DJ Equipment

[Kawser]

I am going to start djing next month. I want to get advises that which company is best to buy all dj equipment. can anyone provide me useful information about this?

[Mick Bailey]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Are you looking for brand recommendations, or supplier? Depends where you are located. Also, there are many types of DJ setup. My customers range from people who just go out with a laptop, a simple mixer and pair of powered speakers, to those who still use vinyl and expensive 'vintage' Urei or Bozak mixers and high-power PA systems.

Have you already identified what your setup needs to be and exactly what you want to be doing?

[Jazz P Bass]

Sure would be nice if the OP would specify what type of jobs are to be expected.

[Kawser]

DJ Equipment

I live in Punjab and I want every instrument with best company. I don't have any problem with cost. I want perfect instrument although these are expensive. I searched on internet but I couldn't decide anything because I have a few knowledge about music instrument brands. so I need your help to know about perfect companies.

[Mick Bailey]

"Best" depends on what you want to do with the setup and the best equipment for one task may be the worst for another. There are many factors to consider, but you need to tell us what your intention is and venue size etc. At its most basic level, DJ-ing can be just playing MP3 tracks one after another with some voice-over capability - the sort of thing you get at a dreary wedding or corporate event. The other end of the scale is your A-list DJs who are playing tracks to 10,000 people and synching/dubbing or some other 'creative' aspect, often using an in-house PA with a distributed sound system and intelligent delays.

Another consideration is availability and servicing. Some of the most expensive equipment has limited distribution and support outside of the country of manufacture.

So without knowing your intended use and audience, it's like asking what the best car is. A Ferrari may not be the best car if you live down a farm track.

[Enzo]

If you are a DJ, then you are entertaining people dancing and partying. No one is sitting on a chair in the middle listening to every detail of the sound. So you want it to sound good, but it doesn't have to have the ultimate high fidelity. You will be moving the equipment a lot, will you not? That means that it needs to be sturdy and reliable. Some very good hifi equipment for the home would sound great, but fall apart in short time.

You want quality speakers and amplifiers, I recommend not buying speakers that are called "DJ speakers", in my experience those are usually lower grade. There are many DJ mixers to chose from, and it depends on the types of media you will play. Some DJs play vinyl, some CDs, some use MP3 players, and some use a laptop computer with DJ software.

[Mick Bailey]

One of the 'skills' of the DJ is to cue up and synch the beat of the next track so that the transition is seamless from one track to the next. Software now does this for you, if you're inclined to go down that route. So picking the right software package is also a factor. You need to consider the features you want/need and research products.

[Enzo]

yes. That is why DJ disc players all have pitch controls to alter the speed of the music. A lot of DJs keep records (no pun intended) of the beats per minute of their song library too. So they can select tunes at the proper BPM without altering.

[The Dude]

Agree with the above. I'll add, and this is not directed specifically at the OP but a general observation of most DJ's. I've seen this a lot with my own ears.

You want the best amps, the best speakers, the best mixer, etc. Then, you hook a computer up to the system and play low/crappy sample rate MP3's through it. If you are truly concerned about fidelity, it starts at the source. You can polish a turd, but it's still a turd. I will submit that using full wave files or at least MP3's that are sampled at a decent rate will make more difference than gear (within reasonable limitations). If you're going to start with poor quality audio, the rest is moot.

[tedmich]

even with decent equipment sometimes genius goes unnoticed...

looks like a corn field! Without audience buy in you're just a guy with a laptop.

[J M Fahey]

It's 90% his fault.

He was so enamoured of his own creation that he made an incredingly boring rhythmless 120 unbearable seconds introduction.

Twisting and twistingf and twisting but never getting really to the point.

If you don't "get them" within the first 15 seconds, you start losing them, and personally, even if after 2 full minutes he introduced the best most exiting Music in the World, it would be too late, and if I were in that crowd, I would make a question of honour to freeze and not twitch even an eyelid, as a punishment.

Turned the video off when he started pelting the crowd with Skittles or M&M's ...wouldn't be surprised if the crowd pulled him down and dragged him all over the place tied to a Harley Davidson or something.

Oh well.
EDIT:

of course, he was trying to do this:

and even here, it turns into something boring and repetitive after a few minutes, and crowd starts moving less and less.