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Earplugs!!! What's that grandpa? Can't hear poo poo? Well yeah, one of the unfortunate downsides to becoming a DJ is being in loud environments a LOT. And despite what rock and rollers might tell you, if it's too loud, it means you are damaging your hearing Get a pair of these and keep them in your bag. In fact, get several pairs, they are drat cheap. They have flat frequency response and don't sound "muffled" like traditional cheap foam earplugs. http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er20.html  I always wear these when I'm at the club and not playing. It's not as good as getting custom molded plugs with interchangable filters, but it's a good start. As someone who's been DJing for a long time and spent far too many nights in front of loud speakers with no protection, I can tell you that tinitus sucks really bad. Mine is not quite to the point where it's preventing me from living my life, but I certainly don't want it to get any worse.
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Feb 2, 2011 01:06
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ShortyMR.CAT posted:I was told to avoid them due to problems with certain software. The other recommendation was intel. My question is what kind of intel processor? There is so many to choose from! And I'm kinda dumb at this. Core2Duo will suffice and will likely what you'll find if you're looking used. If you are going with a new machine a Core i3, i5, or i7 will work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core#Core_i3
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Feb 2, 2011 02:46
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Getting Started advice: Do you have any friends or acquanitances that are DJs? If so, it is highly recommended you get familiar with DJing on someone else's gear before investing in your own. This is especially true if you are interested in DJing but don't understand the mechanics of it. This will also give you a chance to possibly trial software/hardware that would normally run you hundreds of dollars (if not more) No laptop? It's pretty much a given anymore that a DJ will be using a laptop computer. But if you really don't want to make the investment (or risk your existing investment) in a computer but still want to give it a try, you still have options * Vinyl - keeping it real, oldschool. Be prepared to spend a shitton of money on music. It's called the black crack for a reason * CDs - cheap and easy. Any CD player you come across in a club or at a party can handle CDs the same way turntables can handle vinyl. Be warned that older models do *not* handle data disks burned with MP3s. Play it safe and burn audio CDs instead * Flash drives - if you are lucky enough to have access to some of the newer high-end model CDJs (such as the Pioneer CDJ 2000s), it's possible to simply load up a USB flash drive with music, plug in, and play. I've been told by my cohorts at Beatport that this is how Fedde Le Grande tours Laptop options I'd classify the laptop DJing spectrum into the following categories: * DVS (digital vinyl system) - The heavy hitters here are Serato Scratch Live (SSL) and Traktor Scratch Pro (TSP). Each of these packages allow you to take advantage of existing turntables or CD players using special time coded media to control the music from your laptop. * Controller-based systems - Those same software packages also allow for control via external controller devices, especially useful if you are starting from scratch and don't already have turntables or CD players. The controllers range from the cheap and flimsy (such as the Hercules) to the ridiculous behemoths (such as the Traktor S4). * "Live" setups - If you're interested in doing more than just mixing between songs, Ableton Live is the weapon of choice here. Rather than playing full songs, you can deconstruct them into individual parts and make something completely original that is generally not possible in your traditional "ones and twos" DJ approach. Sasha is a well-known A-list DJ that has gone this route, and pretty much any electronic "live" act is probably using this software in some fashion. This is also a preferred approach to people who are largely performing their own original music rather than just playing other peoples. The controller options here are quite a bit more varied, and yes, cover a large price spectrum too * DVS/hybrid setups - Just because you are using a DVS doesn't mean you can't also incorporate a controller for added flexibility. In my case, I use the Traktor X1 controller alongside TPS to allow me to set loops and do effects on the fly while doing a traditional timecode DJing setup Audio Interfaces One thing is likely a given if you go the laptop route: You're gonna need a better soundcard. The ones built into laptops tend to be noisy, high-latency, not to mention they are limited to one input/output. DVS packages like Serato and Traktor come bundled with a hardware interface which takes some of the complexity out, as do some of the more serious controllers (such as the S4) that give you a bit of "all in one" convenience. If you're just starting out with the basics or perhaps trialing these software packages, a proper external audio interface is a worthwhile investment. I personally think that Native Instruments (maker of Traktor) produces amazing hardware and you really can't go wrong. TSP comes with the Audio8 (4 ins, 4 outs), the smaller Audio4 and Audio2 models can be had for a lower price without sacrificing quality vanilla slimfast fucked around with this message at 03:52 on Feb 2, 2011 |
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Feb 2, 2011 03:11
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Digital storefronts Are you jacking your mp3s from p2p or blogs? Stop it. Buy your music and support the artists. Some good digital download stores to choose from Beatport - Caters to every EDM genre and are well known for house and techno. Also responsible for giving Deadmau5 his big break. Full disclosure: I used to work there Juno Download - UK-based. Digital download offshoot of Juno Records storefront Stompy - Heavy focus on house music Traxsource - Heavy focus on house music Bleep - Started by the folks behind the record label Warp. Sells FLAC files(!) Zero Inch - A newer European-based storefront. What People Play - Another Euro storefront. I believe this is an offshoot of an old physical distribution company DJ Download - Another UK site. Honestly surprised they're even still around There are tons and tons of others that I'm either not aware of or simply forgetting. Don't be afraid to look around!
