'More than meets the eye' to digital DJ'ing…

LOL … I wonder what DJ mixer you used with your old setup. I don’t know of any powered DJ mixer (I am sure there might have been the odd one out there, but definitely not the ‘standard’). Live mixers, different story, quite a few Power Mixers out there.

I think you need to separate in your mind the DJ-side of things (controllers, laptop, soundcards, etx.) and the PA side (speakers and amps).

Just out of curiosity, are you switching to DVS and keeping your vinyl workflow, cause in that case there wouldn’t be too much extra you need. Get a Serato, Traktor or … fill in the blank … certified soundcard, plug your good ole 1200s in, run the outputs through the same mixer you already used, fire up the software and off you go.

Greetinx,
C.

DJ-Nostalgia, post: 41575, member: 10832 wrote:
Hi Chuck van Eekelen,

Hey Nostalgia

I detect a tone of sarcasm in your post!

Gosh, you noticed! LOL

Back in the days of REAL Disc Jockeys – the clue is in the name …

Pfffff … did you happen to see my name? And 80s vinyl? I was running 70s vinyl when I started :-p. No mixer was for bedroom/friend’s attic room practice. When we went out to play we actually had turntables (not 1200s) and a very basic mixer. Kit-built amp and some shabby speakers. It worked though.

– I think you need to separate in your mind the DJ-side of things (controllers, laptop, soundcards, etx.) and the PA side (speakers and amps)… –

… Not sure what you mean by this, as it seems I need ‘all of the above’?

Obviously you need all of them, but your OP suggested that needing amps or active speakers was somehow “new” because of digital DJ-ing. My point was that it isn’t.

I don’t really know what Digital Vinyl is, but…
I am finding it hard to think of getting rid of my vinyl, but the thought of digitising it all is quite daunting. Phil Morse*, the guy behind DDJT, suggested that I replace the vinyl I might want to continue using with MP3 versions of the tracks. That’s OK, but a digital file does not give you the emotional attachment you get from remembering when & why you bought the vinyl. But I guess that is just sentimentality.

Nothing wrong with sentimentality I guess. But it is a bitch to rip old vinyl and have them sound good. And you’ll always have the original album art if that offers any consolation.
DVS effectively let’s you turn regular turntables (you can go and get a decent set of 1200s – finally!) into controllers for digital music residing on your laptop. You use what is called a timecode record that basically tells the DJ software where the needle is and at what speed and in what direction it is spinning. Since you apparently weren’t a great beatmatching fan back in the day, I think DVS shouldn’t be something to strive for. Cumbersome and heavy equipment, harder to master, less help from modern day tools like beatgridding and sync. Even though your crowd may not expect it, it doesn’t hurt to show some technical agility.

…so am pretty much starting from scratch (forgive the pun!) again.

Love puns, keep ‘m coming.

* Incidentally, Phil does not mention in his 50-part ‘How to be a digital DJ’ video series on Youtube that you either need powered speakers or a separate amp, as well as your chosen mixer/controller & DJ software. I think this is a bad omission on his part, but the videos are nevertheless very useful.

Can’t remember the free stuff. I know he goes into it substantially in the paid course and there is a zillion posts on the blog and threads on here.

Greetinx and good luck, if you have any more questions let us know,
C.

You have such a way with words, Terry 🙂

LOL … when I started in the mid/late 70s, the first mixers came out. Til then you would have amplifiers with multiple (2 lol) inputs with rotary volume controls. So that was your “mixer”. Most turntables had very weak motors (actually true til the crazy torque 1200s appeared! – with the exception of some radio station models) and although you could do something with a slipmat, that was usually only good to do a quick start. Besides no backspin needles, so they’d either eat your vinyl or break. So something like beatmatching wasn’t a real option. DJs would actually talk a lot in those days while in the background doing the transition from one song to another.

It was (for me) not a case of not wanting to but first not knowing it existed and there not being the right gear. At some point we got DJ needles, “real” 2-3 or 4 channel mixers with faders and pre-fader listening (cue), slightly stronger turntables that you could use a slipmat on and backspin with and do some (far from) subtle nudging.

I like to think the crowd got educated too in the meantime, even if they are exactly the same people as back then I would have come to expect a little more advanced DJ-ing now.

But that is just me. To each his own right, it’s a free world.

Greetinx,
C.

Good Ole Tandy 🙂

Trip down memory lane, thank you! My first serious and matching turntables were Lenco beltdrives. 🙂

Somewhere in 77 or 78

Greetinx,
C.

I remember my first turntables, but I have been busting my brains trying to remember my first mixer.

I am getting old.

Greetinx,
C.