bob6397
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bob6397
ParticipantRather than figuring out which headphones will be louder, I would focus on finding a pair of headphones with good isolation.
This is where sounds from outside are blocked out so that you can’t hear them, meaning that the headphone volume doesn’t need to be as loud for you to be able to hear the music coming from them.
Simply turning up your headphones is very dangerous for your ears – you will damage them over time and many DJ’s have tinnitus in one or both of their ears due to having the volume too high. You should really be wearing ear plugs whilst DJing to protect your ears..
I suspect that the reason you are struggling is 1) Those numark headphones are frankly just rubbish and 2) Studio headphones are not designed to block out the sound from outside – they are more focused on an even frequency response than blocking out external sound. As there doesn’t tend to be much external sound in a studio..
I would look at a decent pair of DJ headphones. I use Audio-Technica ATH-M40x headphones, which I really like – but there are lots of alternatives.
There have been a few threads recently on this, so try using the search function in the forums for other ideas 🙂
bob6397
December 10, 2015 at 4:05 am in reply to: Identifing verse, chorus… to set cue points for mixing #2314741ParticipantSimply? EQ. Or do a cut mix between the tracks rather than fade…
When mixing, it is part of the skill to decide what to try out next – and the way to work out what works and what doesn’t is simply by practice…
bob6397
ParticipantI would second that.. For portable PA, Active (Powered) is the way forward – it’s much easier to setup and much more expandable if you ever want to add more speakers.
(Almost) every DJ I know uses active speakers now.. And there is a reason for that.
Search the forum – there are quite a few posts on speaker selection and it’s all still relevant.
bob6397
ParticipantAlways DMX.
A decent LD can make any lighting look interesting using DMX – and even if it isn’t particularly interesting, it will definitely look more professional.
When I DJ, I normally have a few lights on a t-bar above me, plus uplighters around the room. The uplighters I have adapted to have wireless DMX built in (using £10 adaptors off ebay) so I don’t have to lay miles of cable, and the lights on the T bar are wired in directly.
I bought a cheap USB-DMX adaptor from eBay – about £15 – and it works perfectly with Freestyler.
Then I used a plugin for VirtualDJ and linked it to Freestyler, meaning that I can control every command in freestyler from virtual DJ, as well as sync the beat to the lights without having to use sound-to-light protocols – which never really work right.
Then I put the hours in programming and voila – a professional looking show which gives a “wow” effect when you enter the room.. Goal achieved!
DMX always looks better than a load of lights all doing S2L on thier own, doing random stuff..
bob6397
December 7, 2015 at 8:41 pm in reply to: Mixtrak and serato. Slowing down, cpu light, limiter etc #2310731ParticipantThe fact you’re using an AMD processor won’t be helping.. Serato recommend that you don’t use AMD processor’s to DJ from as they don’t support them nearly as well as they do Intel processors..
As Terry said, you definetely want more RAM (cheap to upgrade) and ideally probably a new cpu too – which means it’s new laptop time as changing the CPU in a laptop is tricky and limited as to what you can upgrade it to..
I personally use a 2nd Gen i5/8GB of Ram and wouldn’t want anything less…
bob6397
December 4, 2015 at 6:51 pm in reply to: Identifing verse, chorus… to set cue points for mixing #2309571ParticipantThere is no “Don’t do this” rules – Indeed I don’t think it would be an unfair statement to say that the vast majority of mixing tends to be from the outro of one song into the intro of another.
Sometimes the Intro of a track actually adds the most energy – if you are playing a set where your audience know their music – when they know what song you have put on and start singing along – that still keeps the energy in the room.
I wouldn’t go from chorus to chorus for more than 2 or 3 tracks personally, as I think that the only way the chorus can build energy is by having the low energy sections of the track also included – Everything is relative.
If you just play chorus after chorus, they lose their impact after a while. But, if you play the intros/breaks and the chorus’s then the chorus will have its maximum impact.
