CDJ vs Vinyl - Club prep

[Cupe]

Ok, I'm not opening that old debate.

More looking at getting my shit together to get some gigs, but wondering whether I need to push the vinyl tt's aside and save up for cdj's.

They are becoming the industry standard as some clubs don't even have normal turntables at all aye?

So it looks like I'll have to start from scratch again, buy a full setup, learn cdj's.

Thoughts?

[Jaz]

I Highly Respect Vinyl because i dont know how to do it...but if you want the club gigs learn the CDJ's,then if you get residency ask to bring in your TT's or the club might even buy them for their club....

Do what you love i think

[Mattye]

As Az said.

I dont think ive even been to a club that had old school TT's.

It sucks a bit, but looks like u'll need to save up that dosh n get urself som CDJ's.

[ChevChelios]

You guys must go to shit clubs, every club I got to has a pair of technics. Most clubs rent their stuff anyway, so if you get a gig, just ask them to rent some tables, and if they dont.... dont show up.

[Jaz]

and if they dont.... dont show up.

I think Cupe is wanting to get Gigs not get Blacklisted....

My club has 2 Vinyl tables...not sure what they are though...

[Funky_Steve]

I'd say MOST clubs these days would have CDJ's available for use by guest DJs. SOME may have TT's as well but not instead of the CDJ's.

Best to check out some of the clubs you realistically think you could get a gig at and see what they have in the booth.

Also track down some of you local DJs on say Facebook and ask them for some advice on what is available locally. They have probably done the rounds of the local clubs and can give you some insider knowledge (and perhaps some tips on how to get a gig).

[eggssell]

depend on where you want to go. any place that allows rnb/ hip hop promoters will have tt's in the booth.

went out on sat to a place that was rnb and hip pop early, before going into electro house and electro rap. i am assuming commercial (i didnt recognise any of the electro except maybe black eyed peas ha ha). and it was only turntables in the booth.

same at hunter bar, and as im pretty sure buck said same at haymarket club.

and it can be clubs that cater for both, like tank and argyle have tt's and these places arent rnb/ hip hop clubs (though when superclub promoters take over tank there are no cd players in the booth).

speaking of sat. i was thinking the dj was doing really well with his hip hop mixing (and it was hip hop! digging the crates right back to fresh prince and atcq) without resorting to wigga wigga cut or backspinning, or just doing outro to intro. it was all straight up beatmatching and doing chorus into verse. second dj was killing it, and i thought he looks pretty old, then i realised it was one of the boys from back in the day dj naiki.

[ill_spector]

most setups ive seen in perth are the usual,

pair of 1000mk3's a djm 800 and a pair of tekks.

there are a select handfull which are starting to get 2000's etc,

also prep for clubs is have your own needles, my mate played the other weekend, and when he went to drop some vinyl the needles were fukkd, skippage etc, lucky he just went back to cdj's but it kinda fukkd up his set.

so maybe take that into consideration.

even if you do play out on tt's

maybe have a set ready on cd's of you need to.

but if u cant use cdj's ur fukkd.

long story shot- even if you play vinyl, learn to use cdj's and carry a set of needles to gigs

[eggssell]

oh and i know you never asked in this thread, but it was mentioned this morning by someone about not having laptops in the club, now i cant speak for the oxford st scene cuz i aint been in donkeys.

but speaking for sydney every venue in the cbd, and from darling harbour to cockle bay to king st wharf (including home) all have dj's rocking laptops.

since i got my kit last year i have not seen any setup without a dvs being used. even the albion pub on george has a dude on serato during the week.

[J0rdz]

If you go the vinyl route, learn how to fucking weight needles correctly!

I see it all too often with DJs - jumping on, slapping their own needles on and then the vinyl skipping. Most of the time they end up blaming the turntables.

Learning how to correctly weight and set up your needles is a big part of playing out.

Who's stopping you to buy both CDJs and Turntables? You could pick up a solid pair of second hand 1200s for around $800...

