Beedle

I would mention to just make sure you plug into a ‘Line-in’ input on the back of the mixer, and make sure the toggle switch on the channel you’re using is obviously also set to ‘Line-in’. If at all possible get up there 10-15 mins before you start just to get hooked up, just be polite to the guy before and wait for a moment he’s not using the mixer, get your RCA into the line-in on an empty channel, have your lappy set up and S4 connected, (if at all possible cue up a tune and press play MAKING SURE YOUR CHANNEL VOLUME IS DOWN! and just double check the volume meter attached to your channel is registering sound) and then just back off, relax and wait till your time.

I’ve done it many many times and just staying relaxed and being polite to the guy before gets ya a long long way. Best of luck and let us know how it goes mate…

[qote=Dj Emazing, post: 41850, member: 9575] SENNHEISER IS A BEAST! I had and still have Sony’s brand for years but then a pair of $90 USD Sennheiser caught my attention(Model “HD 205”). OMG The Music is so clean and crispy, I could believe it, I’m in love with these headphones I brought an extra pair just incase they discontinued the model.

Yep i also have these HD 205’s, awesome headphones, fantastic bass, great ‘cut-off’ from outside noise, unbelievably hard-wearing (had mine for 7 or 8 years, countless gigs, still like brand new). And better yet they’re not up in the super-pro price bracket so might be more affordable for you, good luck!

Hi again Kisscut, one good thing to keep in your mind when you finally get that gig is that pretty much everyone in the club/party/gardenshed/watever WANTS to dance, so once you get that first tune going, you’d be surprised how much you relax, i was always chronically nervous before gigs (and i’m no expert, only played in a club 6 or 7 times) but always find that once you’re up there and the tunes are playing you feel miles better, as a few people mentioned i think its a good idea to have at least your first 3 or 4 tunes planned, so you can focus as much as possible on your mixing and basically gettin the feeling for the booth.
With regards to mixing out of the last DJ’s tune, i always just be respectful, let their tune bop away for a few minutes while you get as close to their BPM as you can, , then just take the plunge and mix out of it quick as ya like! Then you’re away.
You’ll probably never lose the nerves entirely, but its totally worth it for the feeling afterwards when you’re finished , and drunk/out of it clubbers are shaking your hand and saying ‘great tunes’ etc. Havin a few mates at your gig will help your nerves too, as will defo havin that drink before hand! (but DONT get messy beforehand, it’ll come back to haunt ya!!!)
Best of luck and let us know how ya get on!

“Your laptop should have tree ports—headphone out, mic in, and “line in”
You want line in.”

p.s i was also told this in a good few forums when i was trying to get set up, but my laptop (and i think many laptops) doesnt have a ‘line-in’, so in this case the ‘Mic in’ does the job perfectly (as long as your coming from a mixer’s Rec Out, had a few disasters connecting my controller DIRECTLY to the Mic In port, this caused absolute ear-bleed noise to come out of the speakers :-P)

No problem at all, really hope it works for ya, theres nothin better than recording your mixes and listening back to them, you can see where you were good and where you were bad 😉 and of course getting your sound out there will hopefully lead to gigs and who knows what! Defo let me know if the setup works out for ya, look forward to hearing your mixes 🙂

[INDENT][FONT=Tahoma]”So basically i need one RCA running to my amp and speakers and then another RCA to go into the line in on my laptop right?”[/INDENT]
[INDENT]Exactly, most mixers have a ‘Master Out’ and a ‘Rec Out’ input at the back,, the ”Master’ should go to your amp and speakers and the ‘Rec’ should go to the Mic In on your laptop (you’ll need a ‘y’ splitter cable of course, with the split red & white connectors on one end and just 1 jack on the other end) I use this set-up to record in Audacity and the quality is perfect. I cant remember how i have my inputs set up in Audacity, i’m in work at the moment and can check for you later tho. Good Luck! [/INDENT][/FONT]

A few lollipops and a Snickers bar 🙂 I’m diabetic and ya really dont wanna collapse behind the decks during that marathon set

Yeah i think most of us would have a foot in both camps, i also started in the mid-90’s (horrendous Citronic Belt-Drive decks with a mind of their own tempo-wise!) and probably like most of us here i spent months and months train-wrecking before finally starting to grasp certain techniques that worked, (counting bars, dropping the first beat at the start of the bar etc etc blah blah 🙂 ) and i pretty much did it all with no outside help, but that said, its a totally different world now and if people want to ask for help the internets the place to do it, and it can probably get people mixing and playing out in much less time (again, not always a good thing, haha), but i do agree with the OP in that some of the questions being asked just seem SO basic, with so little understanding of the music itself, that IMO some people just ‘want to be DJ’s’, rather than getting into it because you just cant get enough of the music, which should really be the only reason you get into the whole thing!

I’m probably coming across as a bit of a purist, which i’m honestly not, use the tools at hand to get better by all means, but dont just ask people basically ‘how do i DJ?!!!!!!!’ Practice for hours coz ya love it!