Pay attention the next time you see someone switch over when one or both of them is using a laptop. Or, DJTT has a few videos about it on the blog.
Honestly, it's not that big of a deal. People have been doing it for a while. You just have to know how to do it with the gear that's in the booth and be able to do it in the time available....which is usually anywhere from 1 song to several minutes.
And it is worth both having a sound card and knowing how to do the changeover with it. DJM-800s only have 1 usb port, so if a Traktor DJ takes over from a Traktor DJ who's already using it, you either need to run off another source while you swap that cable or use a separate sound card.
When I've done it, this is what I do....
- Show up early and have some songs on CDs or on a USB key in case I run out of time. Back in the day, I carried around a handful of records just for that.
- Wait until the DJ before me has a second to talk, then see how quickly I can get across what I'm going to do.
- For some reason, no one ever uses the digital connections between CDJs and DJMs. So, over his/her last couple mixes, I'll make sure I know exactly what's happening and switch the CDJs over from line to digital IO and change the mixer's input selects to run off them.
- At that point, I'm free to use the line inputs, and I just plug in my sound card to the mixer and to mains power and place it off to the side with the usb/fw cable and laptop power cable running to where my laptop is going to be.
- I turn on my laptop and get everything organized somewhere near the table (the floor usually works).
- Then, I goof off for a little while, chat with the other DJ (while s/he's not mixing, if s/he seems like s/he wants to), etc. while I wait for his/her last couple songs.
- When one of us declares "last song", I....
- put a CD or USB key into a CDJ he's not using and cue up a song
- put my laptop where it's going to go
- plug in laptop power
- plug in sound card (usb or fw)
- plug in usb hub
- set my bare minimum controller(s) on a CDJ he's not using and plug it into the hub
- start traktor and any other software I'm going to be using
- check how much time I have and either wait for traktor to load or mix into the emergency CDJ.
- once traktor (etc.) is loaded, switch the mixer inputs to line for any channels that aren't currently playing
- cue up a song and manually beat match it to whatever's playing (his last song or my first on the CDJ) on a deck that goes into a channel I can use
- Once his/her last song (or my emergency one) is done and I'm free to do whatever I want, I....
- move the CDJs out of the way if there's anywhere to put them, or put covers on them if they're available
- set up and plug in the rest of my controllers
- recheck that all of the mixer's input selectors are set correctly.
- play my set.
- once my set is wrapping up, after the next DJ comes to say hi, I...
- ask what s/he needs of me to do his/her setup. Most of the time, they've just needed the CDJs or TTs back where they go and working.
- Start packing up controllers that I don't absolutely need.
- As I lose controls for a particular deck, I change the mixer's input for that channel back to the CDJ (which is probably still on the digital IO)
- Move the CDJs back or take their covers off as my controllers uncover them or make space for them.
- drop my last track as a fairly long song with a relatively quick mix and immediately unplug all of my controllers and move everything but the laptop and sound card out of the way as quickly as possible.
- Then, once he's taken over, I
- unplug and account for all my gear as it goes back into my bag
- put the CDJs back to their line connection instead of the digital ones so that no one gets cofused, obviously waiting for each one until it's not being used at the moment
- pull my CD or USB key and put it in my bag.
It all sounds really complicated, but you can practice it at home. Just use an iPod or phone in place of the CDJs. You can also time yourself this way to figure out how much time you need. If you screw up and it goes to silence, stop and figure out what you did and how you can change your procedure to make sure you don't do it again.
The only time it's really complicated is if the mixer is sunk into the console and you don't have access to the back. If that's the case, then hopefully they have a patch bay in place or a sound guy to help you....hopefully both.
I don't think I've ever not been able to do it over the course of 1 song, but I've never followed a hip hop or top40 DJ...and they play shorter songs than I'm used to.
I've also never bothered with the built in sound card on a DJM because I don't own one, don't have the drivers installed, and haven't experimented with the latency settings. It's a risk I'm not willing to take, and I haven't bothered renting one for a weekend to figure everything out.
The
much easier way that you'll often see in really nice clubs and at certain festivals is that they'll just have 2 DJ mixers set up, and you plug into the one that isn't actively being used. Another easier way is to either use an all-in-one or bring all of your gear in a case/coffin already wired and ready to go...and just run power to the box and one stereo pair either into the DJ mixer or the FOH mixer....but that doesn't seem to happen very often, which is a shame.
Really, it's not that hard...DJs have been doing it since Final Scratch came out in like 2003.
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