Any DJ's?

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Have been contemplating learning, not sure whats the best setup for a starter on a budget, cd or vinyl? if vinyl route plenty of cheap stuff found in cash converters just not sure what to plump for
 
Problem is about vinyl, it costs a lot for vinyls, 5-6 quid per, more if you want 'bombs'.

I've been DJing about 2 years now, CD route is deffo the best way.

As for set-up, if your serious about it don't go cheap, buying cheap stuff will kind of deter you from keeping it up, whatever you do don't but cheap gear when you get to know about DJing you'll realise you made a mistake. Best off saving for a good set up. As for setup i can spec you one if you tell me your budget?
 
9 times out of 10 vinyl is cheaper than beatport . and 9 times out of 10 what your looking for is a bloody beatport exclusive. arghhhh
 
I'd suggest you get vinyl (get decent turntables second hand, they will hold their value) and a a handful of records and see how you get on. If you're enjoying it and getting the hang of things, you can then get a digital vinyl system, which will give you the best of both worlds.
 
imo - buy cheap 2nd hands if you've never tried before, most people thinks its easy and give up or just get bored. If you have mates with any, try theirs, borrow them for a while if you can otherwise your spend loads for nothing.

As for cd or vinyls. Tough one. If I were in your shoes, I'd start with vinyls then progress to cd's, that way you will appriciate not only the history but get a more hands on feel as to what its all about and what goes on.

Avoid BPM counters.
Avoid belt drives.
Always put you vinyls back in the sleves after being played!

Perhaps even buy someones old vinyl collection off fleebay to start off.
 
If you are starting from scratch then i recommend using a combination of PC software and a mixer.

A half decent mixer can be had from ebay for £30-£50. Then you will need software like Virtual DJ which, with a 5.1 surround card, will allow you output music from each channel (left and right decks) using the front and rear outputs on the card. Feed these into the mixer and you have a very cheap way to start DJing.

Obviously this takes away the beat matching part of DJing which a lot of people will turn their nose up at but to be honest it's still incredibly fun this way. It's a good way to pick up the essence and basic skills of DJing and if/when you do decide to go for 'proper' decks than you will find the transition much easier than starting from scratch. I now have CD decks and having used a PC + mixer for 2 years before hand it definitely helped me.

Lastly, it's a bloody expensive hobby, a pair of decent CD decks can cost upwards of £500 or even £1000+ for the good stuff. This way you'll know for sure it's something you enjoy before splashing so much cash.

Let me know if you want any more info...
 
I really don't understand how anyone can learn to DJ "properly" without experiencing vinyl. I like the whole PC virtual DJ thing but as support to actual hands on tracks (although I appreciate if you have the cash then the time stamp disc set-ups work well).

Would still advise to start in the realm of analogue though.
 
while i can appreciate people thinking that new starters should go with vinyl for purist reasons, i dont think it is the best option unless you really want to DJ with vinyl.
 
I really don't understand how anyone can learn to DJ "properly" without experiencing vinyl.

I really don't get this.

Do you dismiss engineers that use CAD software instead of drawing by hand?
Do you dismiss musicians that use PCs instead of instruments?
Do you dismiss racing drivers that drive cars with traction control and ABS?


Why is using CD decks not 'proper' ?
 
I don't get how people go on about learning on vinyl becuase it's the purist form. DJing has evolved. It was vinyl, then cd's and now ableton/traktor/serato.

You only have to look at how awesome Richie Hawtin is to see this.
 
Using vinyl you will get a better feel of what you are doing/meant to be doing. Its tough and you'll learn more than just using some PC software which can beatmatch for you, completely takes away a lot of the skill.

Get some cheap 2nd decks and a mixer buy a few vinyl (get 2 of the same copy) and learn to beat match and drop the tunes in and get a feel for what you're doing. Then you can experiment with other means.
 
Using vinyl you will get a better feel of what you are doing/meant to be doing. Its tough and you'll learn more than just using some PC software which can beatmatch for you, completely takes away a lot of the skill.

Get some cheap 2nd decks and a mixer buy a few vinyl (get 2 of the same copy) and learn to beat match and drop the tunes in and get a feel for what you're doing. Then you can experiment with other means.

Not really, it's so much easier to know what your doing with CD decks. Also, vinyl is somewhat limited in capability and people get bored quite often. CD decks offer a much wider variety of tricks you can pull out and keep you more entertained imo.
 
Buy 2nd hand denon twin cd deck
Buy 2nd hand mixer
*****
Profit!

If you're looking for work, you'll be surprised how many places don't even have turntables anymore. Good cd decks have been around for over a decade now, they're just as tricky as vinyl, but you can't you won't hear the scratches and you can't lift the wrong needle during a show ;)
 
Buy 2nd hand denon twin cd deck
Buy 2nd hand mixer
*****
Profit!

If you're looking for work, you'll be surprised how many places don't even have turntables anymore. Good cd decks have been around for over a decade now, they're just as tricky as vinyl, but you can't you won't hear the scratches and you can't lift the wrong needle during a show ;)

i think youd struggle to find good venues without turntables. especially since things like tracktor scratch and serato are becoming very very popular amongst the big name djs. which a few of stillof still play mainly vinyl anyway

and as for not lifting the wrong needle. pressing the wrong eject/stop button...
 
I'd suggest not buying those, they are terrible :P

Really? Why?

i think youd struggle to find good venues without turntables. especially since things like tracktor scratch and serato are becoming very very popular amongst the big name djs. which a few of stillof still play mainly vinyl anyway

Out of the last 7 venues i worked at, a total of none of them had any vinyl facilities.

and as for not lifting the wrong needle. pressing the wrong eject/stop button...

The eject button doesn't work when the disc is playing ....
 
First of all, you get get them brand new for £80 cheaper, also, there's only one set pitch range, total lack of any functions except start/stop and obviously beat matching. No effects etc, it's 10 years old nearly.
 
Really? Why?



Out of the last 7 venues i worked at, a total of none of them had any vinyl facilities.



The eject button doesn't work when the disc is playing ....

what sort of venue ? i dont think ive ever been to a club without them. not when so many top djs still require them

and it does on the industry standard pioneer cdj1000 range , definetly on the mk1 and maybe even on the mk2
 
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