How do you choose where to start?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

How do you choose where to start?

I’m very new to these forums, and been looking around for things to help sway a decision. I’m curious how you all chose what route you took, production (using Ableton, Logic, etc.) or mixing (CDJ, Traktor, Serato, etc.)

I have a little experience with mixing on an NS7 and CDJ’s. Production I never really touched on but it looks like it could be a good bit of fun. But I’m in a toss up. So how best should I go about making a choice on which route I should start my music journey?

2

Watch videos, read articles/reviews and try the free demos.

3

start by learning any instrument and GI from there. gaining knowledge of music theory will help push you in the direction you wish to go.

4

Listen Listen Listen to music, untill you get headaches from it. Learn the different aspects of music.

5

Do some research. Map out the possibilities, weigh 'em up, choose one.

6

Here’s a few things I learned.

  1. Stop wasting time thinking about what you should get, and just pick something and learn it… Then after a few months, move and learn something else. Try out fruity loops, mess around with it, then try ableton and Logic Pro. This is why they have free trials of everything

  2. While learning an instrument can help, it is not that important. Song structure is much more important than theory. I’ve played violin for 14 years and I haven’t really crossed over any knowledge of my violin classical life to my djing. Most classical European song structures are not the same as western song structures (heavy on patterns of 4-8-16-32 bar structures instead of just scores. )

  3. If you have an iPad, there are some awesome DAWs for cheap u can mess around on. Beatmaker 2 is one of the best ones u can buy and its cheap.

Overall, it isn’t about what u use, it’s how u use it. Creativity trumps all forms of technology. Someone creative can make a beat using an old mpc and samples over someone with a brand new Maschine mk2 and no originality.

7

Thanks for the advice! I’m leaving at production right now, out of your experiences, for a novice like me, what is a better start Maschine or Ableton? I have been looking at both, and I don’t think I can go wrong with either. It’s just a matter of choosing one now.

8

id say ableton just because u dont need that 600$ MPC to start producing on ableton. Im also against native instruments (even tho I have an S4). Their costumer service is horrendously bad and I refuse to support them anymore.

But yea, Ableton.

9

I wouldnt say there is a route to take as such, djmetalgear is spot on in saying stop wasting time and just go for it!

Theres no such thing as a set guide on how to start producing or djing, thats almost like asking for a step by step guide on life, theres no such thing. Only very brief and extremely amendable guidelines therefor I dont think myself or anyone else for that matter could tell you where and whats best but we can share what we done and where we are, what we done to get there and what we could have done better.

If your djing, although I stared on vinyl and I dont actually use software to dj, id say software such as trakor or serato is the way forward to begin to learn, it shows you your beats and you can visually mix a track rather then depending on your ears to get a well matched and in time mix. Once you understand what your doing in software its much easier to pick up on CDJ’s and then from CD its easier to move to vinyl and eventually theres nothing you wont be able to mix on! No doubt, starting off on vinyl and being able to master it will mean you can mix on anything too but working your way down is much easier as youll be able to get some solid mixes straight away on software and your not crushing your self esteem spending months and months learning to beatmatch where you should be spending it having fun and learning to be creative and separate your self from the 9273832 other dj’s out there..

Once youve got a good knowledge of djing production is much easier to pick up as you already know how dance music progresses and is arranged and all you have to do is work on picking the right sounds to create a track, obviously theres much more to production then picking sounds but picking good sounds is half the battle, mixing them, mastering them and putting production on them is the other half and is a whole other animal which can take years and years to learn. So we wont get into that :stuck_out_tongue:!

Anyway, I use pioneer CDJ’s and memory sticks with rekordbox analyzed tracks.. ive mixed with vinyl, traktor, midi controllers, ableton, you name it ive done it but I just find rekordbox and CDJ’s are amazing and I wouldnt swap them for anything else! Pioneer decks are so intuitive and complex and have so many little hidden tricks that when you know what your doing with them they are by far better then any software on earth!

As far as producing ive only been doing it for about a year and still havent made much that I feel is worthy of releasing, I ocassionly make the odd remix that I play in my live sets but nothing id put out online or offer to a label as im so so so far from anything near a track that could compete with some of the stuff thats hot right now, but patience is key, constantly learning :wink: The way I look at it is as soon as you put something out it has to be outstanding! You could release 300 tracks in a year, easy, but if only a few of them are good, whats the point? If you release 3 tracks in a year and theyre all great your instantly known as being a quality producer. Its all about quality and not quantity and its far better to spend a few years getting a perfect mix and a reputation as someone who produces well then putting out a few average tracks and becoming lost in the sea of ever growing aspiring producers.. just my thoughs anyway, hope I helped a little :thumbsup: