1. General So you want to be a DJ, but have no clue what you’re doing? Are you a complete noob? Well then, this article is for you. This is the first of a series or articles that will help explain some of the basic questions that seem to come up from time to time in the forums. First. what does all that gear do? It all depends on what it is exactly you want to do, but here are the basics that will point you in the proper direction. You are going to need some sources of audio. The turntable (record/phonograph player) has been the standard for as long as DJing has been around. If you have turntables, you have to have a cartridge/needle to pick up what is on the record. As technology progresses, so do the opportunities, which is where CD decks and MP3 decks come into play. Some of these new decks will play strictly CDs that are in the format a store bought CD comes in, whereas others play MP3s solely, and some play both formats. Once again, it is all in what exactly you’re looking for. You also have to be able to do something with the sound. Ever see those massive mixing boards for rock bands or music studios? DJs use a much smaller scale version of that, dubbed the DJ mixer. They usually come anywhere from two all the way up to six channels, meaning you can connect anywhere from one to six different sources. The main difference between the massive mixing boards and DJ mixers is the addition of some DJ specific features, like the cross fader, and a revised layout designed to be simple to use in low lighting situations. Now that you have the sound source, and something to manipulate it, you need an output source; in other words, you need something to make the sounds come to life. An amp, stereo receiver, or all in one shelf system (for home applications) works just fine. At home, a decently powered system will be just fine, however, larger events will require high wattage amps and powerful speaker (such as at a rave or club). Of course, once you secure the power source, you need speakers to round out your system. Once everything’s hooked up, you’re ready to rock and roll. There are a few DJs out there (and I emphasize the word few) that prefer to mix on a computer. There are several programs out there that allow you to “mix” mp3s or wavs on your home PC. My personal experience really has not been good with these programs as they can be somewhat hokey, and not accurate at all. If you have no money, and what to get into DJing, it’s a good place to start and get some theory going, but in my opinion, (and most others) it is quite beneficial to get some hardware going. This should help you get started, and answer a few questions you may have about what’s needed to become a DJ. There will be several more articles going in depth and picking apart what all the equipment is, as well as some more interesting stuff that will be of interest to the newbie DJ. 2. Turntables In this edition of the Beginner's Guide to DJing, we will be talking about things you need to know when you decide its time to buy your decks (slang for turntables). There are several features that are a must, and several features that depend on what your style of mixing asks for. Belt driven v. Direct drive - what's the difference? There are two basic designs for the operation of the platter; belt driven and direct drive. Belt driven turntables have the actual motor that spins the platter (the part you put the record on) offset from the center of the platter, and a belt (often nothing more than a big rubber band) is looped around a shaft extending from the motor, and connects to the bottom of the platter. Direct drive is a bit different setup. The motor is under the platter (usually the spindle, the 'needle' on the center of the platter, is part of the motor), and directly rotates the spindle and platter. Some tables (like the Technic SL1200s, and Numark TTX1) have a hefty magnet under the platter, and another on the motor. This is designed to increase torque, and response when the motor starts spinning. Others (like the Stanton STR8 Series) rely on the weight of the platter resting on the spindle to turn the platter. Effective, but it makes the platter easy to stop. What does this all mean to a DJ? Well, as a DJ, you're going to want the most accurate equipment you can buy. Belt driven table will not give you this accuracy, no matter how good the manufacturer boasts about it, and how much it costs. These decks are wonderful for a listening station, but please do not purchase a belt driven table, even if you are just starting out. So, why do some tables cost so much? Ahh… good question. When you're digging around on www.pssl.com, or any of the other millions of DJ reseller sites out there, you will find a plethora of brands, models, makes, and variants. This can be very overwhelming for the first time buyer. Some cost $99, some cost up to $799. What's the deal!? Generally speaking, you get what you pay for. I am not going to try to push any specific brand or model in this tutorial, but I will give some facts that will be helpful in your purchases. The cheaper decks usually are belt driven, which we have decided we want to try to stay away from. These are the decks that are usually around 100-200 bucks a pop. Next on the price list, you have your mid-level decks. These usually are direct drive, but have a lower power motor (we will get into power specifics a bit later). These run around 200-300 per deck. Last, you have your higher end models. They consist of higher torque motors, more features, and are generally the better decks to purchase. These decks run in price from around 300 dollars and up. Remember though, you don't necessarily need to buy the most expensive deck on the market. What about torque and a turntable? Different turntables have different motors, and different torque outputs. The general idea in a turntable for a DJ is the more torque the better. If you plan on doing any scratching or fancy turntablism, high torque is a must. If you are interested in any deck in specific, go hit their website. Most of them list all the technical info regarding their products. On a side note, you may also hear the terms 'wow' and 'flutter' fly around from time to time. Wow and flutter is 'Instantaneous variations in the rotational speed of the turntable platter.' In easier to understand terms, the higher the wow and flutter, the less accurate your turntable is going to be. What does that big fader on the side of the turntable do? That is the pitch