Getting started

tripper

Wats the story,

I want to get set up so i can dj round dublin. Im in a band and have promonters askin me to do a few sets after gigs we play but what the **** do i need to get started. I really dont have a clue :eek:
Any help is appriciated

gob smacked

not to sure

Hub

What do you play?

spyro_2001ie

The club or venue should supply you with 2 turntables and a mixer and a PA. Or if your talking about what you need to do a dj gig. If you play records then get 2 x Technics 1210's, if you play cd's get 2 x pioneer 800's (cd turntables) It all really depends what you wanna do with it. ie beat match and actually mix, or just play a few tunes after the gig. If its just play a few songs after a gig, cheaper cd decks than the pioneers are availible and any mixer should do the trick for simple cross fading.

*NB Djing is not as easy as it seems, it takes alot, did i say alot? ALOT of practice and patience.

Good Luck

smeggle

spyro_2001ie wrote:

The club or venue should supply you with 2 turntables and a mixer and a PA. Or if your talking about what you need to do a dj gig. If you play records then get 2 x Technics 1210's, if you play cd's get 2 x pioneer 800's (cd turntables) It all really depends what you wanna do with it. ie beat match and actually mix, or just play a few tunes after the gig. If its just play a few songs after a gig, cheaper cd decks than the pioneers are availible and any mixer should do the trick for simple cross fading.

*NB Djing is not as easy as it seems, it takes alot, did i say alot? ALOT of practice and patience.

Good Luck

Agrees

tripper

Cheers, will take that onboard. What price am i looking for those pioneer cd decks, are they just as good as records

base2

NB Djing is not as easy as it seems, it takes alot, did i say alot? ALOT of practice and patience.

No. Djing is a piece of piss. Some dj's like to fool those not in the know that they actually have some talent but its not the case.

Hub

Define talent?

I can beat match, phrase match, scratch ok, my mate cant. He thinks its impossible to do it as does everyone else that tries it.

Also when referring to live sets you need ALOT of technical knowledge regarding the technical end as well music theory.

Your talking ****

Helix

base2 wrote:

No. Djing is a piece of piss. Some dj's like to fool those not in the know that they actually have some talent but its not the case.

spot on

djing is easy

if you can count to 4 and have ANY rhythm in your body you shouldnt have any problems

hardest bit is learning to listen to two things at once and being able to differentiate

Helix

Hub wrote:

Also when referring to live sets you need ALOT of technical knowledge regarding the technical end as well music theory.

but we're not talking about live sets

djs dont do live sets

producers do live sets

Helix

tripper wrote:

Wats the story,

I want to get set up so i can dj round dublin. Im in a band and have promonters askin me to do a few sets after gigs we play but what the **** do i need to get started. I really dont have a clue :eek:
Any help is appriciated

1) what kinda music is your band

2) what kinda music are you intending on playing after your band gigs?

answer that and i can give you some help regarding gear and how to go about starting off, cant offer you any decent advice without that info tho

tripper

We're an upbeat tripout kinda rock band. After the gig id play anything really dance but no scratching or any of that(not yet anyway) just stuff to keep it going through the night

smeggle

Helix wrote:

but we're not talking about live sets

djs dont do live sets

producers do live sets

Huh? So what was I doing saturday night? I was djing a set 'Live' i.e. played tracks live to an audience...

*Thinks* maybe that should read

but we're not talking about live sets

producers dont do live sets

dj's do live sets

And yes the basics of djing are easy but putting it into practice is not. You can be 'taught' to be a reasonably good dj but it takes years to know just how to pull a floor back if your losing dancers. That kind of experiance doesn't happen overnight and definately not by just being able to count to 4.

There are rare exceptions but as I say they are rare - very rare....

Myself I've probably been djing some 20 years+ now and I didn't feel fully confidant in what I was doing for the first three - five years. But then it depends what level you want to play at. To be good, really good it's like anything - you have to live and breath it, you have to build an extensive knowledge of music - that takes time (And helps if you meet the right people ).

