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Tópico: need guidance...

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I've looking into becoming a dj as a hobby, and possibly moving on to mobile DJing. Ive been looking at DJing videos for literally months.. I am 16 right now and my budget is around 1000 $ (worked at meijer as a cart boy, so this is honest money). I am interested in turntables, specifically the technics sl 1200 series, because of all the amazing things ive heard about them, so im pretty much set on these. I am planning to mix house, hip hop, and rnb. Althought its a big hasssle to set up the turntables, i dont have money for high end hybrid turntables.

Now my question is, what would be the best value mixer to buy? possibly under 100.
Should I buy the Maya 44 as a sound card for my PC or Laptop? Will this method work 100% with the technics?? In case i do go mobile, will this method be viable? ( Sound quality AND RELIABILITY ?? )? Is the sound quality decent anyway ?

Please, i need some guidance from you good people. What do you guys think?
 
Mensajes Sat 30 May 09 @ 1:27 am
buy yourself a total control and mini $10.00 sound card that should get you started then go from there. just my two cents
 
Just My Opinion:
1- $1000 is not going to get you the equipment you are talking about.
2- Tec 12s are a heavy duty piece of machinery, very nice to learn on, but not absolutely necessary and very expensive.
3- Mobile Djs would rather be as compact as possible, moving equipment around can be a pain!

What I recomend.
Buy yourself a decent laptop, remove all the trial software and crap that comes with them and dedicate it just for the DJing.
Buy yourself a software controller, such as the RMX, as it comes with a limited version of VDJ and its already a soundcard, you are almost set.
You might need to rent stuff like lights, speakers and amps wich you may be able to afford with the deposit for a gig.

As you grow in the business you can look into buying beter equipment such as the tec 12s (they are too heavy for mobile djing in my opinion, i preffer cdjs)

Hope it helps, PM me if i can be of any assistance, Cheers! oh wait no cheers, you are too young to drink... lol
 
Used MKIIs will run you about 400 dollars a piece with some luck. A mixer under 100 will definately work,but problem is, if you get into it, you're gonna want finer stuff down the line. Also, a tip is to take a trip to an instrument shop and work from there, stuff has got to feel right too.

Maya 44 is a totally viable card, there's stuff that's a lot better, yes. And it works completely fine with 1200s.

Rasza is right, 1000 bucks is not gonna do it. Try beardugo's tip instead, that sounds a lot more reasonable. No need in spending a lot of money on soundcards and TTs if you find out later it's not your thing. DJing is practice, practice and more practice.
 
where are you located? if you are in Houston area pm me

I assume like most teenagers you do have a laptop already, it might not be good enough for djiing , but if is 3 years or newer with an hdd and ram upgrade you might be ok - then you might want to partition your drive and install a dual boot copy of xp on it, then you could use the fresh install for your dj needs and the other install for your teenager needs :)

for the music that you want to play you'd need to learn how to scratch and to do it well you need good gear - you might find a bargain on craigslist because most of the djs now are dumping the tts - but also you might want to look for some numark ttx that should do the job

do you see yourself playing in clubs in the future?
- clubs are using cdj(pioneer cdj 1000) or 1200s
- as of today the only controller that has a chance to become a standard in clubs is the numark ns7( you might want to look in to it, if you try hard you might get one for $1000 or a little more over, just call a dj gear dealer as northernlightfx.com or be on the look out on ebay)

just for mobile gigs a controller as m-audio xponent should be fine, you can scratch with it but doesn't feel like vinyl.
the rmx was mentioned before and I agree is the best entry solution, you can't get a better bundle for$300 but wasn't designed for scratching by itself but you can connect tts or cd tts to it and use time code vinyl or tccd

so what I would get for $1000 if a laptop is not needed
new rmx $300
used amp –craigslist crown xti1000 around $200
used pair of Peavey pr15speakers(sometimes they will come with cables) $300
used pair of tts (not 1200s) or cd velocity by American audio $200
or
new numark virtual vinyl $400 or used rane serato sl1
used pioneer djm 500 mixer $350
2x used tts (numark ttx) $250

with the first gear set you can practice, get down your set, book few gigs and save the money towards better gear
the second set it will sound better and will be more pro like
 
Yes I already have a decent laptop that is 2 years old, and I pretty much know my computer knowledge (I'm a big computer geek). The thing about mobile DJing is that I have a friend which has like 3-4 parties every week, and they have all the audio i suppose, in terms of speakers and lights. Shes a really good friend and she said that she can hook me up as soon as i'm ready (and she keeps nagging me to buy my gear already). I dont know if you can call this truely Mobile... i read that other DJs just bring theyr mixer and turntables in clubs for example.

