Need help choosing DJ equipment! Starting Out!

Quite frankly, if you can DJ (learned on whatever gear) and you have a club gig coming up, simple rent a CDJ/DJM set for a few days (during the week you can talk the rental company into getting you a great deal as this stuff is usually sitting in the warehouse collecting dust durint weekdays). And if you know your DJ-ing, two or three sets of playing with that setup should be more than enough to get you going in a club.

It’s not rocket science after all. At the end of the day you still have to pick the right tunes, which is about 80% of the job and has nothing to do with the kit. Then you have to be able to do decent, straight beatmatched transitions. Those involve pitchfaders and jogwheels and trust me when I say they work the same on CDJs as they do on controller. Finally you might want to toss in some FX. This is done pretty good on the DJM950/850 (by the way I, my advice for the 950 had to do with it being Nexus as well, with link functionality and a few other things the 850 doesn’t have, but still the 850 is an ok mixer too).

So, the main skill to learn (how to move the crowd with your music choice) has nothing to do with whatever gear.  IF (and it’s a big if) you get to play in clubs really early on in your career, chances are big that they won’t be then nr. 1 places and thus probably have much simpler gear. Finally, finding out what DJ-ing is really about and whether or not you are gonna stick with it … different story.

Hope all of this helps. Greetinx.

I no longer want a DJM/CDJs … I will still keep an analog mixer or 2 around, and would love an SRT if it wasn’t so spendy…. a 2 ch. Pioneer mixer, for Serato… like the Pio/Serato version of the Z2 would be cool.  I would buy an SZ for the price of about one Nexus player or the SRT… and a nice pair of laptops…. and… and…. LOL    If you are serious, want some serious kit to start, and aren’t just totally confused by the pricing of Pioneer gear, then by all means, it’s what YOU want and what YOU like to use that counts.   Just for perspective, I am upgrading due to my current controller being just not quite “pro” enough.   I was looking at the SR, but am likely pre-ordering the Reloop TM8 instead.   I would think that these are “pro” enough to get you through at least a couple years of learning and gigs.   If you really want top notch stuff, the high end gear from N.I., Pioneer, Denon, Reloop, and others all deserves a good look.  I would definitely spend a good number of hours researching what you want to do and how, what software you want to use, and then make a short list of controllers from that …. then compare and compare and sleep on it….  I have been researching for a good long while and am just now comfortable with my decisions, or almost…LOL  But I wouldn’t take that kind of purchase lightly, for me $3000 is a LOT of money, roughly the cost of the most expensive car I’ve ever purchased.  I would look into what each setup would let you do, just one example, FEW of the CDJs let you do HOT CUES from my understanding.  I loved it when I first made a loop in Serato Intro and realized I could adjust both in and out points very easily.   I love the navigation on Serato as opposed to a small screen and lists from a USB.   There are some differences in these 2 types of setups, and I personally would  look into it very hard before buying a DJM/CDJ setup, aside from nice used CDJs at a very good price, and a DJM-250(still want one of these…LOL)   Just my $.02, and it’s really only worth $.01, I’m a NOOB….

I’ve DJ-ed for about 200 very rich Iraqi kids at the Baghdad Hunting Club, with a 4-input channel amp with rotary dials, two (different, non-direct drive) domestic turntables with regular (non-DJ) cartridges/needles and a totally shabby microphone. I got paid a bundle, in official exchange rate 1500 USD for one night, 1 1/2 hour of effectively playing time, since there was an arabic band playing as well.

Very happy customers. The point to be made here, is that it’s not the gear that makes the professional “professional”. A true professional will be able to do even more with better (more professional) gear than without, but just because your gear is considered “professional” doesn’t make you a professional in your own right.

Personally I stuck quite some time in deciding on the right controller for ME a few years back. I had a clear set of demands and wishes (like it needed to be a stand-alone mixer, so out went the Traktor S4) and I compared stuff. I held off the decision for at least two/three months because I couldn’t find the right controller. Then I discovered the MC6000 from Denon and it ticked just about all my boxes (just a few minor wishes missing) and I got that. Used it for several years now, strong workhorse built like a tank. Doesn’t have much of today’s bells and whistles like needle drop, performance pads and such, but just as functional for me as it was day one. Never ever did the question “is it/does it look professional?” enter into the equation. It’s professional to me in that it does what I need it to do and I make money using it to DJ. I’ve had guys come up to me at some events, looking at the gear going “oh, not Pioneer” or “mmm, controller eh?” and “oh, you use a laptop?”. But that is their problem, not mine.

Bottom line here, get what works for you and don’t worry about the rest of the world’s opinion.

Greetinx.

@Ollie

Get a controller mate, by experience if you buy one suited to you and your software preferences and master how to DJ on controllers then the switch to CDJ’s will make it worth buying one to start out on.Its not about the gear but the way you use it, any pro could use an ipod into a speaker and play a playlist throughout the night, but if the right tunes are played on the playlist people will dance!

If i was you, and trust me when I started out I was thinking the same thing.. GET A CONTROLLER FIRST.. then move onto a second hand pair of CDJ’s when you start making money from the hobby or it may just become an expensive hobby.. Never go out first and purchase the best gear to start on as if you get disinterested (not saying you will BUT) that equipment will sit there and be sold on for less than you purchased it for.. Just have a good hard look through this forum and the web and do your reviews on controllers..

Hope this was of any help!

DJ Shaun Pearcey