How do you do this with CDs?

[Minty Rust]

Hi

Im thinking about to start mixing with CDs and mixer but without laptop.
How do you guys do this? Do you burn one song on one CD or do you put like 10 songs on one CD and flick trough them?

peace.

 

[duttymonster]

so you have the hardware to mix from one disc to the other?

if i was planning a mix specifically i would put the odd number tracks (1,3,5,7 etc) on one CD and the even number tracks (2,4,6,8 etc)
on another.

or you can change cd for each mix if your tracks are on all different CD's.

seems like an odd question though :\

 

[Sicx]

Im guessing you mean you're using CDJs and wanna know how many tracks you put on each disc?

If so, (i dont use CDJs) but i think its just 1 track per cd

 

[muzzadj]

Personal prefference. I do about 5 per CD.. There's been a thread on this fairly recently so give it a search

 

[ilovelondon]

Personal prefference. I do about 5 per CD.. There's been a thread on this fairly recently so give it a search

more than one actually. And it's a useless topic too, everyone has his own preferences...

You can cram as much tunes as you can on one disc then copy it. If you've got more than 1 tune per disc, you most likely will need to copy it.
Because if tune A is on disc 1 and so is tune B, you'll never be able to mix A with B, because disc 1 is already in a player.

So, use whatever you want, it won't make a difference. What tunes to group on a cd is a different discussion that's more interesting... Do you sort them at time of purchase, genre, ... ?

 

[Minty Rust]

I know its a stupid question, I just wanted to hear some preferences so I can try what you do.^^
No I dont have the hardware yet, but Ill buy a DJM 700 and two CDJ 850s soon.

 

[ilovelondon]

you don't really need cds then, can use usb/harddisk too with those...

You're sure you wanna start dj'ing with a setup that costs that much btw?

 

[Minty Rust]

Yeah Im pretty sure its going to be a "durable" hobby. But if I recognize in some months it was a wrong move, I still can sell it because you can sell Pioneer equip at more or less the same price you bought it. (sure it depends on how old it is)

But why are you asking? What do you recommend me?

peace

 

[ilovelondon]

well, not more than the original price - lol - but they have a good resale value yes.

I just asked to know if you're sure. Because it's a lot of money, and obsessive listening to the music, passionatly learning and reading about mixing and equipment is a lot different from mixing.
Don't be too sure about what you think, if you'll have 2000 to 3000 pounds worth of equipment in your bedroom and realise it's not really what you thought it would be you'll feel terrible.

Not to scare you off or something, but just be sure that you know what you're buying. It's not only 2 players and a mixer. You will begin with hooking it up on your hifi, next thing you gonna want monitors or amp and passive speakers, good headphones, buying (more) tunes, ... So even if you're sure about what you want and you can afford the players + mixer, take the extra costs in mind.

 

[Minty Rust]

Well I have already Sennheiser HD 25 1 and KRK Rokit speakers, but I really understand what you mean.
I think its better to buy good equip first, than buying cheap stuff for 300£ and after 3 months you realise you need like "more professionell" stuff and cant resale it because its a cheap brand.

Well, I do listen to dubstep and drum and bass obsessively, passionatly learning and reading about mixing and equipment. So what do you think mixing is connected to in your opinion? What does someone need to like or be able to mix?

cheers.

 

[ilovelondon]

You're right with the good vs cheap stuff.

You can't really connect mixing to anything but the music though. Reading about the equipment is a lot different than mixing is what i'm trying to say. I've seen people obsessed with the material and it's possibilities, and are absolutely stoked when they get their first setup, but it's more everything around the mixing (the feedback from people, being 'the hero' at the party, the hardware, ...) that had their interest and not the mixing itself...

I don't know man, i sense you're into it and will make it your hobby like you say, so this will probably not be a problem for you. Leaves us to the equip. Nothing wrong with what you pick, pioneers are industry standard. But what if you've been mixing for half a year and realise you'd enjoy it more if you were mixing vinyl? You've got a lot of money into the pioneers at that moment. Money you could spend on second handed technics and a good amount vinyl (seeing you will be able to score two technics for the price of one pioneer cdj 850).

This, you can only learn from trying it out. Find someone that uses vinyl, find someone that uses cd. And when you try it, don't just spin it for 15 mins. Spin until you've got the feeling of the equipment in your fingers. Then you will really know what you prefer, and what to buy.

It's a lot of money, so it's vital to think this through.

Hope i've helped you out with this, not scared ya too much.

 

[Minty Rust]

I guess I will have problems at first and it will make me angry but I know myself, that I stick to something I want to learn. For example Reason 4, when I first opened the software and saw the interface/ layout I was like "WTF!!??" and was totally demotivated, but I kept learning and watching tutorials and now after months I get most of the basics to produce a proper song.

And no you dont scare me, I really appreciate that you try to help me!

In my opinion Vinyls dont come into consideration, although Ive never tried to mix with vinyls. I like that its keeping up the "flair" of old school and the first generation.
But in my opinion it is pretty expensive to buy the vinyls and to store/ care them properly, especially because I live here in Switzerland and the DnB scene isnt that big, so I had to import all the vinyls from UK or other countries. Also a lot of sick tunes have only a cd or even an only digital release.

cheers.

 

[ilovelondon]

Could take a dvs - digital vinyl simulator - system like traktor scratch or serato in thought too. That fixes every downside on vinyl you just mentioned. The difference with vinyl is the feeling. Touching the platter, the music that is spinning. With a cdj, it's all a bit artificial.

I've bought a setup too quite recently. I've bought cd players and traktor scratch pro (because of the 50% discount NI did in december). The cdjs are fine, and good to learn on (once you've got them sync, they stay in sync, it's more accurate than vinyl) but i'm already considering purchasing turntables this summer or so, just because i love the feel of vinyl and seeing the platter spinning a lot more than an artificial cd player. I don't know mate, your choice. Cdjs isn't a bad choice to learn on. You could do it like me, learn on cdjs, when you feel the time is right get two turntables (and possibly a DVS system).

 

[duttymonster]

IMO CD's will be obsolete in a matter of months. go the MP3 route - vestax VCI 300 or Traktor Kontrol.

 

[DBazza]

As far as the "Tracks per CD" debate goes, I personally prefer about 8; that way I don't spend too long searching the CD for the track I want once it's in the CDJ, but likewise I don't spend ages searching through my CD wallet in the same way you might if you had only 1 or 2 per disc. It's a nice balance and it works for me. Also gives me room to properly get down all the info I want on each track (name, key, length of intro/1st drop/breakdown) on the little piece of paper that accompanies each CD.

Another thing to think about when debating between buying cheap vs buying expensive for your first set of gear...something that I've found with learning to mix as well as most of the instruments I've learned to play to a good standard, is that if you start out learning on an absolute shitter, and you can get to a reasonable standard on that, then when you actually get round to playing on or buying a better quality, more expensive one, you'll sound loads better almost overnight. Case in point: I started learning guitar when I was about 8 on a shitty Tesco electric and painstakingly put the hours into learning chords, scales, licks, etc. for about 3 years before I got the chance to play on a Gibson SG - and everything was so much easier, faster, cleaner, better sounding because of it. I guess it's like if you learn to drive well in a shitty old car with no power steering, rubbish handling and awful brakes, and then get behind the wheel of a brand new BMW 5 series, you'll feel like such a better driver already. Even if it is just a placebo effect, it works for me!