How did you Start?

[New Boy]

Yoooo!
At the tender age of thirteen with big ideas in my head, my vci by my side with a toshiba crappy laptop the world seems a big place.

How did you guys start off earning the money for your gear?

NewB

Edit:
My next move will be to get:
1x Audio 2 DJ
1x Mackie Thump (Th-15a)

What d'you guys think?

Maybe later in the future an Apple Macbook Pro will be within reach!

[photojojo]

There's a kid on youtube about your age that shows off his new Mackie Thump. It's almost as big as he is

Mow some yards, get some money, buy some stuff. If you do it right and work hard you should have enough money in a couple weeks for the Audio 2, MBP by the end of the summer if you save it all.

Maybe convince your parents or a friends parents to let y'all have some little parties so you can play out.

[sj03w4t]

What he said. ^^

But, don't spend cash too fast. Maybe talk with your parents or some friends about purchases (or ask here!) because if you don't you might regret your purchases.
Also, try to make the most of what you DO have instead of looking at what you could maybe possibly eventually get. I mean, try to map some functions you miss now to your keyboard or something. Or if you know some other DJs in your area try to borrow some of his/her gear for a couple of days. Play around with it and try to discover if that piece of kit fits your needs.

I mean, you're only thirteen (no judgement) but you still have a long life in front of you, and time enough to purchase a controller or audio interface, so why not wait a little

[jdog667jkt]

make a few mixes, record some stuff, put it on youtube, get some feedback from people.. the best thing that i did was went down to my local store and played around with equipment there for about a week almost just to see what was good for me and what fit my needs

[rt24]

Don't get a mackie thump unless you are prepared to get a subwoofer. Then you gotta buy another set and overall it's like 1300 just for a sound system...unless you are rich as hell that will get in the way of buying any other dj gear.

Get the mackie mr5s for home use. I bought em, nice quality and inexpensive. Cost me about 480 for the pair.

Edit:

BTW I wouldn't even have STARTED djing if I didn't have my part time job. The cost of purchasing music along with all the gear even just to get started is a LOT. I believe I've spent a little under $2000 or so in 3 months and I am just getting a portable set-up with the bare minimum ready to go.

Oh ya and uh...I don't know how knowledgeable you are about music files (I don't mean to judge here but I wasn't aware of this when I was 13) but if you ever plan on playing for anybody, you need to buy your music along with the program you use. Traktor Pro cost me around 300$ i believe? Audio 2 comes with Traktor LE but the upgrade is 229.

Oh and this website is the bomb. The veterans are ridiculously patient in terms of helping out and it's a fun forum.

[Dynamics]

Well, considering you already have a computer and a controller, You're pretty much set. Don't be too hellbent on buying "pro" equipment just yet. I think the best thing for you right now would be to what jdog667jkt prescribed: practice, practice, practice. You're at a pretty young age where you can develop your skills just in time for high school, which can be a incredible jumping-off point for you.

In terms of equipment, I can agree with you on the Audio2DJ cause then you will be able to cue your songs and output your mix to some fancy speakers. And speaking of speakers, I would not get them. (Not quite yet anyways) You really would only need them if you were the kind of person to throw house parties which I do not recommend doing at the age of 13.

In terms of money, put yourself out there and try to get a job. There's no shame in showing responsibility and being a babysitter or something. You will be able to put it on a resume and land yourself a minimum wage job even before you're 18. I just saved up all of my money and got all of my equipment "new"/second-hand off of craigslist. I also asked my mom to not get me anything for a few birthdays and Christmases, and she ended up helping me buy my equipment because she saw how serious I was when I'd practice mixing everyday.

EDIT: Also, clean as much stuff off your computer, and try to keep it alive until you go to college or something when you can get a super MacBook. You really only need Microsoft Office for homework and a DJing program. There are some really good articles out there that show you how to "Streamline your PC."

Sorry if I sound so "parenty," I just get really excited when I try to help people.

P.S. STAY IN SCHOOL AND GET GOOD GRADES!!! >=(

[photojojo]

P.S. STAY IN SCHOOL AND GET GOOD GRADES!!! >=(

+1

[New Boy]

EDIT: Also, clean as much stuff off your computer, and try to keep it alive until you go to college or something when you can get a super MacBook. You really only need Microsoft Office for homework and a DJing program. There are some really good articles out there that show you how to "Streamline your PC."

Sorry if I sound so "parenty," I just get really excited when I try to help people.

P.S. STAY IN SCHOOL AND GET GOOD GRADES!!! >=(

How would i 'Streamline my PC' then buddy?


Thanks for response all you fellas'!

NewB

[Dynamics]

Well,
for starters there is this article on the website:

http://www.djtechtools.com/2009/07/1...djs/#more-1541

The way I've done it for my old 2003 crappy Sony PC is that I removed all the programs I never used such as: microsoft outlook, office works, all of the games, etc. Just really everything until the only thing left was microsoft office (cause I still needed to do homework), Internet, and Traktor. I ended up removing 30gb of space on a 40gb hard drive.

Then I made sure my startup was super fast by going into msconfig and making sure my computer only loaded the necessary items it needed.

There are thousands of article on this if you type in Google: how to make my computer faster.

Then I increased my RAM from 512mb to 1gb (it's the max, it's sad i know).