A rhythmic feel where even subdivisions are pushed slightly late, creating a shuffled groove heard in jazz, funk, and some house and hip-hop.
Swing is a rhythmic property in which notes that would fall on perfectly even subdivisions of the beat are shifted slightly later, so pairs of short notes become unequal in length (long-short rather than equal-equal). The resulting feel is described as shuffled, bouncy, or loping, and the degree of shift can range from subtle to pronounced.
Why it matters
A DJ mixing a heavily swung or shuffled track against a straight-quantized track may hear rhythmic tension or flamming where the ghost notes and off-beats of the two records do not align. Recognizing swing in a track helps you choose compatible records and plan transitions that do not expose the timing difference.
In practice
When blending a swung track with a straight track, keep the mix short or use the EQ to reduce the midrange percussion (where swing is most audible) during the transition. Tracks with matching swing amounts mix cleanly; mixing two swung records at different swing percentages can sound worse than mixing swung against straight.
