Looking to rekindle a long time love of dance music and quite fancy a go at learning to mix and DJ.

Back in my clubbing days it was all about a big heavy box full of vinyl, a couple of 1210’s and a mixer but I’m guessing that things have moved on a lot since then? What equipment do the top DJ’s use now. Is there a standard set up used in most clubs/bars etc?

I don’t own any vinyl but I’ve a Mac laptop bursting at the seams with MP3’s and some quality beats. Is this a good start or do I need to ditch the MP3’s and go buy some vinyl?

A pragmatic decision regarding mp3 vs vinyl is who the audience is for you quality beats. If you only ever plan to twiddle your knob in your bedroom (so to speak) then anything goes. If you plan to get them out in public at at any point then licensing to use vinyl or CD is straight forward, for digital downloads its less so.

I am a strictly confined to the bedroom DJ…..I see it as a hobby just like playing a guitar. I have had 1210s and a mixer for 15 years or so but these days I make mixes on the pc using Ableton. I might go to hell for this since I have a stack of vinyl sitting there. But it is so much cheaper acquiring mp3’s and using software such as Ableton.

The other alternative (which I hope to get eventually) is using a timecoded vinyl setup such as serato. This means you can still mix like its vinyl but use mp3’s you have erm…acquired.

I used to DJ in clubs quite a bit – mostly breaks and dnb. I started with vinyl but learned to use CDJs. My favourite setup is time coded vinyl with serato but TBH these days I mostly just use a USB controller.

I have a Reloop Terminal Mix 2 – nice bit of kit. I like to scratch and while it’s no as good as vinyl it’s really not bad at all plus you can do some fun stuff with looping/FX/samples etc.

I’ve not played out much for a bit but I think CDJs are probably still reasonably standard. A lot of people are using controllers now but some frown on them because of the dreaded sync button. Vinyl is still coolest I reckon.

Just looking into this myself after having a play on a mate’s pro setup. There are quite a few USB controllers available for under £200, either new or on eBay, that will do for the bedroom DJ with a laptop full of mp3s. CD/vinyl seems to be a lot more expensive. I’ve been looking at:

Numark Mixtrack Pro I/II
Vestax Typhoon
Reloop Beatmix 2
Pioneer DDJ-ERGO
Denon DJ MC2000

They’re all much of a muchness at this pricepoint, but I seem to be swaying towards the Denon as it has decent loop & sample effects, gain control for both channels (you’d think this at least would be standard, but no) and non-microscopic pitch control sliders. What would be ideal is if I could find one for under £200 that also had LED level indication for both channels.

Loads of reviews for each on youtube.

Cheapest and easiest option will be something like Traktor, Serato or Abelton (if you’re brave!) coupled with a midi controller of your choosing. The Numark Mixtrack Pro controllers are great value at £150-£200 and come with a built in soundcard to make life easy for you. If you fancy spending a little more then Native Instruments have a huge range of kit with is all really solidly built and a joy to use with Traktor.

What DJ’s use when out and about varies quite a lot. Industry standard is probably CDJ 2000 Nexus decks but depending on what sort of place the venue is they may have turntables instead/as well.

If you’re flush and want the best of both worlds then go for turntables and timecode vinyl. You get to feel like a ‘real dj’ but get all the power for doing interesting things with samples and effects that you get from DJ software.

Numark Mixtrack Pro is great for the money. Only used the first one which does the job well but is a bit plasticky. The new one looks a bit higher quality.

I picked up the Reloop Terminal Mix 2 for £200 on ebay and I’m really pleased with it. Seems very well built and thought out.

I definitely think a controller is the best bang for buck in terms of performance and convenience.

I use a tractor s2 now as it is easy to move about.

Grum – you’re not from Lancaster are you. Remember dreadzone playing in Lancaster when I was at uni and remember the name grum.

If it’s just for your bedroom and a few mates parties, then just buy a MIDI controller and software like Traktor and pretty much away you go. If you’ve already got stacks of unmixed (unmixed is key, it’s no use having tonnes of already mixed albums on your iTunes) mp3’s then you’re a long way ahead of most of us when we started DJing, saving up whatever we could afford for vinyl at £6 or more a pop until we had a half decent collection! I’ve got over 1500 12″ (most of which is free to a good home!) sat in my dads garage that has probably cost me about £10k over the years… If there’s 15 or 20 records worth more than a couple of quid each in there now I’d be surprised!

