What makes a setup "Professional"?

[DJ Sleaze]

makar1, I didn't really mean it that way. I should have said more to specify that showing up and using their gear wasn't an option. Honestly, all I want to know is if you guys had a reasonable amount of money to spend, say $1,200, what would you buy immediately? What do you love? What gear do you have that is a 'must have'? I'm not asking you to tell me what to buy, but I am asking what you would buy and why so that I may make the right choice when I decide to buy. I have done research, but there is such a broad spectrum of preferences without any real explanation why that it is hard to decipher what is good information and what is some guy on youtube who pretends like he is experienced and has specific tastes but is really just some band-wagoner who bought every NI product he could get his hands on (not Traktor bashing here). I have been searching forums (about 2 hours a night for the past week) watching videos, and reading reviews but I can't find any one thing that just screams at me to buy it. Thank you so much for the input so far, and I really apologize for the shift of subject on my first thread… not a very good start I suppose.

[Jester]

if you get paid for using said gear=professional

[balakoth]

I suppose that's true, but I don't think they would keep using them if they malfunctioned often.

Although Zedd did just get a care package from Pioneer a couple months ago. It's only a matter of time.

Booka Shade has backup Mac Book Pros... to their Backup Mac Book Pros...

Zedd and whoever else use it because they get paid to use it. At this point in their career, they A B Mix for festivals, they could probably give two craps what they are using... There are only a handfull of DJs left that actually make it a skilled art that are on the higher level IMO

[balakoth]

makar1, I didn't really mean it that way. I should have said more to specify that showing up and using their gear wasn't an option. Honestly, all I want to know is if you guys had a reasonable amount of money to spend, say $1,200, what would you buy immediately? What do you love? What gear do you have that is a 'must have'? I'm not asking you to tell me what to buy, but I am asking what you would buy and why so that I may make the right choice when I decide to buy. I have done research, but there is such a broad spectrum of preferences without any real explanation why that it is hard to decipher what is good information and what is some guy on youtube who pretends like he is experienced and has specific tastes but is really just some band-wagoner who bought every NI product he could get his hands on (not Traktor bashing here). I have been searching forums (about 2 hours a night for the past week) watching videos, and reading reviews but I can't find any one thing that just screams at me to buy it. Thank you so much for the input so far, and I really apologize for the shift of subject on my first thread… not a very good start I suppose.

Use what works for you... dont buy it all at once, piece it together as skills increase and your skillset or workflow in live performance or just simply DJing changes or progresses.

Honestly there are very few "professional" brands. But I dont feel it makes a difference, take care of your equipment, treat it with respect and all will be well. Many of your gigs as well will be supplying you with their most awful Mixer possible, and some old arse CDJs. So what you use at home probably will never translate into the real world unless you are simply amazing at your live performance and bring something new, or some how just strike the gold and become.. famous?

Go to guitar center and really mess around in the audio department. What feels the best to someone else isnt going to for yourself and just because someone likes a piece of equipment, doesn't mean its right for you or the best option. My best advice after doing this for over a decade now is build slowly, the worse thing you can do is do a mass bulk purchase, those tend to be the more regretful ones

Start slow, build your OWN setup, dont try and find a DJ you like and copy his, you only end up copying their style etc.

my 2 cents.

[DJ Sleaze]

Start slow, build your OWN setup, dont try and find a DJ you like and copy his, you only end up copying their style etc.

my 2 cents.

Wow man, thank you for the paragraphs *shakes hand* I will have to take that advice. I guess I will never have my own real preferences or style unless I take the time to find them. I will take the next chance I get to go down to guitar center with my laptop and lay my hands on a bunch of stuff.

[DJXpoZur]

I hate getting sucked into these types of discussions because it's the most simple question with a complex answer.

Jester said it - "If you make money at it." I will extend that to say if you can _make a living_ with it. This encapsulates the quality aspect because if you are making a living with something you are going to want a high enough quality product to produce professional results, you will not want to risk the product failing during a performance and you won't want to keep replacing cheap quality products over and over again.

That said there are certainly times when professionals use gear that is not "professional" quality because it does something they want and can't find something that will last that does the same thing or they might just prefer the way a particular product does something knowing it will not last but they count it in the cost of doing business. There may even be times when they knowingly will use a lower cost (more cheaply made) item because there is a risk of that being damaged or lost and they would rather replace a lower cost item than a higher cost one.

You can not determine whether a product is professional based off price. You can not say controllers under $500 are non-professional because a midi-fighter for example is a very high quality, reliable, "professional" grade controller for way less than $500.

Moral of the story, who cares. Professional gear does not make you a Professional. If you are a professional whatever you use is a professional setup by definition.

Quick example: When I built my house, I decided that instead of contracting a professional painter, I could purchase a very high quality paint sprayer which was reliable, easy to operate and much faster than using brushes thus the reason professionals use them, plus all the paint and put in the time and still save a considerable amount of money even though I would never use the paint sprayer again. I painted my house, I used the same sprayer that many professionals use. It did not make me a professional painter. I missed a few spots. Had I then highered a professional painter to come in with a paintbrush from Walmart to touch up the spots I missed it would not have made him any less of a professional because his brush cost $.99 and my sprayer cost $800.

X

[balakoth]

I use to mow lawns when I was a teenager, and got paid for it. Did people consider me a professional? Was I because I got paid for it? Nope. If I went and then worked a landscaper and did the same thing, yet they paid him and he paid me... Im now all of a sudden a "professional" doing the work. Its a word, its a perception. It means nothing. Professional is an attitude and a mentality. Not a material thing (IMO)

[the_bastet]

anymore you can't judge someone by the gear they DJ on but what they do with it. the question should be, "Am I professional?"

[keithace]

To answer ur question I'd consider s4 professional, numark mix track pro a toy.

Idk bout cdjs but any controller under $500 is kind of unprofessional/cheap in my opinion. Part of the high cost of controllers is the sound card.

so you're going to call Kontrol X1s and Xone K2s "unprofessional"?

Get fucking real...

We all need to stop focusing on equipment...

[balakoth]

so you're going to call Kontrol X1s and Xone K2s "unprofessional"?

Get fucking real...

We all need to stop focusing on equipment...

Or the point about a soundcard making it expensive heh. The Maschine has no Soundcard and its probably along the lines of the most overpriced piece of hardware along with the Push... but boy do I love my two little toys haha