DJ'ing Thread

DazRFC

Well-Known Member
Anyone here into DJ'ing at all?

If so, what sort of setup have you got (whether a Controller & laptop, CDJ's/Vinyl & mixer, or a combination ), and also what style/s of music do you like to play?

Trance is my main passion (especially the classic late 90's early 00's sound) and has been since around 1995. I don't enjoy a lot of the releases nowadays tbh, but still dig deep and find the odd gem here and there.

Also like to dabble with a bit of the harder edged Techno sounds where new releases are concerned :)

Current setup is a Pioneer DJM 900NXS and 2X Technics 1210's MKII with KRK Rokit 6's

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Set up at home currently dismantled but in clubs happy to use Allen and Heath or pioneer and nowadays just plug in a laptop, soundcard box and controller

Works for me
 
Nice one guys. What sort of stuff are you into or playing? A particular style or just a bit of everything?

I've only ever been resident at my local club for a short spell, but with my work I just wasn't getting the time or weekends off. Bedroom DJ loyal though. Got my double garage converted into a somewhat soundproofed mancave :D

Canny beat a few cans and blasting out the tunes into the early hours :)
 
Haven't got any set up in the house at the moment as about to move but will probably invest in something for the new place.

Gave up gigging as I'm busy with the day job and have a one year old son now but up until a year or so I had a mobile business doing weddings and parties.

Also held a weekend residency at two local clubs. Had the pleasure of playing twice at the arches one trance set a few years ago and one house set a bit more recently. Played various other local venues as well as doing a bit abroad.

Was also into a bit of production as well and had a few releases on some decent smaller labels with some airtime on the Bauer media stations.

Lots of mates still out on the circuit doing various different things. Including the guy that my signed released were in collaboration with who is also Bowie's stand in on the GBX on Clyde 1 and the recently appointed new stadium announcer at Ibrox.

Really enjoyed the DJing and had some mental nights that I'll remember forever - might find the time to get back into it at some point!
 
Cdj-2000 nexus
Djm 900 nexus
2x technics 1210
Rmx1000

Soon to upgrade to the nxs2’s.

Nice one mate. I had the CDJ2000NXS for a while, but ended up selling them on. Nowadays I just use my DVS setup with Traktor for mixing WAV's/MP3's and any new stuff, and still have that traditional vinyl setup too of course.

What are the main changes, upgrades with the NXS2's?
 
Got a Denon X1700, 2 Denon SC2000 and maschine studio. Keep getting an error with uploading pics.
2yox0eu.jpg
 
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Got rid of my CDJ 2000s and DJM 900 a while ago and got the XDJ-RX as a replacement. Brilliant piece of kit and saved me thousands. Only downside is that it's only 2 channels.

Still got a single Technics 1210 and a DJM 350 which I use for playing vinyl, not necessarily for DJing anymore.
 
Got rid of my CDJ 2000s and DJM 900 a while ago and got the XDJ-RX as a replacement. Brilliant piece of kit and saved me thousands. Only downside is that it's only 2 channels.

Still got a single Technics 1210 and a DJM 350 which I use for playing vinyl, not necessarily for DJing anymore.

The XDJ-RX is certainly proving to be a popular bit of kit, and definitely a little more reasonable in terms of the price. Thought about getting it myself at one point.
 
It's always been a dream of mine to get decks, CD or vinyl but as time has went on and now got the wee fella it's looking less likely. I do however have an iMac and to mess about with I would do it with software and go from there. Is there any recommendations for where to start and where would be best to get tunes? My music of choice would probably be techno and house. Sorry if I've derailed the thread slightly.
 
Got rid of my CDJ 2000s and DJM 900 a while ago and got the XDJ-RX as a replacement. Brilliant piece of kit and saved me thousands. Only downside is that it's only 2 channels.

Still got a single Technics 1210 and a DJM 350 which I use for playing vinyl, not necessarily for DJing anymore.

take the 1210 on holiday to play a few tunes in the hotel room
 
It's always been a dream of mine to get decks, CD or vinyl but as time has went on and now got the wee fella it's looking less likely. I do however have an iMac and to mess about with I would do it with software and go from there. Is there any recommendations for where to start and where would be best to get tunes? My music of choice would probably be techno and house. Sorry if I've derailed the thread slightly.

There are several options with software. Traktor, Serato, Rekordbox, and even Virtual DJ are all different options that you could use to get something up and running, and all have different pro's and cons. You'd best get yourself some sort of DJ controller though, as using a keyboard I can't imagine being any fun at all.

DJ Controllers vary massively in price, but you can get one that'd do the job for a couple of hundred if thats within your price range?

Pioneer DDJ-SB2 (Plug and play with Serato) £199
Traktor Control S2 (Designed specifically for Traktor) £299

There are cheaper....I started off using an old Hercules RMX (looks like shit and lacks features, but hey, it did the job) probably under £100 now.
 
