hey guys...

Ive been interested in starting DJ'ing for sooo long now, its starting to bug me that I havent gotten around to doing it yet.

I have fantasies of having a carl cox,tiesto,judge jules level of success, I just know that I have it in me.

I have played the Violin for 10 years so my hearing is really well tuned, so I know that something like this would be of an advantage to me.

Now, I know when you start off, you should get yourself a pair of decks for around a 100 each, and probably a mixer for 200, but money aint my friend at the moment.

What can I do to start training myself?

know very little about mixing, and setting up tracks....

could anyone point me in the right direction?

(P.S : I love house, electro house, disco house, baltimore, electro, funky trip hop/hip hop, anything with a sexy deep base line, cutting and sampling style tunes)

Well, first off sounds like you dont want to be a mobile DJ (some would say good choice) you want to work in clubs that already have an install. Personally what I would suggest is going into clubs, see what music 'works' and gets the crowd going and also go and talk to the DJ maybe ask to roadie a local beatmatcher in your area and that way you get your foot in the door he might take you on a few gigs and then save up your money get a cheap but decent decks and get practising, get a mix cd together and pester people with it I had to send 9 copies of mine before I got a reply off rockfm in preston and now im still only working very lightly but as least im there. Im still going to do mobile aswell though. Sorry I cant be more help on the beatmatching front as im laptop and use virtual or BPM and can only do it the very basics.

Ste

I'd say you are a bit out with your pricing of the mixer - you can get a 2 channel one for a quarter of that.

Apart from that, go for it! Your knowledge of music will stand you in good stead I'm sure.

Now - do you intend to use CDs or vinyl?
Let us know that and someone will take it from there and advise you accordingly.

thanks for the replies guys...


well cd or vinyl? I think vinyl to start off from. My reasonings are that Id want to start off with the original medium, because if I can master that at some stage, the CD variant will be a dance in the park! Im not dissing CD dj users but Ive always seen that mixing and Dj'ing with Vinyl's takes that bit more skill as with a CD setup I dont think you have to be as sensitive as there is hardware and software to make it run more smoothly for you...though if I am wrong, please correct me :)

I think im going to start composing my own tunes with some comp software and see where that takes me....I always have some sort of a beat going on in my head

Speaking as someone that can do both I dont think mixing on vinyl is any more or less skillfull. Each one has slight differences but its not that much different. I still use vinyl in bars and clubs (and when i get around to picking up decks up from Marky Mark on the mobile as well) using serato scratch live and still occasionally play the odd "proper" vinyl.

dont fall into that trap... a pair of CD decks will not Beat mix the music for you. so no less skill involved at all..

infact CD DJing is far more of a challange these days due to nice neat tricks like loops samples you can be more creative and what more its cheeper to do...

ok the CD decks cost more than turntables but the price of vinyl these days just makes building a collection of music impossible if your on a limeted budget...

so why go backwards... venues are not replacing there vinyl turntables and in many venues these days there are gaps where the decks use to be...

if you have to have decks then get somthing software based like finalscratch with time coded vinyls so you can play the music back from your PC...

Learn to beat mix... learn to be creative... learn some new skills but never ever think that DJing on CD is less skillfull than vinyl...

Check out your local collage for DJ and production courses book your self some mixing lessons. learn about the gear hands on before you commit to spending £ks on decks... just becuase it looks pretty and your mates say its good does not mean its good for you...

thanks for the advice guys, and thanks for correcting me on the cd/vinyl aspect, i wasnt totally sure about that but its what I had picked up on off people who are in the business etc.

Im sure its cheaper to put your own customized music onto CD's anyway so thats something of a bonus to me...might look into that.


I know its all about practice practice practice, and when I get the gear thats all ill do...believe me!!! ...... :)

Spot on Marc.... So true...


You may also want to get some basics from here.