Coming from a 80's hard rock background (Guitarist of 7 Years) I started listening to trance 6-7 months ago. Needless to say I have now seen the light and come to the realization that everything but trance is inferior noise. The seeds of this addiction combined with my existing background as a musician manifested into a large desire to attempt to DJ. It was all I ever talked about -- but in the back of my mind, the $118 in my checking account solidified the fact that I would never buy tables -- that is of course until my girlfriend decided to buy them for me as a graduation present. But that's enough ranting and raving with information no one cares about. On to the questions.

First off, a big concern of mine is the quality of my tables. I've got Stanton STR8-80's. I know they aren't 1200's, and I've read numerous times that unless you have 1200's, your tables suck. I don't plan on ever scratching much, and these seem to be rugged, they're direct drive, seem to stop and start quickly, etc. Do they suck? Will they hold up?

Secondly, in regards to vinyl, where do you guys shop online? I've 2-3 stores within a 30 minute driving radius of my hometown that I have already cleaned out (I live in a suburban white town in southern Massachusetts, USA) and find it hard to come across tracks I know. Also, how do you go about buying your records. I tend to buy tracks I know... which isn't always great because although I like them, they dont always make for mixing. How do you know what LP's to buy? Just trust the artist's rep? Does anyone have an recommendations.

Thirdly, in terms of actually DJ'ing, I have a few questions. As you would expect from someone who's had tables for under a week, on a scale of 1 to 10 im at a negative 13 right now. Are there any websites or video's you recommend to learn about beat matching? Anyone feel like explaining it? How long should it take to get the hang of it (I've got a decent ear as far as music goes and I'm rather motivated because although I blow I think it's a blast)? Any advise?

My last series of questions is realted to equipment so some of you may have no idea what I am talking about. Pay no heed. Along with my tables and mixer, I got a battle coffin. Ideally, I'd love to be able to mix out of my coffin, since that seems to be it's purpose aside from protection. My problem is my tables are too wide to fit into the coffin horizontally, therefore making it impossible to spin from the coffin itself. Did I get ripped off? Should they fit? The Stanton STR8-80's are roughly 18 inches wide (if memory serves when I measured). When storing my tables in the coffin, should I detach the needles from the arm of leave them on? And in regards to needles, how often do they need to be replaced.


As you can see, I'm a total rookie looking for some direction. Anything and everything you guys can bombard me with is more than appreaciated. I truly thank anyone who even takes the time to read this entire post.

I cannot thank you enough.

Very well-thought out post, and I'd like to hear how other Tranceaddicts reply to it..

I think anyone who wants to get into DJing has all the same questions.

quote:

Needless to say I have now seen the light and come to the realization that everything but trance is inferior noise.

Lesson #1: As a DJ you REALLY need to lose that attitude. You may not like other styled of music but by being disrespectful towards other styles like that will not get you far. Remember, MUR - Musical Unity and Respect ...

Hehe, now that we have the asshole part behind us, here come the goodies =)

Your decks are fairly decent - like you said they don't come close to 1200s but they are quite usable. Usually the first few months your gear will not be the limiting factor in your progress - in other words, if you suck you can't blame the decks. That comes a little later when you actually start getting the grasp of the basics.

Getting vinyl ... well it always depends what style you're looking for, but my recommendation would be www.juno.co.uk ... I've had nothing but good experience with them, they have a large choice of records, a very good website and amazingly fast shipping. They deserve your money. Other sites you might want to check out are www.groovetech.com and www.bangingtunes.com . When buying tunes, you usually listen to them beforehand. It is always good if the site you're buying from has samples from the tracks they're selling (all three sites listed have samples). So just sit down and go through their complete stock ... Another good way of shopping for records is finding out what labels publish tracks that you like, and look for other releases by that label.

DJ tutorials ... hmm well if you need some pointers check out www.recess.co.uk - the guy who maintains the site really know his stuff, plus the site is written very nicely ... never gets dry and boring =). I wouldn't recommend any videos because they're basically waste of money. Other than that, just practice practice practice ... How long it takes to get good depends on the individual ... I've seen people beatmatching after only a few hours behind the decks ... and also I've seen people who have been spinning for years struggling with their records ...

