#5

Selection and sequencing are much more important than mad DJ skillz™ and gear. A DJ is there to provide a service to the crowd. Empathy and humility are key. It’s not about you but about how the crowd responds.

Learn that stuff if it turns you on - I used to enjoy my 2-3 minute drum n bass crossfades - but people care about what records you play and the order you play them in, not so much if you beat match precisely.

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#6

If you’re an iOS person, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with what you can do with just an iPad (or even iPhone). Check out NI Traktor and the Z1:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/traktor/traktor-for-ios/

If you like the NI way of thinking they have a whole DJ ecosystem you can buy into.

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#7

Oh yeah definitely read about Traktor and its where i’m leaning however I was wondering if it’s annoying to transition to CDJs later (and presumably whatever software is on them).

#8

This in a nutshell.

No amount of practising at home is really going to prepare you for playing out publicly. If i were you I’d try to get a series of bar gigs with CDJs as this is a great way to learn while learning how to read a crowd in a much less stressful environment.

I have no experience with controllers but have played fairly regularly for a while mostly with vinyl but in the last few years I started to use CDJs a lot more. Vinyl is very fun but it can be hard to find good conditions for it - you can definitely expect bad turntables and needles, bass feedback, people bumping into/dancing against the desk. CDJs are really easy to learn and very fun. Beatmatching is way easier and cueing very intuitive.

Beatmatching is really fun. Don’t be afraid of trainwrecks or galloping horses - learning how to correct mistakes is crucial.

Most important tip is know your music - listen and listen and listen and…

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#9

Yes, would love to pick up CDJs but wondering what is ideal to start with when you can’t afford CDJs. Also, regarding music tips and reading crowds, I know that I’ll have to just practice & gig. Also I’m trying to learn as much as I can from sets that I enjoy, BRs and mixmag sets.

#10

There are lots of angles on this and diffferent approaches. From my perspective, dj-ing is taking two vinyl two records and beat-matching on direct drive turntables.

If you want to learn to do this, buy turntables, start off with two copies of the same record, match those up, move outwards.

I failed to do this, I regret not doing so…

So, there are now other ways to do this, easier, Traktor, etc. But that feels like a bit of a commoditised game to me, personally.

#11

Personally, I think the best starting point is Traktor with an S2: you can play with sync when you want to focus on creating a flow and reading a crowd, and you’ll have the jog wheels to learn beatmatching with. Don’t worry about turntables and vinyl unless they really appeal to you: most working DJs play on pioneer decks with USB keys these days.

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#12

All this is most likely true. But working with the tactile
nature of vinyl vs other methods? It’s like playing guitar vs playing Guitar Hero, for me.

Note that I can do neither. My friends that do/have done this professionally for 20 years moved to CDRs etc because the transportation for vinyl was a nightmare, bad backs etc.

#13

I never made this particular transition, so can’t really comment.

However, I enjoy making music with whatever tools are at hand, so I’m sure CDJs can be cool.

I was starting to get into Traktor quite a bit, but after buying an NI Mixer (Z2) and a couple of controllers, it all felt a bit a) computer-y, and b) complex.

I also much prefer DJ-ing my own tracks (with a few others mixed in for fun), which led me down an as-yet-incomplete rabbit hole : a totally bonkers bespoke Eurorack + monome + guitar live performance / DJ / do everything setup. ER-301 and norns as centerpieces, with the arc and grid as nice minimal controllers to make everything less complex to deal with when rocking out.

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#14

But working with the tactile nature of vinyl vs other methods? It’s like playing guitar vs playing Guitar Hero, for me.

This is what I was talking about stigma wise. After all, I think we all agree its about the music choice first and foremost and then all the technicalities next. @mateo Thanks for the suggestion, that’s where I was first headed, I need more wax to take the vinyl route, and I don’t think a controller would rule out the possibility of learning to beat match.

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#15

I dj’d with vinyl for many years before switching to traktor, and I don’t miss the tactile nature of vinyl at all. There was definitely a time early on where I enjoyed the challenge of beat matching, but that eventually became a means to an end, and computers are a better means to the end for me.

There really isn’t as much stigma as there was in the past: there are still traditionalists for sure, but CDJs are ubiquitous, and some of the top names in the business use computers.

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#16

How does Traktor compare to the CDJ onboard software?

#17

They’re all pretty much the same. If you haven’t, you should check out rekordbox which is both an app to manage the music on CDJs and a DJ program in it’s own right. The basic version is free.

#18

No stigma here. That’s why I was careful to phrase as personal preference. Like I said, the guys I know who do this for a living moved from vinyl many years ago.

Personally, I tried both, was a crap beat marcher, but still preferred using records.

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#19

for me a dj should have (with this order)

  1. a large repertoire and knowledge of the musical genre(s) (s)he is playing.
  2. a sense of the situation/mood of the people listening/dancing and where they want to go.
  3. a sense of how to drive smoothly along the various aspects of the music (tempo, groove, mood etc - long list here), possibly by planning many tracks (not only the next one).
  4. a knowledge of how to manipulate the musical flow along the tracks (beat tracking etc).
  5. a technical knowledge of the equipment and their operation.
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#20

Do you know if I got the Kontrol s2 if I could try using it as a controller for rekordbox? I’d like to use traktor but i’m assuming not every opportunity will have me using traktor for djing.

#21

Can’t say… I imagine it’s possible to integrate them via simple MIDI control, but not sure how well it works.

#22

Tagging @izzy for some relevant advice.

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#23

Thanks for the tag @caelmore

@dsiah – if you intend to DJ in clubs without wanting to bring your own equipment, I’d highly recommend sticking with rekordbox and Pioneer’s line of DDJ controllers and CDJs simply because of ubiquity. Traktor and Serato are great tools but usually for DJs who prefer timecode vinyl. Getting used to the physicality of using the equipment is pretty important which is why I wouldn’t recommend getting a tiny controller that feels nothing like what you’d encounter in a club. Once you’ve internalized (I mean, really internalize) your tunes and got beat-matching on lock, having fun and being creative on the fly depends on knowing the equipment inside and out: not having to fiddle around to locate a knob, quickly identifying if the settings are adjusted to your liking as you take over from another DJ, etc.

Avalon Emerson (she’s also a programer, if you didn’t already know, and it shows in her organization skillz) recently did a great interview with Resident Advisor on the art of DJing. Highly recommended read.

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#24

Yeah this is a good point: although nobody I know really likes the pioneer software, it’s the best way to prepare material for CDJs and will be the easiest way to transition to playing on them.

In my experience, the only people who are still using timecode are turntablists, who are pretty much all on Serato. Traktor appeals mostly to DJs who are into the expanded functionality computers provide (i.e. effects, samples, stems and 4 deck mixing)

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