Investing my money into DJ Equipment?

[airickq]

Hey guys,

I have been a DJ in the game for a while now. I'm 19 and I started when I was 15, I pretty much DJ'd all my school dances and events as well as gigs for my city's youth events and other miscellaneous things I could find.

So I've come to a crossroads.

I started on Turntables with serato, but when the vci 300 came out I took it for a spin and loved it. I really didn't see any downside from the machine other than the fact that it did not have the physical "cool factor" that turntables do.

So I sold them and picked up the vci-300.

Now I am trying to advance my DJ career and I am wondering if I need to re-invest in some 1200s and Serato or if I will survive just through controllerism. I really feel more comfortable and versatile on controllers, but do I need TT to earn myself legitimacy if I want to do bigger things in clubs, festivals, etc.?

Please let me know what you guys think!

[tokenasianguy]

Hey guys,

I have been a DJ in the game for a while now. I'm 19 and I started when I was 15, I pretty much DJ'd all my school dances and events as well as gigs for my city's youth events and other miscellaneous things I could find.

So I've come to a crossroads.

I started on Turntables with serato, but when the vci 300 came out I took it for a spin and loved it. I really didn't see any downside from the machine other than the fact that it did not have the physical "cool factor" that turntables do.

So I sold them and picked up the vci-300.

Now I am trying to advance my DJ career and I am wondering if I need to re-invest in some 1200s and Serato or if I will survive just through controllerism. I really feel more comfortable and versatile on controllers, but do I need TT to earn myself legitimacy if I want to do bigger things in clubs, festivals, etc.?

Please let me know what you guys think!

I've encountered this question too, when someone actually said my Kontrol S2 didn't look professional enough. When you think about it, a controller does the exact same thing that vinyl emulation system will do, and possibly better because control vinyl usually requires another midi controller to have all the extra features mapped to it.

I always think it boils down to the listener, will they be able to tell the different between a vinyl scratch system or a controller? Hell no.

That being said, If I had more money to burn, I'd probably have the "scratch" setup at home too, but I don't.

[airickq]

I've encountered this question too, when someone actually said my Kontrol S2 didn't look professional enough. When you think about it, a controller does the exact same thing that vinyl emulation system will do, and possibly better because control vinyl usually requires another midi controller to have all the extra features mapped to it.

I always think it boils down to the listener, will they be able to tell the different between a vinyl scratch system or a controller? Hell no.

That being said, If I had more money to burn, I'd probably have the "scratch" setup at home too, but I don't.

Has your lack of vinyl turntables affected you in any way when trying to get a gig?

[Maven]

Well it is true that controllers do the same job, maybe even better but also they do look like a toy, and unprofessional.

[tokenasianguy]

Has your lack of vinyl turntables affected you in any way when trying to get a gig?

That's a difficult question to answer. I pondered that for a long time. In the end I figured if one person was saying it there could be more out there. Eventually I decided to take all equipment photos off my site. One of the rotating images on my homepage was of me playing my old controller the M-Audio Torq, which I felt looked really amateur or "Fisher-Price" as someone on the M-Audio forum suggested, but I couldn't undoubetly say that the controller has diminished my ability to get gigs. Not having a website was a huge factor. I started off getting about 5 gigs a year, then immediately after the website that tripled. Since then (2 years ago) the business has grown about 2-5% annually...But that's for mobile DJ'ing. When I DJ'd in the club I didn't have a website, but then again I played at the same place 2-3 times a month for about 7 years or so and I played vinyl because that's all they had.

I can tell you one thing though, if it's all about "getting gigs" it might require some "testing". There's no one thing that will guarantee you getting gigs, so you might have to feel it out with the controller, then buy some tech 12's and see how that works out. I know it's expensive but this is the same reason why so many big companies spend money testing products in the marketplace.

I personally have only stuck to the controller for the last 5 years because I do mobile DJ'ing and it just makes sense. Having to hook up two tech 12's or CDJ's along with the audiocard, control vinyl (or CD's) takes 10 times longer than just plugging in a USB cable.

[tokenasianguy]

Well it is true that controllers do the same job, maybe even better but also they do look like a toy, and unprofessional.

I think there's some truth to it. I've heard a lot of people say that using a controller simply doesn't look as cool as a controller, or even vinyl control at that. I heard a girl say once that there's just something sexy about a guy digging through crates of records and spinning actual wax.

Although it's difficult to say without a shadow of a doubt whether this would hinder someone from getting gigs.

To the OP, what kind of DJ'ing are you looking to do? If it's mobile I'd say it's easy to hide. Use stock photos on your site of some CDJ 900's or 2000's, and when you go to gigs, use some kind of cover and masks your DJ'ing area so nobody can see, unless they walk right up to your booth.

If you're planning on doing festivals and clubs, well then you have another problem, where to put the controller, and also the question of if you really want to do that if the club has CDJ 900's or 2000's where you could just show up with flash drives instead.

[guiltyblade]

Thats misleading man. If you can't play on those things don't put pictures up of it and hide it. Be proud what you are playing on.

[tokenasianguy]

Thats misleading man. If you can't play on those things don't put pictures up of it and hide it. Be proud what you are playing on.

Who said I "CAN'T" play on them?

You should work on your reading comprehension because you missed the part where I mentioned the stage where all I played was vinyl.

I've been doing this from 14 years and have transitioned through vinyl, CDJ's and now a controller.

[rdale]

Thankfully controllers are starting to look less toy like, with creases between the jogs and mixer section, more professional colors and design all around on most every thing I've been considering to buy in the past year. There are entry level exceptions but the gear is coming around.

[Shishdisma]

If you're really at the point where you're misrepresenting your equipment with stock photos to boost your image, you might want to really take a second to think about how you market yourself.