[eggssell]

hey j0rdz, i think cupesta already rocks tt's but wondering whether he should step into the digital world and save cdj's.

[lloydc]

cupe, can you use CDJ's at all?

[Cupe]

I've never used them.

Like eggs said, I've always been vinyl, but in thinking that I wanna move around and do some gigs and shit, cdj's seem just too easy.

The other main factor is that I'd need the place to have serato if it was TT's cause there's no fucken way in hell in dragging stacks of wax around. that and i don't have enough probably.

mp3's are just too easy

[J0rdz]

hey j0rdz, i think cupesta already rocks tt's but wondering whether he should step into the digital world and save cdj's.

haha, soz! didnt read.

Cupe dude, if your already comfortable on vinyl, id say opt for going DVS.

Venue's that don't have turntables,most of the time it just means they dont have them out as the promoters or DJs havent requested any!

Plenty of DJs, especially in the dubstep, dnb and hiphop scenes still use vinyl and DVS. If a venue doesnt have turnies, they dont deserve to have you play there

[Cupe]

so i just need to work out what DVS to get then and stick with tt's

i'd prefer it, but it just seems like you need to know cdj's to get anywhere when you're starting out

[J0rdz]

CDJs really arent that hard to use man. It's like DJing on easy mode if you already know how to mix using vinyl

Once you've learnt the basics about pitching bending on them, the rest comes pretty easy.

[Cupe]

i'd at least need to have a go of them

haven't even spun once on anything other than pure vinyl

[SourceRaver]

Hey Cupe...

I've just made the change from vinyl to CDJ and it was harder harder than I thought...but still a wise idea!

With vinyl I was very comfortable using a 12 inch moving 'jog wheel' and I got used to pushing the record on to speed it up (sometimes with a quick flick of the finger) and slowing it by touching the platter harder or softer as required. With CDj's theres absolutely no resistance so you have to be a lot more gentle and more precise with the jog wheel. Its a bit frustrating at first but you'll get the hang of it.

Everything else (ie cueing the track) is childs play.

[J0rdz]

With CDj's theres absolutely no resistance so you have to be a lot more gentle and more precise with the jog wheel. Its a bit frustrating at first but you'll get the hang of it.

Depends entirely on the model and unit you are using.

CDJ 1000s (MK2 and MK3) and 2000s have Jog adjust options where you can adjust the resistance on the platter.

While Denon CDJs actually have a spinning plater which replicates the feel of vinyl.

[Cupe]

fuck having a spinning platter on a cdj, they're like toys you'll bump it for sure

[JonnyB]

im with chev, if its a decent club they w ill have TT's and if you request them you should be able to use them, candy's does

[CBG]

yeah that weight adjust on the 2000s came in handy for me the other day

[JonnyB]

they weight adjust is a sick feature, make it heavy when mixing, and every now and then put it to light to do a spinback before droping a track out, only works in some spots

[J0rdz]

fuck having a spinning platter on a cdj, they're like toys you'll bump it for sure

Yeh. And although the Denon's are really good units you'll never see them in club land.

[djarmed]

a few years ago i was in the same spot as you cupe, i went down the cdj path based on the fact that they're more user friendly and you dump the vinyl crates and just carry around a cd wallet, and this year i dumped my cdj1000's and got the cdj900's and now i just carry USB sticks hahaha (depending on where im going) and the fact that more and more clubs if not all clubs have cdj's now i think its safer to go the cdj path matey.

everyone knows where i stand on the software front, and tbh my biggest concern other than autosync is that the software can crash (rare but it can happen) even ableton has crashed on ppl like paul van dyk half way through a set and thats a very pricey piece of software.

cdj's very very rarely fuck up (yes i have seen the tiesto vids and david guetta vids but that was unlucky and tiesto failed because the cdj was sick of hearing adagio for strings for the 1,000,000 time haha)

so CDJ's.........