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Feb 2, 2011 03:25
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Resources for obsessive vinyl collectors Although the advance of CD player and digital vinyl (DVS) software have largely made the traditional vinyl approach to DJing basically obsolete, there are plenty of people out there that actually play records, or at least collect them. There are also quite a few labels or producers that choose *not* to release content digitally. Here are a few great resources for the Rob Gordon in all of us. Discogs - The ultimate discography site. Everything you could ever possibly want to know about artists, labels, and releases. Even if you're not a record collector, it's a useful resource for learning more about artists you may like, as people using aliases and working in group is very common in EDM. Also boasts a very active marketplace for buying and selling GEMM - Essentially an ebay/storefront aggregator for record collectors. Great for tracking down that elusive limited pressing on the clear vinyl or whatever. Ikea Expedit - Technically it's a bookshelf but it's pretty much the perfect thing to hold your record collection. Comes in several different configurations such as 5x5, 4x4, and 4x2. Be prepared to pay a pretty penny for shipping one if there isn't an Ikea store nearby Square Deal Online - Store with a bunch of useful vinyl supplies like replacement sleeves, shelf dividers, etc
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Feb 2, 2011 03:35
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ChaosTheory posted:what about clearing all those music rights? Yeah...good luck with that
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Feb 2, 2011 19:29
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h_double posted:Mp3 is a lossy codec (think jpg vs. png); it achieves smaller file size by smoothing out some data in a way which is not very noticable by a casual listener, but the data loss is there (in the form of less detail and accuracy in frequency response and stereo image), and can become much more noticable when played on a good soundsystem (similar to how an xvid or mp4 video file can look great on your phone, but becomes a smudgey mess on a big-screen TV). Also, any imperfections in an mp3 can become more audible when you alter the way the sound is played, like playing it at a different speed/pitch. This is true. However, the quality of the encoded mp3 is largely dependent on how good the encoder is. Back in the early days of MP3, there were some truly dreadful encoders that sounded terrible even at high bitrates (anyone remember Xing? I'm probably dating myself here). Anymore, LAME gets the job done with a much better psychoacoustic modeler than the first gen encoders ever did, and with enough bitrate it's going to be pretty drat transparent. For those who may care, Beatport gets all of their content as master tracks in wav or aiff format and they encode using LAME. Is lossless going to be better, assuming the same source? Absolutely. Is it really practical, despite how cheap disk space is? Eh...jury's still out on that one. FWIW I've always used MP3s and I don't think I've ever had one person tell me that they could hear a difference (this includes playing on the big funktion one soundsystem at Beta). I'm sure there are people who can, but they haven't been up in arms about it. OG KUSH BLUNTS posted:No one uses FLACs with Traktor because they don't have IDv3, and there's problem with stuttering frames. They aren't compatible with Serato (You have to convert to Apple Lossless). No, but FLAC does support metadata tagging that Traktor understands. I've done this for my own rips of vinyl that I keep stashed on my laptop, stuffed in artist/title/artwork/etc The big downside to FLAC is, as mentioned the serato compatibility (didn't they fix this in v2.x?) and the lack of compatibility in itunes which I know a lot of users use for organization The only other comment I'll make on this topic is that poor mixdown and mastering on the part of the producer/label is going to have a much much bigger audible impact on a track than a 320k mp3 vs flac/wav ever will. vanilla slimfast fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Feb 3, 2011 |
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Feb 3, 2011 04:55
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Link to info about your mixtrack and about your rokits and I'll tell you for sure Also, this is the best place to buy cables: http://www.monoprice.com/
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Feb 3, 2011 19:11
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FWIW a few years ago there was a DJ competition and it kinda fizzled out, not from lack of submissions but because of a lack of interest in people listening/voting edit: that being said, if someone wants to try again I'm all for it, I'll even enter again!
