[youngdj]

Hi guys
I am 15 and have been helping ou one of the schhol teachers at school djing he has been djing for a silly amount of years....
I an really enjoying it all and i am looking to get into it myself
The thing is what equipment do i need??
I am looking at running from my laptop.
I have looked at the following http://mobile.maplin...moduleno=226574
But dont know what else i would need or if i am even lookig at the correct bits.
Any help is much appriciated
Liam

[westy78]

Don't waste your money...it has no sound card and can't be hooked up to powered speakers. If you can push your budget a little further go for the model above this ...._{I think its around £190, but that has sound card and can be hooked up to powered speakers}

[wanye]

hello. welcome.

before you start a million and one threads, take some time and look around the forums. most of your questions will be answered. its probably worth reading a bunch of djmoore's recent threads too as he has been asking a lot of similar questions...

[topnotch]

Hi and welcome

well my sugestion.... is that you do a lot more research, by hekping, working with other dj's or disco's t build up you knowledge of both gear & customers and clients

this is essential if you want to be a good DJ that understands what it takes, and not just because of the music & money

using the right gear, and not just a cheap set-up from maplin or equaly just as cheap, and the getting the experience is essential

good luck, and feel free to search the forums or as questions

[youngdj]

westy78, on 20 December 2011 - 02:35 PM, said:

Don't waste your money...it has no sound card and can't be hooked up to powered speakers. If you can push your budget a little further go for the model above this ...._{I think its around £190, but that has sound card and can be hooked up to powered speakers}

Do you have a link by any chance mate

[Andy Collins]

Hi Liam, Have a look at some real DJ shops and sites. Maplin is not a starting point for anyone who is serious about starting a DJ business.

You'll get good sound advise from the retailers that are mentioned in this forum

[youngdj]

Thanks mate i am not looking at taking anything serious yet its just for the local youthclub and the bedroom
Can anybody sugesst some makes to take a look at
Thanks
Liam

[jeff]

hi mate

you could always start doing kids parties,,

thats what a lot of young djs do to get started.

that way you'll learn about mic use etc,, and then from there you'll probably get asked to do family parties etc etc..


remember one thing tho,,,as soon as you started charging,,,you really must have back up equipment,, so two laptops or laptop and cd players etc

[youngdj]

jeff, on 20 December 2011 - 03:00 PM, said:

hi mate

you could always start doing kids parties,,

thats what a lot of young djs do to get started.

that way you'll learn about mic use etc,, and then from there you'll probably get asked to do family parties etc etc..


remember one thing tho,,,as soon as you started charging,,,you really must have back up equipment,, so two laptops or laptop and cd players etc

Thanks for your reply mate this sounds like a good idea.
Liam

[DJMoore]

If you are going to get a DJ controller look for one that has a soundcard, like people said above.

Look for Numark DJ Pro or Numark iDJ3. They are over the 200 mark though.

[jeff]

no worries,,,

just stick around on the forum,,,you'll loads from here,,,

[groovindj]

The Numark Mixtrack Pro is £169, which is pretty good value for what it provides.

From a pro point of view it has no gain control or metering, but for under £200
it's a pretty good bit of starter kit.

[Robster]

on the whole (but not always) stay away from maplins . discoworld phaseone cookies crs1 discotechnology thomann valeway and audiospares are good suppliers

at 15 there are a few issues DJing at licensed premises where managers may not like a under 18 as a DJ BUT there are tons of young people centres and schools and youth projects where offering to DJ will give you loads of experience. I started at a youth club

for each of the following categories throw them into the search at the top of this forum



Pat Test: Strongly advise this make sure your gear what ever you buy is safe and tested

PLI: really advise you in getting this not worth the risk for the small fee BUT your age might be an issue

Tax & NI: your 15 now but if your 16 soon then tax and NI A must have but I would guess as a new start up you would struggle to hit the tax threshold.

Website: Get one, it is the cheapest form of advertising you will ever get and when you buy the domain name try and get it related to your industry. You can get free website hosting with many dj associations that also offer PLI in that cost.

Business Cards: Get some (not from vista print ) get decent cards without a generic style, get one that reflects the type of DJ you are so if your a general party dj cards that look like your a club dj or wedding dj wont be right

What to wear: Think about the gig and dress appropriately

Telephone: Practice your responses , write down a few questions and answers so you are prepared when you talk to clients on the phone.

Email: Get pre-prepared responses that just require minor tweaks see thislink

Price: Don’t under value your services but your issue is currently age but don't sell yourself too cheaply

Equipment Maintenance: Essential, do it regularly and when you can afford it you must get backup equipment

Client Contract: Get one again seelinks and this forum feel free to look at my terms and conditions on my web site as a guide



Keep a record of all transactions and receipts even minor eBay purchases as this will offset your tax burden when you get to 16.

