Hello. Since 2002 off and on I wanted to get involved in DJ-ing but don't know at all where to start, what to buy, approx (four figures or five in USD/CAD/EUR/GBP?) how much money should one expect to spend just to get started, what needs lots of practice, what has changed in the last decade (if anything besides technology), how to stay on top of what's considered hot and what is new, etc, etc.

Could you give me advice on how one could pull it off? The 'dos and don'ts', & more? I would like to learn from someone that is experienced if possible.

Thanks a million

Have a look through here, there's a lot of useful information within this thread.

Don't pay attention to what's hot or new.

As far as what I did, I just decided to bite the bullet one day and buy a cdj. Then a mixer. Then another cdj. And there wasn't any youtube to learn from or any friends that I had that mixed, so I just messed with buttons until I figured it out. Somewhat.

Buy a xone 22 so you can get around the oddities of mixing lol

Best advice as a new DJ I could give is make the leap. I always wanted to get a pair of decks for myself and put it off. I decided fuck it and went and got myself all the gear and i'm not looking back.
Best thing is just go get yourself a set up and then belt away from there. There are loads of videos such as Ellaskins youtube page.

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If I can't dance I dont want to be part of your revolution.

First step would definitely be to get yourself a set of decks, don't go all out but don't get utter crap either, because if it turns out DJing isn't for you, you may want to sell them, so go with something more reputable that has a good re-sale value.

Listen to a LOT of music(whatever you like, doesn't matter how hot or new it is), I'd say I have music plugged into my ears 70% of the day, just learning my tracks inside and out.

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Soundcloud:
http://www.soundcloud.com/IgorBez

immerse yourself in the music. go to lots of parties.

I've talked to some DJ's in the Denver club scene doing EDM mixing (as I'm learning myself...)

Most have recommended getting some form of Traktor (Preferably Traktor Pro) and then a midi DJ controller, DJ headphones and a Korg Nanokontrol. The Behringer dj midi controllers are pretty awesome/cheap.

I have a pair of these : http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/P...eakers/HDJ-1000

They are mucho awesome.

Pros : No cds to mess with, you can easily load your playlist into traktor and digitally setup all of your cues/fx. This seems to be a cheaper alternative for those of us starting out.

Cons : Not sure as I'm not a professional dj. (yet? )

You could probably get everything you need to start mixing for about 500-600 bucks barring the laptop you'd need to run everything.

I would get a cheap dell or Asus if you don't have one, as you can run both MAC and Windows on the same system using dual booting.

Most mixers should be able to take care of the audio routing as far as I know, but if not, there is an external piece of hardware that lets you route one output channel to your headphones, and the other to your speakers, and it was fairly cheap as well from what I saw.

The rest in terms of tracks and whatnot is up to you. ^^

Last edited by theterran on Apr-07-2010 at 01:01

All you need is a couple of cdjs a mixer a decent pair of headphones! If you look around it isn't that expensive and as long as you don't have any preference to the type of cdj you want although get a pair with a wheel its much easier!

After a while you will figure out how things work! Just takes practice.

Just don't make the mistake I made and get turntables. To collect vinyl costs an absolute fortune