D-Jam

I actually use my laptop for other things than DJing.

The trick is to know what you put in, so there aren’t any prorams in the back end slowing it all down. I’ll actually disconnect the wireless and turn off the antivirus before I play.

If you use Windows, use the freeware cleaner CCleaner to clean out your hard drive and registry before playing. I’ll even defragment the hard drive as well.

I urge Windows users just to take the time and learn how to streamline your system so you can use the laptop for multiple purposes.

I generally don’t bother with key. I let my ears decide if two tracks work or not.

I agree with Phil in that too many guys who are all about “harmonic mixing” tend to get too crazy on the scientific end of it all and thus play what I think are bland sets because they’re believing keeping it all “in key” will make things ideal.

Just play, do what sounds good to you, make mistakes, learn from them. It’s an art form.

I started on Traktor Final Scratch and then upgraded to Traktor DJ Studio. When Native Instruments and Stanton parted ways, I went to Deckadance because I wanted to keep using my Final Scratch setup.

Finally when newer versions of Deckadance didn’t work out, I got rid of the hardware and went with Torq…mainly because of the price point. I haven’t been disappointed and it would take a lot for me to leave.

I use Torq. I even wrote the review of it here.

I originally chose Torq because of the price, but stayed because I liked its workflow better.

I originally used Traktor DJ Studio with Final Scratch and then switched over to Deckadance when Native Instruments and Stanton split up. I didn’t care for the new Traktor partially because of price but also because of complication. I like to keep things simple and easy to use. However, my choice not to go Serato was also because price and lack of features.

If I ever left Torq, I’d probably give Traktor another shot, or even Virtual DJ. I think VDJ has a nice workflow as well. Plus the customization and added features make it quite powerful.

I’d probably go with Mixtrack as well, simply based on the positive reviews I’ve seen.

I simply tell anyone make sure it’s got the faders, pitch control, and jogwheels if they want that. I have my Xponent which I love, but I also bought a used X-Session Pro just in case I have dead time at work and want to make a mix. It works well for that need…thus showing you can do much with just the basics.

I’m not sure what’s available in Europe.

For me, I generally recommend Lenovo Thinkpads first, then Toshiba laptops second. HP I hear gets a lot of praise, but I haven’t used one in a long time.

Whatever you do, get solid hardware. £500 is about $750 USD here, so I’d probably check out Lenovo or Toshiba as they are a guarantee of solid hardware. That or go after a used Macbook if you like Apple.

Max out the ram and try to get a clean install of the OS. I usually think a lot of the factory-loaded OSes are filled with bloat and thus don’t run well. I’ll always spend the extra on a full copy of Windows so I know it’s clean.

Dubstep has been hit or miss in Chicago from what I’ve seen. I’ve seen some guys try to do whole nights, but they’re generally weeknight events at smaller underground spots. I’ve seen some of the more mainstream places play some dubstep, but it’s usually more “dubstep” remixes of pop tunes, or an occasional crowd-pleasing tone of it in between rap music sets.

I think many can get into the stuff that’s more light-sounding and has vocals. I don’t know about the harder darker stuff.