Never make assumptions about a gig or your clients as they are all different and where it is OK to keep references and playlists to tunes try not to make a habit of churning out the same thing every gig as it makes you stale look at forums for playlist inspiration and what is working.
Expect to spend lots on legally acquired music.

[youngdj]

groovindj, on 20 December 2011 - 03:19 PM, said:

The Numark Mixtrack Pro is £169, which is pretty good value for what it provides.

From a pro point of view it has no gain control or metering, but for under £200
it's a pretty good bit of starter kit.

Ok guys many thanks for all your replys so far its much appriciated.
I have taken the above advise and i am looking at the numark mixttack pro
What other equipment would be required such as speakers amps mics???
Liam

[A & M Events]

I know you would need a mixer too, but I have a Numark D2 that I'm looking to sell for £150.....

[wanye]

youngdj, on 20 December 2011 - 04:19 PM, said:

Ok guys many thanks for all your replys so far its much appriciated.
I have taken the above advise and i am looking at the numark mixttack pro
What other equipment would be required such as speakers amps mics???
Liam

absolute minimum:

PA system - active rig, so no external amp needed
tripods for PA
laptop
usb mixer with soundcard
cables to go from usb console to PA system
power leads for all of the above
and some sort of microphone

on top of that, you probably want a proper mixer. a deckstand or some sort of portable table would also be useful, as would some sort of cloth (starcloth ideally) to hide all the cables and stuff dangling below the table surface.

then you get into the whole lighting rig cycle.... buy lights, realise they are a bit crap because you bought them from maplins/ebay, upgrade your lights, then keep adding more and more to it.

once youve got that, you can add some CDJs if thats your sort of thing, some subwoofers, and more lights. backup kit and cables are also very useful.

finally, you will gradually upgrade your kit until you get to a point where you are happy with the setup you have, and are earning enough money to live on. although its always nice to have new shiny toys, so the upgrade cycle never truly ends until you give up the game...



HTH

This post has been edited by wanye: 20 December 2011 - 05:13 PM

[Angelic]

wanye, on 20 December 2011 - 05:11 PM, said:

upgrade your lights, then keep adding more and more to it.

the upgrade cycle never truly ends until you give up the game...

I've been at this game for as long as the OP has been alive......still not finished yet!!

[Colin Cook]

Hi Liam and welcome to the forum

This section is for members to introduce themselves rather to ask for help in.

If you start a thread in the relevant section you are more likely to get the help you need

As said, have a look at DJMoores threads, he is asking just about every question under the sun so by following that and spending some time looking through the threads then choosing exactly what you want help with I'm sure you will get loads of advice and support from the members here

[wanye]

Angelic, on 20 December 2011 - 05:55 PM, said:

I've been at this game for as long as the OP has been alive......still not finished yet!!

i'm still buying more kit... i've already filled up the cupboard under the stairs and the outside shed. ove christmas, i need to completely clear out the spare room, so i can fit in a wizard, tripod and a bag full of uplighters. i need to spend some time at my computer working out daslight and controlling the wizard properly.

i havent the heart to tell my girlfriend a bunch more kit will be arriving in a week or so! i figure if i can get the spare room cleared and sstuff put up the loft, more kit arriving wont be so much of an issue for her!

[DJMoore]

Colin Cook, on 20 December 2011 - 06:08 PM, said:

Hi Liam and welcome to the forum

This section is for members to introduce themselves rather to ask for help in.

If you start a thread in the relevant section you are more likely to get the help you need

As said, have a look at DJMoores threads, he is asking just about every question under the sun so by following that and spending some time looking through the threads then choosing exactly what you want help with I'm sure you will get loads of advice and support from the members here

I'm famous!

[Angelic]

wanye, on 20 December 2011 - 06:21 PM, said:

daslight and controlling the wizard properly.

Not too sure on the Daslight pinouts but don't forget you're likely to need a phase converter. God bless Martin's DMX........

[Nightair]

wanye, on 20 December 2011 - 06:21 PM, said:

i'm still buying more kit... i've already filled up the cupboard under the stairs and the outside shed. ove christmas, i need to completely clear out the spare room, so i can fit in a wizard, tripod and a bag full of uplighters. i need to spend some time at my computer working out daslight and controlling the wizard properly.

Mate, If you want to come over to the office sometime we can sort that out. I need to do the same and we've got the space to do it. We've just bought daslite so we need to do the same thing, and not just with the wizards!

Edit:Welcome Liam, Merry Christmas!

This post has been edited by Nightair: 20 December 2011 - 10:09 PM

[DingleDjs]

Would highly recommend this controller / soundcard for starting off, and a decent used mixer (somebody on the forum is bound to be selling one if you look in the for sale section), the RMX works with most DJ software. Apart from that read through the forum and learn about gear, music, marketing etc. It's a great resource. The for sale section is also excellent for picking up quality used gear when you have the cash.