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Feb 3, 2011 22:02
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You need straight RCA cables, not RCA to 1/8" (this is what you'd use to plug an ipod into a stereo, for example) Here you go: click here
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Feb 3, 2011 23:54
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ShortyMR.CAT posted:Speaking of mixing! I suck! Speaking of me sucking! I set up an account with beatport. Do you guys just buy random songs you enjoy or do you do what I do and buy entire albums after hearing one song you like on it? I only buy stuff I like. Filtering out the good from the bad is a time consuming exercise that has gotten progressively worse over the years as the site has gotten more content. Be prepared to deal with much pain and suffering for a while until you find your footing edit: even when I worked there finding good stuff apart from the bad was still time consuming quote:also! should I be buying in mp3 or wav format from beatport? Reference the lossless vs lossy argument from the last page. MP3 is fine, especially for someone just starting out
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Feb 5, 2011 03:11
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Splinter posted:320Kbps MP3s are fine though, and probably the way to go if you aren't OCD about going lossless. High quality variable bit rate MP3s (e.g. LAME's V0 preset) should sound identical to 320s in most cases while taking up less space, but most stores don't offer tracks files in this format. Amazon does, as far as I can tell. They are usually VBR with an average bitrate in the 220s, which is what V0 usually produces
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Feb 5, 2011 05:18
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The Dark Wind posted:1. First off, what are some good, reasonably priced products so that I can move away from these jog wheels into actual, moving, turntables? I know I need a mixer and 2 separate decks, but I don't want to shell out a bunch of money and then realize I bought a bunch of worthless crap that'll break in a month. Yes, I know all this stuff requires a pretty huge wallet, I just want to make sure I get the most bang for my buck. Get a pair of used Technics 1200s and be done with it. They are built like tanks and hold their resale value pretty well. Go for M3D or MK5s if you can find them, as they don't have the pitch lock groove that can be a pain to deal with (those models have a separate quartz lock button instead) quote:2. How do you work with effects when using turntables and a mixer? Using my Mixtrack it's pretty simple, I just have some buttons on the top that let me select effects, and then I just press a few more buttons and bam there they are being used on a track. However, if I get an external mixer, unless I get something that has MIDI functionality, it seems to me like you're stuck with using only the whatever effects that mixer has. Most of the lower end mixers see, to not have anything besides EQ effects, as far as I can tell. Do you need to get some sort of separate MIDI controller to work with all the Traktor effects? Or is there something I'm missing here? Well, you don't *have* to have a controller to run effects, but it certainly makes it much easier. Traktor has assignable keyboard shortcuts that you could set up to approximate what you are doing now with the Mixtrack. Honestly if you're just starting out, I'd not worry about effects too much. Focus on your beatmatching, phrasing, and programming first and then look at bringing effects into the picture a bit later
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Feb 7, 2011 01:30
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The Dark Wind posted:Thanks for the response! I'll start saving up for those Technics, although at what seems like the price of nearly $1k a turntable this definitely won't be cheap.  Tech12s should retail for $500 new. You could probably get a pair used for a bit more than thatedit: oh snap, forgot about the recent discontinuation announcement (that's for reals this time apparently). Guitar Center has M5Gs for 1100, which is laughable. Audiolines has them for 750 new which is still outrageous Scour your local craigslist, given the big shift to digital it shouldn't be too hard to find a used pair for a reasonable price vanilla slimfast fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Feb 7, 2011 |
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Feb 7, 2011 04:24
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Le0 posted:I'm about to get a MacBook pro since I have no laptop and I'd like to move away from my beloved Technics into digital DJing. I have the 15" model and it works great, I've seen people use 13" ones just fine as well. Just depends on how much screen realestate you want. The 17" is a bit overkill though, going to be more cumbersome for gigging
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Feb 8, 2011 18:58
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Fatal posted:In other news, Tracktor Pro 2 announced, check out djtechtools video on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJQjaQ6rWpw Sweeeeeeeeeet
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Feb 10, 2011 22:53
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Splinter posted:The S4 will support timecode at some point. It has 2 phono/line input channels to hookup turntables or CDJs, but the software doesn't support it yet. I'm guessing you'll be able to use timecode with the S4 in Tractor Scratch Pro 2. Seems that way. The Audio10 interface that will be coming with TSP2 has four phono pre-amps as well (the Audio8 only has two) Given that TP2/TSP2 comes out in less than two months, you might consider waiting
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Feb 11, 2011 16:58
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melee beats posted:That's pretty awesome, but what do you ground a turntable to? The audio8 (and presumably the audio10) has a ground post on it edit: derp should have read the link first, you wouldn't have an audio8/10 in that scenario. Does the S4 have a ground post on it? I can't remember.
