April 28, 2026
Latin Energy, Locked In for Cinco de Mayo
Whether you’re opening, headlining, or bouncing between genres, these Latin playlists give you room to move. DJcity has you ready for Cinco de Mayo with pl...
Monday, June 20, 2016
How to Take Your Tone Playing to the Next Level
69Beats at the Red Bull Thre3style Poland Final in Krakow on May 7, 2016. (Gniewko Głogowski/Red Bull)
Poland’s DJ 69Beats has made a tutorial that explains how to perform advanced tone play routines with Traktor and a piano-like controller. Fans had asked him to shed light on the technique after he won the Red Bull Thre3style Poland Finals in May
The method, which was first introduced in 2010 and recently explained by DJ Rafik, is a crucial breakthrough in tone playing. As 69Beats points out in his video, it is impossible to play certain melodies with traditional DJ controllers due to a limited amount of pads. That, combined with the fact that not all songs are in the same key, has resulted in a prevalence of out-of-tune tone play routines, a topic of criticism in the DJ community.
The technique is also possible with Serato DJ via the Pitch ‘n Time plug-in, as explained in a recent episode of DJcityTV’s Tips & Tricks.
Watch 69Beats’ tutorial and winning Thre3style set below.
