Alex Wray

Look into finding some modern songs that sample from 70’s songs, as well as nu-disco, to complement the actual 70’s music. That might help keep you sane through the party, as well. Study Youtube for videos of DJs talking at parties to help get an idea of what she would be looking for

NietzSKY, post: 37273, member: 4553 wrote: I’d suggest
1) Toy around with different DAWs, and start versing yourself in these. It seems these days DJ and producer go hand-in-hand, and once you familiarize yourself with djing, production is how you take it to the next level. Production also gives you a great understanding of effects such as delay and reverb, and makes you appreciate them that much more. Also, mixing is an essential skill in production, and you will grasp more ways to mash/transition songs when you are building from the ground-up.
2) Learning piano and studying music theory: Piano is the king of compositional instruments in my opinion, and piano is the best instrument to get you used to how bass and treble work together. In addition, skills in piano will also cross over into the realm of MPCs and maschines, and really allow you to add a live performance aspect to your djing (it will allow you to stand out from other djs).
3) watch other djs in action and learn from their sets. See how Ean Golden daisy-chains different effects and emulate at first in order to expand later. I’ve found (and came up with some of my own) ways to really emphasize bass-drops through fx and to utilize them in a way that doesn’t become super tedious (using fx chains as fills, creating different sounds while scratching through fx, transitioning in more interesting ways than just a filter-out or a low frequency kill). With technology these days, there are so many things you can do to truly make sets your own.

Totally agree. I played for 8 years, and as much as i didn’t like it, it has come in handy. Some of the things it taught me

1. Multitasking. Playing harmony with left hand, melody with your right transfers to mixing things into two decks simutaneously
2. Manual beatmatching. A piano hides no sounds. If one hand is off timing, its immediatly (and painfully) obvious
3. Reading music. Sheet music, with practice, will become basically a waveform in your mind. You can see the buildup and breakdown in songs more easily.
4. Production. If you notice, usually synths have the equivalent of a mini keyboard on it. Im actually about to start building a house song with a classical music twist. and rather than point and click, I can actually play the song. Now imagine the crowd reaction to seeing THAT live on stage

To summarize, piano is a good musical instrument to learn. You can usually pick up a used one in a thrift shop for like $20, so the cost isnt insane

Something you also might want to check into is something gently used. I was shocked at the the store prices of some and decided to go online shopping, and now I stay on eBay

Just to quote

Traktor Audio 2 + Traktor Pro 2 = $85 (brand new, factory sealed)
Novation Launchpad = $80 (used twice)
Stanton SCS.3 (Personally not the greatest controller, but it will definitely get you started) = $80 (used a few times)

Sometimes you might only save 10%-15%, and sometimes you can get a really good deal on stuff, so don’t be afraid to buy used. The only person who would know is you, and it definitely can save money as opposed to buying straight out of the store. And like Terry said, the people who have the latest and greatest could have no idea about what you’re doing, as opposed to the guy who bought what he could afford, and learned it inside and out, backwards and sideways. Personally, having to pay my own way through college, working at a restaurant trying to become a chef, and learning how to DJ, and having to save and scrimp for any equipment makes me appreciate my small kit, and drives me to make it do the things that the best stuff can. Do I drool over the newest Pioneer CDJ, or Traktor Kontrol hardware? You bet. Then I take the equipment I have and tweak and program and MIDI map to make it do the things that more expensive stuff can

One of my favorite artists is Big Gigantic. He does some things in that vein, and you might want to have a listen and see if it gives you some inspiration

Just one of my favorites
[media=youtube]OaX3lNTVmk4[/media]

Well you have enough physical hard drive space, definitely, but the RAM is a different thing. it should be under

Control Panel > System > View RAM and processor speed (or something like that)

If your processor is under 2 GHz, and / or your RAM is less than 2 GBs, (even being barely over that, like 2.2 GHz could cause problems after a couple of hours of really hard mixing with lots of effects (almost burned out an old laptop doing that, but that’s a different story =P)) than that might be causing the problem. If both are 2.5 GHz / GBs or better, then it probably something else