Ever’s “simple & traditional” DJ setup
I use a simple DJ setup to record deep house podcasts. It has evolved overtime, and I’m excited to recently up my game with a Xone 92 and the Yamaha HS80M’s. Not shown is a Macbook Air with Audacity.
Now I just need a soundcard, and I’m eyeing the Scarlett 2i2.
Any advice on the settings I should use with the speakers? In the past I’ve had them near walls, and now there’s open air behind them since I changed room.
Very nice! Are those sony headphones?
Good eye! Yeah, Sony MDR-V6.
Solid headphones, amazing sound and output! I love those headphones!
I hate this propeller-less fan, the air flow is so low…
By the way, great setup.
SO nice and clean!
How are the Yamaha’s sounding?
I have a Scarlett 2i4. It’s a solid box.
I prefer the 4 outputs - main & monitor (internal mixing) -or- two stereo outputs (external mixing) - it’s handy for DJing from the laptop. Even if that doesn’t apply to you “now,” the cost difference between the 2i2 and the 2i4 is small enough to make me prefer the additional capability of the 2i4.
Interesting story with the Yamaha’s.
I purchased them after my friend brought another pair over to record a quick live set. At the time my gear was in a different room. I was surprised at how bassy they were. Not over-bassy, just really filled the room with bass (he was recording a dub set).
Fast-forward a week, I relocated my gear to the loft in our apartment (open-air, speakers not against a wall, etc). I was so impressed by the monitors that I bought a pair. What’s funny is that they’re almost completely devoid of the sub-bass that filled the room the week before.
Both sets are in fantastic condition and using the same gear otherwise, so it’s amazing to hear how much of a difference the room makes. One day I’ll have to take my new ones downstairs to double-check.
So the Yahama’s are a little underwhelming, but I can chalk it up to my room. And this reminds me to be careful when taking feedback from people online. It’s truly a night-and-day difference with the experience. And I’d prefer the bassier experience, because the mix will be the same no matter what (the recorded mix he did was really clean, bassy etc).
Great tip, thanks for this.
There is a chance I switch to a laptop and Traktor one day. Would you mind explaining what the si4 would do that the si2 couldn’t? And let’s maybe assume I’d still use the Xone 92 (maybe a DB2 one day).
The 2i2 has one pair of stereo outputs. You can connect RCA cables, and use the 1/4" headphone connection to monitor that one output. This means that any mixing of multiple channels of audio must be done “internal” to the laptop. Traktor can esaily do the mixing internally. However, there is no ability to “cue” or “preview” a song while something else is playing in Traktor.
The 2i4 has two pairs of stereo outputs. These can be configured in Traktor into “Master” and a “Preview” outputs. Traktor is still mixing the deck channels into a single master output. The ability to separately play a song in the preview player, or to send any deck to the headphones is retained. This is VERY helpful for mixing. Alternatively, the 2i4 can send Deck A to one output, and Deck B to another output, and an external mixer can be used to mix the audio.
If you use a mixer with a built in sound interface (like the DB2), then the Scarlett sound interface would not be needed. If you use a mixer that does not include a built in sound interface (like the Xone 92), the Scarlett 2i4 could be used to send two Traktor decks to two channels on the external mixer.
Thanks for spelling it out.
Yeah I’d definitely want to be able to monitor a track as I’m used to DJ’ing using a cue-type channel.
I imagine the the 2i4 has the same DAC’s as the 2i2? I’ve read decent things about them and was going to go with the 2i2 over the UR22 for that reason.
Had the exact same experience with my hs80’s! Was getting complaints from my neighbours about the bass and sitting where I was in the room I didn’t know what the fuss was about. Then I happened to go to the corner of my room while some dnb was playing and was just assaulted by bass. They’re definitely very room dependent! Hahah. The switches on the back can really help tame them to your room type.
Simple and clean, very nice.
Shazam! your photos are bigger … flies away