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[Lukeypoo]

So I've been toying with the idea of DJing for a couple of years now, but never really commited nor have the correct resources. I'm curious and think I'd really enjoy it, but coming from a small town and growing up on guitar sustained me enough for my teen years.

Now that I'm out of the house and in the city again, I'd like to take it up. I've been scoping out cheap set ups on craigslist and the work classifieds and really tempted. But I thought I'd ask if anyone out the had any tips on what to get for a beginner, how to teach myself or what resources I should check out and maybe even break everything down into rookie speak for me. I just love music and would love to broaden my horizons.

Any help would really be appreciated! I made a similar post about loop pedals and such a while ago and only got 2 replies, hopefully this topic is a little more enticing to you ladies and lads.

[!!!CPAOI!!!]

I mean I don't know shit but isn't there anybody on this forum that can give this dude a hand?

I think if you search the forums you'll find bits and pieces of what you need to know in other threads, if not an entire old thread about this very subject.

[fish across face]

I'd love to help, but am not really sure what to say.  I don't know that much about specific pros and cons of different brands or whatever, but I can give general comments about approaches you could take.

What kind of music do you want to play?
What kind of mixing do you want to do?  (any points of comparison to other DJs etc.)
Are you attracted to a particular format, e.g. vinyl, cds, mp3s etc.?
Got any kind of end goal?

[Lukeypoo]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the help. I did some searching before I made the topic and really it was mostly yielding stuff about other DJ's.


I'd like to take a swing at mixing pop and rock instead of the usual electronic, hip hop stuff I hear normally (not that that's bad) I'd even like throwing electronic in there. I'd like to really just indulge myself in anything and everything mixing wise, like with any instrument you need to learn the rules before you can break them. I'd definitely prefer working with vinyl at first.
As for end goal, I'd really like to commiting to this in solitude or with a couple friends while I learn and really just do it for myself. Then maybe do it at parties or something more crowded. Who knows maybe I'll just be a prodigy and make millions of dollars.

[fish across face]

Oh OK, well then gear-wise a basic set-up is really straightforward - you just need two turntables and a DJ mixer.  I've been involved with making and performing dance music, going to parties, and DJing on the radio for ... shit, about 15 years!  BUT I've never learned to mix... so this is all kind of second-hand knowledge, but hopefully better than nothing.

The classic DJ turntable is the Technics SL-1200MK2.  Basically what you're looking at in a turntable (beyond reliability) is how quickly it stops and starts, the pitch range (i.e. how much you can speed up and slow down records) and maybe any other fancy things like whether it can play records backwards.. but I guess most people don't care about that.   The essential point re: choosing a turntable is that it must be direct drive (not belt drive), otherwise the motor will crap out quickly when you mess with the thing's usual playback.

All the DJs I know carry cartridges (i.e. record needles) of their own to gigs and have personal preferences about what makes a good one.  That said, almost everyone I know uses Ortofon, so might be worth investigating.

Then you need to pick a mixer.  DJ mixers have gone insane recently, but if you're just looking at mixing with two turntables all you really need is something with two channels, a crossfader, EQs and transformer switches for each channel, plus the ability to isolate each turntable in your headphones so you can listen to what you're cueing up.  That said, all DJ mixers will do that much, so I don't think you need to fret too much that you're going to get a dud mixer - it's more that you may end up with something that's complete overkill.  Modern DJ mixers have BPM counters (i.e. they attempt to calculate the speed of the music you're playing for you), heaps of effects and kill switches (a switch you can flick to instantly cut out the treble or bass from a channel...).

Um, I don't know if this is useful at all.  Is this the kind of information you wanted?  I can explain the basics of how mixing itself works and common tricks DJs do if you want..?

[Lukeypoo]

Fish Across Face, you are a good man and a champion. That helped tons and I'm sure it took a while to type out. So thank you for your efforts.

Yeah I'm thniking I'll just pick up a more barebones starter kit for now just to have fun with, and then I get to go record shopping, which is just exciting in its own rite.

I'd love to get some tips and tricks, or even a little more information on how mixing works as well. I'm a total novice in the works of DJism. Like you have two records playing and you can jump from one song to the next or kind of fade, scratch and introduce the songs into eachother, but how do people get songs with samples of more than songs going?

