cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 I've started collecting DJ gear... Again... Have done a few gigs too looks like I'm getting back into it again. Have taken up a large space in my loft room to house the kit - PITA getting up the stairs after gigs thats for sure but never mind I don't do it for the money but for the fun of it really... Anyone else do it ?
clareq Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 I don't but my husband has a karaoke rig. Thankfully he also has a weekly gig, so can store the kit at the venue. We have a brick built outhouse he stores all the spares in (apparently it's impossible to run properly without having a spare amp, lights, speakers and mixing desk)
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 I don't but my husband has a karaoke rig. Thankfully he also has a weekly gig, so can store the kit at the venue. We have a brick built outhouse he stores all the spares in (apparently it's impossible to run properly without having a spare amp, lights, speakers and mixing desk) Yeah good idea, to keep spares. I dont have any at present as I've just started collecting Kit again, have acquired Mixer/Amp and Speakers.... playing through my laptop at the moment. Looking for a decent set of decks though. I did a gig the other night and seem to of lost my Microphone.
bladedanny Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 I've toyed with the idea before but never took the plunge. I always wondered what the deal is with licensing in regards to the music and public performance.
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 Depends on the venue, usually they are licensed which covers any acts and DJ's... although I recommend the have PLI.
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 And you should be playing original bought music ... no copies. And if you have digital copies (laptop DJ) then you must be able to prove that you bought the music... although in all my years of being a DJ - I've never once been asked.
Danp Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Yeah good idea, to keep spares. I dont have any at present as I've just started collecting Kit again, have acquired Mixer/Amp and Speakers.... playing through my laptop at the moment. Looking for a decent set of decks though. I did a gig the other night and seem to of lost my Microphone. Funny you say about the laptop, we had a DJ at our staff party on Tuesday playing away on his laptop, we all commented on what he does to earn his money, just click play and wait for the track to end?
clareq Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Have a look at ampdj.co.uk for PL insurance - £49 per year, and £10million pounds of cover. 1
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 Personally I dont use or like Laptop DJ's, it does it all for you - even to searching for tracks.... My last gig I took Vinyl. I'm on the lookout for twin CD Decks. I also back bands too if they need it. Dont get me wrong when I did this the first time round I had all my Disks, cataloged on my laptop and would use my laptop for Jingles... but apart from that it was CD. Just looked on laptop for whatever track I was after and found the disk I needed shoved it in the deck and did what I needed to do. Besides which... I find a massive Sound difference especially between CD v Laptop. CD Wins everytime.
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 Cant believe I lost my MIC.... Think I left it behind... and the club doesn't have it . Never mind.
Mr_Jiminy Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Funny you say about the laptop, we had a DJ at our staff party on Tuesday playing away on his laptop, we all commented on what he does to earn his money, just click play and wait for the track to end? I guess it had to progress, just like everything else... Whilst there is a knack to it, especially using the likes of Ableton, Serato and I probably should include Traktor, the modern digital method has ripped most of the fun out of it.
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 Certainly has... Whilst I used vinyl for my last gig, I did play the odd track from Laptop... Needs must until I get a set of CD Decks. The Sounds was dreadful compared to CD & Vinyl anyway.
Sdrawkcab Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 And you should be playing original bought music ... no copies. And if you have digital copies (laptop DJ) then you must be able to prove that you bought the music... although in all my years of being a DJ - I've never once been asked. Read the first half of this and was going to post the second half. I've played at a couple of (very very small) student club nights and nobody ever asked me to prove that the MP3s I was playing were legitimately purchased. @cpjitservices Do you mean like a wedding/function DJ or something else? I make truly horrible noises using Ableton Live and some korg nano midi controllers, but I'll probably never get anywhere near big enough that somebody would pay me to do it. I'm not that bothered though because I'm not really interested in doing wedding/function DJing, which is what you need to do if you want to make money doing this sort of thing. Also then I'd have to stop playing basically my entire collection, since I don't think most people want to hear Jungle/Breakcore at their weddings. Plus I can imagine it stops being fun really really quickly once money starts getting involved (like most things).
Sdrawkcab Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Feel like I should weigh in and say that I spend literally hours in Ableton preparing my sets before any gig that I play using my laptop. I don't think you could achieve the same sounds as I do with vinyl without having an obscene number of decks to mix between. A lot of it depends on the style of music you're playing - house or techno music for example is insanely easy to mix with a laptop and so doesn't take anywhere near the same amount of preparation.
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 Read the first half of this and was going to post the second half. I've played at a couple of (very very small) student club nights and nobody ever asked me to prove that the MP3s I was playing were legitimately purchased. @cpjitservices Do you mean like a wedding/function DJ or something else? I make truly horrible noises using Ableton Live and some korg nano midi controllers, but I'll probably never get anywhere near big enough that somebody would pay me to do it. I'm not that bothered though because I'm not really interested in doing wedding/function DJing, which is what you need to do if you want to make money doing this sort of thing. Also then I'd have to stop playing basically my entire collection, since I don't think most people want to hear Jungle/Breakcore at their weddings. Plus I can imagine it stops being fun really really quickly once money starts getting involved (like most things). Well I'm not into it for the money, I dont do weddings etc either... Just fun giggs. I do play a local club in town for a certain genre of music of which there is also a fanclub for. I dont do it for money... sometimes my fuel gets covered which is nice and so far I've inherited kit. But... By regulation your supposed to have insurance, Licenses, and music has to be what youve bought although it hardly ever is lol. I usually go on the back of the insurance/license of what the Venue has and it's usually sufficient although places do ask you are PAT tested. Which all my kit is. - - - Updated - - - For Laptop I've used VirtualDJ Free and BPM studio... oh and Mixx. Never used anything else.... never seen a need to.
