Great video! As a legally blind DJ, I can’t see the waveforms. So, I am always beat matching by ear. This skill is extremely crucial when I’m playing on CDJs with unanalyzed files because Rekordbox, unfortunately, lacks screen reader support. So, I believe that every DJ should learn how to beat match by ear just in case if technology decides to not work properly at an event.

Holy shit... i've been learnig to mix for almost two years now, never found a tutorial as simple as that going into the absolute essentials of "old school djing", it feels like what i'm supposed to do finally clicked! Thanks for no skipping the obvious. Precious

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO MAKE THIS VIDEO. THESE ARE GREAT TIPS I WILL DEFINITELY BE PRACTICING. 🎧😎🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Epic!. I have been mixing since the 1980s & I still love practicing beat matching without the sync. I usually only use sync when I am recording a set for my radio show. It's all fun for me. Nothing wrong with using sync, nothing wrong with mixing manually. I just have fun & I keep on learning new things. It's all gravy. Love ya. Luke! You are one of the good guys out here. Be safe & be kind!

Brilliant, short and sweet tutorial. It's all about loving music, practice and of course loving what you do too.

I know that I'll probably never need it but I'm really curious to find out how all of this works. Just to know what DJs are doing and what they're actually capable of when I'm watching their live sets. This video was extremely helpful.

It took me a full year to be able to beat match by ear using just the fader in that last example you gave. Worth the patience, coolest feeling ever! I DJ just for myself, I like doing it but I dread playing in front of people lol

Luke this a huge milestone for me, I was spinning vinyl at clubs in the 90s and early 00 but got out of it twenty years ago. I believe we did a gig in leiden together many many years ago at InCasa, so great to see where your career brought you. I made some different life choices i guess. My interest in djing suddenly got back, and now I see they even have bpm counters and sync buttons. Omg I feel old. I remember driving around with my case full of illegal cd's that was the innovation then. Got some catching up to do with the tech hehehehe

Do you remember those electric pens that used to hurt when pressed, well I stripped one down for a laugh and wired it to my controller sync buttons.. So one night during a party we were having I let a couple of friends take over for a bit, you should of seen their faces when there pressed the sync button what a laugh, best night ever.

This is great for wrapping my head around beatmatching by understanding it in different ways. Thank you!

Thanks for the great tutorial, Luke. Both the Manual and ‘Sync’ beat-matching methods have their place. For me, using Sync frees us up to be more creative in other areas when the rally car is cruising along nicely, but when you hit the rough terrain of, say, a tricky track that didn’t get analysed well by the software, then we can quickly switch back to manual to take control and get safely around those bends.

Glad you are back to your tutorial videos. I wouldn't have started playing my gigs when I did, if it wasn't for your tutorials.

Laidback luke you are my inspiration you inspired me to become a dj i am a huge fan of you and i respect your dedication to your work..

The vinyl nudge sound effect you made was great 😂. I love your tutorials! Please keep making them, because they have helped me improve so much and I love learning from you.

Thank you so much for dropping so much of valuable information!! ❤️🙏🏻

I have always been a big fan Luke I do have your course but iv been busy with producing but cant wait to watch it .

Great stuff! I've used that exact looping technique to practice beatmatching; I'm a huge fan of learning how to do things yourself even if there's a button to automate it, because it never hurts to have a deeper understanding. But it turns out that beatmatching is also really fun, so I just don't really do sync DJing.

Unrelated to djing but he seems like such a nice, wholesome guy

it's exactly like that. Very good lesson for all the beginners outhere

Been djing for almost 40 years and the pich mixing,yes i still got it. Hade to try it after de video😊. Havent done that for years.

Man, would've loved to have seen something like this tutorial video when I was first learning how to beatmatch on a pair of Denon DN-S1000s 15 years ago (and no sync button then)! Thanks for sharing this!

Loved the matching with the lights as a preview! audibly, it was sooo hard to determine if the track i was mixing in was ahead or behind to determine push or drag.

I have always wondered how the old guys did it using vinyl and thanks to you mr Luke I have an idea. I wil start practising this so much and I cannot wait to see myself fumble over my controller and the neighbours complain... This is one of the techniques that can make me unique.. Thank you so much. Stay safe!! I always get impressive results with LAidback Luke. From Lesotho!

Thank you for this Mr. Luke ❤️ we love you ❤️

Brilliant Video. I love that your pushing releases from your record label!

I'm a beginner and I can tell for sure tha's one of the best video on youtube to explain beatsmaching, the explanation a clear and what I like is that even for basic things that seems obvious you explain them

THANKS A LOT LUKE FOR THIS HELPFUL VIDEO 🙏

Great tutorial as ever Luke. Looking forward to the day we can all play out properly again

Love the vibes selector Luke.

Real Djing amazing man!

I love the rough mixing, and adjusting the pitch on the fly. It sucks me into the mix as someone in the crowd. I love the comparison to a rally driver. It really is just about going for it, and figuring it out as you go.

