i been in the game ten years now, this is what i know:
1. start on cheap equipment. you dont know if youll stick with it until you do it for a while; you dont wana spnd a lot of money and ten decide its not for you. (i've known a lot of people who started and then decided they werent good at it or it was too hard or whatever, i know you dont feel that way but trust me, you wont know for sure until you do it for a while)
2. START WITH CDJ's!! ill tell you why: you need to be good at vinyl, because cdj's and computer programs and all that are BASED on vinyl. they ALL try to copy what vinyl does. you wont understand why cdj's do what they do unless you are good on vinyl. BUT. but, but, but. vinyl is EXPENSIVE as hell, especially now in the digital age. it will cost hundreds of dollars more to get turntables and vinyl than it will for cheap cdj's and mp3's. and thats a lot of cheese if you dont know you wanna be a pro yet. so get cdj's first.
3. i would start with pioneer cdj-200's. they are about 400 per deck (turntables are the same for good ones, and these are good ones but still cheap.) and work well without all the extra crap you wont even know how to use yet. you dont need bels and whistles while you are learning, playing with fx and stuff will just distract you.
4. for a mixer you can get almost anything as long as its made by vestax, pioneer or numark. they all make good quality mixers at all price levels, and like i said before, a cheap one will only be missing the stuff you dont need yet anyway. after you get good, you can start replacing your setup piece by piece until you have the stuff you want for big dj biz.
5. any headphones will do while you are learning. even the $20 ones at best buy. the big erxpensive ones are just for handling high levels of sound in big clubs and shit like that. SO not necessary for starting out; you wont be playing clubs for at least a year or so.
6. beatport.com and sites like that sell good quality mp3's for a dollar or two; if you get cdjs you can slowly, here and there, build up a collection of tunes. take your time and get a song here and there when you have a few bucks. like when a normal person would go out for a new pack of cigarettes every third day or so, go online and buy a new $1 song.
7. you can use a shelf system cd player for speakers, so if you have a boombox or a split-speaker shelf stereo then just use that for sound. as long as it has red & white inputs somewhere, you can just plug a red n white cable (maybe 2 bucks at walmart) from the master out on your mixer, and boom, you have everything you need.
be prepared to spend about a grand to start out:
400 x 2 cdj's = 800
mixer 2-300 = 1100
headphones, wires 30 = 1130
table/desk to put it on 70 = 1200
5 weekly mp3's = 5 bucks
it sounds expensive but youll have everything you need for at least a year or two. and if it's worth it, and you love it, then it wont matter what it costs because youll be happy to spend it. i've got 11-12grand worth of shit in my studio space and im only half done getting the stuff i really want, it never really ends.
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but the music, oh the music you can make. true love at your fingertips, every day.
What do i need? -
07-26-08, 04:07 PM
07-26-08, 06:43 PM
living by the border sucks. 
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