About the decks not fitting in the coffin, I'm quite sure most coffins were designed to accomodate Technics SL1200MK2 decks ... so it is very likely that your STR-80 are slightly larger than the Technics. Or maybe your coffin is designed to hold the decks in battle position, ie. vertically (where the pitch control and the tonearm base are on the far end of the deck, away from you, so you have to reach over the platter to move the pitch slider ... hmm kind of hard to explain, I wish I had a picture).

When you're storing the decks, do NOT remove the cartridge from the tonearm - it doesn't acomplish anything and you will unnecessarily wear out the contacts between the tonearm and the cartridge.
You need to replace your needle when you notice it starts sounding bad (the cymbals / hihats / snares start sounding like white noise) ... that's pretty much the rule of thumb.
BTW. when your needles wear out you can replace just the needle, you don't need to throw out the cartridge.

Hope this has been helpful...

___________________
djskywarp.com
:: Ways of the Wikkid :: Canada's premiere Artist, DJ, Promoter, and Club Portal ::

SkyWarp, that was helpful for me too, thanks...

I'm thinking about buying turntables too, you'll never guess what I use for my DJ'ing right now... a mixer and 2 portable CD-players, lol... Forget stuff like pitch control, I can't even start the CDs instantaneously, it takes like 20 seconds for them to be read... And yet, with all that, I somehow manage to get my mix to sound all right... not too bad... You know how songs with different BPMs can, for a short while, still be beat-matched, and then they'll "diverge"? Well, that's been some help for me... LOL!

I'm a "virgin DJ" too... Oh well, at least my mixer isn't some cheap shit: it's Gemini BPM-150. So I'm working on it. Problem is, I have lots of CDs, and not a single vinyl, so why would I want to switch to turntables and vinyl? That's my dilemma.

___________________

Download all my EuroHardTrance traxx & learn more about me ("Kompulsor"):
www.kompulsor.com

quote:

Originally posted by skywarp Lesson #1: As a DJ you REALLY need to lose that attitude. You may not like other styled of music but by being disrespectful towards other styles like that will not get you far. Remember, MUR - Musical Unity and Respect ...

Well, I _DO_ have tolerance for other types of music, but trance is my favorite. I hear what you're saying though -- many people have told me be a "good" DJ, I should be able to walk into a hip-hop club and rock it and then hit a rave 2 hours later and bring the house down there too. I'm sure once I get into this I'll understand everything a bit better. But anyway.

I checked out those online records stores. They seem to be what I was looking for. I think I just need to start buying stuff and everything will fall into place as far as finding my favorite producers, labels, etc.

About the decks, I guess what I'm hearing is they're fine for me to learn on, and then if I decide to get serious, 1200's are the way to go. That's fine with me, since I didn't buy these. Haha.

As for the coffin, it's exactly like you said. When you stand with the handle and clasps towards you and open the coffin, the decks are turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise from where you would expect them to be. The tonearm is the furthest away from me, etc. Right now I have been taking them out along with my mixer and setting them on top of my coffin with it closed. Is this what I should be doing?

I'd like to thank you for your response skywarp. My post was monsterous and I appreaciate your time.

skywarp, that recess.co.uk site is really full of helpful info....

quote:

As for the coffin, it's exactly like you said. When you stand with the handle and clasps towards you and open the coffin, the decks are turned 90 degrees counter-clockwise from where you would expect them to be. The tonearm is the furthest away from me, etc. Right now I have been taking them out along with my mixer and setting them on top of my coffin with it closed. Is this what I should be doing?

Actually the decks and the mixer are supposed to be in the coffin at all times (that's the actual purpose of the coffin ... protecting your gear).
The battle position takes a little getting used to. If you're that much more comfortable with the standard position then you can keep taking your decks out of the coffin but I'd recommend against it.

___________________
djskywarp.com
:: Ways of the Wikkid :: Canada's premiere Artist, DJ, Promoter, and Club Portal ::

Humm. Is there any benefit to the battle position setup? It seems more complex (altering pitch, key correction, etc.) than your standard setup. Since I'm new and haven't gotten acustomed to anything yet, should I just stick with the battle and learn that way or should I try to trade in my coffin for something that will fit my tables (although i would imagine if one such creation existed they would have sold it to my girlfriend)?

