Your first ever equipment and your story

[Narukami]

Since I'm a new DJ, I'm really interested. What was the very first equipment you owned. It should be th name of TTs (or CDJ), the mixer and the headphones. And how much did it cost you and how old were you when you bought it, when was your first gig and last but not least, was it worth it. Just a little curious

also if you can put in what got you into DJ-ing.

[andyman]

CDJ350's, DDM4000 & HDJ 1000's for a bit over 2k.

Had them for about 8 months and learnt the fundamentals.

Then had to sell to pay bond/rent for my new place.

Currently saving for newies.

[Hobberz]

CDJ400s and DJM400 with some crappy headphones. Learnt on them for a year or so before I upgraded to CDJ900s with a DJM800. I also went down the digital path and got myself a Macbook Pro, Traktor Scratch Pro and some XD-53 headphones. I have lost count on how much I have paid, and its better not to think about it.

[Mitch]

First setup;

Mixtrack pro

MacBook pro (already had this though)

Hd 25 sp ii headphones

Bought this couple of months before I turned 18. Had that for a couple of months, did a couple of free gigs and a couple of paid gigs. Cost me about 300 for the mix track pro and 240 for the headphones.

Then I got my first proper setup ( what I have now):

Cdj 850s

Djm 700

Reloop dj monitors on stands

Kept same headphones (hd 25 sp ii's)

Purchased this just after I turned 18 ( September last year). Got this setup as I wanted to get more serious and get my skills up to club level, which I've started playing out now. Cost me $3200 new from djwarehouse

[Lurk6r]

At 19 worked for a dodgy mobile dj company, they gave me 3 discmans and a mixer.

After a while I started using itunes from my laptop cause it was too much hassle to hunt down music manually.

Then I torrented algoridthm deejay and used synch.

Finding software djing kinda limiting I purchased a bcd3000 and torrented Traktor Scratch Pro, because Traktor Le didnt let you customize controller mappings.

nek minute i purchased reloop rmp1's and rmx30 for 1k. Didn't get to use them much because I didnt have a case and I needed to use the company's console as it had the chaser for the lights built in.

Bough a cheap belt turntable so I can listen to my dads vinyl.

nek nek minute my bcd3000 shat itself, so cap5 lent me his ( <------- RESPECT) but it was short lived because it was tax time to I bought and S4 + Scratch pack. (aka the same software I was already using, but now had a legit copy).

Then bough at second turntable, american dj direct drive.

Quit the company cause they were useless whales.

Bought a shit pair of speakers cause I needed something desperately.

Bough behringer b212d active speakers cause the other ones were kind shit.

Overall Ive spent about 4k on controller, 2x cdj, 2x turntables, 1x mixer, and lights.

[SolDios]

My first gear is still going though it's runs

I first started with my Mdex

Then I got my audio line speakers and some floodlights with coloured globes hooked up to a chaser.

Then I worked up from there

[dflux4]

Mid last year i purchased (23 years old):

2x Reloop RMP-2 CDJ's with HD 25 SP ii headphones for $600 2nd hand in good condition

Waited around to find a mixer at a decent price, couldnt find anything so purchased:

1x Numark M4 3 channel mixer brand new off eBay for $187

I now had a set up i could play off using my 10 year old sony 5.1 surround sound(POS) and a behringer powered keyboard amp.

After using this for nearly 6 months i new i needed to upgrade the speaker so i have just recently purchased:

1 x pair of Reloop ADM-5 studio monitors 2nd hand for $200

And finally just got myself a new laptop:

1 x HP 4525s 15.6' AMD Quad core, 8gb DDR-3 RAM, 640 gb HDD for $429

So all up i have spent a total on $1418 over the last 6 months.

[crundyy]

bought 2 technic 1200's, stanton sa.3 mixer and a roadcase for $600

u mad?

[Lurk6r]

bought 2 technic 1200's, stanton sa.3 mixer and a roadcase for $600

u mad?

