Amateur DJ
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Posted on Feb 11, 2004 12:07 am
Celendril
Member Since: Feb 11, 2004
I know this is a home recording site, but y'all can probally help me. I was wondering what i would need to start being a club DJ. all i want is the bare necessities to have a little fun mixing some songs at my house or at friends parties. please try to keep ideas and suggestions on the low budget side. any help is appreciated. thanks.
-Celendril
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cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Feb 11, 2004 12:30 am Bare basics:
2 turntables, 2 records to mix, a dj mixer, a pair of headphones, and ideally (but not 100% necessary) some speakers.
Actually, if you want (this would be considered bammer by most all real club djs but you could do it...) you could hook up two cd walkmans to the mixer, or 1 turntable and 1 cd walkman or anything that plays recorded sound into the mixer if you really wanted to. I mention this in case you don't have any vinyl but want to start playing sooner than later.
Oh and I forgot, you'll prolly need a bunch of practice.
Feb 11, 2004 04:33 am there's a whole slew of ways mate...
i'd personally not do the two cd walkman thang, it won't actually teach you anything about djing.
there is a software program called TRAKTOR, which is the software equivalent of two cd decks and a mixer. this could be useful to have a play around on.
turntables - if you are going the vinyl route, which is the traditional route, then you need the kit as set above by coolo. you will need an amp and speakers tho...not really optional. (a normal home hi-fi amp will do fine...so if you have a spare input to a seperate you've already got it)
DECKS - VINYL
go on ebay and have alook for a pair of technics 1200's or 1210's. if you can afford it, they are the ones to get, they are usually pretty cheap second hand. these are the standard dj decks, so if you can learn on them it will set you in good stead for playing elsewhere in the future.
DO NOT GET BELT DRIVE TURNTABLES. i cannot stress that enough, the response time is terrible, and if you learn on them you will have to relearn for the majority of decks. (1210's etc are direct drive)
DECKS -CD
these are essentially cd versions of the record decks, but are more expensive (example pioneer cdj1000) and are designed to give you all the dunctins (pitch control etc - for speeding or slowing the records/discs)
MIXER
if you are having two decks, a decent two channel mixer is all you'll need. get one with decent bass.middle.treble cut offs - vestax make a good one. get one with a manual and read it (this goes for it all actually).
HEADPHONES
as you're not going to be playing anywhere to loud at first, just get a pair that feel ok on your head for a long time - and with a short cable, there's nothing worse than ripping them off your head or out the mixer cos your stood on a lead! you may wel be wearing them for three hours at a time, so cmfort is the most important thing at this stage.
remember, nowadays it seems that you are never more than 6 ft away from a dj, so there'll be people out there you can watch.
BEWARE:
this may change your life!! you may become a trrainspotter - one of those people who hang around the dj booth watching dj's do their thing, this is nothing to be ashamed of - it's the same as watching how the bassist of yer favourite band plays - it's all learning.
what sort of music you thinking about playing?
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
Feb 11, 2004 04:36 am yo bro (yeah he's actually my bro lol) told you this would be the place to check up on.
Coolo- Okey I'm used to flames weird brit talk, but what is bammer? Do I need to add that to the glossary? lol
Feb 11, 2004 04:40 am oh, and as if the first post wasn't long enough...
always try and record when you practice, either tpe or pc..because sometimes when you're in the middle of a mix you can't see a way out, but listening back, excrutiating though it may be at times (i know) you learn waht you're doing right and wrong.
to avoid frustration, get to know the tunes you are mixing well, because then you know when bits stop and start, which makes it a lot easier, believe.
sorry if i'm patronising you, don't know where you're at mate!
if ya wanna check some of my stuff as a dj www.sootyheron.co.uk/clod/messychemistry.mp3
this was done on tractor (you copy a track of your cds onto the hardrive as a wav and treat it like a record..)
Feb 11, 2004 04:43 am bammer - bunkum - detritus?
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
Feb 11, 2004 04:49 am lost me on all those words... guess I'm not hip.
Stupid question, but how would you record your DJing? I assume you'd run the outs of the DJ mixer to the ins of your tracking mixer and record it like any other source... but I could be wrong.
Oh yeah, I just checked out tracktor on the NI site, that looks pretty sweet. If I didn't have a ton of upgrades I need to make to the studio and no cash I'd definatly get that
Feb 11, 2004 05:31 am basically he's sayin most dj's would think it a travesty to just use two cd walkmans....and he's right!!
i managed to get hold of an evaluation copy of tracktor before buying, i'd recomend that.
recording..
on most mixers you'll have a master out, on some you get two outs. i've recorded in a number of ways : onto a minidisc and then mack into pooter at a later date : streaight into soundforge from the mixer to the souncard and straight onto a tape from the amp.
if it's for personla reference the tape works fine, but if recording for a mix cd, then ya gotta get it into a wave editor to give it a polish, normalise some levels etc. anything thats not cheating basically.
also, tracktor records your mix, you can edit it later, and then export the whole thing as a wav. not bad!
cooloFrisco's Most UnderratedMember
Since: Jan 28, 2003
Feb 11, 2004 01:50 pm yeah, bammer basically means bad. As in,
"don't gimme no bammer weed, we don't smoke that ish in the SFC"
-RBL Possee
(SFC is san francisco aka the sucka free)
Also just to reiterate what Pixelpixie said, the Technic 1200s are definitely standard if you make it into clubs and you play on their decks.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Feb 15, 2004 07:36 pm Celendril, glad yer here at HRC, joining yer brother. These guys know there stuff about the DJ thing. If you get the chance do go have a listen to the link Pixel posted, I have the whole thing and give it a play when Im working in hear or just relaxing. There are also several other Dj's here as well who are producing some great stuff.
And I will also second Traktor as a great app for doing this type of stuff.