It’s like , driving a manual car . You are driving the car ,changing gears , pushing clatch pedal, so this feeling is kind of tasty for you , plus you look like more professional and it’s good . Luke , really happy to see your video ! Fight 👹

A few seconds in, I love u dawg ❤️🙌 I will learn this all, I love learning hard stuff and fine tuning stuff 😎😍

Love you Luke.

I learned it without touching the platter, only using the pitch as he taught in this video. Great tutorial for everyone at any level.

You make it look so easy bro, this was really helpful, thank you!

Hi Luke. Thanks for all of your tutorials! I used to dj back in the days of vinyl and I recently picked up a Denon Prime 4. The sync button is OK but I run into a ton of problems with psy trance and drum and bass tracks, particularly when there are triplet beats. The BPM's are wrong 80% of the time and because of how the tracks are structured the grid is usually way off so the only choice I have is to use old school methods. I remember riding the fader back in the day and pushing/dragging the platter! Brings back memories! DJ's today have it EASY! lol. We had no data to work with other than our ears. While the sync button is great to have for say, Big Room Bangers and structured tracks like house, techno, etc, I think in order to be a great DJ, you have to be able to mix anything at any time with your ears! I just did an off the cuff set of Big Room (which easy easy) and then I got into psy trance and had to get really creative in mixing / beat matching because I was spinning random tracks I was grabbing from beatport and didn't know the BPM's or even the sound of the tracks until I loaded them into the Prime 4. Tracks that are 144bpm were marked as 108 and tracks marked as 155 were 142. It was an interesting challenge! I say: take it to the next level and learn to mix by ear. It's the only way to be limitless in your track selection and get all "pockets" of the crowd hyped up (a reference to one of your other videos lol). Cheers!

Thanks for sharing, super awesome lesson. Mixing way better, now i learned it the old school way!!

Great video. The other reason why we used to ride the pitch is because we had belt driven turntables and they used to skip if you breathed too heavily let alone put our hands on the platter lol

Thank's Luke, I like the way you teach us, that's awesome

Greetings from México! 🇲🇽 You are the BEST ♥️🔥🔥🔥

man, the tutorial that i'm looking for!

Master of the decks!

Absolutely delightful thanks 👌💯

It's never to late to learn more skills day by day I truly enjoy the video

I love spinning on vinyl because beat matching by ear is so much fun.

Thank you I loved this!

Awesome lesson and thank you for sharing your tips 👍 👍

This guy is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 Thanks for the lesson

Going to practice it this weekend. Got on to mixing during quarantine, trying not to lean on tech instead train my ears. Thanks for this tutorial, Luke!

Thank you so much for sharing ♥️♥️♥️

Nice video with great explanation ✌️

This helped me so much !! Thanks !!🥳

Wow man. As well as being a fantastic instructor... You really are "Laid Back"! I guess that's why you're you the GOAT. :-D

Love it man it helps alot

Keep doing it learned a lot from you

Wow those Denon decks are SLICK! Nice to see something besides Pioneer. Love the logo in the centre of the jog wheels.

After watching ❤️❤️❤️❤️ so much love 🙌 I've been making DJ mixes for a while but with best sync, been needing that push to learn for real 🤝 my philosophy is if someone else can do it so can I, and i may not be the best, but I definitely won't be the worst 🧐😆

I liked your demonstration it was very nice. I am doing dj course now i was struggling for beat match, thanks for teaching easiest technics

Cool I'm gonna try this when I get home. Thank you sir!

Love it

Thank you 🙏

I imagine beat matching by ears vs auto sync is like driving a car with stick vs auto

Thanks For The Video Mr. L.L.

When the sync button doesnt work then you need to beat match by ear and also like you say its a rollercoaster ride... 😍😍.... Love it...

great vlog luke :)

Excellent

This was a great tutorial! 👍🏾

Nice tips bro! Very useful

Simply stop looking at the music and start listening instead... Amazing content! Thank you🙏

This is wat I'm after thank U heaps kind sir legend

Nice!!!! Great video!

Soo good 🔥👏

learning & mastering the hard manual ways is to train our hearing & brain processing better after that auto sync is for creative mixing transition. All pros have to begin with manual ways just like Rally & F1 drivers to feel & control the equipment.

Great video

Thanks for the video Luke, I liked the part when you beat matched by ear. I’m going to try the tape thing.

thank youuu laidback

thanks for teaching beat matching

Laidback Luke & Domastic- U Don't Is so fire

AMazing tutorial !!!!

Thank you

Awesome tips

Pitchriding is absolutly necessary if you want to be confident to play vinyl in any club, because some still use technics 1210 mk2. The mk2 have a quartz lock which makes it super hard to nudge and drag. i remember visiting a friend after i just learned to beatmatch on my stantons 150´s and was loosing my mind on his technics hahaha.

