Dubstep runs at about 140 BPM with a half-time beat, the snare landing on the third beat of each bar, so DJ software can read the same track as 140 or 70 BPM; set all your tracks to the same count before you mix. Most dubstep transitions happen around the drop: cut to the new track on the first beat of a phrase, or play two build-ups together and swap tracks just before the drop, which Pioneer DJ calls a staple of dubstep.
Why dubstep reads as 140 or 70 BPM
Native Instruments' guide to making dubstep (February 2023) sets the tempo at 140 BPM and puts the main snare on the third beat of each bar, a half-time kick and snare pattern. The beat feels half as fast as the tempo, which is why the count is ambiguous.
"Both could be right for exactly the same tune," Digital DJ Tips founder Phil Morse writes in What BPM is dubstep, and your software may analyse a track either way. Pick one count and keep every track on it, so your library sorts in one place and sync compares like with like. Morse suggests checking the top and bottom of your BPM-sorted collection for new tunes that landed at the other figure.
To fix a track in rekordbox 7, per the rekordbox 7 manual:
- Change the grid. In PERFORMANCE mode, open the GRID/PHRASE EDIT panel for the deck and use the button that doubles or halves the BPM.
- Sync at double or half. With Beat Sync on, click x 1, x 2 or x 1/2 in the deck's track information panel. Turning on "Allow BEAT/BPM SYNC with double/half BPM" in Preferences > Controller > Deck keeps a synced track near its own tempo when one deck reads 70 and the other 140.
Other apps have their own grid controls; check your software's manual.
Find the build and the drop
Native Instruments' example track moves in eight-bar blocks. It starts with two eight-bar sections, uses a riser to lead into a breakdown and a sweep to lead into the drop, changes elements at bars 33, 41, 49 and 57, and ends with an eight-bar outro. Most dance music is arranged in eight-bar sections, its guide to DJ transitions adds.
When you prepare a track, set hot cues on:
- the first beat of the intro,
- the first beat of each build-up,
- the first beat of each drop.
The cue and hot cue explainer covers setting them, and rekordbox can mark sections for you when Phrase is ticked under Preferences > Analysis > Track Analysis.
Transition 1: cut on the phrase
A cut takes you from one track to the next instantly. Pioneer DJ's tutorial series with Point Blank Music School, mixing techniques on the DDJ-400 (March 2019), calls it a drop mix: set the cue point on the first beat of a bar, then slide the crossfader to the other side. DJ TechTools' guide to mixing songs without a DJ intro names dubstep and trap as the genres this suits.
- Match the incoming track's tempo to the playing one in your headphones.
- Cue it at the start of a section, such as a drop.
- Let the playing track reach the end of a phrase.
- On the first beat of the next bar, start the incoming track and move the crossfader across, or swap the channel faders.
Set the crossfader curve to a sharp cut so each end plays one deck only; the crossfader explainer shows where the setting is.
Transition 2: the drop swap
"A staple of trap and dubstep music, drop swapping involves playing the build-up of two songs simultaneously and then quickly swapping them before the drop," Pioneer DJ's tutorial says. The crowd hears one build-up and gets the other track's drop.
- Cue the incoming track at the start of its build-up, and match its tempo to the playing track.
- When the playing track starts its build-up, start the incoming one on the same beat, with its fader down.
- Bring the incoming track up under the playing one as both build.
- Just before the drop, swap: the playing track's fader down, the incoming track's up, so the new track's drop is the one that lands.
If the build-ups differ in length, start the incoming one later or earlier so its drop falls on the bar where the playing track's drop would. Count both in your software before you try it in a set.
Transition 3: mix out after the drop
Morse's guide to where to transition points out that many dance tracks have a second half similar to the first, so once the intro, breakdown, build-up and drop have played, you're free to mix out. Bring the next track's intro in after the playing track's drop, and keep only one bassline up at a time with a bass swap, as the DJ transitions guide shows. Two basslines together sound muddy.
How much of each track to play before you leave is covered in how long a DJ should play a song for.
Moving between dubstep and other genres
Dubstep sits between two tempo zones: drum and bass is around 160 BPM and up, Morse notes in Mixing drum and bass, electro and dubstep, and techno usually runs between 125 and 140 BPM (see how to start mixing techno). For big tempo jumps Morse suggests a cut rather than a blend:
- make it right on time, at the start of a phrase,
- cut in at a beatless intro or break, or at a very recognisable part of the new track,
- so the crowd notices the new tune first and the change of tempo second.
Mixing a half-speed track into a full-speed one changes the mood quickly; Morse calls it "a bit extreme in club sets", but says it works on the radio and in bars and lounges.
Mix in key
The drop swap and the bass swap both put two tracks on top of each other for a few bars. Tracks in compatible keys clash less; see mixing in key and the BPM and key finders.
How this page is made
The tempo and structure come from Native Instruments' How to make dubstep and its DJ transitions guide; the drop mix and drop swap from Pioneer DJ and Point Blank Music School's DDJ-400 technique tutorials; the cut from DJ TechTools; and the advice on counting and changing tempo from Phil Morse's articles for Digital DJ Tips. Setting names are from AlphaTheta's rekordbox 7 manual. All were read on 13 October 2026. The earlier version of this page had a history of the genre, a claim that dubstep DJs play 60 to 120 seconds of each track and a dead video; none could be sourced, so they're gone. The methodology explains how the site works.
