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+1 on the headphones.

DiBartdi, you will come to realize, that DJs and promoters are probably the most picky and opinionated people you will ever meet…and thats a good thing for the most part. Wearing fashion statements and bling no matter of what type will put a lot of people off. Now i know that you are not DJing for other DJs or the promoters, but chances are that those peer groups are the ones to give you more gigs. By being accepted by your peers you can then focus on utilitizing the connections you make to further your goals.

By using something like the Beats Pro, you are making a statement…and that statement is hey look at me i have all this cash and i spent it on an accessory, and not a Utility item.

I made this statement before and i stick by it…if you are working on a construction site and you had to haul a load of shit away…would you drive a pick up truck or a ferrari? Yeah you make look cool as shit in ur ferrari but NONE of your peers would take you seriously.

This is the EXACT same when it comes to DJing…actually probably more when it comes to DJing because it is a bit of a popularity contest with your fellow DJs as well as ur fans.

Ur fans are not going to care wtf you are wearing…either beats or pioneers etc. BUT a lot of promoters and other DJs will be like LMAO look at that fool hes using beats…guy must be a newb. even people who have never seen you spin before will automatically associate BEATs to kids and amateaurs. Now if you mess up during a set…and wear the beats…promoters will associate you to being a rookie even more.

Where as if you were to wear Pioneer or Denons or Ultrasones, you have the right tool for the right job.

You wouldnt use a gardening shovel to shovel snow…so use the proper headphones for the proper job, if you ever want to get into production you will need a pair of STUDIO grade headphones…and no matter what BEATS say…any Beats line are not studio Quality.

On a side note, Monster has dropped the contract for the Dr. Dre Beats and will no longer be in production.

update to my setup changed out the American Audio VMS4 for a Pioneer DDJ SX and sold one of my NI Kontroler F1.
I Plan to sell the Radius 3000 and VMS4 and get a new Macbook Pro 15″

First off: Thanks Jack Hoesterey, the coupon code will be of use to me 🙂

No need to buy an Traktor Audio 2 IMO, just get an all-in-one like Mixtrack Pro, Pioneer Wego, Denon MC 2000, or a NI S2 / Novation Twitch if you want to spend that kinda money. Best bet is to go to a store if possible to find out which layout YOU like. There is no “best”.

The TA2 is a good deal for sure, TP2 license included. But NI has a sale right now where a TP2 license is only €39,- so I don’t see why you would wanna buy an extra sound interface which only unnecessarily makes your setup more complicated than it has to be or will collect dust somewhere.

I recently went through the same decision process. In the end I chose the DDJ-T1 because it would most closely emulate CDJ’s, which was a big part of my decision considering that they’re still club standard and I aspire to playing the big clubs some day. I didn’t know the DDJ-SX could be used with Traktor, but that’s ok because I don’t like how they put the platter above all of those pads and I’m not sure those jog wheels emulate CDJ’s as closely as the DDJ-T1’s do.

If you’re still considering the DDJ-T1, you can order from Pioneer directly and get yourself 40% off on a refurbished model. That’s what I did, saved me about $300 over retail.

pioneer ddj-wego

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Bunyip, post: 32331, member: 2464 wrote: Wisdom, right there.

Right on ….. Word!

I have to agree. Start out with a cheap (or expensive if you must) all in one controller. Do some gigs at your friends parties a few times or elsewhere, make sure you like the performing part. That will boost your motivation or kill it… I’ve heard both stories 🙂

Re: Controllers (my opinion :): You will be amazed at what these controllers can do with the amazing software out there. As far as CDJ’s: CDJ’s are all hot and sexy, and clubbing and all and sure we would all love to have 4 of them with a Pioneer or Rane mixer, BUT IMHO: In 5 or 10 years they will be further evolving and changing much as turntables, vinyl and CD’s are heading….heck laptops too probably… so don’t get me wrong I am not putting down the roots of DJing they all are part of the NOW of DJing. But put on some virtual binoculars and take a look down the road. Look last night David Guetta received the first American Music Awards for EDM… personally thought it would be Skrillex but anyway… what I am alluding to is that this DJing and music in general is going to transform on a steep curve and fairly quickly… the hardware and software will too….Take a look at Pioneer’s DDJ-SX…. uhhhh that is basically compartmentalizing 2 CDJs and a mixer…. just may not look as cool and sexy in a big club as 4 CDJs and a mixer, but it could definitely perform as well…. (IMHO: I think it would look pretty hot in a club). Analogy: Remember cell phones 10 years ago…. and NOW? Start basic then evolve up cause “the times they are a changing” (B. Dylan). Oh yeah don’t even get me started on laptops…seeing I just bought a Macbook Pro 🙂 Would recommend putting your money there to start btw.

I think it’s unusual that somebody is still able to criticize their own gear even, especially when it was so expensive. So thanks Si BooGie for your no BS opinion 🙂

The days when Pioneer released quality ended with the CDJ1000s. The customer service is a joke, the DJM2000 is only now getting a firmware update that may or may not fix all the bugs, the CDJ2000 nexus was released with so many bugs it was all but useless. It was so unstable many DJs refused to use it and Pioneer had to post an apology advising a firmware update would be available at the end of Nov’. The RekordBox software needed to utilise all the functions. of their CDJs is still unstable.
I for one won’t be giving PIoneer another penny no matter how good their gear may seem. My next kit will probably be from Denon

Hi there, Primlock.

When I first started out a few years ago, I had a similar budget. DJ Dan brought up a good point, starting on entry-level gear may be a good idea to consider especially with a limited amount of money. You want to make sure that this isn’t just a moment of passion. As a parallel, I’ve seen people get very passionate about physical fitness and their top-of-the-line elliptical and training equipment becomes just a fancy clothes-hanger after a few months.

Buying used or second-hand via Craigslist really helped me out, I was able to construct a simple PA and purchase my first few pieces of gear (Numark Mixtrack Pro and Pioneer HDJ-1000 Headphones) for under $2000 USD. Something to think about, because life happens when you least expect it. You may need some of your DJing budget to dig you out of an unfortunate event.

Your plan is good and there certainly is a lot of literature both on this website’s blog and in the forums to digest. First things first, though. As far as learning to mix: I would recommend Phil’s “How To Digital DJ Fast” course, especially the videos about beatmatching and classic mixing techniques if you plan on transitioning towards club DJing. Other great online resources are YouTube channels like Ellaskins and DJ TechTools. I’m still in the transition phase to learning about production so I can’t recommend too much about that.

Macs are great, but not vital. I use a Windows laptop and it works just fine for me.