It’s 2018, and you told yourself today’s the year that you’re going to make your dream of being a professional DJ come true. Now, before you can actually start practicing your mixes and promote yourself to your networks, you need to setup your DJ equipment first. After all, how are you going to do music manipulation without any gear on hand?
In this tutorial, you’re going to learn about the best DJ equipment setup for beginners. At the end of this article, you’ll have a clear idea as to what equipment you need to get for your personal DJ equipment. Let’s get started:
To Rent or To Buy?
If you don’t have the budget to purchase all the DJ equipment you need for your setup, you can start by renting some gear first. This is helpful to beginners, especially if you want to test the waters first and develop your skills as a professional DJ before you go out and buy your DJ equipment. If you’re also interested in trying out several brands and figuring out which ones you like before buying, renting can be your first option.
After you’re done testing out different brands and you’ve finally chosen which brands fit your style as a professional DJ, you can start buying the essential DJ equipment for your setup. Buying brand new decks and mixers allows you to have a personalized setup for your DJ equipment.
Naturally, if you’re serious about treating DJing as your career, it’s worth to invest your resources on getting the best brands available. After all, how else are you going to get a reasonable return on your investment?
Basic DJ Setup:
To start your journey as a professional DJ, you’ll need three basic equipment:
1. 2 Decks
2. 1 Mixer
3. Audio interface (if your mixer has a built-in audio interface, you don’t need this anymore)
Decks:
This is the DJ equipment you’ll be using to control or play a song. In getting your own deck, you have two options – turntables or CDJs.
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Turntables
Since turntables have been around since the 1800s, the technology behind it is simple: a platter spins the record and a needle plays the grooves in the record, producing sound.
Because the turntable provides maximum control, tactile experience and complete visual representation of what your deck is doing, most DJs consider it as their main choice of deck.
On the other hand, maintaining turntables is hard work. The needle gets affected by dirt, so you’ll need to clean it regularly. And it’s also heavy, so you’ll need assistance lugging it around to your venue. Additionally, since you want your music collection to be varied, you need to purchase – and carry with you – different records as well.
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CDJs
The digital counterpart of turntables is the CDJs which entered the DJing community in 1994. Based on the name itself, CJDs could play only CDs in the past, but now that they’ve evolved, CDJs can also control music in USB sticks, SD cards and laptops as well.
Because of its reliability, easy portability and precise pitch control, more and more DJs are adapting to use CDJs as their deck. In fact, well-respected DJs such as Steve Aoki and Skrillex use it.
Mixer:
You’ll need your mixer to connect your decks together and mix the sounds produced by your decks. The mixer allows you to show your DJing tricks and music manipulation skills. In addition, you can use the mixer to adjust the channel volume, adjust input level and pre-listen to music. You can choose a mixer with a built-in audio interface or a mixer without it.
Audio Interface:
This will connect to your decks, your computer, and your mixer. You’ll need the audio interface to let you play songs on your laptop into your mixer. One of the most common interfaces that lets you do this is called Serato. Serato is a simple, easy-to-use interface that allows you to control DJ software on a laptop like a controller.
At the end of the day, your DJ setup depends on your personal preference and music style. Feel free to try out and rent several brands of DJ equipment so you can finally get the brand that’s most suited to you. After all, being a professional DJ is all about expressing your individuality, right?