I mad

[Hobberz]

Im mad to

[russell]

First set-up was a set of limited edition chrome finish numark TT-2 pros with a 2 channel KAM Mixer (can't remember the model) and sony mdr 700 cans. All purchased with a student loan when I was 17. Think it cost me all in 1000 pounds.

first gig was an illegal rave in the hills. Was pretty boss actually... I was playing in th ebiggest marque there but there was lots of small soundsystems dotted around... VW camper vans with a set of decks at the bck and a sound system playing gabber n that. Was pretty smashed as we'd be on it all day before heading up, got there and got told there was a guy sellin sugar cubes...Obviously we headed straight for him! Was playing B2B with my mate and couldn't even hear what was in my phone i but looking at the crowd we were far from the worst. lol

Now playing on Technics 1210's and a DJM 600 with traktor scratch pro.

[Narukami]

wow a lot off interesting stories here if i was to say my very first equipment was the DJ2GO by Numark commected to my laptop with really cheap generic Dick Smith headphones . costed about $200 altogether. it's really shit.

first gig was at year end school disco with my iPad.

[OxyKon]

I started out with a starter pack, 2 pioneer dj3500 vinyl TT and a Stanton sa3 mixer for $900 about 3 yrs ago, learnt the basics on them and upgraded mid last year, 1st gig was at a friends party bout 2 yrs ago, aaahhh the memories

[DjMilad]

i learn djing 3 or 4 years ago.it was a behringer BCD3000 that my brother got it from his friend 2-3weeks. and i learn with it! i bought my first gears some mouth ago. 2x genmini 600 and a behringer750.

[Jaz]

MIDI controller and VDJ... not proud of it

[yizzle]

MIDI controller and VDJ... not proud of it

MIDI controller & Traktor LE. Not sure why you're not proud. You have to start somewhere. I would love to have what some of these guys started with, but hey.. Have to start somewhere.

proud of my mixing roots

[Jaz]

I would have been better off with traktor, MIDI controller had sync button, VDJ had sync button, was actually very boring....nek minute upgraded to 400's and was never happier

[yizzle]

ya i agree with the boring part. But its all about learning and starting from where you can & using what you got.

I would have been better to start with Traktor Kontrol and all the bells and whistles but starting in the mail room aint nothing to hang your head at. Not if your moving up

[pulsebeat]

2 american audio vynal turntables and same brand mixer got of skank juice (brother in law) and then got sick of listening to the same shit and they were belt driven... shat themselves... so went out and bought cdj 200s and stanton M.304 mixer... sold the cdjs and got cdj 400s.... thats where i am at the moment!

[imadje]

raarrrrrrr, said the dinosaur:

Age 7 (1980) I Actually started by using a tape deck and a tascam porta04 cassette based portable 4-track recording machine just to dub tapes out of my fav tracks recorded from radio.

Once I'd heard of hiphop (age 13) in about 1986 I got one of these:

bought second hand from a charity shop.

(note pitch control is like a walkman vol and it is belt-drive)

and next to it was something like this but a lot cheaper, smaller and shitter:

in the old days these were called "stack" systems and were cheap plastic crap with a turntable on top of an amp, cassette deck, amp and tuner (this was pre-CD kids!) No pitch control at all.

then for a mixer I had two faders I bought from an electronics shop. The wires from both decks each went to an assigned fader before the speaker so not real control and no cross fader.

I didnt even fix the faders to anything so it took two hands to actually fade: one to hold the fader unit the other to actually fade.

When I was 17 I got my first gigs in a club using their gear but it still took 3 years saving up before I could buy my own 1210mkIIs. I still have the same babies now, plus some other stuff

True story whales.

[pulsebeat]

Oh yeah i first started when i was 14 or 15... then at 16 i got the cdjs and then at 17 i had the 400s...

[yizzle]

imadje; my dad gave me something very similar to this a few years ago. They are brilliant. Seriously. But i blew the speakers in them and have not told him yet. Dont feel like breaking his heart lately...

[imadje]

^lol, there was as much variety in "stack" systems as there is in laptops these days.

i.e. some were amazing, some were useless.

Some are still sought after and considered exceptional sound quality today.

trust me, mine was shite

p.s. the speaker design is so old that you may be able to get them replaced/repaired. I even heard of people repairing them with selloptape, depending on the model they may be paper cones, seriously. Deserves a bit of research on google for your dads sake?

[Cupe]

u sure u blew the speakers and not just the amp fuses?

[yizzle]

i dont know if i blew the speakers or the amp fuse. I just cranked them on one day, there was a massive pop and then the sound went from sound waves over a crystal lake to a cat farting in a can.

Im guessing speakers. From when imadje said im hoping its just speakers... sounds easier to fix..?