How to Become a Laptop DJ?

[sceba]

JectWon said:SmallAxeRick said:


If you're playing all digital, the traditional setup (two 1200's) is silly to me. People cling to odd things from the past. Every time I see somebody juggling mp3 doubles, I cringe.




What about .flacc and .wav? Do those get your panties equally bunched up, or is the hate limited to the act of juggling with .mp3 file extensions?




I would stick with FLAC and WAV files instead of 320kbps mp3s if you're playing on a somewhat decent soundsystem. Also I personally would try to stick with files of the same bitrate and source so that you have a somewhat consistent sound, instead of the quality and the texture of the sound jumping all over place between tracks. Playing vinylrips made with beat-up needles, FLACs bought from the an online store and unmastered Soundcloud tracks can make for a very inconsistent experience and nasty contrast between songs in terms of the mixes and balance of sounds. Not to mention the bad idea of downloading tracks from torrents which might well be converted from VBR to lossless just to get warez props. It's not only questionable if you want to maintain a smooth sound but of course morally dubious to say the least as well.

 

[sceba]

Also wanted to underline vinyl-ripping is a good if time consuming method to get tracks for playing out, but just make sure you have a good set-up to do it. (also in my country you're supposed to pay a transfer fee for ripping your own vinyl to your computer, but hopefully the States don't have this kind of idiotic legislation...)

 

[DOR]

Jesse DeVille said:SmallAxeRick said:If you're playing all digital, the traditional setup (two 1200's) is silly to me. People cling to odd things from the past. Every time I see somebody juggling mp3 doubles, I cringe.




SMH. I can think of countless DJs, routines, DJ sets and mixes that would render this statement as one of the biggest examples of horseshit ever.





I'll just leave this here...









DJing on anything other than turntables feels foreign to me. I get it that with controllers or whatever things have advanced. But can't we use whatever tool works best for us?





And like posted. I could care less what people use. It all comes down with what are you gonna do with it.

 

[HarveyCanal]

I look forward to throwing all prior convention out the window. Give me a phone with 3 buttons that will allow me to DJ a set and I'll use that as long as the end product sounds good.





Also looking forward to working with a limited number of songs. I want to quit focusing so much on the breadth of selection and do more live remixing and whatnot.

 

[kicks79]

sceba said:Also wanted to underline vinyl-ripping is a good if time consuming method to get tracks for playing out, but just make sure you have a good set-up to do it. (also in my country you're supposed to pay a transfer fee for ripping your own vinyl to your computer, but hopefully the States don't have this kind of idiotic legislation...)




What country are you in ? I've never heard about this before ? How is it meant to work if you were ripping some private press LP ?


Tell me more !

 

[EL CHAMACO]

I can't stand Serato, I much prefer cdj's if I'm gonna digi dj. For me Serato is clunky and unnecessary. Just give me a usb stick and some pioneer decks and fall back. Harvey I think you should rent a setup and see what you like.

 

[sceba]

kicks79 said:sceba said:Also wanted to underline vinyl-ripping is a good if time consuming method to get tracks for playing out, but just make sure you have a good set-up to do it. (also in my country you're supposed to pay a transfer fee for ripping your own vinyl to your computer, but hopefully the States don't have this kind of idiotic legislation...)




What country are you in ? I've never heard about this before ? How is it meant to work if you were ripping some private press LP ?


Tell me more !




I live in Finland. You need to buy a DJ-licence if you play music digitally. If you play "original" vinyl you don't need the licence. If you record the vinyl and play the files you need a licence. Just going over the licence stuff and apparently you need another licence if you record your set and put it on the net. LOL. Also if you buy digital music from a store that has been licenced to be played publicly you don't need a licence but if you make a copy of the file you need a licence to play that copy. There's a licence for performing/playing songs and another one for recording them. So yeah, it's an outdated and stupid system. It used to be even more stupid but public outcry made Teosto (http://teosto.fi/en), the agency that enforces it, update the licence details to this new one, which is marginally less stupid, but still very stupid. This is one reason I've generally gone back to playing vinyl-only sets, you don't nedd to dell with these follz.

 

[sceba]

Someone said that serato is only as good as the 1200s you're playing on. A pretty fair assesment. If you've not setup the equipment 100% correctly or have problems with the rca's the tonearms or needles, the vinyl emulation/tracking is not going to work well and the digital distortions and the likes that follow, sound horrible, much worse than vinyl skipping imo. I've never really gotten with deejaying with cdj's but I can see why people would prefer them to Serato. Having the computer with you can be a barrier between you and the music. You might easily start to stare at the computer screen and don't necessarily deejay so much with your ear as with your eyes. Another thing is that when I have only vinyl with me it's a more pure experience. With Serato and the computer you have your bills and other work stuff and everything with you and it feels a bit different if that makes any sense. In that sense playing with cdj's would remove some of those things I don't like about Serato. In any case, I still deejay with Serato at some functions where I need to play for hours on end and many styles especially if the gigs are in different cities. It's just a lot easier to do that kind of gigs with Serato but I prefer vinyl if it's logistically logical. I've never tried a controller but they look like toys and so do deejays who play on them. But that's probably because I'm old. I can see the appeal of computers and controllers to someone who is just starting off or plays a genre that has to be extremely current and in which the music is somewhat/arguably disposable such as top-40 rap or modern dancehall.





In Harvey's case I'd personally go with usb's and cdj's if he's touring venues with proper setups, cdjs etc. and if he and the crowd know what he's going to be playing. But if it's random bars with little or no equipment and a random crowd a controller might be a good choice.