Got my first gig at my favorite club next week, gear questions…
Hey guys,
I just landed my first gig at the biggest dance club in my area, it’s also the same club I have been going to for years to see my favorite big name DJs play at. The show is next week, I know my way around my decks at home and I’ve been djing in the bedroom and various smaller bars in the area for quite a few years now, but I really want to know some similarities and differences of the gear I have versus the more upscale club standards. I have CDJ 850s and a Xone 42, the club has 2000s and a DJM 900 (not nexxus, I don’t think).
There’s obviously a lot more functionality on the 2000s than the 850s, but what are your most commonly used features on the 2000s? (I plan on using flash drives, not cd’s although I may take my cd case for backup just in case)
How do you take advantage of Rekordbox with the 2000s vs the 850s?
What’s some main differences I should be aware of between the Allen & Heather and Pioneer mixer interfaces? I haven’t used a Pioneer mixer in years. What functions on the DJM-9000 do you find yourself using the most? I like to use the filters on the Xone to mix out of sometimes, how do the filters compare on the DJM? Also, do you use the “color” effects a lot? They seem really helpful.
Thanks, I’m definitely nervous but even more excited so, any pointers would be highly appreciated!
If your not that familiar with the DJM900, then don’t bother with effects, only thing I ever use is the filter, not a touch on the filters on A&H but still do the job. Other than that not too much difference, slightly different sounding EQ’s but nothing major.
As I play vinyl I cant help you with CDJ situation, only used them once.
I would just use the Gear exactly as you would your own setup, sure theres lots of additional (tempting) buttons to screw around with but leave them on ignore and just do what you do.
No point in ruining an opportunity because you want to learn a new system on-the-job
I feel like if you can mix comfortably on the 850, the 2000 will just make life a TON easier. I wouldn’t go out of the way to use new features like above stated, but I think you’ll just find mixing a little bit easier with the much larger screen on the 2000s considering you are used to the tiny 850 screen.
A&H has a warmer filter that doesn’t seem to cut out as quickly (IMO).
one small thing, if you use Rekordbox (which you should), and the CDJ’s are also linked into the DJM900 (can easily check, when you lift the fader does the CDJ platter turn red), then you can turn on the little blue “Quantize” button on the effects section. What this does, is instead of analyzing the BPM of the song on the fly for the effects, it pulls that BPM info from the actual file which was ran through Rekordbox before, which makes the BPM on the effects section 100% accurate, so when you do a echo with a 1/2 time, it is EXACT to the grid, even if you were to change the tempo of the CDJ while the effect is on. Nothing to big, but it helps.
If you need more convincing on why you should use Rekordbox:
Bring 2 copies of the USB Sticks (or use SD Cards)
On the color FX, I like Dub Echo. it’s really great to add for buildups, same with Space. I don’t really use bit crush and I never use noise.
You can easily use noise for buildups, it’s overused, but only since it’s so awesome. And try to quickly grasp the reverb and echo fx for transitions. Set the knob on channel a or b instead of 1, 2, 3 or 4 so it works as a post-fader fx as well. Good luck!
