M-Audio Torq 1.5 SYNCHRONI ZATION

CHAPTER

English

English

CHAPTER

SYNCHRONI ZATION

At most of today’s dance clubs and events, the DJ will m ix the songs together using a

technique called beat-matchin g. The goal is to fade the volumes between two song s

while keeping them perfectly i n beat with one another. If done properly, the audience

will never have to stop dancing as the beat of one song w ill blend in with the beat of the

new song—sounding like one single song. DJs wi ll do this for hours at a time, creating

one gigantic non-stop mix from the ind ividual songs they have in their collection. Prope r

execution of this technique requires th e mastery of two tasks: matchin g tempo and

matching phase.

As mentioned before, tempo is the me asurement of speed of a song expressed as

BPM. Phase refers to the locati on within a song in reference to its downbeat . Torq

automatically determines the t empo and phase of a song when you load it onto a Deck,

so matching tempos is as simple as moving the S peed slider on a Deck until the BPM

Display shows the same value as the other De ck. If you’re using external vinyl or CD

control, you can adjust the speed of the song us ing the turntable’s or CD player’s pitch

adjuster.

Once you have matched the tempos of two songs, you ne ed to start both songs at

precisely the right moment, or in -phase with each other. When beat-match ing songs,

you’ll normally want the downbeats of bot h songs aligned with each other. When aligned

properly, the beats of both songs will blend t ogether into one larger beat. If th e songs

are misaligned or out-of-phase , it will sound terrible as the beats of the t wo songs will be

playing at different times (in DJ jargon , this is known as a “train wreck” and is somet hing

that should be avoided at all times).

Torq’s Scrolling Waveforms will help you match the phases of the two songs. No t only

can you visually align the transient s in the waveforms, you can also use the Phase Grid

for automatic synchronization.

Torq places a Phase Grid over the Scrolling Waveforms to help you see where the

beats are, even during a breakdown or rhythm less intro of a song. In order for Torq’s

automatic synchronization to work, t he Phase Grid will need to be aligned properly w ith

the music. With the Phase Grids of bot h songs aligned properly, Torq will be able to

sync the two songs together withou t creating train wrecks. Torq will attempt to place

the Phase Grid in the proper location duri ng song analysis. If Torq positions the Grid

incorrectly, it will be up to you to re-align it t o the proper beat.