A track that drifts, back on a steady grid.

Why a beatgrid won't hold on some records

A record made to a click track plays at one tempo from the first bar to the last, so a single beatgrid fits it. Most records cut before the 90s weren't: a band speeds up into a chorus and settles in the verse, and over five minutes the tempo can wander from 113 to 118 BPM. Serato, Rekordbox and Engine DJ all assume one tempo, so the grid lines up at the start and is off by the middle. Sync drifts, the beat jumps land between kicks, and you end up riding the pitch fader through the whole mix.

You can draw a flexible grid by hand, marker by marker. That fixes the grid, but not the record: it still drifts against whatever you're mixing it with.

What a quantized edit does

IntroEdits finds every beat, works out the steady BPM the record is really at, and moves each beat onto that grid, keeping the key. The copy comes back:

• On one BPM, start to end - the one it averages, or any you choose.
• Gridded for Serato, with the beatgrid set and locked, so it opens ready.
• Checked by ear: a metronome on the kick plays over it, and Original plays the record drifting off the same click, so you can hear the difference before you save.
• A new file. Your original, its cues and your crates are never touched.

It's for drifting records: 60s and 70s soul and Motown, disco, funk, 80s pop played by a band, live recordings. If a record was steady already, it says so, and saving it is free.

What it isn't for

Tracks that change tempo on purpose. A transition edit that goes from 105 to 112 BPM, or a record built to speed up, would be locked to one BPM the whole way through. Quantized edit is for records that drift, not ones that move.

In your browser or on your Mac

The editor in your browser quantizes a track in well under a minute and gives you an MP3. The Mac app works from your Serato, Rekordbox, VirtualDJ or Engine DJ crates: press Edit on any track and choose Quantized edit, and the copy keeps the original's format (MP3, WAV, AIFF or FLAC). For the background, read how to fix a drifting beatgrid in Serato.

Common questions

What does quantizing a song do?

It moves every beat of a track onto a steady grid. A record played by a live band speeds up and slows down by a few BPM over its length; a quantized copy plays at one BPM from start to end, so it can be beatmatched like a track made in a studio.

Will it sound different?

Only in time, not in pitch. Each beat is moved onto the grid and the key is kept, so most listeners won't hear it at all - what changes is that the kick lands where your DJ software expects it, all the way through.

Does it work with Serato?

Yes. The copy comes back with its beatgrid already set and locked for Serato, so it opens gridded. Rekordbox, Traktor and Engine DJ analyse it themselves, and because the copy is on one steady BPM, a single fixed grid fits it there too.

Is my original changed?

No. A quantized edit is a new file. The original, its cues and its place in your crates are untouched.

What is it not for?

Tracks that change tempo on purpose: transition edits (say 105 to 112 BPM) and records built to speed up or slow down. A quantized edit locks the whole track to one BPM, so it would undo the change. It's for records that drift.

How much does it cost?

A saved quantized edit counts as one of your three free edits a month, the same as an intro edit, and saving the same record again in the same month is free. A track that was already steady says so, and saves free. Pro is unlimited.