djs - how did you get started?

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Someone said I had some good records and I should play them at their club. I did, then I did some other club nights (punk/alt/50s 60s garage).

It's just playing records.

Then I got older and only played 80s hits in oz joints etc. I don't do it anymore, but that's because nobody asks me to.


I'm guessing you mean disco techno party mixing though, which I know zero about.

 

[jodal]

I started mixing at Uni. Had two housemates with decks so started buying records. Last year of uni I bought some decks and pretty much haven't DJ'd since. Still buying records though for some silly reason.

 

[Skim]

It will all be Ableton Live in a few years.

Get ahead of the game.

But doesn't it require that you bring your own laptop?

 

[Brother Mouzone]

Yes but surely a laptop, midi controller and sound card with dual stereo routing costs a bit less than 2 CDJ's and a decent mixer.

 

[tufty79]

yeah, but everywhere i've played has had its own decks of reasonable quality..

 

[Skim]

I wouldn't start out DJing on Ableton, though – it'll be a long, long time before everyone's using it (if indeed they do, I don't think vinyl's going to die for a while yet).

I'm interested to have a go on Ableton, but I'm happy mixing with CDJs and turntables for the time being, in much the same way I enjoy driving a manual transmission car rather than an automatic. I like to feel I'm putting some work into the mixing rather than let a program do it for me.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Physical media is dead.

Get yourself Ableton live and learn it

For 4/4 dance stuff it's ok, for anything else what's the point?

Vinyl and CDs will be around for a long time yet.

 

[ramjamclub]

The oldest ex-DJ on Urban

Hold your breath now for a story of a DJ who started in the year 1965.
17 at the time and started as record finder. That's someone who finds the 45 rpm single to be played next, in a large box of 300 45's.
Most of the singles had their lables obsured to stop rival dJ's playing our tunes. So they had codes on the sleeves
The equipment we used would now be in a DJ museum.
Big handbuilt sound system. 2 or 3 Wharfdale 12" bass speakers built into massive sound boxes. Took 2 lads to lift one speaker. The sound system was copied from the Jamaican dj's systems which were popular at the time.
It was a single mono turntable and the trick was to take the record which had finished playing get the next record playing without to much of a pause.
Dual decks didn't get introduced untill around 1968. We'd rent a pub and charge at the door about 3 shillings = 15p. Didn't have beats to mix but had to chant or toast on the microphone over the record. Played U.S.A. soul imports and SKA bought from record shops in Brixton. The radio never played this music so it was underground and therefore cool and ultra hip. Played in pubs and clubs in South London and Kent. Look back at these days with fond memories. The public was Mods, Jamaicans and older hip types.
Have still got the records gathering dust in the attic.

 

[Brother Mouzone]

yeah, but everywhere i've played has had its own decks of reasonable quality..

But then how to you practice.

 

[Brother Mouzone]

I wouldn't start out DJing on Ableton, though – it'll be a long, long time before everyone's using it (if indeed they do, I don't think vinyl's going to die for a while yet).

I'm interested to have a go on Ableton, but I'm happy mixing with CDJs and turntables for the time being, in much the same way I enjoy driving a manual transmission car rather than an automatic. I like to feel I'm putting some work into the mixing rather than let a program do it for me.

OK Live doesn't "Do it for you" as far as mixing is concerned.

It's true, Live DJ's don’t need to know how to beat match. What they do need to know, however, is how to warp their audio tracks correctly otherwise they’re going to sound just like a regular DJ train wrecking. While you get to get away from the need to beat match with Ableton, warping tracks is a chore in itself, is a learned skill and is tricky and frustrating at first, a bit like beat matching.

But once you've mastered it, then you are free to be much more creative with your set's rather than just "mixing".

Ableton Live fucking rocks!

 

[Brother Mouzone]

For 4/4 dance stuff it's ok, for anything else what's the point?

Sorry I don't understand this question, if your DJ regardless of genre, surely it's all about content (the tunes you play), what's the point? So you can bring your music to the masses, surely the medium in which you do this with is irrelevant?

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Sorry I don't understand this question, if your DJ regardless of genre, surely it's all about content (the tunes you play), why would you only use one medium one genre.

If you are playing out tunes that don't need beatmatching, whats the point of Live? Just play the original 45s, rather than shite mp3s.

 

[Apathy]

ever since 'pump up the volume' and terminator x out of PE ive wanted decks, had to wait till i was 18 tho can remember buying DJ and mixmag just for the adverts with pics of decks and looking at em in school listening to my walkman sort of looking like this fookin wierdo

 

[Skim]

OK Live doesn't "Do it for you" as far as mixing is concerned.