Helix

a dj set is not a live set

a live set is just that, a live set

not playing pre recorded music

Helix

smeggle wrote:

Myself I've probably been djing some 20 years+ now and I didn't feel fully confidant in what I was doing for the first three - five years. But then it depends what level you want to play at. To be good, really good it's like anything - you have to live and breath it, you have to build an extensive knowledge of music - that takes time (And helps if you meet the right people ).

youre a cheese dj by the sounds of things tho

thats a different ball game entirely

nice styles are far easier to get very good at, very quickly

Helix

tripper wrote:

We're an upbeat tripout kinda rock band. After the gig id play anything really dance but no scratching or any of that(not yet anyway) just stuff to keep it going through the night

then you dont need to know how to beatmatch

if youre not playing to that kinda crowd, it doesnt matter a ****e

dont bother buying pioneer cdj1000s or 800s or anything that costs more than 500 for 2 decks

theres no point in it

porno

Helix wrote:

youre a cheese dj by the sounds of things tho

haha love it

Hub

smeggle wrote:

Huh? So what was I doing saturday night? I was djing a set 'Live' i.e. played tracks live to an audience...

Live sets are not dj sets

clint_silver

Anyone got a definition of a live set opposed to a dj set?

porno

dj,s mix pre recorded music
live act do it live ie. the prodigy,underworld etc

clint_silver

So the definition of live is use of keyboards etc to make the music live as its being played directly in fornt of the audience, as opposed to an act that uses nothing but decks?
But do prodigy et al not use prerecorded sounds, beats etc which makes the definition of live a little less sure in that context, and in the same context, would not someone laying down a prerecorded beat on one deck and then layering loops and samples on another not be live?

(not nitpicking just asking, I do get your point and it makes a little clearer for me, thanks.).

Helix

a live set is a set that involves instruments and perhaps vocals, and that isnt predetermined music

djing is playing other peoples music

smeggle

Helix wrote:

a live set is a set that involves instruments and perhaps vocals, and that isnt predetermined music

djing is playing other peoples music

Helix wrote:

a live set is a set that involves instruments and perhaps vocals, and that isnt predetermined music

djing is playing other peoples music

So - if I drop the bass rythm beat out of a track and a group of drummers lay in different drum rythms - thats playing live? hmm - yeah I do or we do stuff like that near every gig...

Or if I lay one track over another and cut of one to feed in other sounds I'm not mixing 'Live'?

In fact you've basically just called every 'Live Set' by every world famous DJ - just djing...

So Fatboys Live Set on Brighton Beach wasn't in fact a live set? He played other peoples music - so he was DJing.. irrespective if he was doing that 'Live' to an audience..

Or do you associate DJing to the likes of what the majority of places in Dublin do? Have preset auto set-ups with some pratt pretending to be a DJ?

But then what do I know? I'm just a cheesy DJ who mixes the sounds that I have available in my case and how I use that sound depends on the feeling I'm getting from the dancers... Heck I'm so cheesy some tracks in my case only have mid range as I've filtered the other stuff of. Or I've taken the top end of other tracks and only rythm beats are there or I've my own I've made in some fruity or some such....

I don't just play 'Someone' elses music end to end - well not most times, if I'm getting paid to do that I will and yes your right that is DJing...

But a 'Live' set is the DJ taking the availble sounds in his case or the sounds that are available and doing something unique with - creating a new sound, using the controls on his mixer to adjust the signals - it does not neccessarily mean there will be Acoustic or Electrified Musical instruments included though hey it's great when they are. Didge's are one of my favourite instruments to play with along with Djembis - I do that quite a lot but irrespective if you are changing the sound of tracks or utilising different components of different tracks and thereby making essentially a new sound/track then your playing live.


But as you say - I'm probably just a cheesy dj - no probs with that here - can still make anywhere from 1-400 folk have a stonking good time on nearly every weekend (You gotta have the odd weekend of now and then)...


Heh - that be a good one DJ Cheesy - *Thinks I'll use that for awhile*:D

Helix

smeggle wrote:

Or if I lay one track over another and cut of one to feed in other sounds I'm not mixing 'Live'?

can you mix in a way thats not live? bar playing a premixed cd?

