Pioneer CDJ2000 problemo or me?? To hang the headphones up or not?
Hey just making a post as I done my first gig last night in a year. This was easily the worst night of Dj’ing in my life if I am honest. I have been Djing for 8 years, started on vinyl and worked my way through the stages as technology advanced until I got the Traktor s4. Basically the club had cdj2000’s so no need for me to bring my equipment. I was very nervous as I had never used the cdj2000’s before and rightly so.
I am just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Basically I got to the gig and put the cd in. Yea I was nervous as it was first gig in a long time, though I basically could not beatmatch. I kept trying but basically it kept fucking up. I knew the cdj2000’s have the bpm on the screen so I started following by this and bammm I was still messing up even following the on screen bpm counters. I did not put these tracks through Rekordbox because it was acting up so I was just using normal cds but they still should of been fine. The amount of effort I had to put into beatmatching and then they would be fine, and then they would drift and be all over the show I just threw the head up and got very cross which did not help at all. I felt the jog wheel was not consistent in its response also. I got really down about this and was ready for hanging up the headphones and still considering canceling next weeks gig because I would not like to embarrass myself in front of a larger crowd. The other guy before me seemed to do it pretty fine though and I would never be a person to blame a bad set on the equipment.
The other thing is I started Djing probably over 8 years back so I am not a newbie. I learnt to beatmatch on vinyl, cdj’s etc so I was not raised as a ‘sync’ DJ and beatmatching was never a problem though I do admit I use sync most of the time on the s4 because I hate how small the pitch fader is on the things. If I was the promoter as well I would never have booked me back as it was worse than my first gig and I have never had a gig that has went this bad.
Anyone had any nights like this DJ’ing or problems with the CDJ2000s I can not stress how much I do would not blame equipment as the guy before me was fine but something was just not right for me. And the big question should I cancel next weeks gig and take time out as it will be a full house.
I’ve never used 2000’s mate but i’ve had nights like that when it was just a trainwreck, it happens.
Sounds like you just got more stressed as you went along - anyone who has Dj’ed out of the bedrroom has had a night like that, trust me - if they say not they are liars.
Only you really know if you’re good enough - if you think so don’t give up
Just be better prepared next time - download recordbox, get everything analysed and use the USB drives - and make sure your set is solid, practice it if you feel like you need to.
You could learn beatmatching without sync on the S4, too. Not that I never understood why some are so purists about sync, if the audience likes the atmosphere, that’s the main thing. I.e. with sync you have more brain cycles to splice together 6 songs in six minutes.
I know that I am good enough. I have been doing it for over 8 years and have had residencies, radio shows etc. so its not that that I living in denial and thinking I am good when I am not. I have the ability definitily and it has proved in the past. I just took a year out from playing out to concentrate on saving money and moving to Australia and now I am here I wanted to get back into the scene and was excited because I was starting from scratch out here. Unfortunately the gig was a nightmare and I have put my S4 up on gumtree for swap for pioneer cdj’s 1000’s and its only about a month old with a flightcase, warranty receipts etc. Its a move I did not want to do but I never want to go through that again so thought it was the only option as I do not know anyone out here I can go over to and have a spin on theres yet. I read up about the tracks drifting and it seems to be a common problem on the cdj 2000’s that has never been properly fixed. In saying that the guy before me played with no problems at all so its probably just a case of getting used to the cdj’s but still I do not feel like getting used to anything while there is a club full of people in front of me. As I said before I can beatmatch I have been doing it for 90% of my DJ’ing life and never had a problem before even when taking a break from it before so it really got me down when everything went tits up on friday. Do not get me wrong I was in a really shitty mood and not as prepared as I would like to have been on Friday but it was unacceptable what happened. I just do not know how I could some practice in before then. I doubt they would let me practice some time before the gig and if they did I am sure they would be a bit warey that they just hired a DJ to close a nightclub who is not 100% with the equipment he is using so do not want to go down that road.
You got to bounce back and keep moving forward. If the dude before you was spinning alright then it’s not the equipment. Try messing with the pitch range on the CDJ. I think it defaults at ±10. If your used to technics with the ±8 then this might be messing with you as it did with me. I change the CDJs to ±6. Also were the CDJs set to vinyl mode? When you mess up, just smile and keep chuggin. Don’t let the crowd know your sweatin.