If you’re wanting to make a living out of DJing and take it seriously, aside from spending the time and effort to learn the craft properly, people will judge you on the kit you use. Almost nobody uses 1210’s any more, but if you can pick up a set in good condition for a good price, they’re a sound investment. Skills learnt getting used to mixing vinyl are transferable to other formats, whilst the opposite isn’t true. I’ve only used CDJ’s for about 8 years now when I mix, as its my preferred option now, but I learnt using vinyl many years ago. Take someone who’s learnt using CDJ’s or a MIDI controller and give them some 1210’s and a load of vinyl, and most wouldn’t know where to start! Things evolve and time moves on, but I’d urge anybody wanting to become a DJ to at least spend some time learning to mix vinyl early on in their progression, even if you have no intention of using it in your act, as it really does make a difference. Also, if you buy some 1210’s and Serato Or Traktor Scratch, you can control your entire music library as if it were actually on vinyl, which is nice!

As for CDJ’s… I prefer them for a number of reasons. IMO they offer an element of control that you lose with software and controllers, in fact they afford you more control even than vinyl. There’s also no Sync feature meaning you know that the DJ actually has to know how to beatmatch properly. Then there’s the fact that although a couple of thousand tunes on CD is still a reasonably large wallet full of CD’s, that same amount of tunes on vinyl would take 10 full record bags at 50kg each! A laptop is also no smaller or lighter than a wallet full of CD’s, and it’s also not happy if someone spills a drink on it! Also, every club in the world has some CDJ’s in the DJ booth these days, just as Technics were once the standard. I’m also very poor at remembering names of tunes and artists, but very good at remembering colours and/or artwork on a CD or vinyl sleeve, even if it’s a CD-R that I’ve just doodled on myself, and much prefer to search for music visually in a CD sleeve than in an iTunes library. If you’re burning CD-R’s from your own music library too, it’s a significantly lower risk accidentally leaving a CD-R in the club after a gig than any other piece of equipment! The biggest downside to CDJ’s for home use is the enormous price, but that’s a double edged sword as they will always retain a good 2nd hand value too.

^What he saidm but the CDJ-2000 Nexus does have sync’ing and it’s pretty good.

If you’ve got space go for 1210’s and Serato to play all your MP3’s, it really is pretty good! CDJ’s offer a lot of versatility to your mixing with hot cues, loops and loads more awesome features, but you need to master the basics first, beat matching.

You’re only a real DJ when you can mix on dodgy turntables. 😉

Grum – you’re not from Lancaster are you. Remember dreadzone playing in Lancaster when I was at uni and remember the name grum.

Yeah I am indeed. 🙂

The Dreadzone gig was actually at Bentham Town Hall near Lancaster – did you go?

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxT9FE7DRKg[/video]

I agree about learning to mix properly – I’ve seen kids DJing with controllers and when the sync function goes wrong they have literally no idea what to do.

Not sure how CDJs give you more control than my controller though. It has better platters on it than any CDJs I’ve used.

Wow thanks for the info guys, lots of options there then. CDJ’s sounding good and I’m friends with a trance DJ who uses these to great effect. Sounds like a mixing corse could be a good investment to kick start the process, perhaps before I she’ll out money on expensive kit. Anyone recommend one in the North West area?

I agree about learning to mix properly – I’ve seen kids DJing with controllers and when the sync function goes wrong they have literally no idea what to do.

I’ve been accused of being the DJ equivalent of the guy that says “you need to learn to ride on a rigid MTB with canti’s otherwise you won’t learn properly”, which it kinda sounds like I am, but there is logic to it. Riding a bike is riding a bike, suspension forks and disc brakes just make it a bit easier to do, but the basic skill required to do it is still the same.

DJing on laptop software using a MIDI controller is pretty much a totally different skill to mixing using Vinyl turntables, even if the Sync button is left well alone. It sounds VERY snobbish of me I know, but I can’t take anyone seriously that claims to be a DJ yet hasn’t learnt how to mix vinyl properly! And compared to some, I know that I’m very open minded…

Not sure how CDJs give you more control than my controller though. It has better platters on it than any CDJs I’ve used.

What controller have you got? Maybe it’s just that I’m so used to CDJ’s now, I’ve tried a few controllers (and even using a CDJ as a MIDI controller too) but always find that it just doesn’t work as well for me. Maybe it’s the latency in the software (no matter how small it is), maybe it’s a feel thing, but give me 2 CDJ’s and I’m happy, but give me a MIDI controller and I won’t get on with it. It’s possibly more to do with familiarity and the layout than anything, just having got so used to them over the years. I’m also more than happy beatmatching myself (not saying you’re not by the way!) so the lack of any Sync feature is a bonus in my eyes.

