Chris Collins
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Chris Collins
MemberThat’s a tough question Rick, what are you looking to mix? Decide that before reading the advice part to this answer. Do you want to be a HipHop DJ, EDM DJ, Polka DJ?
Most of the songs within genre tend to group up in BPM clusters. If you wanted to be a house DJ, get a bunch of house songs with similar (but not identical!) BPMs. I say similar, because you’ll want to be able to practice beatmatching (defeats the purpose if everything is 128BPM).
If all you want to do is practice, I’d find a website like Beatport which has charts to go of. Want 20 electrohouse songs? Why not get Beatport’s top20 electrohouse songs from February?
Try to find songs that have long intro/outros so you have less pressure to mix in/mix out within a small (8 bar) timeframe.
MemberAdmittedly, I know very little about VDJ, but try to find a controller that supports or comes with VDJ LE out the box. That way, you won’t need worry about mapping so much.
Also, see if you can rent a controller for a week or two before you buy it. If you already have VDJ and rent a Serato Intro native controller, you’ll be able to make a more informed decision.
MemberThere’s no one-size fits all answer, just like there is no one-size fits all controller.
Each venue is going to be different, but can easily be solved before your confirm your booking.
Ask:
1.) How much space for gear is there or can you make available to me?
2.) Mind if I bring my controller?Now, in terms of going from controller to main sound system, that’s easy, your line out goes to one of the channels of the club mixer. Don’t touch that volume fader for that channel while playing, and use your own mixer. If the mixer has more channels than CDJs setup, then you don’t even have to disrupt anything (just use a free line-in)
In terms of meshing with other DJs, anyone using an audio interface with pass-thru (like NI’s Traktor Audio) allows you to hook up through them without having to replug wires between sets. Chances are though, if you’re using a controller, you will never need more than 1 channel free in the club setup.
MemberSorry, it looks like most of the ITCH stuff is outside of your budget.
I’d take a look at all the Intro controllers.
MemberThe following link will have a list to all controllers that support Serato ITCH right out the box.
Run your eyes over to the sidebar on the right of the page for the controller listings.
MemberIf the S2 is still on the table, I’d seriously consider limiting your extra purchases to either the X1 or the F1. That’s already a lot of power if you’re starting out, so I’d keep it simple if you have the option.
Take advantage of the S2 deal, and hold off on the X1 and F1 entirely until you feel like what you WANT to do is limited by what your existing can or can’t do. Once all the basics are down and you want a nice FX unit, pick up the X1. Want to launch clips all day? It’s time to get the F1.
You’d be surprised on how much you’ll be able to get done on an S2 alone. It’s a complete system that can rock out without any add-ons.
February 22, 2012 at 4:54 pm in reply to: Do you remember the first day you had a DJ controller? #15439MemberI bought an NS6 without really knowing how to DJ aside from the very basic of the basics. I originally tried to run it with my desktop PC (it had more music at the time), but the latest version of ITCH (I think this was around the 2.0 release) was not available for Windows. Couldn’t get it to work, so I’d give it a 3/10, which was frustrating, especially since this thing cost me a grand.
Then, I installed the new version of ITCH on my MacBook Pro (why I didn’t start there, I’m not entirely sure), and it all ran swimmingly. Unfortunately, I still didn’t know what I was doing as *a DJ*, so despite knowing all the hardware/software functions, I didn’t have the skillset to actually do anything meaningful. I can bump it up to 5/10 (passing grade), but no higher because of my lack of development.
If knew then what I know now, I would have scored it 10/10 no problem.
MemberSync is easily justified if you are using your ‘beatmatch time’ for another activity. Even then, I know I personally don’t care how the DJ does it, I came to enjoy the music, not to stare at someone doing their job.
So yes, I use sync at times, but more often than not, I’ll just adjust the BPM read-out to match. I just don’t have the manual speed while beatmatching by ear to confidently load and drop the track on the exact phrase I had planned. Plus, I make decent use of 4 decks, so having one less thing worry about is always a plus. Last thing I want to do is rush to load a track and bump off the one I was playing by mistake because I worried about leaving enough of a window to beatmatch.
Keep in mind, I spend a great deal of time gridding, mapping and hot queuing all my tracks to the point where I know exactly how sync will perform. I’ll never run into the situation where sync does something unexpected (or if it does, I would have found out at the home studio rather than while out playing). This leaves me a lot more time to focus on something just as important as beat-matching. Crowd reading, song selection, phrasing and finding the best drop points.