Sdrawkcab Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) The Sounds was dreadful compared to CD & Vinyl anyway. Gotta get 320kbps MP3s or FLACs or it's gonna sound like crap every time, unfortunately. I think even a badly scratched vinyl sounds better than a low quality MP3 when you play it out over a proper rig. Edit: I do play a local club in town for a certain genre of music of which there is also a fanclub for. What genre? Do you mean like an official fanclub, or that it's just popular where you live? Edited July 4, 2014 by Sdrawkcab
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) Ive never liked the sound even with FLAC.... and high quality MP3... I dunno it just has a sound that when I hear I Know its from Laptop.... Unless you spend money and I mean thousands on really really really good quality kit, and get filtered earthed cables and stuff.... you get no were near the sound... in my opinion anyway. I havent spent that much not this time, Inherited some good kit though... Mixer is a good one. Edited July 4, 2014 by cpjitservices
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 Gotta get 320kbps MP3s or FLACs or it's gonna sound like crap every time, unfortunately. I think even a badly scratched vinyl sounds better than a low quality MP3 when you play it out over a proper rig. Edit: What genre? Do you mean like an official fanclub, or that it's just popular where you live? In certain parts there are official fan clubs, and yes its popular where I live but also all over the UK. I play mainly Proper Rock N Roll and Rockabilly... right from the 50's era... To the modern day Rockabilly stuff. I have quite a collection. Have played some pretty good gigs too.
Sdrawkcab Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) Ive never liked the sound even with FLAC.... and high quality MP3... I dunno it just has a sound that when I hear I Know its from Laptop.... Unless you spend money and I mean thousands on really really really good quality kit, and get filtered earthed cables and stuff.... you get no were near the sound... in my opinion anyway. Not having a go at you, because this is an opinion I've heard from a lot of people and I genuinely think a lot of it is the placebo effect (or reverse placebo effect). You see the guy up there in the booth with a laptop and a midi controller and instantly the music sounds worse. My friend is a lot like this, but if he doesn't realise the guy is DJing using a laptop he goes on about how good it sounds. As soon as he see's the laptop it's instantly the worst set ever. If we're showing off our new kit, here's mine! http://i.imgur.com/3oSQqEz.jpg (edited out the img tags because of giant photo) It's in a bit of a bad shape because it's been sat in a student living room for a few months, but it'll do. I also inherited a load of old jungle vinyls but I only have one deck at the moment so I won't be using them anytime soon. Edited July 4, 2014 by Sdrawkcab
cpjitservices Posted July 4, 2014 Author Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) I haven't got any other pics of mine, I Know what you mean you do automatically think the worse with Laptop DJ's they aren't all bad, I had to use mine the other night to play a few tracks I dont have yet on Vinyl - But I do just prefer CD... also Laptops have a tendency to crash too... have been to a few gigs where its been silent for a moment or 2 and the DJ says whoops sorry folks laptops crashed! - Bang a CD in. This scared me a bit on my last gig, my laptop really isnt great but it played what I asked it too luckily! I'll get some more pics of my kit tonight. Edited July 4, 2014 by cpjitservices
hardtailstar Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Crappy laptop dj here..... lol, I have on long term loan from a friend an amp and speakers, I plug my laptop in and mix the music there, not once has the laptop failed. I only do friends parties and a few select parties for others. but as I dont get paid they cant complain! lol 1
laserblazer Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 (edited) I was a DJ on British Forces Broadcasting Service in the late 60s whilst working in Malta. Gave me a few perks - nudge, nudge, wink, wink Luckily, I have always been a perfect gentleman. Edited July 4, 2014 by laserblazer
Asgard Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Ex-DJ , used to play house / piano's / etc for about 8 years. I came out of retirement recently for a one off gig for a charity. Uploaded the two mixes from the event here http://m.mixcloud.com/johnszkudlapski3/
laserblazer Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Ex-DJ , used to play house / piano's / etc for about 8 years. I came out of retirement recently for a one off gig for a charity. Uploaded the two mixes from the event here John Paul Szkudlapski | Mixcloud I've just realised where I've seen your name. It's on the bottom line of my opticians eyechart 2
sister_annex Posted July 4, 2014 Posted July 4, 2014 Started DJing at the tender age of 14 - I used to go out with a couple of old hats who showed me the ropes, used to go out with CDs and a very expensive rig and do the good old 18 & 21 parties and the odd wedding and older parties too. Did that for 4 years and moved in to sound engineering - did that for best of 10 years now just getting back into my djing again, this time though actually going in to the clubs and playing the stuff the youth of today are in to lol I also present a weekly show on hospital Radio - thats fun and is in no way related to what I play in the clubs!! Yes I play off a laptop now and unless I'm using CDJs in the clubs I have a controller to run the software but I enjoy it so couldn't really care what people think about my setup at the end of the day if the punters are still there at the end of the night then I've done my job (or the booze was on offer ) One thing I have to chip in with though is the comment earlier on in the thread about laptop DJs just pressing play and letting it go... yes granted this does happen (Don't all Djs have to press play on something??) but there is still an art to song selection, knowing which songs gel and which don't and not everyone can do that. It's a problem with a lot of the young club DJs that are coming through now, they have no idea of song selection and it does take the biscuit sometimes. Anyway that's my 2p worth
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