Having all your many thousands of tunes in your laptop is undoubtedly a huge bonus, but I’ve been known to take my laptop to a gig and a stack of CD-R’s, make an iTunes playlist and burn a couple of CD’s to then use at that gig!

I’m like it with other gadgets too incidentally. I’ve got an iPhone, but I’d far rather buy a separate Sat Nav for the car than an app for the iPhone as I’d rather keep it one tool for one job…

If you are getting started/getting back into it forget about using vinyl (Unless you have thousands to spend on vinyl) and as for CD’s they are on the way out as well – we organise/run the dance music tents at a local festival and just about every DJ we booked this year either used a USB stick plugged into our CDJ2000’s or their own burns/edits of MP3’s on CD.

This year Silicon Soul (craig/graeme) did ask for two 1210’s and an Allen & Heath Xone 92 mixer to use alongside the CDJ’s but over the past 13 years the use of 1210’s is dying a death as DJ’s do not want to carry a massive/heavy box of records about – considering they can be playing 4/5 times a week from country to country i don’t blame them.

None of the DJ’s i know still use Vinyl, they maybe use it in the studio or at home but these days you either need to use CD’s/CDj’s or some form of digital such as Traktor synced to CD’j’s or Ableton – whether or not you use a controller or not is down to personal choice but every club will have CD’js so bringing a massive controller for a 2 hr set would be a pain in the arse and expecting a club to provide you with one would be a piss-take of the highest order unless you are of the highest order.

I use/play about with Traktor pro synced with Ableton with an NI Maschine or NI Kontrol units such as X1, F1 and the Z1, I’m just as happy with a wallet of CD’s and a pair of CDJ 2000’s though.

Over the past few years we’ve had Alex Metric, Riva Starr, Utah Saints, Darren Emmerson, Meat Katie (legend 😯 ) Elite Force (Simon Shackleton) , Dave Clarke (techno god) , Ivan Smagghe, XPress 2, Annie Nightingale, Loops of Fury, Dylan Rhymes, Lee Coombs etc..etc… and whilst 10+ odd years ago CD’s were the main format, over the past few years with the advances we have had the digital realm is taking over.

This was some of our sat night set-up this year,

Sounds like a mixing corse could be a good investment to kick start the process

What I’m going to say might sound counter intuitive, but actually I’d say the opposite is true. Why? More so than in Mountain Biking, I know too many people who reckon they’re the Bees Knees and could teach anyone to DJ (and should get paid for it!) but they’re actually pretty shit… If you have any mates that are good, watch them a few times, offer to buy them a couple of pints and ask if you can get a couple of basic tips.

IMO a DJ course (as opposed to a music production course or the like) is an expensive way to teach you to count to 4! At it’s most basic level, all you’re trying to do is match the BPM and the gains of two separate tracks playing, so a few months practice on your own in your bedroom and you should be able to figure it out. Once you’ve mastered the basics, then you can start worrying about working on your style…

I’d echo what mboy said.
I used to dj (vinyl – not selling….) hip hop and jazz funk. Accepting that I was never going to be technically proficient enough to be a scratch mix dj I could concentrate on picking a wide enough choice of toons that I had a set list but could adapt to the crowd and the mood of the evening.the technical side ain’t hard, assuming you can count.
Adding flavour is the tough bit.
Simple really but I’ve heard enough dj’s who wouldn’t deviate from their playlist and left the dance floor flat.

What controller have you got? Maybe it’s just that I’m so used to CDJ’s now, I’ve tried a few controllers (and even using a CDJ as a MIDI controller too) but always find that it just doesn’t work as well for me. Maybe it’s the latency in the software (no matter how small it is), maybe it’s a feel thing, but give me 2 CDJ’s and I’m happy, but give me a MIDI controller and I won’t get on with it. It’s possibly more to do with familiarity and the layout than anything, just having got so used to them over the years. I’m also more than happy beatmatching myself (not saying you’re not by the way!) so the lack of any Sync feature is a bonus in my eyes.

Already said. 🙂

I find my controller more responsive for scratching than CDJs – not used the 2000s though only 1000s.

I can beatmatch fine but if I don’t have to I won’t – happy to use the sync button.

Simple really but I’ve heard enough dj’s who wouldn’t deviate from their playlist and left the dance floor flat.

I think at the end of the day the main skill of a DJ is selecting the right music and responding to the crowd. Mixing is pretty easy especially these days and only other DJ nerds really care about technical skill in DJing.

So to get started then, as I have a whole heap of unmixed tunes on the laptop (over 1,000) and if everything like somafunk says is going digital, maybe I should go this route? What are the majority of top DJ’s using these days when they play live? If I start with the same set up then surely that’s a good thing right?

