Interested in DJing/Mixing

M3G4UK · 1 Sep 2007 at 20:00

Hey all,

First of all, don't flame me please. I know I'm a n00b

Seen and heard some wonderful mixes recently, and its really got me interested. I love music, and I really love hearing it when someone manages to merge two songs seamlessly into one (what mixings all about I'm guessing). Basically, I was thinking about either getting a couple of redundant PC's together and a decent mixer, or a couple of CD decks and having a play with mixing stuff.

What's acceptable and what isn't? Where's the best place to start? Where can I learn?

Basically I'm looking into it all and would love some guidance. Cheers guys

hyper_piper45 · 1 Sep 2007 at 21:46

Firstly you need to decide what format you want to use. eg vinyl, cd or pc.

A good start would be to get some trial software such as virtual dj and have a bash. See if you enjoy yourself. If you do then you can decide if you want to purchase some proper equipment.

My advice is try and buy quality equipment straight away. Many people will buy a cheap set up and then want to upgrade within a few month and the old stuff will be worth peanuts and you end up spending more money in the long run. Also quality equipment holds its value well so i can often be sold at not much of a loss if you find dj'ing is not for you.

Equipment wise if your using vinyl either go for some technics 1210's or if you want something cheaper consider the numark tt500's. You can also consider getting second hand technics as they are very well built.

Cd deck wise there is a lot of choices out there. Initially they can be more expensive but music is often a lot cheaper than vinyl. pioneer 1000's are the industry standard but are very expensive. personally i have the cdj 800's but you could consider the 200's on a cheaper budget. However there is a lot of different cd decks out there so you could consider a number of alternatives.

Also if you wanted to use vinyl turntables and digital music you could consider a serato setup.

As for learning there are loads of stuff on the internet. Check out ellaskins for some helpful videos.

Hope that helps. If you want to know anything else just ask.

Grrrrr · 2 Sep 2007 at 02:28

My vote goes for mixing software, virtual dj or traktor, and a cheap external mixer.

It's great fun and cheap and easy to pick up. I'll post a more in depth reply tomorrow

M3G4UK · 2 Sep 2007 at 16:24

Eagerly awaiting it, hehe

Pulse · 2 Sep 2007 at 17:18

my vote would go for PC or Vinyl i have recently bought myself some old Numark TT-100 vinyl decks and i love them to bits. got plently of trance and dance vinyl so im well at home with that but i still do use PC software as people have already mentioned its just so easy to learn, i mean 5 minutes and you're mixing like a pro. personally i would stay away from CD decks as they cost as much as vinyl decks or least the ones i've looked at but dont give as nice a sound plus if its going to be digital then you might as well leave it up to a pc that you already have

just my two cents

M3G4UK · 2 Sep 2007 at 20:23

Right, thanks for the advice so far guys.

If I were going in to CD dj'ing, what sort of hardware would I need? What would be the base cost?

And also, what about PC DJ'ing? What sort of hardware would I need? Is it ideal to have more than one PC? What sort of mixer? What software?

Cheers guys

1337z0r · 2 Sep 2007 at 21:48

I would either get some second hand Technics 1200's or Numark TTX's or TT500's. And then get your self a DVS like Torq or Mixvibes they are both around £175. It means what ever MP3 WMA ect is on your pc/laptop you can play on the vynil which comes with the DVS and it is like using real vynil. It saves you having CD's lying about. Plus a CD Deck package would be more expensive.

M3G4UK · 2 Sep 2007 at 22:00

1337z0r said:
I would either get some second hand Technics 1200's or Numark TTX's or TT500's. And then get your self a DVS like Torq or Mixvibes they are both around £175. It means what ever MP3 WMA ect is on your pc/laptop you can play on the vynil which comes with the DVS and it is like using real vynil. It saves you having CD's lying about. Plus a CD Deck package would be more expensive.

Thanks for the advice. Realistically, I can't see myself going for vinyl as I'm not a keen fan of the format and also don't have the space for it

If I were to get PC DJ software, would I use a mixer? If so, how would I connect it?

Tommy B · 2 Sep 2007 at 23:07

I just got the demo of that Virtual DJ software and it's great fun.

How the hell it manages to sync pretty much ANY 2 songs I have no idea though.

Jampy · 2 Sep 2007 at 23:12

Tommy B said:
I just got the demo of that Virtual DJ software and it's great fun.