control. All it really does is speed up and slow down the motor, thus speeding up and slowing down your record. This is used to match your records to the same speed so you can mix. Some turntables have different speeds available. Most all have the standard +/- 8%, and some have an optional +/- 16%. So why do some turntables come with a straight arm, and some a curved one? These different tonearms are designed for different applications. The curved arm (or S-arm) is set up so the grooves in the record will 'pull' the needle across the surface of the record, twords the center of the record. This is the more traditional style, so to say. S shaped arms wear records the least, and have the best sound quality. The straight arm is used in scratching applications. The nature of the straight arm helps reduce skipping when scratching, but the tradeoff is increased record wear, and lower sound quality. There are the basics of what you need to know for a turntable. Take all these specs and features into account when you're making your decision on what to get. A substandard setup can make you think you are not performing at the level you want, and thus you may quit all together. 3. CD Decks In our last installment of the Beginner’s Guide to DJing, we talked about the “standard” (for the past few decades) DJ tool, the turntable. As modern technology becomes more advanced, performing artists’ options tend to increase. Not only do DJs benefit from technology, mainstream music, and “on the side” musicians benefit as well. In this edition of the guide, we are going to talk about the more recent addition to a DJ’s arsenal, the CD (compact disc) player. What is a CD? If for some reason you’ve been cooped up in a cave for the past 20 years, a CD (short for Compact Disc), is a digital storage device. Thru the use of lasers, and “pits and grooves”, a CD can store up to 700MB of data, or 80 minutes of high quality music, all in a package about 5″ in diameter. What all will a CD deck do for me? Any DJ specific CD deck will have a number of features that will allow you to treat the CD (in some shape or form) like a record. Let’s go over these features, in no particular order. Pitch Control- Just like on a turntable, the pitch control allows you to crank up or slow down the speed of the music. CD players usually have a much greater range of adjustment when compared to turntables. Jog Dial/Wheel- This feature can be the tricky part of getting the hang of a CD deck. You can’t physically put your hands on the CD, or platter (because there usually isn’t one), so this is the feature that the “early” CD decks implement. Find any older CD deck, and take a look at the jog dial. It’s a big round dial, usually situated directly in the middle of the unit. As the music plays, you spin it clockwise to speed up, or counter-clockwise to slow down the music. This has the same effect as using your hand on a record to speed it up or slow it down. The pitch changes from using the Jog Dial are temporary, and the pitch will return to the setting of the pitch control when the wheel is stopped. So be sure to use the pitch control to finalize your adjustments. Platters- Newer, more “high end” CD players now feature a physical platter on the deck itself. This platter is meant to give a more unique vinyl feel, one that was not as genuine on a deck equipped with a jog dial. Variations on the exact functions of the platters appear in brand to brand (for instance, the Denon S5000’s platter rotates, like a turntable, while the Pioneer SDJ-1000’s platter remains stationary). Just give the features a good read before you choose the one you are going to purchase. Cue Point- Here is a feature you can’t find on a conventional turntable. Cue points (also known on some brands as “hot cue”) let you “save” a point, or multiple points, on any given CD into temporary memory on the deck itself, a compact flash card or removable media. Simply pick your cue point, hit play, and viola; your CD starts at the exact point you set in memory. CD-Start- Yet another feature not available with most conventional turntables (there are remote start tables, and a modification is available for the Technic SL1200 tables). This feature is usually only available when you couple your CD deck to a mixer of the same brand. Either side of the cross fader on the mixer can be assigned to automatically start the CD deck. Have your CD cued up, hit the cross fader over, and the CD starts playing. Standard CD features- Play, pause, stop, seek, and search. All these features you see on your car or home CD player show up on virtually any DJ specific CD deck. How do I play CDs while I’m DJing? Simple, just like you would a record on a turntable. Cue up your track, start it at the appropriate time, keep it beat-matched, and then mix however your style allows you. Why do they all look different? There are two basic “setups” when you’re looking at CD decks. Tabletop- Tabletop decks do just what their name says they sit flat. The newer, “vinyl emulating” decks are mostly all tabletop, yet some of the older decks that employ a jog dial may be considered tabletop as well. These units are all in one, meaning the entire system consists of only one piece. Rack mount- Rack mount simply means they are built with a rack in mind. This in no way means they have to be rack mounted. These units usually employ a jog dial, but a few of the newer models employ some vinyl emulation with the jog dial. These systems may be setup to use one or two CDs at the same time. Systems that allow usage of two CDs simply look identical on the left as the right. Rack mount units also come in one and two-piece setups. On one-piece models, everything is in one large unit. Two-piece models have the slots for the CDs on one piece, and the controls are on a separate piece, joined together by a data cable. That gives a basic look at the CD decks out on the market. CD v. Vinyl has been a big debate between DJs. Both have their advantages and disadvantages when compared to one another. This debate will be addressed in an upcoming article; complete a nice breakdown of popular opinions by members of the forums. 