[christoph]

Djmoore.... The word is 'infamous'

Lol

And the best advice is to tag along with a (good) local dj. You'll learn far far more quickly than reading up on stuff. Offer to lift boxes and stuff, most of us Djs hate that part.

Just make sure he's decent. You don't want to copy a clueless nugget, and there's plenty of them about.

[jeff]

but thats easier said than done,,

most pro's wouldnt want anyone hanging round them,,,I know I wouldnt.

[christoph]

I wouldn't mind, long as he listened and made himself useful at the start and end of the night.

I'm not a pro though. Lol

[westy78]

Jeff why not you can show them how to play black lace

[mattydinx]

Welcome Liam

Happy Posting!

[A & M Events]

Hi Liam, welcome to the forum and sorry to see you've been deluged with more advice that you can shake a stick at, most of which seems to have ignored what you actually asked!

youngdj, on 20 December 2011 - 02:31 PM, said:

Hi guys
I am 15 and have been helping ou one of the schhol teachers at school djing he has been djing for a silly amount of years....
I an really enjoying it all and i am looking to get into it myself
The thing is what equipment do i need??
I am looking at running from my laptop.
I have looked at the following http://mobile.maplin...moduleno=226574
But dont know what else i would need or if i am even lookig at the correct bits.
Any help is much appriciated
Liam

I'm sure I'm not the only one who started life as a DJ around the same time as you - I was 14 (I think) and for me I kinda got into it by mistake - my mum was a teacher, they had noone to do the end of year disco, I got volunteered and the rest is history. If you really do get keen on this life, starting at your age is perfect and please make all the mistakes along the way as however much people want to tell you how to do it right, you will only learn from your mistakes. I chuckle now when I look back at my mate getting a chasing electrical shock from the home made lead connecting my light boxes (learnt to to have live current coming from a plug!). I do think you are luckier than a lot of us were - starting up in the 70's and 80's was a lot different to the way things are today!

youngdj, on 20 December 2011 - 03:00 PM, said:

Thanks mate i am not looking at taking anything serious yet its just for the local youthclub and the bedroom
Can anybody sugesst some makes to take a look at
Thanks
Liam

This is what I think most of the replies have missed - I think many of us have gone headlong into advice about setting yourself up as a mobile disco (and if you want to that's great), but the question was about what to buy to practice in your bedroom or do youth club disco's, so I'll try to help.

The most sensible thing I can offer is buy used. At this stage, spending hundreds of pounds on lovely shiny new gear is probably not the best use of your money. The very very simplest thing is to get a cheap laptop (you may already have one), download some free or cheap software and have a play. If you feel like being a little more hands on, then maybe look for a used MP3 controller (or stand alone) - I can't offer much help on this as I am really just a laptop guy! failing that, then a set of used twin CD's and a mixer won't break the bank and unless you are really keen to make money, I really wouldn't worry about expensive brands to practice on - although you can get a set of older twin Denons for silly cheap money on Ebay these days!

Aside from the kit, it is probably a good idea to start as you mean to go on, so resist the temptation to download lots of music from filesharing websites, a couple of quid a week will get you a few legal tracks and if you want to learn and build up your older music, there are usually some great deals on the NOW albums, but don't forget the sales - supermarkets always have a bargain section and a CD for £3 will be a lot less than downloading the tracks!

I have a couple of younger DJ's who work for me - one is 19 and has an amazing knowledge of the older music - 60's & 70's in particular. He puts that down to his mum & dad as it's the music they listen to and he has grown up with, so it might be useful to tap dad up for some idea on music he likes and maybe he can let you have some music. My other DJ has just completed a mixing / DJ course at a local college so that might be worth looking into.

If you really do want to start doing paying gigs, then the advice to get out with some established DJ's is superb. There are skills you will never learn in your bedroom. One of my younger guys had never thought about how he interacted with the guests and spent most of the night with his head in the laptop. We bought a laptop mixer case, to raise it to his height and helped him learn how to stop and look out at his dance floor and watch what was going on and in turn react to what you see. It's made a huge difference.

jeff, on 20 December 2011 - 03:16 PM, said:

no worries,,,

just stick around on the forum,,,you'll loads from here,,,

[christoph]

I started at 15. No Internet then either, so it was a case of:

Buy cheap kam decks
Figure out how to make them work
Figure out what mixing was
Figure out how to do it
Buy technics 1210's
Spend all my money on hard house vinyl
Get a slot playing in a club.

That took three years.

Nowadays kids think yet can buy a midi controller from maplins, press auto mix a few times, torrent a load of tracks and hey presto, they are a dj.

Nah.

Get out on the road once a week with a working dj, and spend every weeknight in your bedroom mixing, on cd.

They when you do learn to drive, you will already be a good dj.

This post has been edited by christoph: 21 December 2011 - 11:22 AM