Appreciate what people say about vinyl. Have a friend with a set of 1210’s and a cellar full of vinyl so maybe a few sessions on this would compliment whatever digital set up I end up with?

Thanks for the replies, I love dance music, always have but am a complete ‘know nothing’ when it comes to the technical stuff. Intend to learn though,

Grum – I didn’t make it to that one but it was in revs in my final year. Went to a few in the farmers arms before they did it up. Then some nights in toast; mark archer/altern8 and sappo.I’ve always been into house and techno but you guys put on some good parties. It is a small world!

It really doesn’t matter what you use. Just get a controller like the traktor kontrol and have a mess about. Beat matching isn’t hard and nobody really cares if you are using vinyl or even know what vinyl is. If you know your tunes then that is all that matters.

To be perfectly honest i would start off treating it as something to amuse yourself with over the long winter nights rather than think you need to use the same equipment as the top DJ’s/clubs – you most certainly do not need CDJ2000’s – that may come across as being a bit blunt but i’m trying to burst your bubble gently.

I don’t now what budget you have but NI Kontrol S2 for £249 would be a perfect way to get started as it is designed for use with Traktor (the #1 digital dj software that the pro’s use) or if you wish to buy new then have a look at what you get here.

Either play through your existing Amplifier/speakers or plug it into a set of small Active Monitors such asthese Alesis monitors (built in Amplifiers)

Traktor is great fun and what can start off as a 30 min play can often turn into a lost 3 or 4 hours as you mess about.

The more you play the better you get but no matter what equipment you have it is all about the tune choice to start with.

At the last count i had 25,000+ high quality digital files all catalogued into genres/moods/style/bpm etc and with correct ID3 tags attached (took years to get them all done) but it makes tune selection so much easier in the long run – start to sort yours out by doing a few per night.

have done the lot over the years, but i travel with 2x USB sticks these days.

at my last 2 gigs I brought a selection of vinyl only to find that there were either no turntables or no needles.

Serato/Traktor are loads of fun but i wouldn’t use them in a club situation until they’re standard in a booth – the amount of times I’ve had to play on for an extra 10 minutes while a panicking DJ farts around in the settings trying to get everything set up. I don’t need that stress.

Anyway, when around 40% of the gigs i do don’t have turntables, then a serato setup means you’re basically using CDJs to control digital tunes – you might as well just use USB sticks, it’s a whole sight easier….

you most certainly do not need CDJ2000’s – that may come across as being a bit blunt but i’m trying to burst your bubble gently.

Soma is spot on. It would be the equivalent of someone who wanted to get into mountain biking spending £9000 on a Santa Cruz Nomad when a decent quality hardtail or cheaper full suspension bikes would of been a lot more appropriate.

Traktor is great fun and what can start off as a 30 min play can often turn into a lost 3 or 4 hours as you mess about.

Very easily in my experience, especially once you figure out how to start chaining the built in effects and looping tools together.

The more you play the better you get but no matter what equipment you have it is all about the tune choice to start with.

Bang on. Some set ups will let you do more or less with looping, effects etc but at the end of the day if you aren’t able to choose the right tunes no one will listen to your mixes.

Grum – I didn’t make it to that one but it was in revs in my final year. Went to a few in the farmers arms before they did it up. Then some nights in toast; mark archer/altern8 and sappo.I’ve always been into house and techno but you guys put on some good parties. It is a small world!

Aha yeah I forgot we did another one with Dreadzone at Revs. Cheers! The one with Mark Archer was pretty awesome – about the only time we made some money too. 🙂

A dj course? No way . The way to do is go spend your Student loan on 1210s a bong and as much vinyl as possible then spend the next four years learning scratching, and how to mix jungle and d n b and to do the double drop intro in to planet dust or messiah.

If you have other commitments get traktor and ‘acquire’ mp3s whilst bearing in mind they are often poor quality. Please no courses

The way to do is go spend your Student loan on 1210s a bong and as much vinyl as possible then spend the next four years learning scratching, and how to mix jungle and d n b and to do the double drop intro in to planet dust or messiah.

Haha, this is so close to my reality. 🙂

Everyone I know uses CDJs and usb sticks

grum – Member
The way to do is go spend your Student loan on 1210s a bong and as much vinyl as possible then spend the next four years learning scratching, and how to mix jungle and d n b and to do the double drop intro in to planet dust or messiah.
Haha, this is so close to my reality.

Brilliant! Tuesday morning at the record shop going through white labels.. Then practicing mixes for house parties at the weekend. Magic

Thanks all, but why are people against a DJ course? Does this flatten flair and creativity, or is it just that people think that it’s cooler and somehow more ethical to spend years learning by yourself in a bedroom?

