video djing | Digital DJ Tips

December 20th, 2012 Reviews

MixVibes Video Plug-In Review

by Phil Morse

With MixVibes Video, CrossDJ and Cross gets video capability for the first time. It’s a system-completing addition to an already good package.

Nowadays a growing number of DJs are incorporating video into their sets. The MixVibes Video Plug-in is an add-on for MixVibes’s respected Cross and CrossDJ software programs, that brings video to these DJ platforms for the first time.

Like the Serato Video plugin for Serato Scratch Live and Serato DJ, and like Virtual DJ‘s built-in video capabilities, the MixVibes Video Plug-In is designed to let DJs play, mix and scratch video files using the same workflow they’re used to with audio. Read our MixVibes Video Plug-In review to see if it’s for you…

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September 16th, 2012 Training

How Can I Add Visuals On The TV Behind Our DJ Booth?

by Phil Morse

Getting some visuals going behind you can make your DJ performance more exciting, and if there’s a screen there already, why not? But today our reader asks: How?

“Digital DJ Tips forum reader EpicDJ writes: “OK, so next weekend friends and I are throwing a ‘Naughty School Girl’ back-to-school party at his condo. We are going to be setting me up in front of the LCD TV that is on the wall, and were thinking it would be cool to have some type of visuals going in the background on the TV, or even perhaps, a mirror of my screen via the Apple TV? I am running Lion and using Traktor Pro 2.5 on a MacBook Pro.

“Is there an app that I could use that would stream some type of visuals to the TV via Apple TV? Or would I be able to mirror my MacBook screen onto the TV with the Apple TV without losing my screen on the laptop? Or is there other software or solutions you can think of that could help us to get some kind of visuals from the computer to the screen?”

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April 19th, 2012 Training

Video DJing, Part 8: 5 Further Steps For New VJs

by Phil Morse

VJ Anyone throws his stuff onto the big screen. If you've been inspired to have a go at video DJing, here are some resources to help you take it further.

If you’re a DJ who wants to add videos, visuals, logos or other VJ components to your DJing, and you’ve followed this eight-part series, you’ll be in a good position now to know roughly where you want to go next with this. (Not been following? Go to the start and read it in its entirety now!)

So today for the final part (before moving on to reviewing the gear in depth over the coming weeks and months), we want to give you five resources that we hope will help you to firm up your own personal vision of where you want to take this.

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April 11th, 2012 Training

Video DJing, Part 7: Getting Work As A Video DJ

by Phil Morse

Sports bars, with their ready-fitted projector and screen systems, can be a great place to throw a party and show off your video DJ skills.

Smart DJs reading this series have probably already realised that video DJing could potentially be a leg-up into the highly competitive world of “normal” DJing, especially if you can’t or don’t want to make your own music or promote your own events as a way of getting noticed.

In this week’s penultimate article in our video DJing series, we’re going to talk about how to get work as a video DJ. Paying gigs are paying gigs, and once you’re out there doing it, opportunities will open up for you to take this where you want to go.

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March 28th, 2012 Training

Video DJing, Part 5: What Hardware To Use

by Phil Morse

Serato launched Serato Video with Fatboy Slim at the helm this week: Bit by bit, video DJing is hitting the mainstream.

Last week we looked at what software to use for video DJing. (Since then, Serato has officially launched Serato Video, and another Serato-compatible package we didn’t cover but perhaps should have, MixEmergency, has also had a major upgrade. Just so you know!)

This week we’ll turn our attention to hardware. As we’re looking at digital, as always our aim is to keep hardware to a minimum, and also you won’t be surprised to learn that the most important thing – and thus where we’re going to begin – is your laptop.

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March 13th, 2012 Training

Video DJing, Part 3: Why You Should Take The Digital Route

by Phil Morse

VFX Control from MixVibes: A thoroughly modern video DJing software/hardware combination that doesn't cost the earth but packs in features that would have set you back tens of thousands just a few years back.

While video or visual DJing has been around for a while, it won’t surprise you to learn that, just like with audio DJing, the arrival of digital is really shaking things up.

In this week’s instalment of our eight-part video DJing series, we’re going to show you how we got to where we are today, and why digital offers you the simplest, cheapest and most powerful way to get started. (And that goes for whether you’re wanting to use video to add something extra to your DJ sets in the shape of effects, branding, live camera feeds and so on, or you want to DJ with music videos.)

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March 6th, 2012 Training

Video DJing, Part 2: Why Video DJing?

by Phil Morse

Pop videos of the 80s: Could be a nice DJing niche if there's a market for it where you happen to work.

Last week we introduced the idea of video DJing, and looked at the various types. We also focused on what this eight-part series is primarily going to cover: DJing using music videos, and adding your own visuals to your DJ sets. The kind of stuff you can do on your own.

This week, though, we’re going to first consider why you should look at video DJing in the first place. What is to be gained from investing the time, effort and money into adding some form of video DJing to your skill set? Here are three reasons for adding video to your DJing efforts:

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February 28th, 2012 Training

Getting Started In Video DJing, Part 1

by Phil Morse

Video DJing, visual DJing, VJing... whatever you want to call it, it can add an exciting extra element to your DJing.

Are you interested in video DJing? Yes? Increasingly, so are we. It’s an area of growth in DJing, which has been made – just as with normal DJing – more accessible, cheaper and more fun by digital technology.

In this eight-part series we’re going to look at all the whats, whys and hows, including the different types of video DJing, the gear, the software, getting the music, and getting work as a video DJ. But we’ll start right at the beginning: What is a video DJ?

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January 18th, 2012 News & Opinion

Watch Out, Traktor: ITCH Adds Video & Controller Sampling

by Phil Morse

Serato Scratch Live video: The plugin, due March 2012, improves on this, with ITCH support being the big draw for controller users.

Serato’s flagship ITCH controller software now includes hardware control of sample decks with the option of full video support via a plugin, according to two separate announcements by the company this week.

The software’s sample decks are in addition to up to four decks of normal playback (unlike Traktor’s two decks plus samples) – and by adopting full video support (like Virtual DJ), it has taken a big distinguishing feature from that software and made it its own too.

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