I am 16 and living in Australia
I don't have that greater idea bout any of this stuff, except i have an 18 yr old friend who is sorta getting into it and makes mixes and stuff like that. He does it all solely from his computer and has a live DJ program there so i've mucked about on that a fair bit.
How do you get into DJing. Where do I start, what should i do.
I've read a fair few posts on this, but i can't get the basics. What does a DJ do, is it just straight mixing of two or more songs live. If that's it, what are the scratch disks for. What else is there to it, because i know things like this are never as easy as they seem.
Any basic or complicated information you could give me would be great.

Hi and welcome to Mobile D.J Chat

There are different area's of D.J'ing, the Majority of people on this board are Mobile D.J's. A Mobile D.J is somebody who moves his / her sound & lighting equipment from venue to venue providing entertainment for family occasions such as Weddings, 21st's, 40th's, birthdays, kids parties' etc. Then after the function, the D.J packs away the gear and takes it away, ready for the next function. The Sound & Lighting equipment belongs to the D.J and they run it as a business. Work usually comes to them by way of business cards & local paper advertising, ad's in local directories such as Yellow Pages.

Once a mobile D.J has been established and has built up a good reputation, then the majority of work comes from word of mouth (People who have booked the D.J passing on his details to friends / relatives etc) although this does take time, so if you start up in this area of business, you will need to allow some budget for advertising whilst you get established.

A mobile D.J does not reeally need any special mixing skills since he usually uses a microphone to introduce each track (Similar to a radio D.J) and also to entertain the audience. Mixing D.J's are not really suited to the Mobile scene since the person booking you usually wants somebody who is able to create a "party" atmosphere, and at most family occasions a mic and some friendly banter is required to get people onto the dancefloor . A D.J who just mixes all night or uses a computer to mix all night could have been replaced with a Jukebox or the hosts hi-fi system!!. Basically a Mobile D.J has to be a good All round entertainer, rather than just a guy (or gal) playing music

Club D.J's (and some resident D.J's) or entirely different. At a club, mixing the music is usally the norm (unless the manager tells you any different) although some local clubs in the UK are using D.J's with mic skills more and more. Either way you will need good mixing abilities, although this skill is usually relied upon by the D.J and not a computer. Inside a club D.J booth you'll usually find a top quality Mixer along with 2 High End Turntables (Technics, Vestax etc) and a dual cd player. NO COMPUTER!!. If you do want to become a club D.J then you will need to practice mixing using Vinyl and CD otherwise you may be caught out on your first night!.

Getting work at a club is extremely difficult. Club Managers usually only employ D.J's who have either got a good "name" or whom they have poached from other clubs. There is a Club D.J network and you usually need to know another club D.J or somebody who works in that club to stand any chance of getting that sort of work. You will also need to practice and perfect your mixing abilities before even approaching a club or a club agent - and we are talking years of practicing here!.

Above all - practice YOUR Skill as a D.J!!!, don't rely on tapping into a keyboard and clicking icons!. My 15 Year old cousin can mix A1 on a PC, but runs a mile when he is asked to D.J in front of an audience of 300 People. This is the difference between mixing at home, and D.J'ing professionally at a party.

The best way for you to learn how to be a D.J and see if its right for you, is to help out another established D.J in your area. This way you'll see the skills needed, the music played and the type of work involved before you committ yourself to buying $$$$$$'s of equipment and music .

Feel free to post anymore questions that you have and we'll try and answer them for you

Chris

Alright, so contact a DJ from around here. How do I practice anything though without spending major $$$$ on equipment. What type of basic equipment should i look at if i just want to muck round at home without spending too much. Or would it be better just to watch for a while and make sure i actually want anything to do with it.

How much am i looking at if i do decide i want to get into it. Cause i know i can't get a job in a club or whatever, part from the incredibly low chance of getting a job, im also underage for it.

Also, i live close to Sydney but not that close. I'm a bit out of the way, sort of a semi-rural area. Not sure if you've heard of the Blue Mountains. Not a lot is happening here, and i doubt there are many resident DJ's. And i know there are no clubs unless I catch a train for an hour.

So.....bit of help, lol.

Also, i forgot to ask, what the hell are the turntables used for, i've never understood it. It has been a question that i've wanted to ask for ages.

Thanks for the help

CORRECT me if i'm wrong...

Turntables - TTs, are used to play beats, sounds, music, etc recorded onto a vinyl disc (i think it is 17"?), and u can "scratch" a vinyl on a TT by moving the vinyl back and forth (but u usually need a "scratch" needle)........i think....

Any home set up - even a basic or second hand one is going to cost you money, so it is as well to get at least some knowledge, to make sure that this isn't just a passing interest!. Even if you just do one gig with an established D.J then it will give you some idea of what is involved and whether the business is for you or not. Believe me, doing a disco is more than just music and flashing lights .

You don't mention how long you have had an interest in D.J'ing?. No offence, but I know that I had several hobbies and interest's when I was 16, but they only lasted for a few months, but the interest in D.J'ing was there for years before I actually took it up, so I knew that it was worth my while to persue it.

My advice, is to try and get at least one gig, if not a Saturday job with a D.J local to you, then you will at least have an idea of what is involved.If possible carry on using your friends Pc based system, although I still maintain that it is better to start with, and use real decks and Cd Players.

If the interest is still there after six months, and attending at least one gig, then it is worth investing in some gear.

When buying the equipment, it is a good idea to buy something that will serve you out on the road as well as at home, so avoid buying the cheapest items that you can find, because what is usable at home, may not work / sound okay when you take it to your first gig!.

