Stazbumpa

Ok, for Traktor you stick the 3900 into hybrid midi mode to get the timecode signal. The Denon makes its own signal in this mode, no CD’s required.
Traktor will complain that the signal isn’t good enough although everything works, so ignore Traktor.
Phono will need to go into Traktor compatible sound card, be it a mixer or Audio DJ from NI, and then usb your Denon into your laptop for midi controller utility. The tsi mapping on the Denon webby is the one I use, works a treat. You can browse folders and tracks, use cue points, loops with adjustment on the fly and nearly everything else.
For spinning platter goodness you will need Scratch Pro 2.whatever and set the timecode signal to 2.5khz on the Denons. You can also adjust the turntable torque 🙂

Engine won’t do any converting of files, whatever you use to convert make sure it’s 44.1khz/16 bit.
If you’re using a usb stick with 3900’s then a network cable between the two decks will let both read the one usb stick. However the display on the 3900’s (and the 37’s) is limited to showing two tracks at a time when scrolling through your collection.
As Vintage points out, if you’re using Engine then you have a couple of useful tricks. Connect the 3900’s to a wireless router and you can read the collection that’s on the usb stick with an iPad. You can also set your cue points in Engine prior to your gig.
The Denon’s are enormous fun to use, personally I would try and opt for the 3900’s if you can as apart from being superior to the 3700’s they will be new and not second hand.

Good EQing also helps, lowering the bass on the incoming track and having it at a slightly lower volume will make any adjustments via nudging much less noticeable.
Using key lock can also help mask speed changes, never had that luxury in the vinyl days.

I agree with not bashing bedroom producers, moreover I don’t think getting your track professionally mastered is a must either.
Squarepusher sold 10,000 odd copies of his Hard Normal Daddy album and the whole thing was written, produced and mastered in his bedroom. His sampler had half meg of RAM for gods sake.
Point is that limitations can make you rethink your way round making sounds, and in my mind that is a metaphorical red flag to the bull of creativity. A semi decent set of speakers and an honest appraisal of what you have produced should get it sounding pretty damn good without chucking extra money at it.

It’s not a question of keeping busy, it’s a question of playing music that moves the crowd. Do that, and be amiable to whoever comes to talk to you, and the crowd will remember that over and above anything else.
It’s about the music, not what you think you look like. Most crowds won’t care what you’re doing in the DJ booth as long as it sounds good.

In my experience, issues with Traktor tend to be at least a 50/50 affair and in most cases there is something the user can do with their kit or laptop to improve things.
The annoying part is that you often don’t know exactly what it is you need to do. As mentioned previously, overheating is a major cause of glitches, further to this you could have background tasks running that conflict with Traktor. Also putting your laptop to prioritizing background applications (music counts as background for some reason) might help.

My thoughts:

The wrong kind of music has got all the exposure in the last 12 months or so. EDM has become a genre in itself and it is both completely predictable and utterly boring.
Every single record sounds exactly like the one released the week before.