It's true, Live DJ's don’t need to know how to beat match. What they do need to know, however, is how to warp their audio tracks correctly otherwise they’re going to sound just like a regular DJ train wrecking. While you get to get away from the need to beat match with Ableton, warping tracks is a chore in itself, is a learned skill and is tricky and frustrating at first, a bit like beat matching.

But once you've mastered it, then you are free to be much more creative with your set's rather than just "mixing".

Ableton Live fucking rocks!

I went to a club night last night where, for the first time, not one DJ was using turntables. Half of them were mixing CDs and the others with Ableton.

I'm giving it a whirl because loads of people are raving about it, but at first glance I can't work out how to warp tracks properly.

Someone told me last night that you can mix different elements of a track, like the kick drum or the bassline or whatever. I don't see how Ableton is clever enough to strip down a pre-recorded song like that though

 

[Brother Mouzone]

I went to a club night last night where, for the first time, not one DJ was using turntables. Half of them were mixing CDs and the others with Ableton.

I'm giving it a whirl because loads of people are raving about it, but at first glance I can't work out how to warp tracks properly.

Someone told me last night that you can mix different elements of a track, like the kick drum or the bassline or whatever. I don't see how Ableton is clever enough to strip down a pre-recorded song like that though

The best guide I have found for warping is: -

http://www.vinkalmann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=1&id=1&Itemid=2

It took me a few weeks to get the hang of it, but once you've got it, you've got it, if you see what I mean? Kind of like riding a bike

 

[ed]

I went to a club night last night where, for the first time, not one DJ was using turntables. Half of them were mixing CDs and the others with Ableton.

I'm giving it a whirl because loads of people are raving about it, but at first glance I can't work out how to warp tracks properly.

Someone told me last night that you can mix different elements of a track, like the kick drum or the bassline or whatever. I don't see how Ableton is clever enough to strip down a pre-recorded song like that though

no, ableton can't do that on its own. you'd have to have the different elements to begin with.

my personal gripe with ableton is that because the DJ doesn't have to beatmatch, they are free to spend much more time pissing about with other stuff, and therefore do so. i saw francois K last year spend so much time messing about with filters it completely ruined his set.

anyway

to the original poster

get some cheap turntables! go and spend £150-odd on some second hand decks and mixer, and then go down hmv and get a few of those 3 for a tenner records. doesn't really matter which genre. i wouldn't go straight for 1210s as firstly they really are an investment, and if you decide you're not really into it then you're left with some expensive kit, and 2ndly if you can mix on cheap shite decks you can mix on anything - the biggest problem you will encounter when DJing in clubs is poor equipment, and if you've only ever had a perfect setup in your bedroom then you'll completely flounder when faced with something substandard.

vinyl is indeed on its way out but i think it has some legs in it yet. there will be a few smaller labels going bust over the next 12 months but then we'll see a dead cat bounce of sorts, as their sales are passed on over to the big boys. it's not all doom and gloom just yet - having spoken to a few labels lately, some have seen a 40% drop in vinyl sales over the last 18 months, but some have remained steady for 3 years or more.....

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

i started djing about 12 years ago. i mucked about with stantons, then technics, i helped put on parties so i got some gigs, i met some fucking cool people and it went from there

 

[Dhimmi]

Uncle Dave's wedding, We are family packed em out...

 

[DJWrongspeed]

funny thread, thinking back to how i started my setup was 2 minidiscs & 3 CD walkmans on a behringer mixer (soundesk) but then i was running an ambient/electronica type club with big oceans of squelchy effluent flying around, it worked fine.

Some years later i returned from a long trip abroad and just thought i've got to learn this beat matching shit, took me ages but well worth it. Always remember DJing at home / DJ in club, completely different things

 

[lunatrick]

one thing that playing in your bedroom doesn't prepare you for is how loud it is in clubs - some of your tunes will sound completely different....

as far as ableton goes - I don't see the point djing with it - why not use something like this :-

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Conectiv-main.html

where you control tracks on your laptop with a deck - at least it still has some of the skill and visually looks so much better than somebody checking their email - I mean sorry djing with live! The interesting thing about the above setup is that you only need one deck - you mix it in and then at some point switch the deck to your other track on your laptop and then mix that in - genius! I was in a record shop the the day where they were setting it up and there was zero latency - it was just like scratching with a real record.

 

[DJWrongspeed]

if it's a really good party it doesn't matter how the music's being made, but the truth is mixing on a laptop looks boring as shit, unless your Duran Duran Duran or Aaron Spectre or some breackcore nuttah avnit goin mental with those nobs.

Analogue ain't dead , there's also a tendency for Ableton sets to mess around with the music more than is strictly necessary and thus ruining the tracks. Same with an artists material , sometimes people over mashitup when all people wanna do is dance.