DJing for Dummies: Find the First Beat
, by Graig Upton, 3 min reading time
Almost every clean mix starts from the same place: the first beat of the track. Set your cue point there and you can bring the next tune in exactly in time. Miss it, and the mix lands early or late and the whole thing wobbles. Here is how to find that first beat reliably, every time.
Know what you are listening for. The first beat is the downbeat, often called the one. It is the point where the rhythm properly kicks in, and on most dance tracks that means the first strong kick drum. Be careful, because it is not always the very first sound in the file. Many tracks open with a sweep, a vocal or an atmospheric intro before the beat truly starts.
Use your eyes first. Zoom in on the waveform and look for the first tall spike after any quiet intro. That spike is almost always the first kick. The screen will get you within a fraction of a second in no time at all, which is why learning to read the waveform pays off here.
Then confirm with your ears. With the track paused just before that spike, nudge the jog wheel slowly forward until you hear the very front of the beat, then ease back to its leading edge. Your ears confirm what your eyes found and land you on the exact start rather than a hair before or after.
Drop the cue. Once you are sitting on the front edge of that first beat, press cue to set your cue point. The track is now primed, ready to fire the instant you press play.
Lean on the shortcuts, but check them. Most players have an Auto Cue feature that parks the playhead at the first beat or sound automatically when you load a track, which gives you a strong starting point to fine-tune from. The beat grid the software lays over the track helps too. Treat both as a helping hand rather than gospel, because automatic analysis occasionally lands a beat or two out, and a quick listen catches it.
With the first beat cued, you are ready to blend the track in and let the groove carry. The more you practise finding it, the faster it becomes, until you are doing it almost without thinking. Our CDJs and media players, DJ controllers and turntables are all good places to build the skill, with more beginner guides on the DJ advice blog.