I had in mind that i will buy my turntables, mixer, and all the others.. practice on them, then when i feel ready, give it a go at a place like this. In terms of gigs i am over-hooked up so thats set, if I start DJing,

Now i only need to know some decent mixer under 100 , such as the DM2050.

I was also thinking about turntables such as Stanton, but its a real turn-off when i see reviews that say low toruque.
 
As for stantons, not exactly a bad choice for starters. Hook yourself up with a pair of at least t.80s and get a pair of really slippery mats to go with 'em, with some practice, shouldn't be a problem.

As for mixer, you'd probably be better off going to a store and trying out everything in the price-range. At least my style involves a lot of fiddling with knobs and faders, and it just wouldn't work if it didn't feel comfortable.
 
yes but its more expensive in the store then online, thats why i should look for the best ones online, and go in the store and just try them. Or am I wrong?
 
Well obviously, if you've got a very good deal online.

But, buying online you should always make sure it is a authorized seller and the product isn't fake, so you can have warranties and all that if things go wrong.
 
You could get a VCI 300 on Ebay for 699.
 
I agree ^^

When I first wanted to get into the whole mobile DJ vibe, I was also all set on big hardware like TTs and such. But my budget forced me to go the controller route...

5 years later since the early VDJ days, I still havnt found the need to upgrade from my DAC-3 :P I've costumized the crap out of it and it's incredibly efficeint for mobile setups, and responds perfectly everytime. That plus a small mixer (Ecler NUO-3) has since been popped into a custom coffin I made out of scrap wood and black material finish and does a good job on protecting all the hardware. Plus they also serve to save time by keeping everything (including the laptop) pre-connected so all you have to do is plug in power and the amp box and you're 2 mins away from a sound check.

So dude, my suggestion is start off small. At the end of the day, it's what the crowd hears. You'll get more out of doing a good job sooner on a controller than having to learn the ins and outs of turntabilism. Besides, TTs are more suited for clubs and not mobile if you dont have a good coffin (and they don't come cheap either), and they weigh a hell of a lot for a 16 year old as well :P (trust me, I know this from experience)
 
djmondy21 wrote :
I was also thinking about turntables such as Stanton, but its a real turn-off when i see reviews that say low toruque.


You might want to consider getting your basic stuff in order before concerning yourself with TT torque. That is in fact mostly nonsense and for everyday DJing irrelevant. From what I read here you have no real idea where to go with this.

Why do you want to buy turntables anyway? IMO you would be much better off with a set of Pioneer CDJ400s. Oh and do not forget to actually buy VDJ.. With a budget of $1000 though you will come up short as VDJ alone is $299 and $700 is not gonna get you a decent set of gear besides the software IMO
 
If you go the tt route a cheap mxer is not going to cut it.
I personaly prefer one with a good sampler for mixing vinyl but that is not as relevant if you are going to use VDJ.
Also experience tought me to choose my mixers with at least 4 channels, but you can get by with two for start.
You should go to scratchworx.com and check outtheir battle mixers reviews, then try to snatch a used one at a good deal, but you should not hope to get a good mixer under $100
 
I want to go for TTs because i really like the fell of them. The whole history and style really attracts me. I tried out the CDJ 400 and i wasnt too enthusiastic about it. Turntables just seem more durable, i have a thing for durable objects. But you might be right, CDJ would be a lot better for mobile set-ups, since it is obviously easier to set up, and i wouldn't necessarily need the maya 44 for VDJ.

I already included the price of VDJ in my budget, so my budget for gear is 1000$. And the places i might do gigs at already have the aduio and lights.

I was also taking a look at the Denon CDJs.

So is the numark DM 2050 a decent mixer?
 
The 2050 isn't exactly heavy duty from what I hear. If you're gonna use the faders a lot, you should probably consider moving up a bit.
 
@ DJ Mondy 21. For 1000 bucks, you can get a great used setup. you can buy 2 used technics 1200's for 400-500 bucks with needles. You can get a good mixer for 100-200 bucks. The serato Box for 375. All this on Craigslist.com I shop here all the time and i buy and sell alot of stuff.
 
You can put custom faders.. i dont know if that makes a difference. Do you have any suggestions

And the technics 1200 mk2 are about 400 something brand new.
 
cdj 400 is no 1000, maybe an 800 gets closer to what ppl are naming a "cdj"
tt looks durable, but in fact they are very delicate and sensitive piece of equipment.
anyway if you like durable things you shouldn't look at numark.
most of my numark mixers had or developed problems, I'm not saying that are terible, but is down the list all the way there with gemini and behringer - entry level - the problem is that bad habits are hard to fix and if you learn on week gear...
anyway for your application if you have to go with a numark try the pro sm1 or pro smx
my motto is : "I'm too poor to buy cheap things"
 
What brand of mixer would you recommend then?
 
ive ben looking into the denon 3500s , i like them. What do you guys think ?
 


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