EG. Watching Mix master Mike at Sasquatch he had like 4+ songs mixing into eachother, and I don't recall him slapping on a new record in the short space of time...

[a pack of wolves]

They could have been different tracks on the vinyl so he might have just skipped to another part of the record. Even if they aren't tracks normally on the same record some djs have individual vinyl pressed, although that's more normally for samples I think. Then again he might have been using those records which have a timecode on them which, when you hook your mixer up to a computer with the correct software, allow you to manipulate mp3s as if they were records so you just have to change the mp3 assigned to the record to change instead of ever having to bother swapping records. These are great, my old housemate had them because there was no way he could afford to buy enough vinyl to dj with effectively but these allowed him to download tracks and then mix with them. A laptop's also a hell of a lot lighter than a big stack of records. Since you're planning on going the vinyl route it is worth remembering that unless you have a decent collection already it's going to take a lot of time and even more money to get a good selection for djing with. Then again record shopping isn't exactly the most onerous task in the world, so if you've got the cash and the patience then go for it.

[Lukeypoo]

Yeah, I'm looking into mp3's or cd setups, I found one on craigslist that looks interesting. Vinyl just kind of adds a personal feel to me though, hunting down those records and finding sudden gems. Almost a personal connection with what your mixing I think... I'm torn right now and probably can'ta ffor getting this gear for a while anyways, unless I finance with a music store.

Thanks for your help! I'd still love any more advice from you guys, it seems difficult to find any straightfoward information about mixing without dedicating a day or two online...

[fish across face]

Yeah, I agree that Mix Master Mike probably had custom vinyl made up with each of the tracks he wanted to mix with.  For years (maybe decades!) you've been able to buy scratch records too... 12"s with all the different classic sounds people like to scratch with, including a test tone.

The super duper basics of mixing are as simple as this:

Put the record you want to play first on turntable 1 and start playing it.  Have the crossfader on the mixer over to one side so you can only hear turntable 1.
Put the next record on turntable 2.  Listen to the record through one of your headphones to find the right track.  Put your hand on the vinyl to stop the thing from playing.
When the right moment comes, take your hand off the vinyl and move the crossfader to the middle, so both tracks are playing coming out the speakers, and then keep moving the crossfader across until you only hear turntable 2.
Put a new record on turntable 1 and repeat this process until you're bored.

If you want to beat mix, i.e. get two records playing in time with each other, you cue up your second record in your headphones and then move the pitch slider on the turntable to speed up or slow down the track until it's in time with the first one.  Using your hand on the turntable, manually wind the record back to the start of the first beat of the track, and then let go at the right time so that the first beat lands at the same time as the first beat of the bar on the other record.  Listen for a bit in the headphones to see if it's falling out of time.  Make subtle adjustments to the pitch, or if it's pretty damn close use one or two fingers on the vinyl to either push it a bit forward (to speed it up) or pull it towards you (to slow it down).  You'll sometimes see DJs softly tapping the vinyl to slow it down ever so slightly if it's playing a bit too fast.

When everything's awesomely in time you can either just crossfade between tracks or wind the 2nd record back to the start of the track and then do a cold cut (i.e. push the crossfader fully from one side to the other as quickly as possible).

Bear in mind that if you're changing the speed of the record you're doing it by changing the pitch.  Depending on the kind of music this is more or less of an issue, but with pop and rock and stuff this could be horrific.  The chance of finding records that will play in time with really similar tunings is pretty ... slim.  That's why dance tracks are often written with intros and outros that are mainly just beats, so you don't have to think too much about clashing tones.

DJs often do a "baby scratch" (where you just push the record back and forth and make that 80s "doowa doowa" noise) when they want to get the first beat of a phrase lined up - not sure why, but physically it's easier than just holding the record still and then letting it go and hoping it'll land on the right beat.

-

If you do go the vinyl+digital route, I'd strongly recommend Serato's Scratch Live product.  Serato has an excellent rep for support compared to whoever does Final Scratch.  Dunno about the smaller competitors.


Any more questions, I'll do my best to answer.