Yared Lee

What you could also do is buy a different speaker to go into the subwoofer cabinet, although that will require some technical knowledge. That would be my choice, because honestly, 400 watts for an 18″ speaker for subwoofer applications is a bit depressing. Buying a new speaker and replacing the one in the cabinet would be a cheaper route if you wanna try that.

My father is an studio engineer and sound-man, and he always said to me ‘Spend money good one time, never spend money again” start out with two good quality powered monitors and a powered sub, that should hold you for quite some time! Until you learn more, stick with that. If you have a gig requiring more equipment, rent the extra and add it to your fee 🙂

Facebook, Soundcloud (Free for now), Mixcloud and Twitter accounts, which are all free. Build a following there then invest in Promo CD’s and post the mix to your mixcloud and soundcloud(if the mix is under 120 minutes for the free soundcloud)

Well I’m also a Numark Mixtrack Pro II user, it comes built for Serato and you get it with Serato Intro. There’s also a pretty decent mapping for the mixtrack pro II for virtual DJ pro (Which I use for online streaming). Since you’re just starting out I say snag the Mixtrack Pro II and just keep practicing. Learn the fundamental skills of mixing like good sound selection, manual beatmatching, a bit of harmonic mixing and your transitions etc. Practice practice and more practice. You can even play your first couple gigs with a the mixtrack pro II because you just need a spare mixer channel on a PA system.

Next thing you might wanna look into getting is a pair of powered monitors for your home practice sessions (NOT for playing out). I’m partial to the KRK Rokit 5’s, I have a pair of G1’s that I got hand-me-down from my dad (Who is also a DJ, studio engineer and sound-man) and they sound great. You can pick up a pair of Rockit 5 G3’s for about $200 bucks on Ebay. Nothing wrong with buying used as long as you can certify the condition. You’ll have those units for a long time if you take care of them properly.

-BoomDraw

To be honest. I love that Traktors users have their own language basically. They are quite right, Serato gives you something, and thats what you get, no exceptions. But different people have varying opinions on this depending on how their style of DJ-ing. Personally, for my style and the genre that I play, Serato serves me perfectly, and I dont see the need for 4 decks anyways (until I play around with 4 decks and see if I like it or if I can integrate it into my style). But that being said, i completely see why some people use Traktor, because of their workflow they NEED to be able to bend the software to the magic of their fearsome controllerism 😛 Different strokes for different folks. Play around with different softwares, find the best for your style and stick with it.

Just know that if you plan to go far, and you take the Traktor route and learn how to juggle hot cues nd do controllerism like a pro. Please make a youtube channel and pose some live mixes with the camera on your controller because you will look infinitely cool. I love watching Traktor users perform 🙂

However, your software doesn’t determine your level. Alot of superstar DJ’s use Serato or Traktor, maybe even Virtual DJ. And that goes for any genre.

Well, without getting into the whole Traktor vs. Serato debate. I like Serato because of how the song information is presented on the virtual deck (Time elapsed, pitch, BPM etc.), the iTunes integration is wonderful and especially now with the new effects pack, you get a very wide range of High-Quality effects and tweakable parameters (Still not the extra long list of effects like in Traktor, but in my opinion, that much effects isnt necessary, but still good to have the option i guess). I also like how Serato has The Bridge, which makes integrating a live performance aspect into your set very easy if you’re an Ableton Live user(which I plan to be). I also find that the effects and filters in VDJ sound fragile/hollow, whereas the Traktor/Serato counterparts sound bery full and high-quality. This doesn’t apply to me but with Traktor and Serato you get easier DVS control which matters alot for some people. Second is that most controllers are built for either Serato of Traktor, granted you can find mappings for them on virtual DJ, as I did for my Mixtrack Pro II, but it’s just easier and more effective in some cases to use the software that your controller was made for.

That’s my 2 cents 🙂

-BoomDraw

Where you place your cues is fine, although you might have a few odd points that you set once you get better at finding that “sweet spot” to transition the two tunes. My advice is, to get better at doing this you can do two 3 things:
1. Get a few EDM sonsg that you love and know very well, then find Trap remixes to them that you like as well. In this way you can practice using material you know.
2. Employ harmonic mixing in your practice, as this certainly helps the transition to be smoother.
3. Just Practice your mix, and try random stuff and something might stick, ALSO dont be shy with the cross-fader when doing transitioning between two tracks, I’m sure you’ve heard other DJs make sharp transitions between tracks that went over beautifully. You should try the same, granted it takes practice. But be assertive with your crossfader. A sudden transition helps to show that you KNOW what you’re doing 🙂

Hope this helps 🙂
-BoomDraw