Basic setup for a DJ

scop

Hey all,

I've decided to get into djing, and what not. Im 21 and used to play guitar that kind of thing but these days Ive found myself drawn to dance, especially breakbeats, dub, and even psytrance! Its all kinda new to me, but I know a few people with decks but I always find it nice to ask on a message board for broad answers.

For one how much will a set up cost me, where will I get cheap decks etc

More importantly what do I need, and how can I get a good set up for cheap. How difficult did you find it all when you started, and did many people start at a late age like I am? General musings are always welcome!

Helix

if you get cheap decks, you get crap decks, which will make the learning process a hell of a lot more difficult, and less fun

learning to mix should be an absolute doddle for you if youve played any instrument at all

its basically just counting to 4 on one track which is playing out the speakers, counting to 4 on another track, which you listen to in one side of your headphones, and lining them up, so that each downbeat is in line, and each bar and phrase are locked together

of course theres a hell of a lot more to it than that, but thats tbe basics

as for melodic mixing, you shouldnt even have to think about that having played an instrument before, your ear will know if something is in key

Executive Steve

yeah i started even later than you are, i love it...

helix is right, it's well worth investing in as good a setup as you can afford...

i started off on the most ghetto of setups and it's taken me four years and much more money overall to actually trade up to a decent setup...

i basically ended up spending the guts of two grand when i could have spent about half of that right at the start.

the best equipment - technics decks basically - will hold their value too so if you decide it ain't for you then you won't lose a fortune flogging it all...

go for it!

technics decks, the best mixer you can afford [mixer is a bit less important than your sound sources imo] route it all through your pc soundcard and then into any half decent stereo and bob's your uncle!

it will take you a while to get the hang of it, but one doay it will just click, at which point you're about two years away from being solid enough to play a house party without wrecking everyone's head.

good luck!

scop

Helix wrote:

if you get cheap decks, you get crap decks, which will make the learning process a hell of a lot more difficult, and less fun

learning to mix should be an absolute doddle for you if youve played any instrument at all

its basically just counting to 4 on one track which is playing out the speakers, counting to 4 on another track, which you listen to in one side of your headphones, and lining them up, so that each downbeat is in line, and each bar and phrase are locked together

of course theres a hell of a lot more to it than that, but thats tbe basics

as for melodic mixing, you shouldnt even have to think about that having played an instrument before, your ear will know if something is in key

Cheers for the advice. I've been reading some stuff online, and some of it makes sense already probably due to playing before so thats something. So I should avoid cheap decks no matter what.

scop

[cm]tyranny wrote:

yeah i started even later than you are, i love it...

helix is right, it's well worth investing in as good a setup as you can afford...

i started off on the most ghetto of setups and it's taken me four years and much more money overall to actually trade up to a decent setup...

i basically ended up spending the guts of two grand when i could have spent about half of that right at the start.

the best equipment - technics decks basically - will hold their value too so if you decide it ain't for you then you won't lose a fortune flogging it all...

go for it!

technics decks, the best mixer you can afford [mixer is a bit less important than your sound sources imo] route it all through your pc soundcard and then into any half decent stereo and bob's your uncle!

it will take you a while to get the hang of it, but one doay it will just click, at which point you're about two years away from being solid enough to play a house party without wrecking everyone's head.

good luck!

Sounds expensive! Where do you buy all your gear, and can you recommend some places, equipment to get me started? Technics pops up all the time so I take it they are the industry standard? Two grand is a fair chunk! :eek:

Zascar

Do you want to go the Viny or CD route? Its not cheap to start, but its best to do it properly first time round if you plan to stick with it. If you are not sure go the MP3 route till you work out whether you wnt to stck with it. Then going to CD decks will be easy. Keep an eye on Buy&Sell and ebay etc for a good deal on a package.

Unless you are completey sure you like Vinyl better its best to go the CD route and buy a set of CDJ's .
Any more questions let me know

electro.ie

Helix wrote:

if you get cheap decks, you get crap decks

Amen! never a truer word spoken

logic1

[cm]tyranny wrote:

it will take you a while to get the hang of it, but one doay it will just click, at which point you're about two years away from being solid enough to play a house party without wrecking everyone's head.

good luck!

Standard. I wrecked tyrannys head and house just last week. But he loves me for it. Best thing to do is abuse your mates decks for as long as possible before you're sure it's for you then splurge on a set of technics and a mixer.

