Tempo & rhythm
Count-in
Counting in is tracking where you are in the bar and the phrase, out loud or in your head, so you launch the next record on a downbeat rather than wherever the fader happened to move.
In practice
Count in fours and track the eights. It is what tells you which beat, when beatmatching only tells you the beat.
Count the beat aloud at first — four beats to the bar, and the bar number on the one, so it runs "one two three four, two two three four" up to eight. The number you are saying on each downbeat is the bar you are in, and the boundary you are aiming for is bar one of the next eight. Do it on records you know until it happens without attention, then it works on records you do not. The beat counter on a player is a check on this rather than a replacement for it, because it is only as right as the grid behind it.
4
Beats you count
8
Bars you track
Aloud
How to learn it
Where these come from: Standard counting practice, not a catalog figure. For what we can measure, see what the count is for.
Why it matters
It is the least glamorous skill in mixing and the one that separates a set that flows from one that is technically clean and structurally wrong. Beatmatching gets two records agreeing about the beat; counting gets them agreeing about which beat, which is the difference nobody can hear you doing and everybody hears you failing.
It is also what makes displays optional. A DJ who is counting knows where the phrase turns on an unfamiliar record with no waveform and no beat counter, which is precisely the situation vinyl, an unanalysed file or a borrowed deck puts you in.
Frequently asked
Do I still need to count if the player shows bars?+
Yes, because the display is only as right as the beatgrid behind it. Counting is also what lets you work on an unanalysed record, on vinyl, or on gear that shows you nothing.
What should I count — beats or bars?+
Both at once: beats within the bar, bars within the phrase. Saying the bar number on each downbeat does both in one stream.
How long does it take to become automatic?+
Faster than people expect, if you do it aloud on familiar records first. The point is to stop needing attention for it, which only happens after it has had your full attention for a while.
Related terms
Phrase matching
Phrase matching aligns the structural sections of two tracks, not just their beats — so the incoming record’s first bar lands on the outgoing record’s phrase boundary and both arrangements move together.
Bar
A bar is four beats in 4/4 time — one full cycle of the kick pattern. DJs count in bars rather than seconds because a bar is the same length of music at any tempo, and seconds are not.
Downbeat
The downbeat is the first beat of a bar — the "one" a DJ counts to. It is where the kick lands hardest and where every phrase, drop and transition is aligned from.
Beat display
The beat display shows where you are inside the current bar and phrase and, when two players are linked, how far the incoming track sits from the one already playing. It counts beats, not time.
Explore: Phrase counter · Phrase · Downbeat · All DJ terms