DJING IS NOT LIVE MUSIC ITS PLAYING PRERECORDED TRACKS

smeggle wrote:

In fact you've basically just called every 'Live Set' by every world famous DJ - just djing...

yes, if theyre playing records, theyre just djing. get over it

smeggle wrote:

So Fatboys Live Set on Brighton Beach wasn't in fact a live set?

spot on, it was a dj set

smeggle wrote:

Or do you associate DJing to the likes of what the majority of places in Dublin do? Have preset auto set-ups with some pratt pretending to be a DJ?

i know what a ****ing dj is mate, christ almighty

smeggle wrote:

Heck I'm so cheesy some tracks in my case only have mid range as I've filtered the other stuff of. Or I've taken the top end of other tracks and only rythm beats are there or I've my own I've made in some fruity or some such

and im sure whatever club m clone you play in loves it, more power to you. youre hardly talking about anything monumentally original tho are you in fairness? thats the kinda thing every dj worth a w*ank should be doing. its merely using whats available, thats all. ive used effects units and drum machines in dj sets, but didnt call it live. you know why? coz it wasnt a live set

smeggle wrote:

But a 'Live' set is the DJ taking the availble sounds in his case or the sounds that are available and doing something unique with - creating a new sound, using the controls on his mixer to adjust the signals - it does not neccessarily mean there will be Acoustic or Electrified Musical instruments included though hey it's great when they are. Didge's are one of my favourite instruments to play with along with Djembis - I do that quite a lot but irrespective if you are changing the sound of tracks or utilising different components of different tracks and thereby making essentially a new sound/track then your playing live.

seriously mate

p*ss off for the love of god

im not saying a dj set is crap, im not saying djing is crap, im just saying that the term "live set" doesnt refer to djing. the term "dj set" refers to djing.

why the hell do you think acts such as vitallic are billed with either "live" or "dj set" at the end of their names on posters? and why do you think that the rest of the population understands exactly what is meant (albehit apart from you)?

there is an inherrant difference between a live set and a dj set in electronic music culture, and there always has been. granted the lines have begun to blur of late with the likes of ableton, BUT people who arent arguementative idiots generally understand what is meant by "live set", and dont go whinging about the technicalities of a term that has existed for years purely coz theyre a self important dj who thinks hes great coz he knows how to roll off a bit of top end

smeggle

You know - you remind me of every reason why I left Rave (Essentially this is what you are a product of) in the early nineties.
What I'm not entitled to my own opinion like? I'm not allowed to disagree with what you say?
I disagree with what your saying and I look at my decks as an instrument controlled via my mixer. I can certainly use them as an instrument. But thats the difference between a fixated eletist and a person who engineers the sounds.

Mate I don't just play - I've helped organise Free Partys ever since they first started to happen in South England in 87-88. I could easily say I know people who helped to create the birth of the sounds we use today - I've dragged 10k systems up mountains amongst other things. Doesn't make me a good dj or sound engineer but it does mean I've earned the right to have my opinion.

I've been saying for years now that patterning and actually moving the beats and to fully utilise the effects and I fully believe it. Most of my mates look at me as if I've gone of the blonk but so what? It's my opinion and I fully believe if that sound go's where I know it can - you won't need any ****e pills or Mr. C

You know it's ****ing sad the way something that was 'Free' has become so distorted. You can believe this or not - I don't much care because wether you like it or not I love what I do, have done since I over heard the directions, go into Devices, drive past the Police HQ, turn left at the next traffic lights - I decided to see what this was about being the nosy git I am and I've loved it ever since.

Yes I'll use stuff pre-recorded by others or should I say I'll take parts - thats called 'Sampling' - or sampling in it's rawest form - Why do you think your mixer has a bass kill? or mid or treb? It's not just to duh duh duh duh duh between tracks .... Why do you think you have bass mid and treble control levels? FX (If your mixer supports them - mine does ) -

Anyway - screw it I don't have to proove my credentials to anyone - don't much believe in that crap anyway - I have a nice 2.8k system downstairs, couple of numark axix2's, a stanton rm three, and a 1200watt carlsbro powerline. I'm getting a 2k amp on saturday so I can run it properly and thats me happy.

