98 Percent Chimp
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98 Percent Chimp
ParticipantI use Traktor on a MacBook pro 13″ and it’s fine as long as I don’t want to do 4 deck mixing (I don’t). But 2″ makes a big difference. If you can afford it, I’d go with the 15″.
ParticipantWhat I really wanted to know is what you all do besides (or instead) playing floorfillers to get people dancing. Do you get on the mic and say something? Do you leave your booth and go talk to the crowd?
ParticipantMichael M. Hughes, post: 7327 wrote: Yep, sometimes you have a dud crowd. Do your best anyway and always look like you’re having fun, because crowds can pick up on your unease. Ultimately, you’re getting paid, you’re playing good music (I hope), and that’s really your part of the bargain—if no one dances, that’s *their* problem. And if MJ’s “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” doesn’t pull a few souls out of their chairs, just hunker down and view it as a learning experience.
I’ve been surprised on a few occasions when I’ve played for dud crowds and people came up to me afterwards to tell me how much they enjoyed the music. Just because the dance floor isn’t full doesn’t mean you’re not doing a good job. Some crowds, especially corporate groups, might be uptight people who don’t get along with each other and hate their jobs and view the event as forced socializing. Can’t blame them for not wanting to boogie.
This right here has pretty much been my experience. After almost every event I thought was a complete disaster, I’ve had people come up to me and tell me the music was great. It’s just a bit of a hit to the ego when you see an empty dance floor all night. I know it happens, at least to me, on occasion. But I’ve also talked to a couple of DJs that said that you can get any crowd to dance and if you can’t you’re just not trying hard enough. I don’t know if these guys are literally pulling people out onto the dance floor, but that’s just not my style. There’s a difference between being energetic and obnoxious.
Billie Jean has only ever failed me a couple of times, and they were both of the cranky corporate types. Party Rock Anthem has been pretty successful for me this year, especially for groups with a larger young crowd. When I’m DJing House and/or Techno, it’s never a problem. Everyone generally likes the same genres and is there specifically to dance and/or lounge (in the case of lounge, I’m not heartbroken over an empty dance floor).
ParticipantI’d stay away from the JBL speakers in my opinion. They’re not the most amazing line. JBL in general isn’t great. Good deal on the QSC amp though. If you can find some good used mackies, I’d go for it. Also yorkville is good value generally but not as high on the quality scale.
ParticipantDo have a place near you that you can rent equipment from? This might be more economical starting out and lets you adapt to the venue you’re playing.
I’ve played gigs (house parties and smaller halls) where I could use my studio monitors and I’ve also played at an outdoor event with about 2000 that I had to rent 4 cabs and 4 bass bins. Most of the time, my 2x Titan 12as and 2x sub-a15s are more than enough for any gig I do.
August 31, 2011 at 4:32 pm in reply to: Best Headphones for Beginner & This DJ, what Headp is he using? #6720ParticipantThe important thing for headphones for DJing is that they are durable, comfortable, isolate outside sound well, have a good frequency response range (5Hz to 30000Hz is superb). Don’t get headphones that simply have the loudest bass. You need clear, precise sounds across all ranges to be able to mix tightly in any circumstance.
I also recommend getting high impedance headphones. Theoretically they’re not as likely to burn out as low impedance cans and should have a slightly better frequency response. The downside is they tend to have low volume when used on things like ipods and other low voltage sources. Something to consider if you plan on using your headphones when you’re on the bus or something.
Personally, I have a pair of Shure SRH750DJ’s and I think they’re great. The headband kind of makes me look like a blockhead, but they’re comfortable, have great response and weren’t outrageously overpriced (I’m looking at you, Pioneer).
ParticipantIrwin J. Céspedes, post: 6653 wrote: In my country, everything that sound electric call it “Electro” and it tend to be confusing, because a Trance tune is “Electro”, as well a House tune.
The annoying part is when you explain the difference, you get that dizzy face that denotes confusion :confused:
EDM has been “Techno” for as long as I can remember. At least since 90 or 91. You should see the looks I get when I tell non-EDM types that only Techno is techno. 😀
ParticipantAdmittedly, much of the cost of a Mac is in aesthetics and branding, but one reason macs are so reliable is because they are proprietary. Only Apple makes them (unless you build a hackintosh of course). This means, from a developer standpoint, that there are a lot less scenarios to account for when writing drivers, apps etc. Compare that to PCs where there are infinite combinations of hardware and Windows versions to contend with. One of the reasons Macs usually “just work”.
ParticipantLukeAlive, post: 6623 wrote: Can someone tell me why everyone is saying that Mac is better then PC for djing?
The main reason, I think, is stability. Macs tend to hardly ever crash, if ever unlike PCs. Also, they usually “just work” with no need to install drivers. Aside from that, I think it’s just “the cool thing to do”. Macs have always been traditionally very popular among music and artsy type people.
That’s not to say PCs aren’t good for DJing, nor to say that Macs are better at it either. I know for me, when I use Virtual DJ, the Windows version seems more stable and has more functionality than the OSX version.
ParticipantI’ll second the MC6000. The S4 is better laid out for Traktor, but the buttons are small and of poor quality. MC6000 may seem cramped, but that’s because it has those nice, big buttons. It also feels more solid. I assume the S2 will be of similar build as the S4…
If I had the $, I’d upgrade to a MC6000, for sure. S4 isnt bad, it’s just not great. In the mean time, I’ll stick with my VCI-100.
ParticipantDJs and EDM lovers are notorious for being hipsters. That is, it’s only cool if they’re the only ones that know about it. That just seems like elitism to me.
David Guetta, Tiesto, Deadmau5, Daft Punk and other commercially successful DJ/producers didn’t get there without a little bit of talent and hard work, regardless of what you believe. It may not necessarily be musical or DJing skill, but marketing and business is key to becoming a mainstream success too. Sure there are better, more talented DJs out there. And eventually the big record label execs will latch onto a new genre to exploit (like dubstep) and we’ll have more DJs with questionable talent in the mainstream. I’m looking at you, Skrillex…For the record, there’s stuff I dig from every one above I named. And some stuff I really hate, too. Music is subjective. Love what you love, don’t what you don’t.
ParticipantI think unless you have a really odd or hard to pronounce name, go with your real first and last name. Having a DJ name is overrated and if I had a name that I thought was easy to pronounce just by looking at it, I’d have done the same.
ParticipantI used a 2007 up until recently for all my DJing and producing needs. No issues with speed, although I did upgrade the RAM. I will say though that 13″ is kind of cramped, especially if you do 4 deck mixing. If you can spend a few more bucks, I’d go with the 15″ just for the extra real estate. But even the entry level will be enough for you if you’re ok with the screen size.
ParticipantHaroon K, post: 5168 wrote: Pre-gridding is not possible in traktor as the cue points etc are stored in a traktor library file, unlike Torq with its .tqd files. I dont know about serato though.
This is not true. Well, not entirely true. Traktor stores the info in both the nml as well as in the ID3 tags of the MP3. It can also store information in WAV files. Serato saves this information in the MP3 as well. Virtual DJ is the only software that I’m familiar with that saves the data to a library only and not to the file.
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