Effects & processing
Impact
An impact is a single dramatic hit — a crash, a reversed cymbal, a sub boom — used to mark a moment. It has no rhythm of its own and exists to make one beat feel bigger than its neighbours.
In practice
One hit to mark one moment. Use it to cover a cut, and use it rarely enough that it still means something.
Land it exactly on the downbeat — an impact a fraction late is worse than no impact, because the ear is listening for precisely that instant. Where a mixer or sampler offers them, keep one or two loaded rather than browsing mid-set. And use them to solve a problem rather than for decoration: covering a hard cut, marking a genuine peak, or filling the gap where a record ended sooner than you planned.
Downbeat
Where it lands
1–2
How many to keep loaded
Covers a cut
Its most useful job
Where these come from: Performance practice, not a catalog figure. For what we can measure, see the move it covers.
Why it matters
It is the punctuation of a set, and it works because it is rare. An impact on a drop tells the room this is the moment; an impact every sixteen bars tells the room nothing, because the ear stops treating it as an event and starts treating it as part of the arrangement.
It is also the easiest way to cover a join. A well-placed crash on the downbeat of a cut masks the transition underneath it, which is why a slam that would otherwise be audible can be made to sound deliberate.
Frequently asked
When should I use an impact?+
To mark a genuine peak, or to cover a hard cut so the join reads as deliberate. Often enough to be useful, rarely enough to still mean something.
Why does my impact sound wrong?+
It is probably slightly late. The ear is listening for that exact instant, so an impact a fraction off the downbeat is more noticeable than no impact at all.
Is an impact the same as a riser?+
No. A riser builds tension over bars; an impact is the single hit that resolves it. They are frequently used together.
Related terms
Cut
A cut swaps one record for another on a single beat, with no overlap. It is the fastest transition there is and the only one that works between two records with nothing in common.
Riser
A riser is a sound that climbs in pitch or volume through a build-up, signalling that something is about to land. White noise, a filtered sweep or a rolling snare all do the job.
Freeze reverb
Freeze reverb captures the reverb tail at a moment and holds it indefinitely, producing a sustained wash that continues after the source stops. It turns a decay into a pad you can mix under.
Drop
The drop is the moment the full arrangement lands after a breakdown — beat, bass and hook arriving together. In most club records it is the point the whole track is arranged around, and the thing a floor is waiting for.
Explore: Transition techniques · Riser · Cut · All DJ terms