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CHAPTER
1
English
28
English
CHAPTER
5
SYNCHRONIZAT ION
At most of today’s dance clubs and events, the DJ will mix the songs together using a
technique called beat-matching. The goal is to fade the volumes between two songs
while keeping them perfectly in beat with one another. If done properly, the audience
will never have to stop dancing as the beat of one song will blend in with the beat of the
new song—sounding like one single song. DJs will do this for hours at a time, creating
one gigantic non-stop mix from the individual songs they have in their collection. Proper
execution of this technique requires the mastery of two tasks: matching tempo and
matching phase.
Automatic Tempo and Phase Detection
As mentioned before, tempo is the measurement of speed of a song expressed as
BPM. Phase refers to the location within a song in reference to its downbeat. Torq
automatically determines the tempo and phase of a song when you load it onto a Deck,
so matching tempos is as simple as moving the Speed slider on a Deck until the BPM
Display shows the same value as the other Deck. If you’re using external vinyl or CD
control, you can adjust the speed of the song using the turntable’s or CD player’s pitch
adjuster.
Once you have matched the tempos of two songs, you need to start both songs at
precisely the right moment, or in-phase with each other. When beat-matching songs,
you’ll normally want the downbeats of both songs aligned with each other. When aligned
properly, the beats of both songs will blend together into one larger beat. If the songs
are misaligned or out-of-phase, it will sound terrible as the beats of the two songs will be
playing at different times (in DJ jargon, this is known as a “train wreck” and is something
that should be avoided at all times).
Torq’s Scrolling Waveforms will help you match the phases of the two songs. Not only
can you visually align the transients in the waveforms, you can also use the Phase Grid
for automatic synchronization.
Phase Grid Manipulations
Torq places a Phase Grid over the Scrolling Waveforms to help you see where the
beats are, even during a breakdown or rhythmless intro of a song. In order for Torq’s
automatic synchronization to work, the Phase Grid will need to be aligned properly with
the music. With the Phase Grids of both songs aligned properly, Torq will be able to
sync the two songs together without creating train wrecks. Torq will attempt to place
the Phase Grid in the proper location during song analysis. If Torq positions the Grid
incorrectly, it will be up to you to re-align it to the proper beat.