Tracks have sections with less energy in for a reason…
bob6397
ParticipantIf you are in the UK, try http://www.ilikemusic.com/ilm-media/
Uncompressed 44.1kHz/16bit WAV files, at from 48p a track (Depending on how many tracks you buy at once – you buy credits and then the track)
They have an almost unbelievable back catalog of tracks – almost any commercially released track ever.
Other than that, I use:
iTunes (occasionally the AUS iTunes store as well as the UK one as they tend to get tracks before we do).
Amazon MP3 (If I check the quality) (UK or USA stores)
7digital
Mastermix
DMC
Google Play
BeatportThere are loads out there… There is a page on the PPL site on who exactly has licences to be a legal source somewhere as well, but I can’t find the link..
bob6397
ParticipantThe link doesn’t work..? And when I click on your profile I can’t see any Tropical House tracks..
bob6397
ParticipantI’m afraid I don’t know the difference between the 2 – I hear only good things about the TS series though 🙂
bob6397
ParticipantUnless they are made by one of the brands below, I wouldn’t bother. And you won’t get a decent pair of speakers new for less than £450…
Brands you can trust:
Alto (TS series are good on a budget)
Mackie
Yamaha
QSC
FBT
RCF
dB Technologies
LD Systems
HK Audio
JBLAlso, anything that says “Brilliant/Professional DJ Speaker” in the title probably isn’t..
I would look at either used LD Systems Dave/Maui models, or a pair of Alto TS112’s – or the TS115’s if you can stretch slightly..
You really do get what you pay for – why do you think festivals aren’t run from £100 active “Brilliant Awesome Best Ever DJ Speakers”??? They use brands like Martin Audio/Ohm/Logic Systems etc.. A little upmarket for the average DJ.. 🙂
bob6397
ParticipantYour Mic should be fine..
I happen to use an XM8500 as my own mic – it is a very effective SM58 copy. It sounds decent with a good amount of EQ and the polar pattern is good.
It’s also quite a hot mic so loads of gain shouldn’t be needed…
Furthermore – I agree with everything Vintage has said above.. On top of that, I would consider getting either a DI box or a small PA mixer so you have a balanced output to your speakers – but there will only be a point in doing that when you upgrade your speakers..
bob6397
ParticipantForgetting to turn off the automix after it’s been playing background for ages and then trying to play a track which i have loaded onto the opposite side of the crossfader to the track currently playing (I use 4 decks).. I don’t normally mic with the crossfader so it doesn’t occur to me and then nothing happens..
Strikes normally about once every 4 gigs… 🙁
But, we are all human and all make mistakes.. 🙂
bob6397
ParticipantMy Library is useful – but not for organising your library. I mostly use it for finding faults with my VDJ database and keeping it clean.. 🙂
I use iTunes for all my music – it’s much easier than doing everything in VDJ and as a bonus it syncs to my iPod as a backup 🙂
bob6397
ParticipantI’ve been using Windows 10 to DJ from since the end of August now and it has been 100% stable whilst DJing.
They did release an update a couple of weeks ago that broke quite a lot of stuff though – but they fixed that pretty quick and (for me) it was an easy fix.
I did a fresh install of Windows 10 – from an ISO disc that I created after using the free upgrade so I had a clean install though.. And I have backups upon backups of my PC now and before I updated to I could go back easily at any point. I haven’t needed to and won’t though.
More than anything else (non-DJ related), the Virtual Desktops built in are a god-send for multitasking.. The keyboard shortcut could be quicker though – I have programmed keys on my mouse to do change for me now. Much quicker.
bob6397
ParticipantI would recommend the Focusrite Solo as an alterbative – it’s designed for recording/producing, it’s the same price (or slightly cheaper than) the Audio 2 and it has better hardware controls for volume etc..
It also has a Mic input if you were considering adding vocals or live instruments to your productions in the future.
I agree with Todd on the cables though – keep it as simple as you can. This is where having RCA outputs is helpful compared to 1 3.5mm (I thought it was 6.3?) jack on the back.. Also, you will find that most active monitors will take Jack and RCA inputs as well as XLR though.. Adaptors might not be required..
bob6397
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