Hey we have a Laptop and a crap load of Tunes. We will be using Traktor to mix the Tunes. I know sucks...but were playing for NOOBs, so its ok. Equipment Wise what else do we need? We will probably have the pool game room to ourselves at my uncle's beach house party

Last edited by MoBreakz on Dec-12-2006 at 06:58

Im a bedroom producer btw, just gettin into dj'n =)

Well, since you have Traktor, laptop, and "a crap lot of [t]unes", all you need now are some speakers.

I suppose since you state that you are new at DJing, some skill =P. But you already know that...

Just have fun with it! I remember my first "party" where I basically DJ'd with Traktor. I recommend maybe lay down beatgrids for the tracks (I can do this fairly quickly now on the fly, similar to how many people can warp tracks in Ableton quickly) and (ab)use the 'sync'/auto-beatmatch feature. It's kind of hard controlling everything easily with only a mouse. If you're more adventurous, do everything manually =). It's quite fun.

I was pretty sure we would need speakers. But I dont think loud speakers connect straight to laptops? And we will be mixing manually...i have "mixing" skills lol. Its me and my cousin...we are doin this for fun, its nothing big a lil side show for the party.

Do i need special cords to connect to the Laptop? What are good speakers for a house party to go with laptop mixing?

The connection you need will depend on what speakers/amp you get.
There is never a good way to properly tell but for a party of about 50 people you will need 500 watts between both speakers.
If you only do parties every now and then your best of renting unless you can score a good system cheap. Be prepared to play stuff you wont really want to.

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There will be speakers and amp there at the party that another musical act will bring...which are also my cousins. Wedding singer type stuff...amp JBL speakers, decent equipment. We might be able to use that, but how would we go about connecting a Laptop to the Amp/Speakers?

Bout the Tunes...we will be playing 100% what we want to play careless to what they want to hear, of course we want them to dance though. Its basically me and my cousin trying to have fun with a crowd that has never really heard house music. We're more into minimal and some electro, but were playing a danceable house set for this crowd.

So far tracklist looks like this

1)haji & samuel - Take me away
2)chriss source - hugs n kisses
3)trick & kubic - easy (csa remix)
4)hoxton whores - lost in ibiza
5)red carpet - alright (remix)
etc etc...

you get the picture...

Also...how much would renting equipment cost? We rather mix on CDJ's to tell you the truth but we think costs will go too high.

I cant really tell you as I live in Australia and only ever rent sound and lighting.
For speakers and amp I normally pay about $70-$100 AUD.
The connection you will need will depend on what connection the sound system has, different systems use different plugs but the common ones are XLR, RCA and 1/4 Jack.
Basic soundcards usually have a 3.5mm stereo jack.
Just look for cables that go from the one you have to the one you want.

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one little detail I feel is worth pointing out...don't make playlists if you're going to play for normal crowd...

you'll end up feeling lost, because you'll travel faaaaaaar from your playlist...


once you're a celebrity and people will be comming just to see YOU mixing, then you can start making playlists...for now...try to read the crowd and fullfill all the requests...


trust me...you'll end up playing Grease Megamix 3 times a night...if you're lucky...if you're not...you can keep it on loop

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Get a MIDI controller with a few knobs/sliders, and DJ the hell out of that party with Traktor. It's fun times, don't knock it.

My first "gig" was this past Halloween at a house party and I "spun" with Traktor and a MIDI controller. I didn't even bother beatgridding stuff... depends on if you are able to beatmatch yet.