound more interesting to add acapellas add extra beats over it you know add drum samples add two or three tracks on top of each other so you don't doing a multi mashup. So your brain energy is going to be able to concentrate more on putting a set together instead of. For the first two minutes trying to make sure they're in beat I hope that makes sense you

5:54 You're not playing at the right place

See also if let's say a year ago you got your controller and there probably will be DJs who. I'm going to explain exactly what you like you've got your controller a year ago you're using sync you're using the beat grid you're just using all key matching and you're putting together some pretty good mixes now but the trouble is is that if you get found out and you're not playing at the right place. You've got a lot of club owners bar managers you're a really good DJ we'd like you to come and play our place. And you do. And then at some point maybe the controller breaks or all of a sudden they'll say there's a couple of CDJ 1000 mark threes there or there's a set of vinyl turntables as a bunch of 12 inch do a set for us you stuffed because you don't really know how to DJ properly you

See that is the key and hopefully you'll agree with me here. Being a good DJ isn't just about being a good DJ. It's about being a good DJ. Being a good DJ isn't about using the software to the best of its ability and just twiddling a couple of knobs no being a real DJ is like going back in time into the 80s when people used to just use vinyl that was it. You didn't have any laptops any form of key matching any form of BPM you had to use your ears that's why if you are a beginner DJ it's so important to not use sync get used to using your ears first and then like I said earlier on once you know what you're doing and you can form good mixes then use sync by all means to elaborate on your mix bring in the acapella

Bring in that extra beat bring in a bass line over a techno track with the vocals from another song and a dub plate or I don't know just anything but you see this is it because by using sync. Then. You don't have to think about matching them in beats all you think about is the creativity of the mix. Now I hope really do hope this makes sense because today's technology is outstanding you do not know how lucky you are if you're born into the DJ industry around this time because when I started like a lot of people my age slightly younger and older. I started with belt drive turntables. And believe me they were a nightmare and if you can mix on a set of belt drive check out some videos I did years ago on a Citronic Thames or Trent 2 I think it was where I did

A couple of mixes. If you can mix on belt drive decks with a pitch control I'm not joking is probably the size of the level depth knob or your headphone dot knob in fact thinking about it it's probably even smaller than that. That was your pitch it wasn't a slider it was actually a dial. Now that is difficult but that's how we had to learn practice and enjoy. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.