DJ on a budget the series
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  1. #1
    Tech Wizard
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    Default DJ on a budget the series

    Well after nearly 30 years since I last played a set I thought I'd come out of retirement (LOL). Back in those days I started playing reggea and soul parties then progressed to jungle and soulful house. Anyway I had most of my collection transfered from vinyl to digital although a hard drive crash caused a major prblem but enough was saved. So getting bored at weekends I thought about returning back to the decks so began looking at cost of starting back up especially after playing at my friends wedding and everyone boosting my ego.
    I began by trawling the web for advise and review and found myself here, great source especially with the youtube videos. I finally opted for the VCI-100 which after many a bidding war on ebay I got a used one for £220, a couple of sounds card which came to a total £70 and Tracktor Pro cost me £100. headphones £25.00. Oh the joys of ebay. So £415 a few years of collecting music got me back on the road. My music of choice is House but it seems after passing the word around that I'm back I'm getting called to play reggea. One night has passed which was a free play to help a friend but form that I now have my first paid booking.
    My budget is small but I have to update my collection of house beats bit by bit so in the mean time I'll take any booking going. A couple of friends have talked about promotion night so I'll keep you updated on my trials and tribulations, and on my successes.
    By the way if anyone in the Yorkshire or the Midlands wants a opening DJ let me know

  2. #2
    Tech Guru
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    Blogs are your friend when updating your music collection. You can also look into some DJ pools that charge 20-40 bucks per month and spend an entire month downloading past releases then cancel your membership. You can catch up some tracks this way too without having to spend too much cash
    SSL - DJM 800 - Technic 1200's - X1 - ITCH - NS6 - VCI-300

  3. #3
    Tech Mentor Wickedsight's Avatar
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    Can you give some examples on these pools? I feel like it's time to go legit for me, so this would be a great way to start!
    MBP 13" - Kontrol S4 - nanoKontrol - DHJ-500 - Hercules DJ Console MK1
    Find me on: Facebook, Soundcloud
    Quote Originally Posted by space monkey View Post
    Hi Karlos! I have a lawnmower, do you like grapes?

  4. #4
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    Wicked,

    The only pools I've been a member of are for hip-hop, top 40, dance remixes, etc. Not any house or EDM.

    mymp3pool.com is a fairly decent one for Top 40 culb dance music and it's only 20 bucks a month. If you are looking to expand your music library for 20 bucks you can get a shitload of music.

    For updates on EDM I just browse thru some blogs, some have downloads that probably aren't legit. Other times I just check the top downloads at beatport to see whats hot, but that place gets expensive.
    SSL - DJM 800 - Technic 1200's - X1 - ITCH - NS6 - VCI-300

  5. #5
    Tech Mentor PartyMcFly's Avatar
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    Having had my hand in the music blogging world in the past couple of years, I can say that there's a very small percentage of the thousands of tracks published each day that will provide you with a combination of legitimacy, encoding quality, and musical integrity.

    A few of the larger and well-known ones out there are the real thing, letting you know what true bitrate their files are while having the copyright holder's permission to distribute them. Palms Out Sounds comes to mind immediately, and you can find links to their amazing partners and friends on their site. Your list of daily reads will grow from there if you start exploring.

    Then there's the other, more prevalent side of the music blog universe which more often than not considers these unwritten rules to be extremely loose, non-applicable to them, or completely non-existent. Anyone who trawls the blogs for most of their music has a significant amount of 320k files re-encoded from low-quality source files, stream rips, mistakenly-tagged files, and a host of other things generally considered undesirable if you don't want your live sets to have the audio fidelity of a Youtube playlist.

    I've picked up files from blogs claiming to have obtained their content directly from the artist or label only to find the mp3 is riddled with Beatport, Juno, and Turntable Lab tags. The real giveaway is when the same file was published by another blog which is well-known for having a direct partnership with the artist or label upon the official teaser period or release date. While I'd admit it's kind of awesome to get your good stuff for free, there is no way that can be considered a good look for any DJ not living in a university dorm room or parents' house.

    I'm really trying not to lecture anyone here, but in case you skipped those above paragraphs, use the blogs as a source for your working tracks very sparingly for your own sake.

    The pools are great, but I haven't found one that isn't too expensive for a hobbyist or a DJ not playing out multiple times per week (like me, hah). Turntable Lab is a great starting source, and still my biggest informer on the new good stuff. I'm a once-a-week customer of theirs.