How the hell it manages to sync pretty much ANY 2 songs I have no idea though.

if your interested i can explain

Jampy · 2 Sep 2007 at 23:14

M3G4UK said:
Thanks for the advice. Realistically, I can't see myself going for vinyl as I'm not a keen fan of the format and also don't have the space for it

If I were to get PC DJ software, would I use a mixer? If so, how would I connect it?

you wouldn't need a mixer, everything would be done on the PC...
it is useful to have a soundcard that can output more than 2 channels so you can have a headphones mix as well as a speaker mix.
Once you get really into it you could buy external controllers to manipulate the program with (instead of mouse and keyboard)

Tommy B · 2 Sep 2007 at 23:59

Jampy said:
if your interested i can explain

I'd really appreciate that. I might give it another go tomorrow when I'm a bit more sobre and actually have a clue what I'm doing

I'm guessing it adjusts the pitch of one of the songs, but so subtly the listener barely notices?

Pulse · 3 Sep 2007 at 00:14

yer i really enjoy using VirtualDJ, i like it so much a have bought the full version

its awesome i've made some great remixes on it including -

Haddaway - What is love (Hardcore Remix)
Blur - Girls And Boys (Hardcore Remix)
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody Vs Pendulum - The Terminal

all quite amusing

Scythe · 3 Sep 2007 at 00:15

Pulse said:
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody Vs Pendulum - The Terminal

all quite amusing

I use Traktor 3 and use The Terminal regularly, great song for mixing

GarethDW · 3 Sep 2007 at 00:46

Have tried Ableton in the past, but I'm too noobish to be any good... but it made me appreciate just how good Sasha is when he uses it.

Mixmeister Fusion was easier to get used to but doesn't offer as much functionality... good for bedroom DJs I guess.

Grrrrr · 3 Sep 2007 at 14:15

M3G4UK said:
And also, what about PC DJ'ing? What sort of hardware would I need? Is it ideal to have more than one PC? What sort of mixer? What software?

Cheers guys

If you plan to get into DJing then i would suggest the CD decks route but if, like me, you just want to have some fun and maybe record the odd mix then PC is definitely the best way to go

How to use VDJ with an external mixer

With Virtual DJ and a 5.1 surround sound card you can assign the left 'deck' to the front speakers output and the right 'deck' to the rear output. Like this:

Then you'll need 2 cables to connect it to the mixer, usually 3.5mm to phono like this

And lastly pretty much any 2 channel mixer will do. If you plan on recording mixes then a mixer with a record output will make things much easier. Here is my mixer, it set me back £30 from ebay delivered and it does the job perfectly.

That's pretty much all you need to know hardware wise, all you need to do now is plug the mixer into some speakers and get yourself some headphones. If you need any more help feel free to add me on msn

Grrrrr · 3 Sep 2007 at 14:24

Jampy said:
you wouldn't need a mixer, everything would be done on the PC...

It's possible to do it that way but you're really not going to be able to mix very well. Clicking and dragging cross faders with a mouse, adjusting EQs with keyboard buttons is just a really poor way of doing things not to mention being much less fun!

With an external mixer all you have to do is get the tracks beat matched in VDJ then you're just left with the mixer to do the fun part of the mixing much like you would with vinyl/cd decks

Grrrrr · 3 Sep 2007 at 14:28

GarethDW said:
Have tried Ableton in the past, but I'm too noobish to be any good... but it made me appreciate just how good Sasha is when he uses it.

It's much easier when you have a team of people that pre-program every track you use for ableton and then have a £10k custom made controller!!!

M3G4UK · 3 Sep 2007 at 17:13

Grrrrr said:
snip! XD

Thanks for that dude, really appreciate it

Plan is I'll probably go PC route and if it turns out people like my stuff/if I feel I'm any good, I'll switch to using CD decks. But right now it's just kinda testing the water.

"andy" · 3 Sep 2007 at 17:22

i used ableton and a uc33e midi controller for a bit but then lost interest

too do it "properly" you need to spend ages preparing the tracks properly , allot of the time i just didnt do it "properly" because of this

virtual dj or traktor would be your best bet

something that may help you is the current special of "computer music" magazine , its all about laptop/pc/mac DJing / i go tthe ableton special ages ago and it was damn good