A little advice for New DJ's

T

TheGambit

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I've been mixing DnB, Jungle and Old School Rave for 15 years now. I used to play at house parties but now I just do mix cd's and DJ for the odd student party.

I just thought I'd share my story of what I learnt to mix on.

I was 14 and my dad gave me his old HiFi and a 1980's belt drive turntable with a +/- 2% pitch control dial. I also had a 19" HiFi CD player with a pitch control slider made by a budget company called Synergy. I had no mixer! lol

I plugged the left phono in of the CD player, and the right phono of the turntable and switched the AMP to mono!

No monitor just my 2 channels thrown in at once, but after a short while I learnt to mix pretty good. Eventually after I finished school I bought some belt drives made by a company called Sherwood and bought a cheap ass mixer for £40 made by Soundlab.

I started work and eventually bought a couple of top end Gemini Direct Drives, quite decent decks for Gemini and I still have them upto this day.

I did loads of parties using those decks and never had any problems with them.

Basically what I'm trying to get at is if you're new to DJing you don't have to go out and rob a bank to buy CDJ1000's or Technics 1210's. Fair play to you if you can afford them, but if not just start on something within your budget and learn the basics of DJing, learn to beatmatch, learn how to build up a set, make sure you know your tracks etc.

I learnt to do these things long before I decided to spend a little extra on my equipment.

My advice to any new starters is to just buy what you can afford and learn the basics. You don't need to worry about the top of the range equipment just yet.
 
nice one mate.. when u were learning ur tracks did u just mix like 10 vinyl untill u got to them all really well? i bought someones collection of 120 vinyl but i only been mixing like 15 of them at a time to try and learn it all or do u reckon its best to just get struck in with all of it rather than bit by bit?
 
some sound advice... i started on cheap stuff, makes you better in a way as you can mixing on something other than perfect! also, if you suck, you haven't invested loads of cash!
 
hyperd4eva said:
nice one mate.. when u were learning ur tracks did u just mix like 10 vinyl untill u got to them all really well? i bought someones collection of 120 vinyl but i only been mixing like 15 of them at a time to try and learn it all or do u reckon its best to just get struck in with all of it rather than bit by bit?
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Lol

Yeah mate, I was limited in what I could play with only 2% pitch either way on the old turntable. To make things worse it had very little torque, the platter was like a seesaw and I didn't have a slipmat. I had to use an old record as a slipmatt!

The good ol days! It taught me the basics though.

Luckily there's alot more on sale for beginners these days.
 
This leads me on to the question...
What do I get? I was thinking the STR180's however they are still a bit of a rinse :(

This question has been asked millions of times on this forum but I just need to know what people think. I need a pair of directs, in the range of £300-600. If the student loan don't come by christams im not going to get the STR180's and will need an alternative.
 
DdotP100 said:
This leads me on to the question...
What do I get? I was thinking the STR180's however they are still a bit of a rinse :(

This question has been asked millions of times on this forum but I just need to know what people think. I need a pair of directs, in the range of £300-600. If the student loan don't come by christams im not going to get the STR180's and will need an alternative.
Click to expand...

to be honest mate with that kind of budget u could prob pick up some 2nd hand technics. if u enjoy dj'ing u wont necessairly need to upgrade at a later stage and if u dont get on with it they would still have held their value if u decide to sell them on. thats what id do in ur situation anyway.
 
TBH if you think and honestly believe you will mix for a long period of time or will buy reocrds for a long period of time I sudjest wait for 1210s...you might as well learn on the same tables you will finish with and what every club uses.

Would say though...try both turntables and Cdjs (and serato if you can get hold of it) to see what you actually prefere to use, nothing worse than buying tables because its the coolest thing and then realising cdjs are for you or that you hate the price of vinyl... (at this pointserato comes into its own for the pros of boths platforms as anyone how has tried will find)
 
TeddyBizzle said:
to be honest mate with that kind of budget u could prob pick up some 2nd hand technics. if u enjoy dj'ing u wont necessairly need to upgrade at a later stage and if u dont get on with it they would still have held their value if u decide to sell them on. thats what id do in ur situation anyway.
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Yeah i suppose... but thats all I ever hear people go on about these days is technics. I mean I know its just an aesthetic thing but I like the straight arm and the way the STR180 looks. And as you say I wouldn't need to upgrade ect.

Just wondering if there was a cheaper alternative :confused:
 
TheGambit said:
I've been mixing DnB, Jungle and Old School Rave for 15 years now. I used to play at house parties but now I just do mix cd's and DJ for the odd student party.

I just thought I'd share my story of what I learnt to mix on.

