If it’s your life-long dream to be behind the turntables, manipulate the music to your own liking and control the beat of the dance floor as a successful DJ, this article is made just for you. This tutorial will help you navigate your way through the overwhelming choices of DJ equipment for beginners. After reading this article, you’ll have a clear idea as to which equipment is the right fit for you as an aspiring DJ.
In buying your first DJ equipment, you can choose whether you’d like to go with the traditional vinyl setup or the digital DJ setup.
Traditional Vinyl Setup
If you want to experience the feel of records in your skin, mix music and look as “DJ” as possible, the traditional vinyl setup is what you can consider. In this setup, you will need:
1. Two direct-drive turntables: In this version, the motor is placed directly below the center of the platter, so the platter can achieve full speed in less time. It’s important that you get two turntables, so you can use one turntable to play a song and the other one is for beat-matching, cross fading and scratching.
When you buy your turntables, find out if you need to buy a pre-amp, too. In some cases, you may need it to boost your sound and produce a high quality sound for your audience.
2. Mixer: The mixer can either make or break your DJ setup. It’s important to get your audience pumped out and ready to enjoy your beats. You can use the mixer to connect your two turntables and perform different DJing tricks while shifting between them. You can also use the mixer to fade between your two channels, adjust the volume as you’d like and make smooth transitions between different recordings while they are spinning a set.
3. Accessories: Records are difficult to mix. And vinyl is expensive. But manually mixing records gives the image of being a “real” DJ and people love watching you perform with it, so you need to invest in accessories that’ll help optimize the sound quality of your setup and make your materials last longer. Get extra styluses and cartridges, a record-cleaning fluid and a vinyl brush, and an anti-static slip-mat for the turntables.
4. Decent DJ Headphones: Get headphones that reproduce precise, high-quality sound which helps you listen to the music with perfect clarity.
5. PA Speakers: Actually, it depends on the venues you play in whether you’ll need to purchase your own set of speakers. You’ll need high-quality speakers to broadcast high-quality sound to your audience if you perform at parties and places with no decent sound system. But if you’re playing at parties with their own PA systems, you may not need to invest in your own set just yet.
Digital DJ Setup
If you want the digital setup because it’s easier to transport, gives you more options when it comes to music manipulation and provides a more extensive music collection, listen up. Here are the following DJ equipment you’ll need as a beginner:
1. Controller: Most modern DJs who choose the digital setup start with the controller and their very own laptops. Simply speaking, controllers replicate the features of the mixer and the turntables. The amazing thing about your controller is they contain a vast amount of music – all accessible at the tip of your fingers. There’s no need for you to carry your own vinyl to the venue.
2. Together with your DJ software, you can use the controller to mix and manipulate music with the use of knobs, jog wheels, faders, assignable backlit buttons, touch strips, and other control components.
3. Digital turntable controller (DJ Controller): If you want the tactile feel of mixing music, you can plug this into your computer and use them to simulate the action of mixing on real turntables. This isn’t really a necessity, but if you’re in the mood for splurging, you can consider this.
4. Decent set of headphones and speakers: It doesn’t matter which DJ setup you choose to go with, these two are the must-haves in any DJ starter package.
5. Digital interface: Since the digital setup will require you to use DJ software, you need a digital interface that will connect the RCA-style ports on your hardware with the USB ports on your laptop.