  6. #6
    Tech Mentor Wickedsight's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PartyMcFly View Post
    While I'd admit it's kind of awesome to get your good stuff for free, there is no way that can be considered a good look for any DJ not living in a university dorm room or parents' house.
    I live in a dorm, guess I don't need to read the rest

    Most of the stuff I have now, came from zippyshare, and it just feels wrong... I've always told myself that if I ever made it I would buy every song I have downloaded illegally, but the best thing would be to just get them legally now

    I guess from now on I should buy the stuff I'm actually planning on playing at serious gigs, and just steal the stuff I play at not so serious gigs, would be a good start...
    MBP 13" - Kontrol S4 - nanoKontrol - DHJ-500 - Hercules DJ Console MK1
    Find me on: Facebook, Soundcloud
    Quote Originally Posted by space monkey View Post
    Hi Karlos! I have a lawnmower, do you like grapes?

  7. #7
    Tech Mentor PartyMcFly's Avatar
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    Your perogative man, not trying to slam anyone for what is their business and theirs alone!

    Just a fair warning that bad files sound noticeably bad on big systems.

    Good luck!

  8. #8
    Tech Guru Quenepas's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Usualplayer View Post
    Well after nearly 30 years since I last played a set I thought I'd come out of retirement (LOL). Back in those days I started playing reggea and soul parties then progressed to jungle and soulful house. Anyway I had most of my collection transfered from vinyl to digital although a hard drive crash caused a major prblem but enough was saved. So getting bored at weekends I thought about returning back to the decks so began looking at cost of starting back up especially after playing at my friends wedding and everyone boosting my ego.
    I began by trawling the web for advise and review and found myself here, great source especially with the youtube videos. I finally opted for the VCI-100 which after many a bidding war on ebay I got a used one for £220, a couple of sounds card which came to a total £70 and Tracktor Pro cost me £100. headphones £25.00. Oh the joys of ebay. So £415 a few years of collecting music got me back on the road. My music of choice is House but it seems after passing the word around that I'm back I'm getting called to play reggea. One night has passed which was a free play to help a friend but form that I now have my first paid booking.
    My budget is small but I have to update my collection of house beats bit by bit so in the mean time I'll take any booking going. A couple of friends have talked about promotion night so I'll keep you updated on my trials and tribulations, and on my successes.
    By the way if anyone in the Yorkshire or the Midlands wants a opening DJ let me know
    Since Im quoting you to make my reply seem longer I would say to reconnect to what in going on in the clubs. What has become the House you liked so much back in the day to what are kids listening right now. Beatport.com is a great way to check.

    Then after hearing what artist you liked go to last FM or Pandora and put that artist as a play-list ans see who the service can come up with that you may like. Such discovering mechanism is the culprit of half my DJ catalog currently. Remember to pay them a few bucks for the material. They deserve it. Hardware wise you are golden. A tweaked laptop and traktor along a VCI100 and Ean Golden videos on how to get the most out of your equipment will give you a lot of stuff to chew on.

    Mastering the basics is way better than grasping the advanced. Doing the most with the minimum is the way to go and getting your investment back. ;D
    Erase. Stop. Start.

  9. #9

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    The best bit is that you can buy just one song rather than a whole 12" or album worth, and $0.79 is not as big a commitment as a $15 import 12".

    As an aside, it's good to see passionate argument for properly bought music. I think people are starting to "get it" now, that if you don't pay the artist, the music will eventually stop coming.

    In my view the record companies were actually the reason for much illegal downloading as people resented their control (and their asses still need a bit more kicking, it's only my view though!).

    But new distribution channels and egalitarian ways-to-market are taking hold. The balance between ethics and availability, artists and consumers is returning.

    Plus blog MP3s, as you say, so often sound sh*t.
    I blog at: Digital DJ Tips and I'm on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook

  10. #10
    Tech Guru Fyoog's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Usualplayer View Post
    nearly 30 years since I last played a set. Back in those days I started playing reggea and soul parties then progressed to jungle and soulful house.
    Which artists were producing jungle back then (Around 1980)? Would love to hear some of that stuff?
    MBP, 15.4", Ableton Live 8 Suite, Novation Remote SL, Pioneer XDJ-RX, Traktor, VCI 100SE!

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