Essential Equipment for Beginner?

Hello Y'all,

Okay, I'm what many of you would consider a newbie, wannabe, green, and any other epithet you have for "beginner." About ten years ago I was "spinning records," back when you just had to get the beats to synch and have some spicy stuff to say, two turntables and a mic, no scratching. Prince, Klymaxx, "No Parking on the Dance Floor" you get the picture. I'm also a musician, and wicked with samplers, sequences, drum machines, etc. I really dig what today's dj's are doing, and I'm thinking of trying my hand at dj'ing gain, but the equipment has evolved beyond my comprehension. I would like to have a simple turntable set up, and a dual CD set up, and be able to do some nice mixing and work my own sequences into the mix. I already have the P.A. covered, and lighting is no mystery, so I'm mainly interested in more info about the CD players and how to really work them, essential features, etc. Is there a website that I can go to, or maybe you folks here can kindly refer me to someone who can give me some direction. Thanks for reading, looking forward to constructive, helpful replies. electracoyote@musician.net

I've had a hand in brief use of lots of different DJ oriented CD players, and the only one I would even consider buying thus far is the pioneer cdj 1000. It's got a big price tag, but (and forgive my language) it {censored}s on everything else I've put my fingers on. It sounds like your budget won't be a problem anyway. The basic deal is, they're the closest you can get to duplicating the feel of a record on a turntable without actually having a record and a turntable. They're even pressure sensitive. Just barely touch it, the track slows down but doesn't stop. Put a bit of weight on it and THEN it stops. You can set just about any variable you can think of, plus pretty much all the stops that the digital realm has offered us thus far. (cue points, etc.) http://www.pioneerprodj.com/

I also reccomend their DJM mixer series. I own a DJM 500, bought it used, it's about 5 years old and works/sounds just like new. Nice sound at that. The 600 is better, but not necessarily worth the hefty price diffference, especially if you already have a sampler. If I understand correctly, the pioneer mixers can control certain special functions of the pioneer cd players.

As for turntables, not much has changed, at least not until VERY recently. Just last week, I FINALLY got to try the new numark ttx1s. Pretty {censored}ing sweet man. It felt as good and solid as the technics, the only question that remains is whether it's as dependable. Honestly, I think the extra features are worth it, whether or not they last 25 years + like the technics do. Particularly when you're trying to do something creative, not just the usual 'fade this one out, fade that one in' routine. The digital pitch display helps out a lot, cause you have a visual to go with what you're hearing. perfect for laying out a studio session. (lets see, track 1 is gonna be set at 3.6, then track 2 will be around 2.9 etc)

I hope this helps you in some way. Apart from that, there really is a decent wealth of information burried in this message board, cause LOTS of people have asked close to the same question you just did in the couple years I've been here. Just browse through, you'll find lots of opinions on both the turntables and the cd players.

Feel free to drop me a line with any other questions you might have. I'll answer what I can.

Thanks djsynrgy for the info. You are defintely in the right direction with your answer. I think I'm not ever gonna be the scratch master that some deejays aspire to be, and if the Technics 1200 is still the standard I'll seek out those or a couple of comparable models. I think the confusing part for me is the new CD technology. Start points, pitch contril, BPM, all the features! Man, it's amazing and overwhelming at the same time. I need to know what features on a dual CD player are essential and what features on CD players in general most of you could not live without, and why of course. And by the way, being a musician, I firmly believe what you guys do IS being a musician too, because you deal with so many purely musical skills like timing, rhythm, flow, etc. So, from one musician to another, who has the musicality to keep the dance floor hot all night long, what features do your CD players have to have and why? Thanks again to all for your replies.

I've just recently started getting into using a CD player as part of my regular kit. I grew weary (not to mention poverty stricken) of having to get my new tracks pressed onto dubplates in order to actually let a crowd hear them, so I broke down and bought some Pioneer CD decks.......

I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the CD players, but I'm an old dog and we don't always learn new tricks extremely well. At this point, I've never actually bought a CD to play at a party, nor will I ever, but CD decks are a good way to get some of your own work into your sets........

I'm obviously not the typical user of CD players, but I hope that my tips will be somewhat useful to you.

First off, before buying the 1000s, I made a point of using every single system I possibly could. I settled on the 1000s because they felt right and they were the only decks that gave me a real sense of control over my music. I found that the vast majority of CD decks left me feeling like I really didn't have enough control.

I don't use mine to their full potential - frankly, I don't even know how half the functions on them really work......However, I will tell you what I liked about them and what I disliked about other players.......

I don't find that top loading CD players feel solid enough for my own personal taste.

Items like hot cues and looping, etc are basically just gimmicks. Maybe I'm behind on the times, but frankly, I don't use samples when I'm mixing and I think that using samples and loops kind of dumbs down the art of actually putting together a string of tracks. I wouldn't really concern myself with these unless you plan on playing music for people with questionable attention spans.......

I love the touch-sensitive dial on the 1000.......Too many decks force you to use pitch bending as the exclusive means of bring a track on phase. Pitch bending is great provided that you're within a few beats of being perfectly on phase, but for big adjustments you need to be able to make big changes and I don't believe that pitch bending is accurate enough over long stretches........

Just keep one thing in mind when you are buying a CD deck. The art of mixing hasn't really changed at all since you left it. The fundamentals (a really good, tight mix) are still exactly the same. Play around with a bunch of decks and discover which one gives you enough control to be able to mix effectively. Too many CD players I played with had pitch controls that felt like they were manufactured by Fisher Price........Find one that feels really solid and that enables you to make those minute little adjustments that keep trainwrecks from happening in 128 counts...........

Oh yeah, and don't listen to all the hype about the Pioneer mixers.....I still think they're wonky.......;-)

Peace and good luck