Do you spend more time looking for the latest and greatest equipment out. Do you spend more time looking for the latest great deal on eBay, craigslist, etc. Do you spend more time reading reviews on equipment.
OR
Do you spend more time looking for remixes, the latest song released, a hidden gem in a blog, reading about collabs and what’s being released soon.
Me personally, i’m about 60/40 towards gear. Always wanting the next great deal, or cool equipment that will “make me” better or perhaps just allow me to do more. Then I go hunt for music.
I should probably cut both times in half and practice a few sets and effects together!!!
i get into spells where i am obsessed with getting new gear lol. but then i try to reason with myself about the affordability of some of these things. (currently looking at the xone dx lol).
sometimes i spend a lot of time making midi mappings. i just think they’re fun to make! i dont spend tons of time looking for music although i think i should. i usually hit up beatport and find some schtuff i like =D
I’m probably about 50/50. I just like to stay up to date on everything. And I’ll be honest, posting a music blog has got me digging a bit more than I used to, and it’s nice.
hmm… Probably more time looking for music. I’m fairly happy with my setup, to the point where I dont have room to use all of it in most cases (VCI, BCR2k, lpd8,). I always see a need for new music, tunes that havnt been rinsed.
Music hands down. I already have the hardware I want/know what I want to get so there’s no need to keep digging unless something new and outstanding comes out.
i look at gear a lot trying to find deals but it’s mostly just for fun so i know what i will buy when i actually have money. I love digging through all the music blogs but I can find it daunting trying to find tracks that are good quality mp3s and such. Beatport has become a great resource for finding completely new artists for me. I check their top 100 all the time just to see what’s out there that i’m missing.
Definitely spend more time searching and sorting out my music. I only ever search for gear if I feel I need something new, otherwise I don’t need too as my set up works just fine.
The way I see it the audience only really care about the music your playing, not what your using to you mix it, so in that respect I consider my music as being waaaay more important than my equipment…
Like a typical guy who always wants more, I obsess over gear and look at a lot of it and daydream, even though I’m VERY happy with my setup… At the end of the day though, I easily spend the majority of my time looking for new music…
I’m working on a compilation series that addresses different emotions in each volume, so most of my music searching is based on finding tracks that fit perfectly into the concepts I’m chasing. Knowing how many perfect tracks I need to get a hold of to accomplish this, I try not to waste time on looking for equipment that will ultimately require a change in my style…
Lately I have been spending too much time looking for and purchasing music than I have been learning the music I have, I realized this last weekend when I played a party on short notice and couldn’t think of a lot of the tracks ahhh, so now my time is spent learning my music inside and out
I’ll find a bunch of good jams, toss them in itunes and not tag them with the correct genre or listening to them and figuring out what songs go well together, then in the middle of playing i’ll see it and think - oh shit!!! Other times that happens after the fact.
I spent 80/20 in gear/music…
But thats probably because I dont have the gear I want and I have a big collection of music alredy.
I’m still a bedroom DJ and a eletronics-geek so i think that it’s ok for now.
I will have my mac and I will focus more on music after that for sure.
My current breakdown is around 70/30 on equipment. I’m researching a lot of what is out there for ideas on DJTT articles, so the equipment side has a reason at the moment (not to mention I’m a gear head!).
Anybody have any requests for articles on equipment, types of equipment (technologies) etc.? I’d be happy to focus an article or two on stuff you guys and girls are really tweaked about. Let me know.
Definatley music in my case always reserve 1 night a week to trawl through the various websites i use (traxsource, juno, dj download, beatport, trackitdown etc) then come back to it the next night and trim the lists down to the few tracks i definately want then purchase
The gear hunt is stemmed by a few things. One is just being a gear junkie.
The other is along the lines of a carpenter and tools. If you or I are scratch DJ’s we NEED the tools to scratch. Sure a good dj could rock a set with a laptop and mouse if needed but still the “proper” or “best suited tools” would enhance the set.
I enjoy looking for gear to find things that allow me to do what I enjoy doing better or with more ease. For example something that scratches as well as a TT 1200’s but smaller and more portable would be beneficial to.
So I think its a combination of both. Unless you have your dream set up then all is great!!
You could have all the latest and greatest tech available and be absolutely shit at dj’ing. Concentrate on having great tunes and building up your skill base, gear is not as important imo.
I think there is a certain plateau that people reach. Before they have the gear they want, they are looking at gear often. Once they are comfortable with what they have, they start focusing in on music more.
I know for me if I had what I wanted right now, I would be looking at gear a lot less and really digging harder at mixing. (Which is honestly difficult without the proper gear).