Ideally CD is better for taking out on the road, but you may wish to use turntables at home. I'm not sure of what the prices are like for gear in Australia, so I am unsure of what to advise you to buy to suit a budget. Maybe you could visit a Sydney Dealer at some point?. If you do get the chance then make a note of what Mixers, CD / Turntables are available and within your budget, then I'll advise you on what would suit you best.

Maybe at this point you should decide, given your location, whether you want to become a Mobile D.J or just as a hobby at home. If you just use it from home use, then you are looking at a considerable saving on buying the euipment, in fact you could get away with using a p.c based system at home. However if you want to make a go of being a Mobile, then it is false economy to buy gear which will work okay plugged into your home hi-fi, but not work correctly when used in a hall!.

Even if you decide to use a PC based system for mobile use, then you'll still need to buy Amplifiers, Speakers and some sort of lightng. But I still think that you will be better off buying a conventional CD / Turntable based system first.

Hahaha - You young 'uns don't know what a Turntable is ?? - Now I feel old!


Back in the good old Days of D.J'ing - and before the invention of CD's, Mini disk, Mp3 etc. we had vinyl disc's called records. The record had grooves on it, on which was placed a needle (called a styli or stylus). The record would rotate on a platform (Called the "Turntable") and the syli would pick up the vibrations from within the grooves in the record - these were amplified and music was produced.

Records were available in 7" and 12" versions (Or even 10" in Mikees' day!) and you could get single track disc's (7") or entire compiliations (called albums) in 12" format. You could also buy long versions of the 7" tracks in 12" format just to be confusing!.

Records are still used now - still very popular in clubs and in the U.S where the actual Art of mixing and "scratching" originated from. But the CD has replaced them for most mobile D.J's

was my definition right then chris ???

w/e, most people do use records here (canada), but cds have just begun to replace records...(especially with mp3s now) but most online stores have a record LP of a new album that is released by a popular group (usually r&b).

Yes, you were close enough with your description of turntable

Before the introduction of CD's then Minidisc and Now Mp3's obviously there was no other format to use for D.J'ing than records and turntables. The weight of 200 - 300 of these 7" and 12" vinyl records all crammed into wooden cases was amazing, and it was interesting to watch the D.J carrying in his record collection - which often weighed more than his loudspeakers up and down the stairs!. I'm almost certain that solely down to these record cases is why so many older D.J's have back problems today!.

During the 70's - early 90's the "console" was introduced which housed a very basic and originally mono mixer and two gerrard or BSR turntables all housed in one wooden case. Compared to turntables today these were ancient and very basic, but surprisingly reliable These consoles actually introduced the word "decks" into D.J'ing terminology since they were refered to as a set of "Decks".

If you were also very lucky, your "console" may also have housed a very basic amplifier. Usally mono they started at around 50 Watts of power and increased to around 110 + 110 Watts if you owned a basic stereo version. So all of you young D.J's who think that your 300 + 300W amplifiers aren't enough - spare a thought for those 70's D.J's who only had a 50 Watt mono Amp.

One of the drawbacks of using these decks was that on most dancefloors or second floor function rooms, you would find that the springiness of the dancefloor and 200 people dancing did not agree with the delicate turntable, and the fact that the styli had to be in constant phyiscal contact with the record and often the record would jump, or skip when subject to this bouncy floor syndrome - and it was a real problem!. Often D.J's would try to counteract this by putting a 2p coin onto the tonearm of the turntable in order to "weigh it down" - however they always ended up wearing out the styli at a lot quicker.

Of course Technics came along and introduced a direct drive turntable which was weighted, and had sprung feet and counterweights already designed in, but even so the old Mobile "Decks" still remained popular right upto the mid 90's!.

and so endeth the history lesson for today!.

I had to giggle remembering my nice reliable FAL Console and a couple of what looked like orange crates with speakers in and some brown cloth covering the cones. Happy Days

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I had to giggle remembering my nice reliable FAL Console

Hahaha - You too??! - I think everybody had some form of FAL deck at some stage . I even had the matching 3 channel light columns to go with it. Come the end of the evening and you could fry an egg on the stupidly placed heatsink at the back. No matter how you carried it out you always ended up burning yourself on it . Still, kept the van nice and warm on those cold winter trips home after the gig!

I always remember a colleague who had one of those nice carpet covered ICE console's - He was the envy of me with that 200 Watt beauty complete with the 5 channel graphic EQ!.

I remember going into Disco Supplies (near here address withheld) and them trying to sell me a complete setup covered in WHITE vinyl. Like that was gonna last long in the back of a van!

Thanks for the replies, they've been helpful. I'll take your advice and just see if it's for me. I'll stay pondering it for a few months, even though it's been an interest of mine for a while. I'll explore it a bit further.

Once again, thanks a lot, i'll get back to you with any further questions.

Haha, nice history lesson btw, very informative, i now know a large piece of the history of the turntables. I do pity those 50W Dj's of the 70's, lol.

One question though: SCRATCHING? What is it?. I've heard it a fair bit, how do you do it though? Where is it used? (obviously in a song).

Save my scratching for in the bath normally!!

But I digress........ the art of scratching is playing one TT whilst agitating the platter of a second TT with the fader up thereby making a scratching sound over the top of your first track (in the right places) add loads of practice, decent equipment to do it on, and you may just may sound half decent.

I had a FAL Stereo Ranger, god, you don't realise how bad it was until you think back, but it was fun.

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I had a FAL Stereo Ranger

Blimey - nothing but the best for Your show Mikeee

The rest of us were struggling in Mono