Tempo & rhythm
Beatmatching
Beatmatching is lining up two tracks so their beats land together — matching the tempo, then nudging the phase until the kicks coincide. It is the base skill every other mixing technique sits on top of.
Measured in our catalog
The median tempo gap DJs actually mix across here is 1.0 BPM, and 81.5% of 7,243 hand-sequenced transitions land within 3.
Only 5.0% jump more than 20 BPM, and most of those are octave moves rather than hard resets. The window is far narrower than any pitch fader requires — beatmatching is a constraint DJs impose on themselves.
1.0
Median BPM gap
81.5%
Within 3 BPM
90.0%
Within 6 BPM
5.0%
Jump over 20 BPM
Measured on 11 August 2026 across 7,243 adjacent transitions in flows sequenced by hand on Mixgraph (saved flows only, machine-generated running orders excluded, both tracks analysed). Method: the full transition dataset and its chance baseline.
Why it matters
Sync buttons do the arithmetic, but they do not decide which two tracks should be adjacent. The tempo gap you are willing to close is a musical choice: pitching a track 4% changes its character, and the further you pull, the more you are hearing your own correction rather than the record.
Which is why the gaps DJs actually mix across are so much smaller than the gaps software will let them.
In Mixgraph
Tempo is one of the six dimensions behind every chemistry score, and the suggestion list can be held to a tempo window you set.
Frequently asked
How close do two BPMs need to be to beatmatch?+
Closer than most people think. The median gap across 7,243 hand-sequenced transitions here is 1.0 BPM and 81.5% are within 3. Software will stretch much further; DJs mostly do not.
Is beatmatching by ear still worth learning?+
The listening is. Sync will align two grids, but it cannot tell you that a track has drifted off its phrase, that the incoming kick is fighting the outgoing bassline, or that a four-BPM pull has drained the groove out of a record.
What is phase, and why does matching tempo not fix it?+
Phase is where in the bar each track currently sits. Two tracks can run at the same tempo and still be a beat apart — matching tempo stops them drifting, but you still have to nudge one until the downbeats coincide.
Related terms
BPM
BPM — beats per minute — counts how many beats land in sixty seconds. It is the first number a DJ checks, because two tracks have to agree on tempo before anything else about them matters.
Phrase
A phrase is a block of bars a track is built from, usually 8, 16 or 32. Electronic music changes at phrase boundaries, so a mix that starts on one keeps both tracks structurally in step.
Beatgrid
A beatgrid is the map your DJ software lays over a track marking where every beat falls. Once it is right, sync, looping and quantise all work; once it is wrong, everything built on top of it is wrong too.
Transient
A transient is the short burst of energy at the start of a sound — the click of a kick, the snap of a snare. It is what makes percussion readable and what beat detection listens for.
Explore: What DJs actually do · BPM compatibility · All DJ terms