28 replies to this topic

[Butters]

Hey Jay,

Hows things? Ok so I am a major n0ob to this. I have been refered to you because i hear you are the person to talk to about getting a beginners DJ set up. I was just thinking of throwing some money into a Stanton DJ 3 lab and some speakers and some records. What do you think of that for just a simple beginner? What would your suggestions be for me as a beginner? I dont want to waste money and I also want some good equiptment.

Thanks

[Cheyne]

Ill let Jay fill you in on what he thinks , but just as I mentioned before ....

You can fork out a small amount , and get some gear .. its not great gear , but it will get you mixing .... Only problem is ,  in a year or so time, if your still serious about going on with it ,  no doubt you will want better gear ....   


My advice ?? ...  Fork out and buy good gear ... Buy Technics 1200's and a descent mixer .. spend about $500 or so on a mixer .. maybe find a second hand one . .. Look for VESTAX , PIONEER , ALLEN & HEATH  RANE , ECLER  .. Their all good brands ..  stay away from shit brands .....      Speaking of which , if you can find all your gear 2nd hand , it would be best .... none of my stuff is new ... and i saved heaps...

The upside to buying all good gear ???    You will be able to sell it if you need to ... if you buy shit , then you might not be able to ...

Technics 1200's have been the industry standard turn table for many years ...  rest assured , if you decide you dont want to do it anymore ,  you wont have a problem selling them ....

[Cheyne]

p.s .. Check out threads like this one --> http://www.inthemix....ad.php?t=195005

[Jay Parker]

If Vinyl is the way you want to go, then definitely look for some technics 1200's in various guises. Make sure the ones you buy have been treated well, though you can buy every part for them as a spare part, and spares are quite reasonably priced. Expect to pay around $500  - $700 for near new ones sometimes you will find them cheaper but may have to fix them up.

I reiterate cheynes post about getting crap gear, It will fail at some point and you will have to upgrade sooner than necessary.

A good beginners mixer would be a basic two channel mixer. The best value for money wise one i can think of at the moment is the Numark DXM06. A sturdy little mixer with a great feature set and it doesn't sound awful. You can pick one of these up for sub $400

The other ones i would suggest is the vestax series as they also have a few that are quite reasonably priced, decent quality mixers. These are a step up again from the numark. your looking at around $700 as a rough estimate.

Also something you may want to consider is the fact that vinyl roughly costs $20 per tune. and thats the way you should look at it. Anything else on there that you happen to like is a bonus. Now if that seems a little steep, then you will be hunting in the second hand wax sections of some record stores and checking websites like this for people selling vinyl. If you cant keep up with that sort of cash outlay, then i suggest perhaps looking at CD players and a mixer.

If thats an option you want to consider then come back and let me know then i can advise you a bit more specifically.

For now though, with this info go down to you local music/ DJing gear shop and have a look around for the brands suggested and have a play around. Don't buy into the salesman hype and what not at the moment just go and get some more information. My other suggestion would be to visit some manufacturers websites and check some stuff out there.

For a rough idea of costings for new stuff. www.djwarehouse.com.au

[Butters]

You have some preety good suggestions especially about the whole CDJ's but my main question would be what would the major differences be between playing on vinyals and on CDJ's?

[Cheyne]

in a word ... Feel ...      Nothing wrong with playing CDJ's ...  But theres less feel and sense of owner ship over your tracks ...  Also the feeling of mixing in and out of vinyl , and its touch under your fingers is a lot more "real" than CDJ's ...  hard to explain until you do it your self ... 

ie .. Anyone can download a high res MP3 , and play it back on their CDJ ... but what about that ultrarare white label vinyl you bought in some little shop in london ?? ..  You've got something rare no one else has , and it feels good to pull it out and drop it at a party ... Rather than just playing another MP3 you got from beatport , that a million other people have ..

Me personally , I own both .. I own 2 x 1200's and a Pioneer CDJ1000 ...    I play my own tracks that iv written and some others iv downloaded on theCDJ , and the rest I play vinyl ...



There is also of course the debate of sound quality ...  vinyl will sound better really , well , if your using really high quality MP3s then you probably wont hear the difference ,  but only use MP3's  of 192Kbs and above ...        Use 320Kbps  if possible ... but for your average backyard party blasting on some guys mums 10 year old sony stereo ... You wont hear much difference if your using 192kbps

[Butters]

Thanks guys you are amazing I might be back in a couple more days with a couple more questions!