I was 14 and my dad gave me his old HiFi and a 1980's belt drive turntable with a +/- 2% pitch control dial. I also had a 19" HiFi CD player with a pitch control slider made by a budget company called Synergy. I had no mixer! lol

I plugged the left phono in of the CD player, and the right phono of the turntable and switched the AMP to mono!

No monitor just my 2 channels thrown in at once, but after a short while I learnt to mix pretty good. Eventually after I finished school I bought some belt drives made by a company called Sherwood and bought a cheap ass mixer for £40 made by Soundlab.

I started work and eventually bought a couple of top end Gemini Direct Drives, quite decent decks for Gemini and I still have them upto this day.

I did loads of parties using those decks and never had any problems with them.

Basically what I'm trying to get at is if you're new to DJing you don't have to go out and rob a bank to buy CDJ1000's or Technics 1210's. Fair play to you if you can afford them, but if not just start on something within your budget and learn the basics of DJing, learn to beatmatch, learn how to build up a set, make sure you know your tracks etc.

I learnt to do these things long before I decided to spend a little extra on my equipment.

My advice to any new starters is to just buy what you can afford and learn the basics. You don't need to worry about the top of the range equipment just yet.
Click to expand...

You started around the same time as I did. I had a mate that had a pair of Soundlab DLP1600's. The one that had the +-4% pitch controls on the front. The mixer was a Soundlab DSM15. 1 word. AWFUL! It taught me the basics of beatmatching though. Making the step up to Technics was strange as the platter was so solid compared to the belt drive Soundlab's really wobbly platter.

soundlab1600.jpg
Mixer >>> http://img.audiofanzine.com/image.p...tifier=id&size=thumb2&lang=fr&product_id=9847
 
DdotP100 said:
Yeah i suppose... but thats all I ever hear people go on about these days is technics. I mean I know its just an aesthetic thing but I like the straight arm and the way the STR180 looks. And as you say I wouldn't need to upgrade ect.

Just wondering if there was a cheaper alternative :confused:
Click to expand...

Theres a reason everyone goes on about technics and if you owned any other table then switch youd think yourself a fool for not listening in the first place.

Straight arms are a fad, they cause excessive needle/vinyl wear and when set up delicatly so they dont the headshell is unbalanced.

Second hand techincs £300
New decent mixer £80 - 100

Job done, unless you need

New needles £60
Serato SL1 second hand £200
Headphones HD-25 II £120

The most basic good setup could cost as little as £500 if you do it right
 
Gloxxy said:
You started around the same time as I did. I had a mate that had a pair of Soundlab DLP1600's. The one that had the +-4% pitch controls on the front. The mixer was a Soundlab DSM15. 1 word. AWFUL! It taught me the basics of beatmatching though. Making the step up to Technics was strange as the platter was so solid compared to the belt drive Soundlab's really wobbly platter.
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ha ha, i had those tables. i think ive still got them somewhere, those and my old soundlab dlp3's. they were both shit but i didn;t know much better when i was 14!
 
Mixed advice really i think.

Ok yeah, if you cant afford it fair enough. But more often than not saving for that bit longer and investing up front will save you alot in the long run.

Im not saying wait till you can afford 1210s and a Xone, but spending an extra £100 on a mixer up front can save you forking out an extra £300 when the old one breaks (as i learnt with my fantastically short relationship with Behringer).

But yeah, don't let money stop you if you wanna start mixing, crack on. Just remember practice is the key :)

EDIT: At looking as a post on the last page i realised i had forgotten something. Second hand is another way to go, 1210s if looked after will have a much longer life span than most of the rest of the market. A second hand pair is quite often cheaper than other decks new anyway, so thats always worth checking out.
 
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Yeh second hand 1210s you can get for around £300 for a pair. In comparison to buyin a brand new pair of stantons. Worth your money and time going for the second hand technics. Had mine for well over a year and still in perfect condition.
 
Nick-ep said:
Yeh second hand 1210s you can get for around £300 for a pair. In comparison to buyin a brand new pair of stantons. Worth your money and time going for the second hand technics. Had mine for well over a year and still in perfect condition.
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same here, id settle for no other
 
D Double U said:
Theres a reason everyone goes on about technics and if you owned any other table then switch youd think yourself a fool for not listening in the first place.

Straight arms are a fad, they cause excessive needle/vinyl wear and when set up delicatly so they dont the headshell is unbalanced.

Second hand techincs £300
New decent mixer £80 - 100

Job done, unless you need

New needles £60
Serato SL1 second hand £200
Headphones HD-25 II £120

The most basic good setup could cost as little as £500 if you do it right
Click to expand...

The deals are out there.. Got my 2 technics 1210's with mint condition numark dxm 09 (rrp 250 at the time) for 280quid lol.

Then just get yourself some speakers and your sorted! Oh and vinyl, but you don't need much
 
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