Hey all

Well I just wanted to "try out" DJing with minimal/no investment. I'd had a quick go on traktor (or virtual dj) a while back, but even with a midi controller it just seemed.... like the computer was doing it? I mean there was even an "auto" button on it that mixed between tracks for me. It just seemed a bit pointless me even being there, because the computer seemed to be doing a good job of mixing by itself.

Anyway, I went on ebay & saw some belt turntables (vinyl) with a mixer and microphone & cables, got it for £30. It's very basic and obviously being belt drive, its not going to be amazing. I'd looked into CD stuff before and it would be at least £100 which seems a lot to "try out" something. Anyhow, I thought it was a bargain considering its all-in-one, even if its not that great. So I bought it. I've just ordered an RCA to 1/4 cable as well so I can connect my monitors to it (I've been producing for a few years, just never DJing)

Did I do the right thing getting some cheap equipment to start with, maybe upgrade if I get into it a bit more??? Or is this doomed for disaster?

Hi Matthew
Looks like you have started the right way. There are a lot of dj's who skip the entire vinyl/cdj thing and go straight to a dvs rig. They soon get bored and crave something better or give up.

Big question is where do you want to take your interest in djing. if you want to be a bedroom dj and possible paly the odd house party then a vinyl system would do as i assume you and your friends may have simular music tastes and your record collection doesnt need to that large.

If you are hoping to be a club/bar dj then the vinyl is definately a good starting point, you get to learn to dj properly and may progress to cdj's

for mobile work cd and/or pc based system is the way to go IMO. You would struggle to find agadoo on vinyl these days and the unpredictalbe venues with bouncy dancefloors would cause no end of problems. I use a pc based system (virtual dj)in addition to cd for my mibile work purely for convienience. I can stick on a playlist while i get finshed setting up or if i need to change etc also finding tracks is so easy. I have a cd kit as back up because one day my laptop will crash.

So to answer your question again - yes. Some second hand gear will retain its value and if you feel the time is right to upgrade you will find somebody else wanting to have a go and need some s/h gear and you may again fing some budget gear to try.

best wishes and if you need any more info ...just ask

Dave

Depends what you were hoping to do with it. If you wanted to 'have a play' or practise at home and assuming that you have an amplifier and at least two speakers then that's fine. I wouldn't expect to start making any money from doing gigs just yet though if I were you. Do you have a large collection of vinyl to practise with? Is it current stuff or just the golden oldies?

If you were to play the Top 20 at a gig - how many tracks in the Top 20 are available on vinyl?
I would have thought none? maybe i'm wrong i don't know.

I resepct you for trying to do things from the ground roots upwards and mixing/playing without any aid etc
but IMO CDJ's, HD controllers and Laptops are the present and the future - get to grips with the technology...

for example - Traktor has many auto play/mix features, ignore these and just use your laptop has a rekord box, traktor as your decks, get yourself a decent controller and mix/scratch, do things how you would do it with vinyl...
Or go one step further and get Traktor Scratch or Serato Scratch - you will then have the turntable feel..

I know it costs £££ thou.. just a thought

Yeah, basically that's what I'm wanting to do. Maybe learn the real basics like beatmatching etc etc. Maybe I'd buy a basic effect box after a while and try and master that, and if I was still going by that point then I'd probably be enjoying myself and would want to upgrade.



hehe, well I'm not thinking of "gigging" yet at all. I'm literally starting from scratch, and if it's anything like music production then it takes a year or two to be going at a professional standard, and even longer to be really recognised as "excellent". Today was really possibly the first time I've ever held a record and dropped a needle onto one; I'm the cassette tape/CD generation :) (I'm 17)



Not at the moment I don't, I've looked online and with postage it would be £5 a piece, so what I'll hopefully just do is pop down to the local boot sale/charity shop and just buy a crateful of music in one go, just for a bit of fun to start with.

To be honest, I know that if I was gigging I'd have to have "up-to-date" music with maybe an older track or two thrown in, but personally I'm more into late 90s house/garage/trance etc, and also a bit of old school hardcore too :). I'd rather just grab an old crateful of "old" music for cheap to get going with -and have fun doing it- and then later if I ever got into it, I'd be upgrading to CD's (which then opens up the possibility of thousands of tracks online etc etc). Conveniently, music was a lot more repetitive back then so it's also probably easier to get used to mixing it together.

Can't beat 'em:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mL2FT7_i98
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AXE8pEiiIA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIDAUck2LHE

All I can say is have a play around and have a bit of fun. This business relies heavily upon a passion for what you do. Doing it to earn a few quid on the side really wont get you that far.

But you are certainly starting off on the right track. Find out what sort of DJing you get most pleasure from. The worst thing is to buy a fortunes worth of equipment to only end up getting bored of it and selling it all off.

enjoy it matey

[quote name='stardust' date='Jun 17 2010, 08:58 PM' post='254319']
If you were to play the Top 20 at a gig - how many tracks in the Top 20 are available on vinyl?
I would have thought none? maybe i'm wrong i don't know.

you'd be wrong there fella all the major HMV store sell the latest tunes on vinyl i know it surprized me aswell :P