February 7, 2012 at 6:57 pm in reply to: How Seriously Do You Have To Take Your Image To Succeed? #14416MemberWell, I’m never going to be ‘cool’, so it’s never something I have to worry about.
Having said that, be careful not to take things to extremes. You want to stand out, but you don’t want to be known as a novelty act.
The best advice I can give is make it less about telling what you are, and more about showing who you are (if that even makes any sense). This can apply to anything really. If you’re off-beat, don’t go out of your way to prove it, because if it’s genuine, it will show on its own.
Also, think of it from the other end as an event promoter. Every promoter will have a different idea of what makes a successful event. The job will go to the person that the promoter feels will make his event successful. I don’t care if the sounds you made as a baby were sampled into hit singles by David Bowie in the 80s, how can I use that to get people at the door?
A picture of you in a dress might be off-putting. A picture of you in a dress in front of a PACKED crowd going BANANAS for your set will get you work.
MemberMy first (and only, so far) controller was an NS6, and I couldn’t be happier with it. Even though I’m learning, there has never been a moment where I felt like I couldn’t do something I needed to (exceptions being when it could be done, I just didn’t know how). Also, as Vinny stated, ITCH is very easy to use.
I’m a huge advocate of 4 channels, but for different reasons than what Vinny expressed (I like being able to lock an acapella on a 3rd/4th deck, take that deck off the cross fader, and then mix two instrumentals underneith).
Also, I could be mistaken, but as long as your mixer has (like the NS6) selector switch for your decks to use Line or PC, you don’t need 4 decks to hook up TTs or CDJs.
Also, be specific about your budget. You’ll be getting far more than a controller by the time you’re done getting everything you need.
MemberThis applies to every artist that gets shit on (justified or not) from Guetta to Nickleback. Let’s step outside of the box for a moment.
Imagine you were a very popular artist, making tons of money. Your primary fanbase are the trendy Top40 crowd who go bananas for your songs.
Are you a sell-out? You might be, you might not be, here’s how to know for sure.
Do you love what you do? If so, congratulations, you are NOT a sell-out. You have not compromised your principles in order to make money. Make songs or play sets that *YOU* enjoy.
If Guetta likes the music he makes, and you call him a sell-out, guess what? You’re jealous and refuse to admit it. He’s having fun and doing what he loves. The difference is only dollars, and dollars alone does not mean sell-out. Otherwise, I have a huge long list of musicians from the last 100 years to counter your arguments.
MemberI’m fairly certain MixTrack Pro supports Serato Intro now. I think you’ll like that better than what VDJ has to offer at that controller level.
MemberI live in a 1-bed ‘flat’ (how I’d love for that term to enshrine itself in Canada). I’ve managed to clean enough space to place a small ikea desk (50cm x 75cm table surface) which is perfect for my NS6.
Really, instead of asking for the best, smallest setup, can you tell us exactly how much space you have to work with? I’d rather try to get the best setup to fill the space you have free, rather than just try to minimize it’s footprint. Maybe I’m alone in that.
MemberThe entire SCS system from Stanton is Traktor compatible, so I’m going to need a little convincing otherwise about motorized platters.
http://www.stantondj.com/pdf/products/controllers/sc-systems-brochure.pdf for reference.
Also, if I went with the V7s, I’d stick with ITCH and that would be that. Moot point as they’re too expensive for my current budget.
My original thought was to get proper TTs and either SLL or Traktor Scratch, but the cost of the SCS.1Ds drove me in the direction I’m in now. I cannot imagine getting a *pair* of TTs or CDJs, new, that I’d be happy with at the $500 price point.
I originally learned on Vinyl, but quickly moved to my NS6. I miss the feel sometimes, but as I said, I’m otherwise satisfied with my NS6. Let’s leave the reasons why I want motorized platters alone, and focus on the technical of what I’m trying to achieve.
Ok, for argument’s sake, let’s say I end up getting the Stantons (and assume the platters work with Traktor) and hook everything up (no soundcard outside of the NS6’s). Does anyone have any experience using the soundcard of the NS6 in Traktor, but using something else for all the deck controls? I guess I could download the demo and try for myself. Looks like I have a weekend project.
Also, I’ve heard that the Traktor mapping for the NS6 isn’t fantastic (if I remember correctly, there are problems with the platters), which was also one of the reasons for Numark making the 4Trak?
I honestly don’t mind buying a soundcard, because then I have the option of leaving the NS6 at home for the casual gigs where I can just mess around with Ableton, and leave it at that.
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