DJ Vintage

Before Terry tells you (just kidding T!), you really need to check out Phils video course. It is really good and since it is online, you can watch it whenever you have a chance.

Other than that, I think your road map is pretty much ok. Both technical skills and musical (selection) skills are there, as are familiarity with your equipment and marketing. What ratio you apply to them as far as assigning time goes, that is mainly up to you.

Greetinx,
C.

The thing I like about the iDJ is the fact that all you need apart from the controller is the iPad which even fits inside the unit. So, no cables, no laptop stand, nothing. There is a custom backpack so travel shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Because of the iPad connector it charges it, which I like.

As long as I can walk …

But seriously, it would very much depend on the availability of a replacement.

Played with a migraine once, looked green as The Hulk, not funny. And it does hurt your perfomance of course.

And if you are a talking jock, losing your voice would definitely be a huge downer.

Greetinx,
C.

I prefer the look of a good flightcase to a set of individual pieces stuck together on a table or something. And my flightcases are plug an play, put it down, aplug in speakers, mic, headphones and power and off I go. Since I never have to touch most connections on the gear itself, those stay reliable as new.

One word on perspex, it isn’t as lightweight as you seem to think when in a thickness that will actually offer some protection. And microfibre material on the inside is fineto protect from scratching your gear abut also offers no shock protection whatsoever.

Sturdy as equipment may have become, stll loads of delicate electronics inside.

Greetinx,
C.

I’ll just limit my comments to the speakers issue (and the advice to go for the full course :-)) for now.

There are really three points i would worry about (that’s just me though):
1) single or pair?
2) only at home/bedroom?
3) power or precision?

Let me elaborate.

Single or pair.
When I practice I use my SINGLE road worthy Numark NPM100, I find there is (too) little added value setting up two speakers as most of my practice is for mixing, where I have one ear in my cans anyway. Having to buy only one instead of two obviously means you have twice the budget or save half of your money (to buy that better controller perhaps?).

Only at home/bedroom?
I set my single monitor up on a mic stand, the same way I use it when playing live. The monitor I picked, see above, is made for the road. ABS plastic housing, firm metal grill protecting the speakers, compact, with attachement points for speaker stands. I you buy speakers that, at some point, you want to use as monitor on the road or even as small PA, do NOT buy studio monitor type speakers, they are totally not road ready. A far better choice would be to get some PA speakers (active) then.

Power or precision
Studio monitor speakers or made for just that STUDIO monitoring. In a studio you want brutally honest sound, because you need to hear exactly what was recorded. They are far less about stumpin’ bass and/or high power. Also, studio monitors can be rather tiring to listen to for prolonged periods of time. PA speakers on the other hand are tuned differently, because they are supposed to sound good at relatively high sound levels and area also constructed to withstand longer periods of (near) maximum power handling.

Just my look on things, hope it helps you come to a balanced decision.

Greetinx,
C.

There are quite a few threads (and articles on the blog) on this subject. Most warning about the pitfall of wanting to have “everything” in your collection. I had fallen into that trap myself and am hard at work going back to a maximum working library of 800-1000 tracks. I do lots of weddings and allround stuff, so need a tad more than usual perhaps.

Greetinx,
C.

From a legal point of view I think it isn’t really grey but black & white. You can cannot use, alter, (re)publish, etx, any (protected) material from an artist without specific permission, other than for personal use (meaning car, home, etx.).

Now in practice I am guessing it depends on your succes, the tracks/artists you are using, etx.

If you upload a mix and it gets 100 hits, you’ll stay under the radar most likely. If you get thousands (or hopefully for you tens of thousands) of hits, the odds are somebody that looks out for the artist rights will notice and youtube and/or you can be summoned to take it down.

Hey, if it can make your name even if you’ll get slapped for copyright infringement, who cares, right?

Next time you’ll be so famous the artist will come to you begging to do a remix.

Greetinx,
C.

There is a reverse grain effect … but that is about it LOL