Also the ever increasing vinyl junkie expenditure is to be taken into account.

tman

Wouldn't recommend buying vinyl decks tbh, CD would be a wiser option in this day and age...
If you do decide to go that route, then definitely go for a set of second hand technics

logic1

tman wrote:

Wouldn't recommend buying vinyl decks tbh, CD would be a wiser option in this day and age...
If you do decide to go that route, then definitely go for a set of second hand technics

:mad: Vinyl is still the king.

tman

It's way too expensive, and there's nowhere near enough stuff still getting pressed on it to make it worthwhile for someone starting off imho...
As much as I love the stuff, you'd be better off with CDs:o

Ronan Raver77

logic1 wrote:

:mad: Vinyl is still the king.

Not in 90% of clubs and pubs.
Go the cd route if you think or want to make a second income from djing and if you want to you can have decks at home.

logic1

Ronan Devitt wrote:

Not in 90% of clubs and pubs.
Go the cd route if you think or want to make a second income from djing and if you want to you can have decks at home.

Ahhh not sure what clubs and pubs you frequent but I've rarely seen a proper music club in Dublin without a set of technics. If you're talking about Cafe en Seine and the like... then it's a moot point really.

I'm a firm beleiver that people should never enter DJing because they fancy it as a way to make a living but rather because they love the music. If they get skilled enough to make a living out of it.. bonus.

jimi_t

logic1 wrote:

Ahhh not sure what clubs and pubs you frequent but I've rarely seen a proper music club in Dublin without a set of technics. If you're talking about Cafe en Seine and the like... then it's a moot point really

XXI (21) would be a popular rather than a "proper" club, but they're using 2x CDJ1000s and a DJM-800 with 2xDVJ-X1 and something else. No vinyl to be seen. Same to be said with Il Mondo (when it was open) and Bondi.

logic1

jimi_t wrote:

XXI (21) would be a popular rather than a "proper" club, but they're using 2x CDJ1000s and a DJM-800 with 2xDVJ-X1 and something else. No vinyl to be seen. Same to be said with Il Mondo (when it was open) and Bondi.

Have a DJM600 myself brand new, beautiful mixer. I guess I'm more talking about Bodkins, Wax, Fraziers, Pod - any clubs that bring in foreign well known DJs as opposed to a standard resident.

It's just a personal opinion tbh, if I want to throw on some MP3s or CDs I'll just use Serato Scratch Live, but Vinyl vs CD is an argument that won't be agreed upon for a long long time. The use of both IMO is the perfect combination.

monkey tennis

jimi_t wrote:

Same to be said with Il Mondo (when it was open) and Bondi.

Yes, these are exactly the kind of places any self-respecting house- or electro-junkie would be seen in. Clearly relevant to the discussion.

I wonder whether they use vinyl or CD in TramCo? The real techno-head haunt.

jimi_t

monkey tennis wrote:

Yes, these are exactly the kind of places any self-respecting house- or electro-junkie would be seen in. Clearly relevant to the discussion.

I wonder whether they use vinyl or CD in TramCo? The real techno-head haunt.

Who said anything about the style or genre of music playing? Of course they're not like that, and everyone knows it - there was no need to point it out. I was merely referring to clubs that make some attempt to mix CDs rather than lashing on "Now 52" and pressing random.

Chucky the tree

jimi_t wrote:

Who said anything about the style or genre of music playing? Of course they're not like that, and everyone knows it - there was no need to point it out. I was merely referring to clubs that make some attempt to mix CDs rather than lashing on "Now 52" and pressing random.

Not really. I doubt there is a huge amount of mixing done in 21. I wouldnt be too sure though.


The reason they have the set up is probaly quality. They know they will pretty much never really have a problem with the equipment. So it makes sense to have them.

jimi_t

Chucky the tree wrote:

Not really. I doubt there is a huge amount of mixing done in 21. I wouldnt be too sure though.

I was the same as you, so I got bored (and drunk) one night last year and went watching the DJ from the left of the box for a good 20 minutes - ended up chatting to him. It was certainly the same practised set with few alterations, week in - week out, but it definitely wasn't a mix that he just burnt to CD and left playing. I'd say mixing live was just to keep the interest up throughout the night, you'd nearly fall asleep playing R'n'B to a crowd like that for 8 hours - god bless the man for throwing in Prodigy's Voodoo People and Poison towards the end of the night
(This was last year around christmas, I dunno if it's the same now - I have enough sense not to go there anymore )

skkatter

logic1 wrote:

Have a DJM600 myself brand new, beautiful mixer.