4. The DJ Mixer In this installment of A Beginner’s Guide to Djing, we will continue on with the basics of the DJ mixer. It is pretty clear that mixer quality (and features) can be a big factor in what a DJ can do (not to undermine the quality of music sources, or any other necessary gear, of course). Mixers come in a great variety of shapes and styles, and the specific functionality (fancy features) can vary widely from mixer to mixer, save the very basic mixers. Fancy features can be distracting and confusing to a new DJ, as will, quite possibly, some of the more basic features. Let’s jump right in and see if we can eliminate some of that confusion. How many sources can I plug into my mixer? Most mixers range from either two to four channels. This means you can either attach two, three, or four sources (turntables, CD players, mp3 players, etc.). Many models also allow multiple (usually two) sources to be connected per channel, with a selector switch on the face (the top of the mixer, where the faders, switches, and knobs are located). On a four-channel mixer, this multiplies the four sources into eight. Ok… when I look at this thing, I don’t even understand what I’m lookin’ at. Mixers are usually set up around the different channels. If you look close, a majority of the features are divided up into the number channels the mixer has. Usually, all the controls of a channel are in a column spanning the vertical axis of the mixer. Well, what do all these buttons and junk do? I’m going to explain a simple, basic, two channel mixer. Features vary so much from mixer to mixer; it would be extremely difficult to list everything here. If the features of your mixer are not listed here, check out the owners manual that came with it and it will probably give you a good idea of what it is there for once you have the very basics down. If all else fails, feel free to ask some of our expert members by posting on the forums. Crossfader- The crossfader is a horizontal slider, usually located at the bottom of the face of the mixer. This slider allows the transition of sound from channel 1 to channel 2, and vice versa. A lot of mixers have a crossfader slope selector of some kind. This simply changes the crossfader slope, altering how the channels come in and out when the crossfader is used. There are usually two settings, “Cut” and “Fade”. When set to cut, when the fader is moved, the channel will go from silent, to full volume very quickly. When set to “Fade”, the channel will go from silent, to full volume gradually. Crossfader Assignment- Mixers with multiple channels must have some way of letting the user select what channels will be assigned to which side of the crossfader. Some mixers use knobs on each side of the crossfader, while others may have a switch on the face, or front panel. Other mixers may have what’s called a “hamster switch.” This simply reverses the channels. So if full left on the crossfader selects channel 1, with the hamster switch on, full left would instead select channel 2. Just as in all other features, specifics vary between brand and even in between models within brands. Up/Channel Fader-These vertical faders, usually directly above the crossfader, control the overall volume of the channel. All the way up is full blast, and all the way down is no sound at all. EQs- EQs (short for equalizer) are controls for different sound frequencies. Most mixers come with three (highs, mids, and lows). Some of the cheaper mixers just have two, and some of the higher end mixers have four. EQs are used to cut, attenuate, or accentuate certain frequencies out of a track. They are sometimes accompanied by a “kill switch,” which, when activated, will completely remove the desired frequencies. Gain/Trim- The Gain or Trim is like the “master” volume of the channel. Usually located directly above the Eqs, the gain/trim can be used to reduce, or increase the volume of a track that is louder or softer than the track currently playing. Headphones- Headphones are used to monitor music that is not playing “live” but “queued.” The “Live” source is the channel that is playing through the main system speakers. “Queued” music is that which you are about to mix into. Usually, there will be some sort of method to select what channel you want to monitor in the headphones, usually buttons or a switch located on the face. Also worth mentioning is features on many mixers which allows you to monitor the live channel as well as the queued channel. This allows you to “premix” as I like to call it. You can listen to the live channel and any other channels at the same time, and fade between what is live and what is queued using a knob, or fader. This is very handy when beatmatching. Why the huge price ranges in mixers? There is an old saying that states, “You get what you pay for.” That applies to mixers… sort of. Cheaper brands use cheaper, inferior parts. Other brands use quality parts, which drive up the price, yet gives the consumer a superior product. Also, the more expensive mixers, of course, will have more channels and more fancy features. If you are a starter bedroom DJ, there is absolutely nothing wrong with getting your hands on a mixer that costs no more than a hundred and fifty bucks. My personal feeling is it is actually better to do this, than go all out and buy a twelve hundred dollar mixer. A simplistic layout will be more conducive to learning, and usually a simple, cheap mixer will be all new DJ really needs. When it is time to move up to a bigger mixer, make sure what you are getting is really what you need. There may be some features you will never use and will simply be wasting money on. What’s the deal with scratch mixers? Scratch mixers are more conducive to a scratch DJ. The crossfaders in scratch mixers are built with to take a good deal of abuse. A good crossfader for a scratch DJ will also feel “loose,” and will easily slide from one side to the other. This makes it easier for the DJ to manipulate the crossfader quickly. Scratch mixers are usually simple two channel mixers, as a scratch DJ usually needs no more. There are, of course, many scratch mixers out there with multiple channels and more features. Once again, features vary a great deal between all the stuff out there. Getting a good mixer is definitely a big part of your mixing. Just because a mixer is big, fancy, and expensive doesn’t necessarily mean you need it. If you are starting out, a simple, cheap mixer will be great to teach fundamentals. Make sure you know what you are buying, and keep in mind that DJing is an expensive hobby / profession. It is a lot easier to move up to something bigger and fancier over time, than to realize the grand you unloaded for your mixer was way too much, or worse yet, isn’t something you really feel like you are into. Written by Damon Chambers