Last year I did an advanced MTB skills course and learnt way more in that one day about my riding than years of ‘learning on the job’. Would the same not apply to DJ’ing?

There may be some confusion amongst some folk on here over what a “DJ” course entails, along with a certain level of snobbery with regards to paying your dues by locking yourself away for years to learn the craft.

I taught my 60 yr old mother to beatmatch and she can do it pretty well – however she has no real understanding of tune choice and whilst her transitions are pretty seamless the lack of musicality is a problem.

DJ courses – learn how to beatmatch, learn the basics of counting bars etc, using the EQ to silence particular frequencies to enable blending of transitions etc…. learn hot cue functions on CDJ’s, learn how to set up and use CDj’s etc. Learn the basic rules of cueing up a track on two vinyl decks and seamlessly going from one to the other is good fun and the simplicity of vinyl decks will be a possible aid to learning as there is no fancy effects or gizmos to distract you.

If you decide to go down the route of using Traktor or Ableton with hardware controllers (or a combination of both using midi) then a short course of either a few hours or days to show you how everything is set up and connected along with some pointers as to what the technology is capable of would be invaluable to a total newbie as the amount of information and the capabilities can even stupefy myself and i’ve been messing about with Traktor/Ableton for 8yrs+. Do you understand latency?, do you understand how to optimise your music library so that you can navigate with ease, do you understand midi?, should you mix in key for your sets?, what is chaining?…etc…etc….

Personally i’m all for informative courses, Native Instruments and Ableton often run free workshop sessions up and down the country run alongside/with DJ equipment shops and these are particularly useful especially if you don’t have years of previous use – everyone can learn something new and those that say you should not do a course are obviously living the dream as well paid touring DJ’s with regular top-ten tracks on Beatport.

Check out the vids on Native Instruments site and Ableton, also have a look at ellaskins on youtube, jonathon’s vids will more than likley be a help for you.

Thanks somafunk, yes that’s what I was thinking, a course to learn the basics, equipment, technical stuff, capabilities, get up to speed etc fairly quickly and then it’s down to practice and experience to get the rest. Appreciate it takes a lot more than technical knowledge and attending a course to make a good DJ.

Was thinking here perhaps as it’s very close by:

Manchester Midi

Yep, was a DJ and producer back in the 90s and early 2000s, mainly house, I was never a natural 100% seamless beat mixer though, I used to enjoy the party too much if you know what I mean. I got into Tractor when it first launched, it’s getting too complicated for my taste now, you can’t be a simple eq mix imo, I do the odd re-edit, creating loops in tractor and then exporting them into Logic, I love programming my own beats from vintage drum machines and disco breaks. I’ll never be a DJ Sneak or Todd Terry but it’s great fun. I hated Abelton when it came out, felt like a dodging PC program, but that’s just me being naive and a mac sob.

I’ve nothing against DJ courses. I teach DJing sometimes as part of my job. Where are you agent007 – I could teach you. 🙂

agent007 – I start on a Music Production course at Manchester Midi School in February. The course is £2000 which is worth it as some of the guest lecturers include Marcus Intalex, Zed Bias and possibly Calibre. When they were in their prime, these producers made some great records so the outlay for me is worth it.

If it is just learning to mix that you want to do, I would take Grum up on the offer. Learn some basics and then take it from there. Grum deffinately knows his stuff.

When I start you are welcome to come and have a look as I have 10 hours per week studio time.

Keep it about the tunes though. You still can’t beat the feeling of finding a sweet record and then playing it at a party.

I’m Manchester Grum, and you? Maty, I’d be up for that for sure. Keep me posted. 🙂

i say sod it, if you can afford the course and want to do it, just go for it. have fun.

don’t expect to make any cash from DJing, mind – if you do consider it a bonus!

In Hebden Bridge – about 40 mins on a train from Manchester so mebbe the MIDI school is more convenient. I’d be cheaper though. 🙂

If it is just learning to mix that you want to do, I would take Grum up on the offer. Learn some basics and then take it from there. Grum deffinately knows his stuff.

Cheers!

don’t expect to make any cash from DJing, mind – if you do consider it a bonus!

Not even thinking about that, just a bit of fun only and see how it goes 🙂

Grum, just off away now for the weekend, will drop you a PM next week via your website. Lovely photos by the way.

I’m actually thinking of going back to vinyl, a lot of the deep house tracks I like are only pressed up on vinyl.

Yeah discogs is the place to look for music but it can be expensive.

Recently spent £30 on this beauty…