Chuck Van Eekelen

It would probably mean they will stop PRODUCING the MC6000mk2, but usually support (like for new OS versions, drivers and mappings for supported software) should continue for a while. Also a new wind seems to be blowing through the support/forums at Denon. It is now officially supported, has areas for things like the MC6000, so a good place to go for much needed community and company support.

I still rate the MC6000 among the best mobile DJ units. When treated well, it should give many many years of faithful service. Also the form factor/size is such that it is relatively easy to fit even in the tiniest of booths or bars.

As for backup. the MC6000 is a stand-alone mixer. If you lose the laptop, very easy to switch to your tablet hooked up to one of the for channels. Just hit play on a pre-recorded “floor-filler” mix, open the fader and keep everyone dancing while you reboot/fix the laptop.

Hope that helps some.

Hi Arthur, welcome to these forums.

While there are theories on this, there are probably about as many theories as there are DJs. And, as you might guess, the DJs that grow popular are the ones that toss the theories overboard and just “do” their thing.

And really, if DJ-ing could be caught in fixed playlists/sets, mathematical rules and such, there would be succesful automated DJ solutions around.

It’s the premiere reason we always say the the absolute number 1 skill for succesful DJ-ing is Knowing What Must Come Next.

As much as you love harmonic mixing (and most of us have been to that place when we got seriously into MiK), if you were to only do harmonic mixing, your sets would become boring. Being able to make big BPM jumps or genre switches helps keeping the audience alert and on their toes, wondering what rabbit you will pull out of the hat next.

I played a private b’day party a while back. It was rather impromptu, I was supposed to bring a mixer, PA and some mics because some people wanted to play/sing live music. Last minute they asked me to bring my controller and DJ the second half of the evening.

With no time left to prepare for the gig, sort out any playlists or anything, I just went and winged it. Turned out to be a good night with everybody on the floor, dancing and sweating. Several compliments afterwards with two or three people commenting on how “they were often surprised and came to become curious about my next choice”.

To me it wasn’t a good night as far as mixing (technical and harmonic) went, but I had fun, the crowd loved my choices and it was just a fun night.

Point in case, preparation is good, but it should be done in addition to being able to do one “by heart”, by knowing your collection intimately, not having it bigger than you really need and frankly getting as much live experience as you can get.

Courses on here can help your efforts. Lke the Serato Ninja course (learn all the ins and outs of the software, from installing properly and setting the best settings to fine-tuning to your worklow) and How To Digital DJ Fast (none of the trial and error stuff, quickly learning what to do and how to properly practice it. Not only technical skills, but collection building and playlisting and such as well).

Hope that helps a bit.

Enjoy your time here!

Just RCA to RCA cable is it

Depends on what you mean by sorted out. There is (far as I know) no major DJ software that has integration with Media Monkey the way they have with iTunes.

As I said, the AG03 (or AG06) has a built-in soundcard. It let’s you record as well as play back. Just plug your gear in as you would any mixer and presto, master output of your mixer available for recording. High (24-bit) quality as well. And I love having a volume knob to control my speakers/monitors and my headphones.

As for speakers. Tip one: 2017 = no need for amp/speaker combination anymore. The quality of powered speakers is such that you don’t need the extra hassle and cabling. Tip two: While it depends on what you will be listening to and why, this being a (digital) DJ forum, the best advice I can give you for practice and listening to dance music, with the added bonus of being able to take your speakers and play the odd house or BBQ party as well, is to get a pair of (used) small PA speakers – say 10″ – with stands. Get a good brand though. Or, especially if you want some more low end, you can look at the 2.1 systems many brands from HK Audio and LD Systems sell or 1.1 systems like RCF has. It depends on your quality desire and budget.

In my personal opinion, you can add the wattage of the subwoofers to the total wattage when it comes to calculating the average group size you could cover. In that scenario I would agree with a 10W (RMS!) per person indoors to get a good volume going without pushing your PA too hard.

The other thing is that Wattage is only part of the equation. The other part is the effectiveness of the speaker, usually rated as SPL (Sound Pressure Level). It’s the amount of dBs a speaker produces (pink noise) at 1 meter from the speaker when fed 1 Watt of RMS input. Another measure is the max. SPL, which is the amount of decibels produced at maximum amplifier output (often the point just before the limiter/protection kicks in).

Why are those important? Let me tell you a bit about our ears. We don’t hear in a “straight” line. Our hearing is logarithmic, meaning it has a curve, instead of a line.

If you were to double the amp power, that would get you a 3dB increase in volume. This is just above the level a human ear can tell the difference. However, it takes 10dB for your ears to perceive it as TWICE as LOUD (+10dB). That requires 10 times the amp power!

Ok, now add the fact that sound loses 6 dB! (which is 4 times the amp power) for each doubling of the distance.
This is why it actually IS a good idea to have 4 speakers firing inward to the center of the dance area, instead of using two up front by the way!

Example:
Your dancefloor is 20 meters deep and start 1 meter from your speakers. Your speakers have a 125dB max. SPL at 1 meter. Let’s also assume the 103dB at 10meter maximum “rule” (depends on local rules, laws, regulations).
Half the distance = 5 meters = 103 + 6 = 109dB
Half again = 2,5 meters = 109 + 6 = 115dB
Half again = 1,25 meters = 115 + 6 = 121dB
At 1 meter this means you would be running very very close to maximum on your speakers all night long. And still the people at the back of the floor would be listening to sound with a level of (double 5 = 10, double 10 = 20, total deduction of 2x 6 = 12dB) 103dB -/- 12dB = 91dB. 90dB is the inside of a bus!
Should you use 4 speakers, you could have 103dB in the center, getting stronger in all directions moving closer to one of the 4 speakers, instead of the strong tapering off in a 2-speaker front setup.

To recuperate:
1) Amp power (Watts RMS) doesn’t tell the whole story. You need massive power increase (10x) to make things sounds twice as loud to the human ear (+10dB).
2) Speaker efficiency counts. How much dBs does the speaker produce based on the amp input. If a speaker gives you 5dB more of SPL, your are halfway to that 10dB increase.
3) Using 4 speakers on the corners does indeed give a more even volume spread, contains the sound on the dance area more and you can keep your speakers a tad lower than full force.

Back to your example of 100 people, that would mean about 1.000Watt RMS. Let’s say you have two subs and 4 tops, I’d say about 150-200W per top and somewhere in the 300-400 range for subs. You won’t need that much, but low end requires a bit of amp power to move those bigger speakers. Also don’t try to get 18″ subs with only 300W. You are better off with 12″ at that amp level. An 18″ sub driven by a 200W amp is like a lame duck.

If money is no option, you could look at the RCF EVOX 5. Great sound, great sound dispersion (front-back spread) due to array-like tops, small, compact and highly portable. At 400W a piece, if you have 2 you can do an easy 80-100 people. Go for 4 and it’s up to 150-200 people very comfortably.

Final point I’d like to make, if you want serious bass, the kind you can feel in your gut rather than hear, all the previous stuff goes out the windows and you will need to get some very serious subs (18″ with matching amp power). At the end of the day that much low energy is all about moving vast amounts of air. That means big drivers with lots of power. Question is, if you have a 100 people party, is that what you and (more importantly) what they want? I have been to house parties with 15″ tops and 18″ subs in a living room blaring in my ear at 6 feet away. Not fun, I left within 30 minutes.

Lots of text, but I thought maybe some other people struggling with this stuff might be helped by this. Hope your are too.

Does it show as audio device in the macOS audio settings?

Yep, Yamaha AG03 or the 06 should you prefer it. I have mine setup as my external sound card with my Rokit monitors attached.