Hey everyone, my name is Shawn and I am trying to get into DJing. It’s actually my daughter getting into it and I am having fun working with her and learning as well. She is 15 for another couple minutes. Turns 16 on the 13th. She has a quicerienea she is performing at next weekend. They have requested many songs we don’t have. What is the best way to get the music in a high quality format? From what I understand, places like iTunes won’t have the 320K songs and I looked at Beatport and they seem to have higher quality but the conditions say personal use only. Where can you get high quality digital downloads for DJ use? Thinking about just buying the albums to rip…but because we are starting out don’t want to spend too much on an album when we need 1 song.
Oh, another question I had was many of the songs they requested have the standard and a clean/radio edit version. They said the explicit lyrics were fine, but I am planning on using clean copies if at all possible. What is the standard protocol for this? Don’t want to get into trouble playing non-edited versions with minors around, but was told that they the explicit versions aren’t that bad and they likes those by the customer.
iTunes, Amazon are both fine for what you are doing. The musical taste of teenagers has the shelf life of a banana. Do not spend a lot of money or stress too much about this music.
Longer term, a service like Prime Cuts might be a good investment. The download option uses mp3@320kbps.
SIM DJ, sorry for the delayed response. I have read and appreciate the reply. I haven’t got to 5 posts on the board, so they are delayed. I need a mod to review before it is posted.
You are thinking along the right track. So, at this point, trust your instincts.
Prime Cuts only provides the “radio edits” of songs. That takes care of the “seven words you can’t say on TV” but does little to help issues of “theme” and “thinly veiled” references to sex, drugs, (and rock & roll).
With “teenagers” you will be able to hear the eye rolls as you play the radio edits instead of the explicit album versions of songs they already know. The parents will likely appreciate any effort you put into self censorship. But you will not make all the grandmothers happy, all the time.
Yes. Prime Cuts (and other similar services) does allow for “commercial use.”
BUT, any “legally purchased” music is “close enough” to be used by a DJ for a private party. Although not explicitly licensed for commercial use, RIAA has given a “wink, wink, nudge, nudge” that if the music has been legally purchased from a pool service, legal downloads, ripped from CDs that you still have, etc…that they are not interested in legally pursuing those cases. It’s a bit unsettling, but it is the best assurance that “we” (as an industry) are likely to get.
It’s a “Sweet 15” party popular in Mexican and Latin American cultures.
OK, I looked at Prime Cuts. That service gives you the current songs weekly, it seems. Can you order older songs, or is it just to stay current after having the older base library done? It looked like Beatport was also a subscription service but you could search and download older songs as well. Both seem to have pros…PC sends the CD’s (if selected) with the tracks as well as the download, BP would let you search for older songs to download…not sure if they stay as current as PC, etc. Thanks for your patience…I just want enough info to make a good decision on which to use.
And I will look at the iTunes instead of Amazon if the AAC format is better than the MP3 for the 256 level to get the initial songs I need.
I doubt anyone could distinguish any difference between 256 kbps AAC, 320 kbps CBR MP3, and V0 MP3.
Personally, I avoid AAC because of the possibility for format problems, like when with a Traktor update on Windows, AAC files stopped working for some reason.
My kids have, when they are not in trouble. And their friends have many times. I just want to make sure when I spoil them, it is things that will benefit them in the future. She wanted to DJ, so gear for that. He wanted to try his hand at music production, so trying to get him setup. So far, a Blue Yeti and MXL R144 mic and am looking at a 2i4 for him (or similar.) He also has the Akai MPK Mini.
Currently he is using GarageBand. Tried his hand at the Ableton Live Demo and liked it, but says GarageBand is more user friendly.
You won’t go wrong with mp3 at all. 256/320kbps for what your daughter is doing is fine.
Your daughter will know what to play, don’t worry about that, she’ll be able to tell you what she should be playing.. as far as explicit goes, if you have explicit versions, drop an effect at the explicit word.. don’t be buying the same track twice. The radio friendly edits are what you should go for if you are getting tracks, as mentioned. You’ll offend no-one this way.
Thanks, I have purchased all the music she needed for the event through a combination of iTunes, Amazon and buying a couple NOW CDs that had some of the requested songs to rip. Still interested in Prime Cuts, but want her to get a couple more things booked to ensure we have enough capital coming in to offset the cost of the service. Since she is just starting out, we really need to get her name out.