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Feb 11, 2011 18:01
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melee beats posted:I don't think it does - but for most purposes, it seems a little over the top to carry an S4 and 1200s around anyway I found a zoomed in image of the back panel on NI's site and it looks like there is actually a ground post on one side, directly underneath the kensington lock slot Can't link to it here though
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Feb 11, 2011 18:13
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melee beats posted:Sweet, but like I said, not super practical, right? Unless the S4 is either a) a permanent club install or b) you're bringing it into an existing install where decks are already available
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Feb 11, 2011 20:44
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Sjoewe posted:Any will do. But buy the 15" hiress if you can afford it. But you should wait it out for a little while, the MBP's a due for a major update soon. I'm glad I did that in the fall of 2008, my old MBP was stolen right before they released the unibody models so I waited a few weeks before replacing
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Feb 14, 2011 00:59
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For what it's worth I'm planning to do the software upgrade but I'm going to stick with my Audio8
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Feb 16, 2011 02:48
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FYI, there's a great interview with the (new) CEO Matt Adell of Beatport up on RA that's worth a read. He talks about major label content, charts, territory restrictions, lossless formats, and other stuff http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=13612 vanilla slimfast fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Feb 16, 2011 |
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Feb 16, 2011 21:06
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If I was starting from scratch today I'd go for the high res 15" MBP, personally Traktor works fine at 1440x900 as well (I have a first gen unibody), it'd just be nice to have a bit more real estate
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Feb 25, 2011 06:41
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k0konutz posted:Is American Audio dj gear a reputable brand? I've never heard of them, but I've been looking to buy a used mixer from craigslist and see that brand pop up here and there. No, they make cheap poo poo. Stay far away
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Feb 28, 2011 21:06
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melee beats posted:I HIGHLY suggest reading this book Seconding this.
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Mar 3, 2011 01:54
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I think most pro DJs regard it as "babbys first dj software" I've never used it personally, but I've also never seen any DJ (local or national/international touring) that I respect use it, so that's a strong enough indicator for me And stability is kinda like...THE most important thing. So if it can't do that well, it doesn't really matter how robust the rest of the featureset is
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Mar 4, 2011 19:10
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AKP posted:I'm planning on using Ableton - All of my friends tell me that learning to beatmatch is a complete bitch, Ableton can do it flawlessly.. Unless my friends are full of poo poo and exaggerating, Ok so it's pretty clear you don't know what the gently caress you actually want to do I'd suggest picking up and reading the "How To DJ Right" book linked earlier in the thread before spending any money.
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Mar 7, 2011 18:52
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Cowboy. posted:For recording mixes, if the only line in on my laptop is a minijack microphone input do I need to get an outside USB/firewire sound device? As long as your input supports line-level input (and not just mic input), it will work. An external audio interface will be better just in terms of quality, as the recording on your internal input is going to be "noisier." But it will suffice in most situations. quote:Are a Macbook's line in decent enough to record with? Should I be worried about how CPU intensive recording is with Serato going on the same machine? Recording is not CPU intensive, but it will strain your disk a bit more. A defrag ahead of time may help if you're paranoid quote:And are there any tips beyond the first post for configuring Audacity? Audacity's pretty straight forward. Just make sure you're recording at 16bit 44.1khz stereo or better (this should be the default) and make sure you've selected your line input for your recording source
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Mar 9, 2011 15:13
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MechanizedDeath posted:Anyone having problems with beatport this weekend? I have shot them an email. I don't know if it's beatport or if capital one just sucks that hard. Problem in what way? Can't access the site? Or can't checkout?
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Mar 12, 2011 20:54
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Crazy C posted:I'm a complete newb to Traktor and just feeling my way around the software at this stage. Yes, go into your audio preferences and set "master output" to your soundcard's L and R channels You'll probably need to set your mixing mode to "internal" as well if it's not already
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Mar 15, 2011 11:50
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Crazy C posted:Thanks for this advice. Do you have any mixes I could have a listen to? Going to echo what others have said, depends on the crowd, the genre, and your own mood. When playing house and techno I tend to start working in the next track as soon as possible after the last drop of the previous track. But I'm also one of those people who tends to do longer layered mixes, especially when mixing harmonically. Having a controller that lets me sets loops and do effects has expanded my range even further in this regard. Shameless self promotion: http://bones.dj/ Crazy C posted:Yeah I've only heard good things about the Xone series. I love my Xone:62. I've had it for about eight or nine years now (I think?) and it's been a tank. Aside from occasionally taking it apart to clean up the inside I've not had to do much of anything to keep it in good working order
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Mar 16, 2011 20:47
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Cowboy. posted:Are you one of those people that can just figure out the key on your own, or do you painstakingly find it with a keyboard, or do you use something like mixedinkey? Mixed in key. Despite the ridiculous marketing around it, the app is actually pretty good, well worth the 50 bucks or whatever it is. I'd say it's about 80% accurate in its key detection, which is good enough for government work I don't strictly stick to harmonic mixing but I definitely rely on it more heavily when playing melodic stuff like house downtempo hiphop and disco. When doing tribally techy stuff it's not as critical
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Mar 16, 2011 23:58
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oredun posted:be aware that mixed in keys and whatever the other one is called will rape you id3 tags. if you use serato they will ruin all your whitelabel songs and gently caress your library up from messing with the song tags. i cant loving believe they dont mention that before you use it! Depends on how you configure it. I just have it set the key in front of the end of the comment field and it's given me no trouble (in Traktor or Serato) quote:i think just listening and determining if the songs mix well or not is the best way to harmonic mix. This is definitely a true statement. Any software solution is only a guide, not the end-all-be-all. Like I said, the accuracy will never be perfect so ultimately you need to use your ears Ben and Stew posted:Personally I prefer Rapid Evolution to mixed in key since it essentially does the same thing for free and has a better interface and library capabilities I played with it and didn't much care for it. I don't need a library management app and all the other stuff that felt kinda clunky to me. I believe it's accuracy is about the same as MIK's (around 80%)
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Mar 17, 2011 17:56
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The Dark Wind posted:Are there any videos of DJs playing complete sets, with a view of the mixer and all the stuff they're doing? I feel like if I could just get a good look of what someone is doing during a typical night I could learn tons. Hell, if any of you guys just ran FRAPS or something during a set and uploaded it somewhere that would be fricking amazing (although I imagine FRAPS might give some problems with Audio latency and what not). In either case, a video of someone DJing like they normally do would be an awesome resource. Here's a two hour video of me broadcasting from Beatport's HQ here in Denver back in December. They had one camera pointed down so you could see what I'm doing. Unfortunately no capture of the screen though: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11362500
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Mar 21, 2011 16:12
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invision posted:http://soundcloud.com/invision250/rebecca-black-vs-bassnectar The dj mixes thread is over here: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3049995 This thread is for discussion of gear/technique/etc
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Mar 22, 2011 18:05
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Dopo posted:There's no reason to buy CDJs to use as controllers for your first DJ setup. I'd just go with the CDJs and a mixer. I can't say enough good things about not relying on my laptop for DJing. When you come home with a song stuck in your head do you really want to have to hook up a bunch of cables and restart your laptop to play some music? And do you really want to unhook and restart your laptop every time you want to use it on your couch? I found myself not DJing much because it was such a pain in the rear end. Counterpoint: Do you really want to spend literally hours burning, labeling, and organizing CDs every time you get new music? This was the main thing that pushed me to using a DVS Like others have said, go with what you are most comfortable with, not what you think you "need" to use to be legit or whatever.
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Mar 29, 2011 17:39
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I don't usually wear my earplugs when playing, just when out and about in the club otherwise. I always keep my booth and headphone volume turned down as much as possible while still being able to hear what I'm doing. Longterm I want to get custom molded ones so I can wear them fulltime while playing too, but the etymotics just get in the way a bit too much because of the nubby bit that sticks out of the ear
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Mar 30, 2011 17:59
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Well looks like I'll be buying the upgrade on Friday then  edit: NI's website is completely down right now. TP2 must be *really* popular at the moment vanilla slimfast fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Mar 31, 2011 |
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Mar 31, 2011 01:51
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GbrushTwood posted:Haha sorry abou the horrible horrible sound, I've been trying to get my guy to buy a decent microphone for his camera. From behind you look like Tommie Sunshine
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Apr 1, 2011 18:55
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