Pitch Question ...

Still learning as I go. I have a question, when ya'll set off your sets, where do you normally place your pitch control. I posted some mixes for critique, & I kept hearing comments about the songs in particular being boring, in reference to the songs feelin' TOO slow.

Depending on the BPM, I kind of feel comfortable having my pitch around between no slower than -60 & no faster than +80, as a comfort level to self throughout the mix. Anything beyond that, I get a lil nervous, & this is even with the music symbol button pressed (You know; that button that's in between the rewind button & cue point buttons so it don't alter the pitch too much).

My question is, when is it too fast or too slow, or is it just a hearing thing? & does the BPM even matter regarding this topic?

Hope I made sense; musically therotically challenged ...

hmmmmm As my rule of thumb, Unless you are trying to achieve a really sped up effect, I usually go no more than +- 6or7 bpm. depending on the speed of the song, that changes what the percentages work out to be.

However, it all goes off feel, and sound... step away, maybe go to another room, and feel the music, and that can be a great indicator as to if the song is too fast or slow.

Your songs probably just lack energy.

I like to not go past +6 and no lower than -2. If I have to go past those then I need to seriously reconsider the mix. If I decide to go with it then I hit the Key Lock button (You know; that button that's in between the rewind button & cue point buttons so it don't alter the pitch too much) and bring up the tempo as quickly and smoothly as possible.

4 both ways for me

EDIT: My +- 6 or 7, means that the biggest BPM gap between songs is 6 or 7 BPM's apart. not +- 6 or 7 both ways, which would be 12-14 BPM's apart and that would be ridiculous.

within +/-3% on average, but on some occasions i've done a 6%. That being said, most of my tracks have little to no vocals, and key lock is always on as I focus on key progression to create moods throughout my sets.

+1 especially on the -2, if you have to play slower than that, pick a few songs to bring the tempo down.

If song is dragging people can tell more so than playing it super fast. Speed is also perceived as "more energy", in Detroit, we play some stuff fast anyway and almost all the turntable are "hot rodded" here so it is more acceptable.

I almost never go slower than -1% or faster than +3%. The audience is familiar with the tempo of the song, and going outside of that range makes something feel "off" to them, even if they can't articulate why.

Please read... Lol

www.serato.com

-2 is usually about as far as I'll go, +5 is usually as high as I'll get to before using another track to go in between.

I think I "get it" ... I got them Numark TTX turntables. They have this pitch button. When you hit it, it goes from 10, 20, & 50. I don't know why, but I have it set to 20. I tried the others (10 & 20) & don't seem to hear the difference. Is this a big deal or not?

NoNonSense, plz elaborate?

I was referring to the comments you mentioned about your mix being boring or too slow. Might be playing the wrong songs

I personally prefer the 8%
turntables/cdjs with the 10,20,30,50 ect ect...
eh, its just too much.

also, the higher the total adjustment, the smaller increments are needed
to adj the pitch %.000

iE, with stock tables.
playing a record at 100bpms, if you goto +1, the song is now 101
and its very easy to get it to 100.1, 100.2,100.3,100.4 ect ect
you have that whole area to work with on the pitch slider.

at 20%+
that same adjustment is a microscopic movement on the slider.
and forget trying to nudge it to that sweet spot...

Im also of the school of never lower than 2, never higher than 5
if i do need to, after the mix I adjust fire.

when I mix DnB... I usually try 3% faster than usual. It makes the mix sound like you cant recognize the track as it comes in, but when the bass drops.. BOOM!... In hip hop i usually try to stay in +2% to -1%.... I dont like to mess with the pitch that much. The same goes for reggae.

Keep in Mind that a 2% change on a 70 BPM song matters a lot more than it does on a 130 BPM song.

actually, thats back wards

2% of 70 is 1.4 | 71.4
2% of 130 is 2.6 | 132.6

the the higher the BPM, the greater % the speed will increase or decrease
based on the pitch slider adjustment.

That's why I prefer CDJs. pixel perfect adjustment. Most of the time mine are set to +/- 6% range, which means every increment is 0.02%. at +/- 10% each increment is 0.05%. Not bad either. It's nice to have the higher options sometimes too, even if they're rarely used.