Turntablism
Brake
A brake is a controlled slowdown to a stop, either by killing the turntable motor or with the brake control on a player. The pitch falls with the tempo, which is the whole effect.
In practice
The brake time is the whole effect — a quarter-bar reads as a stutter, two bars as a power cut.
Set it before you need it. Every player and every software mixer exposes a brake or stop-time parameter, and the default is rarely what you want for a given track — faster material needs a shorter brake to stay legible. Start the brake on a downbeat and have the next record already running underneath, or the room gets a silence it did not ask for. On a turntable the same effect comes from switching the motor off, which gives you exactly one deceleration curve and no parameter at all; the platter itself is the setting.
Quarter bar
Reads as a stutter
Two bars
Reads as a power cut
On a downbeat
Where to start it
Where these come from: Effect convention on standard players and mixers, not catalog figures. For what we can measure, see how often a transition needs an exit like this.
Why it matters
It is the only way to leave a track that keeps the beat right up to the moment it disappears. A cut removes the record instantly and a spinback throws it backwards; a brake decelerates, so the last two bars are still recognisably the track.
The length of the deceleration is the entire performance, and it is adjustable everywhere. A brake set to a quarter of a bar reads as a stutter, one set to two bars reads as a power cut, and the difference between them is one menu setting.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a brake and a spinback?+
Direction. A brake slows the record to a stop going forwards; a spinback throws it backwards. Both end a track without beatmatching, and they sound nothing alike.
How do you set brake time on a CDJ?+
In the player utility menu, usually as a vinyl-speed adjustment covering both start and stop. Shorter for fast material, longer where you want an audible slow.
Does the pitch drop during a brake?+
Yes — that is the effect. The record physically slows, so the pitch falls with it, which is why a brake sounds like a machine losing power rather than a fade.
Related terms
Spinback
A spinback ends a track by throwing it backwards out of the mix — by hand on a platter, or with the reverse and brake controls on a player that has none. No beatmatching required.
Backspin
A backspin is the record pulled sharply backwards while the platter keeps turning underneath, throwing the track back through itself. It is used as an effect mid-phrase and as a way out of a track.
Echo out
An echo out ends a record by feeding its last bars into a delay and pulling the channel down, so the track dissolves into repeats instead of stopping.
Reload
A reload is pulling a track back to its start and dropping it again, usually seconds after the moment the crowd reacted to. It is native to jungle, drum and bass, garage and dubstep.
Explore: Mixing guides · Pitch and tempo calculator · Echo out · All DJ terms