It's always been a dream of mine to get decks, CD or vinyl but as time has went on and now got the wee fella it's looking less likely. I do however have an iMac and to mess about with I would do it with software and go from there. Is there any recommendations for where to start and where would be best to get tunes? My music of choice would probably be techno and house. Sorry if I've derailed the thread slightly.
Get yourself a midi controller. Takes less space loads of choice but you are either going to either be using Traktor or Serato software. Depends on the controller you buy. Also your budget whether you get one with an audio interface built in. Have a look on you tube first and get an idea what will suit you.
What I would say is a better quality controller Pioneer/ Native instruments will hold it's value better in case you can't get in to it.
 
where would be best to get tunes? My music of choice would probably be techno and house. Sorry if I've derailed the thread slightly.

If you want to buy your music legally and support your favourite producers, then Beatport would be the best place. It's the most popular digital download site for Dance music. I also use Junodownload sometimes.

A lot of my collection are rips from unmixed CD compilations too. As I'm into the older sounds of Trance, many of them aren't available online digitally. Discogs would be your place for CD's and Vinyl :)
 
It's always been a dream of mine to get decks, CD or vinyl but as time has went on and now got the wee fella it's looking less likely. I do however have an iMac and to mess about with I would do it with software and go from there. Is there any recommendations for where to start and where would be best to get tunes? My music of choice would probably be techno and house. Sorry if I've derailed the thread slightly.

Mate you can buy a DJ controller for about £100. I had the Numark Mixtrack Pro years ago just for messing about with and it was alright.

In terms of tunes, Beatport is my go to if I'm buying. Other than that a Youtube ripper is your pal.
 
Cheers for the replies guys, some great advice. I'll start looking into Midi controllers and start from there. Always fancied doing it and I've got a few mates that are naturals on the decks and always fancied it. Had a look at Beatport too, could spend all night on there listening to samples.
 
I use two 1210s. Play mostly 7" although I have two Numark CD built in as back up as well as a Cortex HD if all else fails .

I don't really DJ much now just the odd Rally and charity function
 
Traktor is my software of choice.

Generally reliable

Yeah same here. Even back when I had the DDJ-SX, and later the SX2 which came bundled with Serato, I found myself still downloading a Traktor mapping for them and using them with it instead. I gave Serato a try, and although there were some good things about it (Like the FX and super smooth Waveforms)...Traktor has so much more options in terms of customisation and tweaking things.
 
ripping tunes from youtube is bad

I usually only buy tunes if I really like them tbh, other than that if I think a tune is decent I'll just rip it from Youtube.

If I was DJ'ing out I'd obviously have 320 kbps versions of the tunes.
 
This is close to my heart. Very much a rave kiddie growing up.

Citronix all in one set with no cross fader than moved onto Kam bdx180s and a gemini ps 626 from mister mix on Jamaica St.

Then onto omnotronics, the near perfect 1200 clones with an intimidation apex mixer.

Then a set of Vestax pdx d3s.

Then 1210s and a belter of a Vestax mixer that I can't remember the model of.

Ran them ragged up to the CDJs came out and pioneer ultimately pushed Panasonic out the game.

Then I got a real job and haven't touched them since early 00s.

Sold everything on, except vinyl, gave all that to a mate that I grew up with.

Era wise, we would have started mixing around the time where happy hard-core was huge, then moved onto porn kings era house music, Victoria's live its Friday night and were coming at ya.

The as posted above, the golden era of Trance.

1999 to me was simply incredible. The music being made was just spectacular.

Everyone in that era grew up in the most incredible musical generation ever imo.

Anyways, now I'm running businesses getting stressed out my nut and trying to balance my life again so looking at getting a new setup.

Was looking at the Pioneer xdjr1 all in one a few weeks ago there, think I'll end up getting it.
 
Sold my 1210s and have sold over 3000 records on Discogs over five or six years. Have about 1500 left.

The cash has been very useful.
 
I usually only buy tunes if I really like them tbh, other than that if I think a tune is decent I'll just rip it from Youtube.

If I was DJ'ing out I'd obviously have 320 kbps versions of the tunes.

Personally I care too much about having the best audio quality available with all my music, as well as doing my wee bit supporting the scene at the same time even if just playing at home, but I suppose its just each to their own here.

Ripping from Youtube you also have no idea about what the original bitrate is, and also there's a loss in audio quality from downloaders. Your files will sound muddier, and a little flat in comparison to a legally bought file.

This thread is a couple of years old now, but goes into detail about loss in audio quality...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Beatmatch/comments/2lkfh3/is_ripping_youtube_mp3s_really_that_bad/
 
Sold my 1210s and have sold over 3000 records on Discogs over five or six years. Have about 1500 left.

The cash has been very useful.

I've been doing the complete opposite haha. Discogs and alcohol are a lethal combo! Skint
 
Nice one mate. I had the CDJ2000NXS for a while, but ended up selling them on. Nowadays I just use my DVS setup with Traktor for mixing WAV's/MP3's and any new stuff, and still have that traditional vinyl setup too of course.

What are the main changes, upgrades with the NXS2's?
all touch screen, full querty keyboard, 8 instead of 4 cuepoints, eq isolated effects(absolutely brilliant) - nothing huge but a lot of fun.
 
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