What makes a setup "Professional"?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
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What makes a setup “Professional”?

Hello everyone, I have been prowling the forums for a while and recently decided it was high time I register. I thought I’d kick off my DJtechtools debut with a little question that has about a million answers.

What makes a DJ setup worthy of the title “professional”? Is it only really professional if you still DJ with Vinyl? Do you have a to have a pair of CDJ-2000’s? Is it okay to walk on stage with just your Macbook and an S4? What, in your eyes, decides whether or not a setup is good enough to be on stage?

-Please read-

I ask these questions rhetorically to stir up thought, I don’t personally think that it is realistic to say- maybe you do- that only vinyl DJ’s are real. I, although I LOVE information, am not posting this to be another teenager (yes, I am a teen) asking for you to tell me what to buy. I have done my homework and just want to know what you guys are passionate about, and maybe learn a thing or two before I start buying more gear.

2

I walk into a booth containing 2 X1s, 1 K2, and 2 MF Pros. No one ever calls me on it. Typically people look for big platters as a sign of status.

3

I think there are different options for different people. Spice of life. Love what you love. Don’t what you don’t. Add variety to your life, or stay the same. Whatever makes you happy.

4

Professional gear is just gear that can stand abuse and has been proven to be reliable IMO.

→ DJM + CDJ
→ mixer + TT
→ controller

Main thing being the abuse part.

5

That is how I like to think of it as well. It shouldn’t really matter what you are playing on as long as it doesn’t break and you play good music.

6

Time tested to be reliable, superior sound quality (those that think the S4 falls into this category are IMO wrong), and at least somewhat look the part (obviously I think this subjective and depends on who it is that is judging you ex: ex-dj that is now the head promoter vs. parents that hired you to do their daughters sweet sixteen)

Edit : I’m talking about proffesional club equipment more than anything else

7

Gear that is built to last and perform well rather than to a budget is professional.

8

Manchild, are there any all-in-one controllers that do hold up to the professional sound, build and usability standard IYO? Are you suggesting that piecing gear together is the best way to go?

9

To answer ur question I’d consider s4 professional, numark mix track pro a toy.

Idk bout cdjs but any controller under $500 is kind of unprofessional/cheap in my opinion. Part of the high cost of controllers is the sound card.

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I can only comment on gear that Ive owned…I’ve owned the S4 and even though it was said to have an equivelant to an Audio 4 or Audio 8, I own both those sound cards and can tell you it does not sound as good as those cards. I’m no audiophile, but thru experience of DJ’n and use of that equipment I can hear the difference, and just for your information the Audio 8 or 4 does not sound nearly as good as the internal card on the DJM 900 either

11

I agree. I am new to Mixing (so much so that I don’t call myself a DJ- excuse the username) but I have played guitar for 6 years. It’s gotten to the point where I won’t give a guitar a 2nd glance if the sticker isn’t above $800, because I know that for any less I will rarely find a guitar that has the right wood, pickups and overall hardware quality. I have no trouble at all believing that DJ equipment is the same way.

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Manchild, so your gripe with the S4 is sound quality rather than a hardware quality problem? Sorry to get off topic on my own thread, but do you think that it would justifiable to purchase an S4 and use it purely as a USB controller and run your sound out elsewhere? I am very interested in the S4- mainly because it is literally a hardware replica of traktor’s interface, which is particular attractive to me- but I wouldn’t want to fight my gear simply because I like the layout of one controller.

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I think the opposite about the S4. Sound quality is perfectly adequate for DJing purposes and the features are nice, but the build quality is seriously lacking and there are many better options out there.

14

Best answer here. Makar…great posts on here man.

I think for the OP, where you ask this question you will get a variety of answers (DJTT vs. Serato forum). If we’re talking controllers I think there has only been ONE controller that has been widely accepted as “professional” with no second guessing it’s quality and that is the Xone 4D, and I don’t consider it the best one either. Anything else has been made to compete in the controller market and realistically that’s a budget focused market.

15

I think if Zedd and Porter can tour with an S4… it’s more than enough for all of us…

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For all we know those units are swapped out at the slightest notice of malfunction, or they may have more then one for back up. I owned an S4 and had no problems with it, but I wasn’t dropping elbows on it either.

Professional in this sense is subjective, but IMO anything that has a low rate of failure after constant use.

17

I suppose that’s true, but I don’t think they would keep using them if they malfunctioned often.

Although Zedd did just get a care package from Pioneer a couple months ago. It’s only a matter of time.

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I like your logic.

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Consider this: If all of your gear other than your laptop was destroyed in a tragic fire 6 hours before the biggest show of your life and your DJ insurance screwed you and only payed out $1,000, what control interface(s) would you get your hands on?

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http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16014097 15:00 :roll_eyes:

They have a fully functional CDJ 2000 in pretty much all of their gigs, yet no USB stick or CDs brought as backup?

Edit: If all my gear was destroyed and I still had a laptop, I wouldn’t need anything for a huge gig since they’d have all the necessary gear already on stage. So a few USB cables and $990 change. Oh, and some headphones.