IdleRich
IdleRich
I need some help on the above. Something that is very easy for the majority of you I'm sure but is almost completely new to me so bear with me if I'm slow.
Basically the issue is that when I (in fact we) DJ we have always just used vinyl. Really the most simple set up of two turntables plugged into a mixer. But in Portugal it's quite hard to find the records we want and the post is so unreliable that ordering them is a bit of a lottery. And of course, just buying the file is cheaper as well as easier. Anyway, the upshot is that my girlfriend in particular has an increasing number of files that she likes to play alongside the records and we really don't know what we're doing with them that well. Normally she will put them on a USB and we stick 'em in a CDJ (which the clubs here pretty much always have - in fact they rarely have turntables for vinyl) and kinda hamfistedly manage to make it play... often it's a bit fiddly cos there are only two channels and you have to change one channel from phono to line or something and it's much louder or quieter or something. And really I've never mixed with digital files so it tends to be that there are... disruptive moments let's say.
Anyway, so I (we) would like to practise combining digital files with a set that is mainly vinyl (though I guess if we do get competent at doing it the ratio may start to change) and I want advice to on the best way to do this at home. One thing is that when I've been at friend's house and messed around on their CDJs or controllers it doesn't seem that they respond in the same way as physical turntables - is that just me being useless or will I actually have to learn to mix again?
Anyway the obvious options seem to be
1. Get some software on my laptop that changes speed on digital files and use this for messing around at home. The problem here is that it will only give an idea of what we want to do and will mean we still gotta figure out the CDJs in the club. But it will be cheap I suppose.
2. Buy a CDJ and just plug that in to my mixer at home and just learn to use it. I guess this is probably the right thing to do but how much will one cost? Is it possible to just buy one instead of two?
3. Buy a controller and use this at home. If I do this will it come with software so I can use it with any digital files? Also, if I do this, does it mean that in a club I would have to put a laptop into the controller and then the controller into a channel in the mixer so I kinda have a two tier system of mixing? How will this compare in terms of cost with the CDJ option? One advantage of this would be that I can just sit in bed with the laptop and controller and practise - and I like to spend as much time in bed as possible so this is actually quite a big thing.
As you can see, I really don't know anything about this so please give me any advice that seems relevant cos it will be useful to me. Thanks very much in advance.
Basically the issue is that when I (in fact we) DJ we have always just used vinyl. Really the most simple set up of two turntables plugged into a mixer. But in Portugal it's quite hard to find the records we want and the post is so unreliable that ordering them is a bit of a lottery. And of course, just buying the file is cheaper as well as easier. Anyway, the upshot is that my girlfriend in particular has an increasing number of files that she likes to play alongside the records and we really don't know what we're doing with them that well. Normally she will put them on a USB and we stick 'em in a CDJ (which the clubs here pretty much always have - in fact they rarely have turntables for vinyl) and kinda hamfistedly manage to make it play... often it's a bit fiddly cos there are only two channels and you have to change one channel from phono to line or something and it's much louder or quieter or something. And really I've never mixed with digital files so it tends to be that there are... disruptive moments let's say.
Anyway, so I (we) would like to practise combining digital files with a set that is mainly vinyl (though I guess if we do get competent at doing it the ratio may start to change) and I want advice to on the best way to do this at home. One thing is that when I've been at friend's house and messed around on their CDJs or controllers it doesn't seem that they respond in the same way as physical turntables - is that just me being useless or will I actually have to learn to mix again?
Anyway the obvious options seem to be
1. Get some software on my laptop that changes speed on digital files and use this for messing around at home. The problem here is that it will only give an idea of what we want to do and will mean we still gotta figure out the CDJs in the club. But it will be cheap I suppose.
2. Buy a CDJ and just plug that in to my mixer at home and just learn to use it. I guess this is probably the right thing to do but how much will one cost? Is it possible to just buy one instead of two?
3. Buy a controller and use this at home. If I do this will it come with software so I can use it with any digital files? Also, if I do this, does it mean that in a club I would have to put a laptop into the controller and then the controller into a channel in the mixer so I kinda have a two tier system of mixing? How will this compare in terms of cost with the CDJ option? One advantage of this would be that I can just sit in bed with the laptop and controller and practise - and I like to spend as much time in bed as possible so this is actually quite a big thing.
As you can see, I really don't know anything about this so please give me any advice that seems relevant cos it will be useful to me. Thanks very much in advance.
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