Whats your technique

of beatmatching when playing out?

I get the beats matched and lined up with both ears in the headphones, then as i bring the new tune in i slip one ear out of the headphone so I can hear the monitor. I find it really hard to beatmatch without using both ears in the headphones when playing out.

One ear covered, one ear trained on monitor...left like that throughout the mix

I try to line the beats up however works best at the time. Usuaully one ear on, one ear for the monitor or for the girls asking me to play James Blunt.

RW

Me too

With this technique - are you listening to both tracks thu the phones or just the one coming in.

If just the one coming in - do you once the cue track is fully playing change the tack your listening to to the one fading out (if thats how your mixing it)?

Yep, exactly that...track in ear always the less dominant track.

one ear on the earphones and one on the monitor then whilst bringing the mix in I just listen to the monitor to make sure that we are all good and away I go. then onto the next record

Hmmmm seems alot longer when I type it out

Cue 1 ear in 1 ear out when Its locked I totally take the headphones right off and listen to the monitors as thats what the crowd are hearing and you can hear the eqing better than havin something in your headphones

yeah there's no one sure way...

It doesn't just depend on the environment it depends on the style and quality of tunes your mixing as well.

When I'm playing my own tunes I generally have both tracks fully cued in the headphones and will sometimes do a little beat matching in the headphones before putting one ear on the monitor and brining in the track. Often I will do away with the headphones all together once I can hear the new track pushing through on the monitor.

When I'm playing B2B I'm more inclined to use the cue / master fader to help me check things are lined up and balanced.

If you really want to stay in touch with the crowd I think it's important to do away with the headphones as much as possible, I'll often put them aside while selecting tunes etc.