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Hello from NJ USA

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  • March 26, 2015 at 3:36 pm #2163321
    deathy
    Participant

    I use Ableton myself, although I am seriously considering giving Bitwig a try.

    I can give you one argument in favor of Ableton over Logic, but it is not a strong argument, just worth considering – Logic is Mac only, and as an Apple product, it seems unlikely that this will ever change.

    Ableton is also available on Windows, which does give you some broader options for your hardware… while a lot of folks swear by Apple hardware for DJing, if you are building a DESKTOP workstation, you’re gonna get WAY more bang-for-your-buck with a Windows box.

    Bitwig even has a Linux version available, which is pretty appealing to me (as a hardcore geek).

    Not a huge thing, but worth considering.

    March 26, 2015 at 6:56 pm #2163421
    B!LL!E
    Participant

    heh 🙂
    already knew about Logic being Apple, I do own Macbook pro myself.
    some people i know are hardcore apple-mac only folks, so they always make this argument that it’s only meant for MAC hence it will be stable (while i understand this already but i don’t think other programs would come short either)

    regardless,
    i will probably give both a try.

    on the other note,
    what are some good midi-controller/keyboard you guys would recommend as well?

    March 26, 2015 at 7:18 pm #2163471
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    I think Ableton is the most versatile producer tool. Obviously you could use any and all DAW software if you were so inclined. Logic as mentioned, but also Cubase and ProTools (version 12 just out).

    March 30, 2015 at 9:25 am #2165471
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    Since you considered getting into producing as well, might as well invest in DJ/Producers studio monitors, imo, i would recommended the Monkey Banana sets, the turbo8, i think its pretty good for both DJing and producing, and its not all that expensive per se

    March 30, 2015 at 3:48 pm #2165831
    B!LL!E
    Participant

    well thank you peeps,
    will look into further about ableton vs logic.
    and will investigate and research further about studio monitors.

    well so last Friday was a full house packed 2 separate parties and regular patrons (thank the March Madness)
    I finally encountered the unthinkable…well i now know what it feels like from the other side.

    1. the girls from the parties wanted “hip-hop” so they could dance…(if they can’t dance to simple deep house i’m not sure if they CAN dance)
    2. i triggered my regular hip hop and trap…(they complained it is too hard for them to dance)
    3. so i bring out old school hip hop finally they were dancing (at this point i was little agitated, they keep talking to me wanting me to dish out every friggin’ songs, i’m not a jukebox right?)
    4. the owner came up to me telling me i don’t have to cater to them as much, basically told me to “just play whatever the hell you want, its your show”.
    5. so no more hip hop, i just dished out EDM in diff. genres.
    6. some other dudes came up to me “hey man, great tunes, you know the song by daft punk and that pharrell guy? lucky or something?”…. i had the song… i didn’t want to play it… he kept looking at me with puppy eyes…as a starting DJ with only 4 shows under my belt, i gave in. I somehow mixed in the daft punk version of the get lucky song… phew
    7. then randoms dudes kept requesting songs left and right… at that point i pulled “i can’t hear you” and “i’ll see what i can do”.
    8. other than that it was really super dope fun night. started at 10, ended at 2:30…

    so this is what i realized and still trying to figure out.

    1. i need extensive collection of wide range of music genre ( i still think i do, but more couldn’t hurt i guess)
    2. maybe just maybe i don’t have to appease/give in to requests thinking amateur mind..
    3. or playing request sometimes isn’t so bad (?) or is it?

    by the way thanks for putting up with my rants and stuff, this is probably the only place I talk about my DJ-related stuff, so i appreciate your time and effort to read through my rambles and kindly replies… this really helps me to move forward with my days. Thanks!

    March 30, 2015 at 4:51 pm #2165881
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    You are welcome, it’s not like we have lives anyway 😀

    1) Actually don’t let your collection grow in size, just in quality. I think Phil quotes in his How To Digital DJ Fast course that his collection is about 600 tracks and not growing. Should give you a clue. Unless you are a mobile DJ in which case other criteria are valid. Even then (as I am doing now) it is wise to have a core collection (in my case about 1.200 max tracks) and the rest in a separate request collection (which I actually keep on an external hard disk and which tracks are not in iTunes).
    2) & 3) It’s a long standing discussion. Primarily, my point of view is that you are driving the train. So you decide what you play next. Imho, getting input from the crowd CAN be valuable in the sense that it’s another set of brains with another history and “collection” that comes up with tracks you might not have thought about. BUT … and it’s a big BUT … YOU decide if the track they requested fits in your set. Let’s say you are heading in a certain direction with your set and plan on play song A next and someone comes up and requests song B. If you think “hey, B would work well instead of A too”, then you can safely swap the track and play B and continue with your own set. If you think “hey, B is a nice track, I really wouldn’t mind playing that, just not sure where in my set I could fit it in just yet”, you stick it in your prepare crate or whatever it is called in your software and keep it in the back of your mind for when you get to a point in your set where you can EASILY slide it in. If you think “hey, nice song, but I have no clue how I can ever fit that in”, you don’t play it. Don’t go bending your set around just to accommodate a request is my advice.

    Being a mobile DJ I know I am a little more vulnerable to request attacks than regular club jocks. But even during my resident years, I’d take the odd request. People WOULD sometimes come up with good ideas. Even so good that I added a track I didn’t know (or had forgotten about) into my collection (again).

    Just my two cents, as usual

    March 31, 2015 at 4:33 am #2166151
    Lamid45G
    Participant

    The safe bet will be if the girl comes asked you to play some hip-hop, you played it then they complained its too hard or whatever, simply asked them to gave you an example which hip hop song that they loved? Then you can judged your next selection based on the example that the girl just told you, sometimes “normal, non-dj” folks definition of hip-hop is different with us DJ’s, lol, they prolly say “Fancy” is a hip hop so ya know lol

    Some Trap is usually hard and in your face beats, my suggestion maybe to mix em up with some Twerk, preferably Twerk remix of more commercial Pop tunes, so its more easier in their ears and plus its not hurt to see them girls twerking in front of ya =p (or behind ya? lol)

    You still lucky tough, the owner sided with you, most of the time they sided with the crowd lol

    April 6, 2015 at 9:08 pm #2170241
    B!LL!E
    Participant

    so quick update from last friday

    Bar is full-packed
    more of 1st gen Korean-american crowd.
    Luckly I did my research, and got myself some hot underground korean hiphop and trap, american old 90’s hip hop(ah how can you not love this era?)
    so mix them until 12:00 with some Kpop as bridge.
    Full arsenal of Progressive House until 1AM, then slow it down for last calls until 1:45AM
    Got paid, unequip my gears, pack, and stay for more partying.

    my wife and i and our friends ended up drinkin’ til 5am.
    next day, boy you know how it is.

    Friend let me borrow him akai 25 key midi keyboard since he sold basically every gears he owned…except his keyboard
    anyhow, now i am just having fun with it. Really considering to produce in upcoming months,
    I’m limiting myself for tight budget on monitors, so i’m looking at KRK RP5G3-NA Rokit 5 Gen…anyone recommends this or can give some insight/feedback on this?

    on the other note: going to a show @ brooklyn tonight, hope i can beat the traffic *fingers crossed.

    April 6, 2015 at 9:24 pm #2170251
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Thanks for the update. As an owner of 2nd Generation RP5s, I’d advice you to get 6s. Price difference isn’t all that big and you get considerably more and lower low out of them. Also, if at a later stage you decide to pair them with a (one!) KRK sub, they seem to form a better tandem (or trio if you like) balance-wise.

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