I’m opening up at a club in my local city next Thursday. Its an 18+ club and around 200 people go every month. I’ve never played on a large club system and it has a nexus setup. Does anyone have any cool tips for when using Cdj’s? I’ve been using my DDJ-SX2 for the last couple years but I know its gonna be an interesting transition to Cdj’s. I was planning on renting a pair of Cdj’s from Guitar Center to get used to them before I went to the club. Anyone got any first gig tips or cool tricks on Cdj’s that I might overlook?
Take a spare USB stick with your same collection on. Make sure all your tracks are well tagged and you have efficient playlists. Take a spare ethernet cable. Take at least twice as much music as you need. Don’t be afraid to use sync if it’s there, especially if the monitoring is shit.
This is fantastic advice. Never expect the CDJs to be linked and always take the same number of USBs as the number of decks you intend to use! Also have hotcues on all your tracks in case cue/play buttons are faulty (you’d be surprised the number of clubs that no longer maintain equipment to a basic standard).
I’ll add to this and say that if it’s your first time on CDJs, it might be worth arriving early (perhaps an hour before opening time) and just ensuring you’re all set up and have a little mix before hand, even just through the booth monitor or your headphones.
I can beatmatch. I own two 1210s, play vinyl at home, and enjoy the odd mix with Traktor Scratch. But I also enjoy having six channels of music playing, and the flexibility it brings.
I personally think its insane when others say that someone is not a “real” DJ becuase they used sync. Like I remember seeing a video of Laidback Luke arguablly one fo the best mainstage DJ’s praising Pioneer for putting a Sync button on the CDJ’s becuase it was just useful and helpful when needed.
As in, people who know that the ability to create a set list, read a crowd, and know when to transition is a lot bigger of a deal than whether you can learn a wrote mechanical skill.
I learned on vinyl. I can still spin on vinyl (though the first few mixes after a long break are a little rough). I just don’t anymore.
Heck, big name guys claim you have to play pre-recorded sets at a festival to time it with the lights (despite the fact that musicians have been doing the same thing with actual instruments for 40 years). Sync is a settled debate.
Just make sure beat grids are right. There’s no excuse for train wrecks anymore.
I think it helps that people are also technically literate. If all you know is how to plug in gear, and how to beatmatch/scratch, then people with more complex setups will seem intimidating.
Scratching is a rabbit hole I’ve never really taken, probably because I’ve mostly played genres it doesn’t fit. I’ve thought about getting a PT01Scratch just for the heck of it. But, I’d need a bigger table.
Those that understand it takes all sorts, sure. But there’s a lot of DJs stuck in the past. The DJ equivalent of those people in an office that refuse to learn how to use a computer.
I think that it depends on your crowd. If you’re playing underground music and the public is somewhat pretentious, then you should stay away from the sync button unless you have effects or other tools to back up the fact that you’ve skipped this fundamental aspect of DJ-ing.
Why’re you guys different from everyone else that seems to frown upon it??