Thanks

[Cheyne]

your welcome

[AnthonyEhsani]

I was in your position when I was 13ish. I wanted to DJ and I wanted it "straight away". But I had some previous knowledge on equipment and prices, and I knew if I wanted to get serious I really needed to fork out some cash.

I had about 600 bucks, and that looked good for me, as I could get those packages. But I insisted on working and getting a bit more cash for myself, just to buy some "extras" (yes I was the biggest n00b in terms of DJING goes)

Anyway, I worked for a year, got 3 grand (I wasnt planning on spending all of it on DJ equipment). I checked out some new DJ equipment (well not new, but considerably new)

WOW, CDJ1000's..  Hmmm...WOW Technic 1200's "industry standard"...I was thinking damn, I can really get some top notch stuff, so I did. I went with vinyl. Got myself 2 technic 1210's an ecler Nuo2 mixer (Best Quality mixers IMO), technic headphones (and still going strong) and 10 vinyls.

Soon, I'll be changing to 3 x CDJ1000's while exploring DJing with Ableton live.

My opinion mate: If your serious about DJing, get some quality equipment. If you aren't too sure, you can still get some really good stuff without really hurting your wallet.

As far as the Vinyl vs Digital debate goes. IMO there is no debate. both are a peice of DJing equipment..

In everyclub there is CDJ's.. and technic turntables (well in most clubs)..
MOST club dj's use the CDJ's, mainly because of the load. Much easier to carry a cd wallet, then a Vinyl box thing lol.
Roger Sanchez told anyone who could turn around and tell the difference between the sound in a CDJ and a turntable in a club system, he would do something big (Sorry, forget what it was but it was major) and I think he shut the haters (but as Cheyne stated above, that is if your playing 320KB which ALL club Dj's do[?] I would be suprised if they didn't).

Try Storedj.com make up a cart and see how much it would cost, and play around with it. See what you need.

[Butters]

Hey Guys,

So I think i am going to go with some Pioneer CDJ's and then if I like them move up 2 some vinyl. I was thinking of getting either the 100's 200' or 800's. I obviously know that the 800's would be the best choice but I dont really understand why? Possibly someone could explain it to me. I was also thinking of getting a decent Pioneer mixer to go with it .... the DJM 400 what do you think about that for a setup?

Mitch

[Cheyne]

Go the 800's for sure ...      Its more like handling vinyl  ... I hate using the 100's and 200's ..


DJM400 will be fine for a beginner

[Jay Parker]

Give me a figure of how much your looking at spending and i will put some scenarios together for you.

The 800's are the pick of the bunch and are pretty good value for money.
There are better mixers out there than the pioneer 400 so an indication of what your looking at spending would be awesome.

[Butters]

Hey,

My budget dropped a bit cause of recent spending but I am now looking at spending around $2000. I am more than willing to go with 200's and a mixer but I want to buy it somewhere in Brisbane so I can get some after sale service. I can get 200's and a Numark DXM06 mixer for $1900 which is alright. If you could think of anything better that would be great.

Mitch

[Jay Parker]

Thats a nice little beginners package right there.

The 200's are a great little player with many of the cdj1000's features, in a smaller form player.
The Dxm06 is roughly the mixer of choice for the beginner as it doesn't sound shit or cost the earth.
The only thing to worry about is the cross faders have a habit of dying prematurely, so be careful there.

If you treat your gear with respect then it will last you many years to come.

When i started out i bought 2 cdj 100's and borrowed a mixer with no eq's or anything fancy. That was nearly 7 years ago and the CDJ's are only now showing signs of deterioration.

Edit: The other mixers i would have a look at would be the vestax series. they have some quite affordable mixers that would be of a better quality than the Numark

[Butters]

Thanks dude!

Well I am getting all my stuff in a week or 2 so I will give you a bell if i need anything else!

Thanks

PS! great help with everything

[Butters]

Hey!

So the guy in the shop said that my mixer wouldnt be the best choice ( Numark DXM06 ) so he said i should get an American Audio ( Q-D5B ) What say anybody on this mixer? should I stick with the old choice or should I get the American Audio one or something different again?

Mitch

[Captain Terrific]

he what?

go slap that bitch

Numark ftw - fx by alesis, good clean cheap mixer

[Cheyne]

American audio ?! ..  urrg! ..  dont buy it ..

[dec0n]

yes, if you only take one thing away from this thread, it should be don't buy American Audio gear...

[Jay Parker]

Totally, never listen to sales guys selling DJ gear.  Unless it happens to be our own Captain Terrific...

American Audio makes baby jesus cry