So sorry if my opinion offends you - but it's my opinion - it's how I see it, Upto you if you want to disagree if you want but I never insulted you all I ask is the same respect in return....

Theres no need to get over heated about it - I'm simply trying to maybe give you a different slant on it from what is normally accepted. Why can't you see what you have in front of you as highly technical instruments? Fecks sake I can put 11 signals through my mixer at anyone time. Thats 11 different sound sources or instrument sources.
Utilise a pair of Technics or Pioneer CDJX's and the limits are only as limited as your imagination. Thats how I see it and how I play.

Tell you the truth? Half of the stuff in my case I couldn't for the life of me identify of hand. Not without really having to look it up. But I know that on that cd is a sound I'm looking for, a nice trippy loop that will fit with a stored loop pluf fx along with a track I'm playing. That as far as I see it is creating live music from what I see as my instruments.

If as you say and I fully agree - I play full pre-recorded tracks just cross fading between tracks and maybe hoying in a couple of inserts then I'm djing...

So what really are you argueing about? I agree with you in principle about the two technical terms, djing and live. As I view my decks and mixer as musical instruments in there own right then I see it that evey time I play I play live. As I say sometimes Acoustic musicians join in giving more of an impression and understanding that is how I should see muy equipment - as musical instruments.

My apoligies if you don't like that - didn't mean to offend you but give my opinion is all...

porno

your just a little bit cocky methinks
i can do this i can do that
ive done this bla bla bla
for you:

smeggle

porno wrote:

your just a little bit cocky methinks
i can do this i can do that
ive done this bla bla bla
for you:

LMAO - I actually had one of those - nicked it of me sister

As for the rest of it? Couldn't give a bollox really - I do what I do and I have my own opinion on music. I have as much right as anyone to voice that opinion.

Wasn't looking for an argument with some geezer or anyone for that matter. But if someone insults me without any reson only fair I also be allowed to defend myself. If you think that what I've written there is being cocky - How about taking out a 10k system with a little 100watt home stereo? From about twenty feet away? Thats being cocky even in my own opinion..

Now who's gonna say it can't be done? Thats being even more cocky I suppose.

It's called btw in sound engineering 'Stealing Frequencies'. You 'Steal' there frequency by harmonising it with yours. Like I say - even I believe that being cocky ....

Anyway - if he's 'Uber King DJ' around here who's word is Law - I'll piss off then and leave ye to it....

porno

ahhhh no way.a blue peter badge
still have it?
i'll buy it off ya
been lookin for one of these for ages
didnt bother readin the rest of the post couldnt be bothered

Anima

porno

best drawing ever

pmk19

i agree with smeggle

ro_chez

smeggle wrote:

Anyway - screw it I don't have to proove my credentials to anyone - don't much believe in that crap anyway ...

So why the fu(k are you on here bragging about the fact that you use eq's and you're mixer has effect?

ro_chez

smeggle wrote:

LMAO - I actually had one of those - nicked it of me sister

As for the rest of it? Couldn't give a bollox really - I do what I do and I have my own opinion on music. I have as much right as anyone to voice that opinion.

Wasn't looking for an argument with some geezer or anyone for that matter. But if someone insults me without any reson only fair I also be allowed to defend myself. If you think that what I've written there is being cocky - How about taking out a 10k system with a little 100watt home stereo? From about twenty feet away? Thats being cocky even in my own opinion..

Now who's gonna say it can't be done? Thats being even more cocky I suppose.

It's called btw in sound engineering 'Stealing Frequencies'. You 'Steal' there frequency by harmonising it with yours. Like I say - even I believe that being cocky ....

Anyway - if he's 'Uber King DJ' around here who's word is Law - I'll piss off then and leave ye to it....

Haha, you sound like David Brent