Todd Oddity

Hee Won Jung, post: 18773, member: 948 wrote: I can understand that point…but now a days…where do you use an S4 that doesnt already have an existing mixer?

You know the environments you work, and can gear up accordingly, but be careful not to assume everywhere is the same.

For me, reliable access to a club mixer is not a given. At one of the places I play at regularly, the “house” mixer is located on the other side of the stage, and at a couple others I’m just plugging into XLR’s directly into the amp racks, so for the environments I knew I would be in standalone mixer functions seemed like an important safety feature.

If you will always be setting up directly beside a club mixer, or even a full club set up with decks, then I can see how it might not seem as important to you.

If I’m doing a mix that’s a bit of a stretch like that I’ll slowly speed up the first track through the entire length of it, using your example to about 130, mix into the next one at 130 and then slowly bring it up to speed over the length of it. Unless there is an obvious break in the second track, in which case I just make the adjustment then and when the beat kicks back in we’re back in business.

I can speak to both options you are looking at… I use an MC6000 for most of my shows and *love* the unit, but I wanted something a little more flexible for my studio, so I got an X1600 and two SC2000s. It gives me the same workflow that I love on my 6000, but with a full featured (and absolutely beautiful sounding) mixer that I can hook my old CD decks, turntables, Ableton controller, or pretty much anything else I could come up with to…

It’s also given me some unexpected flexibility as I can now just bring one or two of the SC2000’s if I’m working somewhere with a cramped booth but a solid mixer.

All of that said, I agree with D-Jam, turntables are a giant pain in the ass – I haven’t had mine set up in over 5 years now. So really think through what you will want and need and then start shopping based on that.

Good luck!

Maybe the problem I have with all of this is an age and experience thing… Nobody *ever* asks me what equipment I use when I’m being booked – they ask me what I need from them. I *am* a professional (although I will never admit that publicly!) and therefore when people book me they know I’m not going to show up with a pile of crap for equipment.

Again, as I said back on page 1 – your audience doesn’t look in the dj booth when you are working – at most they may look directly at you, but do you really think Sally-Six-Drinks-In gives a rat’s ass what equipment you use? No, she cares that there is music, and that it is awesome. The only people looking at your equipment are other dj’s. Just be confident with whatever you choose to play with, and if someone says anything about it, laugh at them and make them feel just as little as they are trying to make you feel, as you are the one who actually has a show.

And to compare a Mixtrack and a CDJ2000, well that’s just dumb. Of course my Porsche is way better than your tricycle – that’s why NOBODY would ever compare the two. A pro grade controller will hold its own just fine against any set of CDJ’s. Hell, they probably have almost the same workflow.

Anyway, none of this is meant to sound hostile, it’s just that dj’ing is a business of confidence. So have some! If someone doesn’t like your equipment, kick them in the nuts and tell them you don’t like their “equipment”. Now that’s confidence!

PS. I don’t actually own a Porsche. It just made a better example than my Kia, which is only marginally better than a tricycle…

Sounds like a nice gig! I love patio parties. If you are just starting out, don’t get into attendance-based top-up pay yet. They tend to be tied to also paying for and running the promotions for the night, and if this is your first gig you want to ease yourself into it a little. As for what to charge, it very much depends on the area. Around here a “show up and play” show averages $150 – $200 depending on the night of the week. Bringing anything more than a controller (or whatever you use) has extra charges involved.

I have a similar story and can relate. Started playing around with dj’ing when I was 17, moved into the clubs as soon as turned 19 (legal age in these parts), and then worked three to five nights a week for the next 11 years. Then at 30 my significant other convinced me to retire and move into other things. It didn’t take much convincing as I was totally burnt out and didn’t enjoy any of the venues I was working at…

Then we broke up, and people started bugging me to come back. I didn’t want to look like I was having a mid-life crisis, so I resisted. But I started paying a little more attention to all things music again.

And then I was diagnosed with an abnormally aggressive form of cancer. That totally changed my perspective on things. I decided it was important to focus on the things that I enjoy, and so I officially picked the headphones back up and dove in head first. Fast forward a year and a half, just had my 36th birthday, and I’m loving it and have absolutely no intentions of getting out again anytime soon… (and, as a side note, beat cancer along the way too)

Being able to cue and using sync aren’t really related and from the photo it isn’t possible to tell exactly how he has the equipment mapped, but in theory, if you wanted to manually beatmix with that setup you could map some of the line faders on the mixer to double as pitch controllers, or use some of the parameter dials on the midi strip. I suspect with a really intensive mapping job, you would have access to more than enough buttons and dials on that mixer to run an entire show without any additional controls.