So you want to start DJing?

I’ve been meaning to write about DJing on here too so when a friend asked me what he needed to buy to start DJing this morning, I figured that was a good enough place and reason to start. I usually get this question about once a year randomly so I’ve become accustomed to dishing out this rant in various forms. When I started DJing around 1999 you needed the following to be taken seriously anywhere: 2 Technics 1200SL turntables and a mixer. To do anything worth a damn you needed a serious mixer like the Pioneer DJM-500 (what I have) too. From there the next biggest expense was in records, they all cost $10 a piece and you needed a whole box of them to piece together a set. They were heavy and hard to find at that.

Today the world of electronic music is much different. Digital DJing is now the norm almost anywhere you go. Even the DJs that are using vinyl are just using it to control mp3s/wavs on software. The average club DJ is probably doing just that, and probably just because it looks cool. Unless you plan on doing heavy turntablism (scratching), this too is probably on its way out.

In developing nations a very interesting phenomenon occurred in regards to their adoption of phones. Countries that never had massive infrastructure investments in land lines but quickly found themselves in a growth situation that lead to more people wanting phones ended up skipping a technology generation. Instead of first putting down telephone poles and running wire, it was easier and cheaper for them to slap up cell phone towers and sell people cell phones. Some people in these countries may never have had a land line telephone but now own a cell phone. Are they worse off because they never had a land line? Not really, and either will you be if you skip the whole vinyl generation.

Digital DJing revolves around using a laptop (or any computer really) to do all the heavy lifting: playing songs, moving back and forth, effects, cuing. Because the burden of smooth playback falls on the laptop you need something with decent horsepower in order to keep the music flowing smoothly. If you’ve been to any  bar or club with a DJ lately the prevalence of Macbooks, especially Macbook Pros is undeniable in this role. They look slick, are simple to use, and come standard with enough power for DJing. Since I actually like to do other things with my laptop, I went with a brand new Windows 7 computer. Which ever brand you go with, you need to have at least a dual core processor (over 2 ghz), preferably 4 gigs of RAM, and a hard drive large enough for your music collection (I would go with a 7200 RPM or SSD hard drive if you have the choice to make accessing those files quick).

Although you can just use a laptop with software, the interface limits of having to mouse around a screen to move knobs and click buttons is way to slow for mainstream action, and that’s where you’re headed right? For this you need something called a controller. This is an external interface with shiny buttons and knobs that match up with the buttons and knobs in the software. Want to kill the bass in a channel? Bam! It’s done! Want to scratch? No problemo! Even better: not having to mouse around looking for the right button since it’s all in front of you.

Personally my favorite interface right now is the VCI-100. This is a solid piece of kit and because it’s a widely used device there is a ton of community support and after market mods available for it. If you’re just getting started this is probably the way to go unless you want to dive head first into Ableton Live, which leads us to…

Software!

Here are three main players in the digital DJing software world right now: Traktor Pro, Ableton Live and Serato Itch. Although at a basic level, they can all do the same thing, they tend to skew towards certain use scenarios in the places they really shine. Personally I prefer Traktor Pro. This is probably the most popular piece of DJing software but I cannot confirm that with any hard numbers. Traktor Pro uses 2 to 4 decks (songs that can be playing at the same time) and a three effect rack for each deck. Traktor’s popularity in the digital DJ world is probably due mostly to its very strong ability to set and play cue points and loops. So, for example, you could cue up 4 different phrases of a song and then play them in different orders using the push of a button to remix the song live. If this sounds like all you really want to do then you may want to look at Ableton Live instead.

Ableton is much more producer focused than DJ focused. You can’t actually scratch songs like you can in Traktor but you can have a near limitless number of tracks and loops ready for instant play. Effects are much more advanced and customizable than in the other programs and you can even use third-party plug-ins. Although Ableton is much more powerful, it is serious business and will probably take a little while longer to learn. Once you learn it though, the sky is pretty much the limit with what you can do in the program.

Lastly there is Serato Itch. I don’t know much about this software as I’ve never used it but my general take has been that people using Serato like it for its ability to interface with traditional vinyl systems. Serato also seems to lag behind Traktor on the loops and effects section but this may not be the case any more. Check it out for yourself if you’re interested.

Now, all new laptops come with a headphone jack, which works for casual media consumption but for DJing you absolutely need an external sound card. You need this for two reasons. First, external sound cards take the burden of processing all the audio off of your computer’s CPU, which is already busy figuring out what this audio should sound like. Second, laptops only come with one audio output. If you want to listen to song B while song A is playing over the speakers to make sure it will blend well, you need a jack for your headphones as well as the output to the speakers. Personally I use the Audio 4 DJ because it is made by the same people who make Traktor and well, it looks great in my all silver setup. To find the best card for you I highly recommend looking at this article.

Putting it all together

The components above will give you the means necessary to get started but don’t even scratch the surface on how. For this the best thing to do is to continue reading everything you can online and then consult with other DJs that have been at their act for some time. With the growth of the field happening at light speed thanks to technology learning the art of digital music is always a moving target. Stay current by following online resources. For me Dj Tech Tools has been a great source for new information and tips and tricks. At the end of the day you won’t be able to read yourself into being a good DJ any more than I could read my way into being an oak tree, to really pick this up you’re going to have to practice extensively and find your own style. After all, the people who make it in the DJ world are the ones innovating and not the ones following.

Addional Notes/Accessories

In addition to the core setup listed above, there are tons of accessories that will make your life easier.

• Pick up a good set of headphones to help preview your songs.
• Make sure you have a nice set of speakers to actually play your music on. I just use some consumer grade Klipsch speakers but if you want to be a one man mobile party, pick up a couple powered speakers to blow your neighbors away.
• Don’t forget to hit up Radio Shack for the thousands of cables you’ll need. RCA cables and USB cables will be key.
• Get a padded bag to carry the gear in!
• Most Importantly: Find a good source for your music. If you’re using MP3s they need to be the highest possible quality. Downloading some pop songs off of limewire is going to get you garbage files that sound fine on your iPod but sound horrible over real speakers. There are plenty of sources out there like Beatport that will sell you high quality songs. At least you’re not having to buy records at $10/song…