Holy old school, you actually bought a proper mixer! I might have to call over and break it soon.

Scop:
The vinyl Vs CD vs mp3 discussion has been done a million times and that's for another thread. But basically what you should do is have a go on somebody's decks and see which one you like the most.

Personally I buy vinyl, once you start it can become a total addiction though. I disagree with Tman, there's an amazing amount of vinyl being released these days. Personally I've spent over 1600 Euro on vinyl this year alone so far, that's how bad the addiction can get. I love it though, mixing records is a whole lot of fun and even if you never make it into a nightclub it's a great hobby. I've been mixing for three years now, I don't even have a TV at home anymore, the decks take centre stage.

scop

Thanks all for the advice, I've asked a friend to let me have a go, and a few lessons to see if I get a feel for vinyl, and if not I'll ask another about the cd/mp3 route, tis confusing!

voltamadan

Would anyone agree that if someone was to begin Djing on a pair of CDJ's it would have a serious effect on their overall skill as a DJ?

My point is: learning to beatmatch on vinyl is not incredibly difficult. but it takes lots of practice. With CDJ's beatmatching is done with the press of a button. I think there is a lot to be learnt from all those frustrating hours spent trying to manually line up two records that cannot be achieved by looking at a bpm counter.

Nothing against cd format or mp3 BUT it will be a sad day for music when a world ranking dj says he doesn't know how to spin on a couple of 1200s.

Zascar

CDJ's don't do the beatmatching for you,but they do put it more or less in the right range, its still requires some fine tuning. DJ software like tracktor and virtual DJ will try do it for you, but even at that it rarely gets it 100% on. Tracktor is better than virtual DJ at beatmatching if i remeber.

I'd kind of have to agree though, you can't really call yourself a fully fledged dj if you can't mix records...

Helix

what cdjs are you guys using that beatmatch, or put tracks in teh right range? lol

voltamadan, youre tralking through your hole in fairness. mixing cds and mixing vinyl is the EXACT same

scratch tune in on downbeat, ride pitch til the same tempo, bring back to start, drop on downbeat again, once satisfied, bring back to start and cue in as required

whether its vinyl or cd youre using, the only thing you need to know how to do, is work the pitch slider, and get the track back to the start

Zascar

I've only used CDJ1000's MK2's but when you load a track it will dislay the BPM, so you move the pitch to e.g. 128bpm, set the que point and go, it will be pretty much there, just needs a little fine tuning. If I was on vinyl and I had no idea what bpm it would take me a while to match them.

Helix

sure a djm (the club standard mixer) has bpm on it as well

anyone whos djing a relatively medium length of time will know within about 5 seconds if a track will fit in with the other track bpm wise

voltamadan

right, most club mixers will have a bpm counter. however i think it should be there solely as a guide.

i think beatmatching should be learnt the old fashioned way, using your ear and counting 1,2,3,4 in your head. if you can't do that...well, its like not being able to drive a car with a manual transmission.

i have a djm600 and its got a bpm counter, which i keep switched off. a lot of the records i play have not been quantised, so the tempo wavers throughout the song. beatmatching records that do not have a fixed bpm is hard, and it can really only be done by listening and making the right adjustments to the pitch when the beats start to stray apart.

if you can't do this, go home and practice some more.

BloodBath

Tbh I wouldn't touch cd equipment unless you had a lot of money to spend. Cd gear doesn't get anywhere near the possible manual control that vinyl has until you start spending a lot of money. Start out with vinyl and work your way up if the interest is there. A good 2nd hand set of 1210's won't set you back much and hold their value well. The experience you gain from learning to master those will be a big aid to you down the line if you stick at it.

Bambaata

BPM is a very important think you'll need to learn, if you buy CD decks that'll do that you wont learn it cos the better ones have it on them. Better to learn it yourself. Its handy when u do have that learned and makes for very quick mixing but i detest CDJs. I bought one last year, used it for 3 months and decided it wasnt for me and got Serato instead so i use a combination of mp3/wav's and vinyl. I just much prefer the feel and control but its each to his/her own on this topic, best get prcatise on all available and decide urself