I know that mate. I started on vinyl and then had the pioneer cdj 800’s for a year and sold them to get traktor and timecoded vinyl and its only the last year I went mostly midi. Something just didn’t seem all there when playing on them. Are tracks best off put through rekordbox beforehand or whats the story with that? I used the 1000’s all last summer as well in a residency and no problems. There was just something seriously not there that night. Could of been a one off but as a first gig back I was mortified and ready for hanging up the headphones and getting alot of anxiety about the next gig. Think I might give one of the guys from the club a shout to see if I can come down some day before it and check out the equipment and swallow my pride a bit. If it goes wrong on saturday I think that will be it.
I hope my honest reply does not get slaughtered. In my opinion if you can beatmatch it really does not matter what equipment you use. Whether it is an S4, CDJ’s, denon or plain vinyl you should be able to go by ear not by bpm’s on the CDJ display. I started on belt driven technics which are known to drift by default, so you always had to make minor corrections. If you come from that era then all it takes is practice without the sync buttons. Forget about the tools as they are just tools and it’s all about dusting off your beatchmatch skills. Rekordbox does not matter, it only saves you time just like with traktor. You can set beatmarkers and the Grid / BPM is available. Still all those things won’t help you if you can’t make the final corrections. They way I see i at the moment the problem is you and only you can fix it by practicing.
The other option is to use the CDJ 2000 in combination with Traktor. You can control Traktor via the CDJ 2000 using the advanced HID, no timecode required. This way you can continue to use the sync feature of traktor and there is no need to even look at the laptop screen (I still recommend practicing your beatmatch skills). You do need to get yourself familiar with how to use the CDJ2000 to control Traktor, e.g. Link, create an Agregate device, Layout of the default button mappings as you don’t want to use a mouse, etc. In order to do this you do need to spend some time with the CDJ 2000 and how to set them up. Hopefully you have a friend or club owner which allows you to spend some time with them.
In the club I never bring my S4 and always use the CDJ2000’s in combination with Rekordbox, Traktor, X1 and F1. I can switch between between rekordbox and traktor on the fly. There is no easy way back in, practice, practice and practice. In the meantime use traktor and it’s sync features to your benefit.
i was gonna say… maybe there was a delay on the monitors, which would make getting your cue off point & beat matching extremely hard - however if the guy before you was fine & didn’t say anything, i doubt it. definitely work on youe cdj & skills again - no harm in just polishing your timing skills up. i’d have thought the 2000’s will be almost identical feel jog wheel wise to the 1000’s, so should be pretty easy.
I own a S4 and CDJ 1000’s and I have never a day in my life used the “sync” button. Increase the pitch resolution on s4 to 4 or 6% to simulate a longer pitch fader on the 2000’s. Then go into settings and turn off the BPM display. This way you’re not “cheating” and just looking at the BPM’s to beat match.
I have seen a fair number of dj’s who depend on the BPM read out of Traktor and then when they are forced to mix on a CDJ with a BPM read out to the tenths, they still can’t beat match.
Like others have said, practice. In my opinion beat matching isn’t like riding a bike. You must continue to practice the skill or you loose it.
Pioneers still take a little beat matching to get perfect. Because even if the screen says 128.0, and the another CDJ does as well. It could actually be like .05 off or something like that, or more, its hard to tell, so screening the track is needed. I would go with the next gig, and just prepare more next time. Give your tracks a rinse through rekord box, and try to familiarize yourself with the 2000s a little more.
Well just to make an update on the situation. I went to the point of nearly renting out the 2000’s for a night to get used to them. Thank God I did not. I mixed constantly just using the pitch bender on my s4 and no issues what so ever. I still did not explain what had went so wrong on the Friday. However I got the problem fixed!
Basically what was wrong was that the rekordbox I was using was a too recent update with some bugs in it. I was chatting to some guys in DJ shops, the DJ on the week before me and they all came to same conclusion and advised me to downgrade my rekordbox to 1.5.3 because the clubs CDJ’s might not be upgraded.
All I can say is this worked perfect and I had not one issue in the slightest. Apart from a couple of tracks not showing up on my USB’s there was nothing that faulted the gig overall. I know it sounds bad to blame equipment but my lack of knowledge going into the gig is what made the issue with Rekordbox etc. I thought it was just a case of burning tracks via rekordbox and then going to gig without taking into consideration updates etc.(Which in my opinion is a bit of a pain) I mean my tracks played perfect on a $100 pioneer car stereo and had issues on a $2000 pioneer CDJ.
The gig went well and I got asked back on the Sunday for another gig so it was all good. I suppose sometimes you have to learn the hard way
I don’t think you should quit, that’d be giving up. Just remember, for every night you aren’t on your game and missing your beats, there will be a night you will be on fire and it will all come super easy. Just be confident in your skills as a DJ