Again, thanks for everything.

just 4 dj tutorials and stuff... check out the video "so u wanna be a dj?"... im not sure who made but youll probably find it on some divX page......

___________________
BA-DUM-TSS

quote:

ALFI - BOHICA - DJ MIX (Stream+Dropbox)

quote:

Originally posted by shompton First off, a big concern of mine is the quality of my tables. I've got Stanton STR8-80's. I know they aren't 1200's, and I've read numerous times that unless you have 1200's, your tables suck. I don't plan on ever scratching much, and these seem to be rugged, they're direct drive, seem to stop and start quickly, etc. Do they suck? Will they hold up? They do not suck, but they aren't something that you are going to want to use if you are thinking about putting in a lot of time and effort with spinning. My frist decks were belt driven pieces of shitttteee...but they got me going in the direction that I needed to be going on. They gave me a basic understanding in regards to what I needed to do. Then I got my 1200's and would never be able to go back to anything else. If you find that you are still yearning to do this in a few months, stop buying vinyl for a lil bit and save up for some decks...it's so worth it. Secondly, in regards to vinyl, where do you guys shop online? I've 2-3 stores within a 30 minute driving radius of my hometown that I have already cleaned out (I live in a suburban white town in southern Massachusetts, USA) and find it hard to come across tracks I know. Also, how do you go about buying your records. I tend to buy tracks I know... which isn't always great because although I like them, they dont always make for mixing. How do you know what LP's to buy? Just trust the artist's rep? Does anyone have an recommendations. Personally, I don't like shopping online. I hate waiting for records to come in the mail. I will order a record online if I really need too, but I also like listening to them first hand in a store. Thirdly, in terms of actually DJ'ing, I have a few questions. As you would expect from someone who's had tables for under a week, on a scale of 1 to 10 im at a negative 13 right now. Are there any websites or video's you recommend to learn about beat matching? Anyone feel like explaining it? How long should it take to get the hang of it (I've got a decent ear as far as music goes and I'm rather motivated because although I blow I think it's a blast)? Any advise? Dude, don't look online for a tutorial on how to dj. You are your best teacher. With years of musical knowledge under your belt you should understand the concept of beat matching...just keep practicing and it will come to you. My last series of questions is realted to equipment so some of you may have no idea what I am talking about. Pay no heed. Along with my tables and mixer, I got a battle coffin. Ideally, I'd love to be able to mix out of my coffin, since that seems to be it's purpose aside from protection. My problem is my tables are too wide to fit into the coffin horizontally, therefore making it impossible to spin from the coffin itself. Did I get ripped off? Should they fit? The Stanton STR8-80's are roughly 18 inches wide (if memory serves when I measured). When storing my tables in the coffin, should I detach the needles from the arm of leave them on? And in regards to needles, how often do they need to be replaced. You didn't get ripped off, they are built that way...unfortunately. There isn't really any need to detach your needles. I have had the same trackmaster cartridges for some time now...I don't see any need to get a new needle unless there is signifigant cracking going on when playing records. I cannot thank you enough.

Your welcome, just have fun with it!

Just as a follow up for those of you who have taken the time to read my posts: I'm getting the hang of it.

I'm used to the battle setup and spinning out of my coffin now. It's cool once you get used to it. The tables are closer together.

I've already had a bad experience with Homebass.com and I'm starting to see why shopping for vinyl in person would be the best method, although I do think I'm going to give juno.co.uk a whirl for a few records I can't find locally.

I think already I am seeing things about my tables that suck. The key correction is pretty shitty and they dont like to withstand alot of punishment. I think once I get myself together though and decide I really want to DJ I'll grab myself some 1200's.

As for beat matching: Right now I've got 13 records. I probably spin for 2-3 hours a day. Of those 2-3 hours... I probably have 3-4 transitions where the beats are really matched. Those are the times I run around my room in pure euphoria. Even when I have shitty switches and I mess up, I am still having a blast -- and I think that's a good thing.


Thanks to everyone who's posted. I appreciate it.