Easy way I found to explain how beat matching works to begginers,is with 2 cars on the high way,gotta put them side by side,so they must have the same speed,and one will need a push to get next to the other or vice versa. Master Tempo,Quantize,Key Lock,help a lot to mix in key and to change the tempo of a music with vocals without making the singer to sound like Mickey Mouse or Darth Vader if we increase or decrease the tempo. Sync can be handy,but it isnt always accurate,tracks that can have different tempos also have different compass,time signature or beat grid!If a guy doesnt know to beat match by ear,wont notice if the tracks have different beat grids. Love to see your videos and your technic under a microscope ;) Cheers from Portugal.

Don't want to start that endless sync discussion but nowadays for the sake of creativity and losing less time, when using more than two decks, I would definitely give SYNC a go even if I can easily master all the expert tehniques. To conclude, I consider that the most fair way of using sync 🙏

Ayos! Ang galing!

what a technique ! its so dope & so excitin' thank you so much ......... God _Bless

Wow, what a sound tooooooo

I remember the good ole days when DJ mixers didn't have headphone cue buttons and the DJs had to beatmatch using external monitor speakers and one side of the headphone was pushed aside so that the music coming from the monitor speakers will align with the side of the headphone on the DJs ear. Great times!

very helpful

Been waiting for something like this Luke, missed you uploading videos to teach us stuff. Keep it up

when i used to teach my mates i would get them to have the 2 channels open and i would get them to use records like alison limerick where love lives and landlord i like it. because those records have to come in straight away so its great practice for timing and release on turntable or cdj

Great stuff, thanks refreshing these basics we all ought to master oh so perfectly, but unfortunately often renounce in favor of the notorious sync button...

Great demonstration! I think that if you don't do match with the pitch slider alone, you might as well use the auto-sync + match features - you're just selecting songs at that point and letting the computer do the rest.

great video

Beat matching by ear is fun it’s like a game !

Awesome tutorial once again! When I started off mixing 5 years ago, the sync button was handy for a beginner, but now I don't touch them at all because it's much more satisfying to beat match by ear. I'm curious Luke, what's your opinion of key lock? So that the slider only adjusts tempo and doesn't also bend the pitch. I find it useful when mixing tracks with prominent vocals so it feels more cohesive and people hear the vocal they're expecting, in the right key, even if it's played at a faster or slower BPM.

Good video, I like the range of styles. Sync is a good tool for keeping short loops in time but other than that i ignore it. You need to be able to beat match by ear.

Loving your videos luke always helping everyone out keep them coming 🙏

Hello there Luke my pinoy Brotha , My name is Roger from Chi town (Roger da mixologist aka dj oldskoolroge Ride the Pitch Show). I’ve been a big fan of yours for over 8 yrs! Whoa how time flies. The way you handle yourself as a Producer, DJ remixer, Family man and Of Course Pinoy Represent. I salute you. Natural Disaster is still one of my favorite jam to drop in the mix. Anyway I like the way you covered the Topic Ride the Pitch, I’ve been mixing for over 36 yrs, yes music will never get old especially if you enjoy the Art of Mixing… Matching… Measuring and Riding the Pitch in Real Time. For me, this what gives that Natural High in music when mixing the Groove. Learning the Fundamentals of matching.. Mixing.. Measuring and Riding the Pitch on a Belt drive Technics SL B21 back in the days, with a real drummer on dance Groove, Definitely paid off. You then appreciated the Birth of Technics 1200 Direct Drive. Oh yeah what a difference. No more nudging the record for me, just and Ride the Pitch. This is one main key that DJ’s forget to talk about the Technics Direct drive revolution, It changed the way we Mix the Groove, it’s not just for scratching, the Pitch Control is dead on smooth when you ride the pitch IN THE Mix. No more nudging or holding the pin in the middle of the platter. You are correct, there were no master tempo then. Pitch control movement is very important. I believe this is one of the missing key. If you give someone a map of a Forest, what good is the map if you don’t know where you are at? Many Dj’s today do not understand which way to go when that beat mix starts to go off. ( Shoe Dryer Mix ). You either you go forward, backward or stay on your pitch. If you master these fundamentals you will have a better understanding where to go and avoid the Shoe dryer affect. You will be able to tell on the first note as you as you drop that needle in the mix which way to go. And of course there are technique how to learn, master and understand this method. And as you progress to today’s mixing style and new Dj gears. You will experience a better understanding and appreciate more the digital world has to offer. I learned to understand the difference and the transformation from regular Dj to a Hot Mixer DJ. Back in the days dance music is just music that makes you dance, But if you mix it.. blend it and Ride the Mix with another Hot groove then the Groove develops the Natural high that HOUSE music gives. That’s why House music It’s a feeling. Not everyone mixes the same .I respect everybody’s way of Mixing and for me Riding the Pitch is my choice. But people still need to understand the difference. Keep up the good work ma Pinoy Brotha. Peace Love and Music, Dj oldskoolroge