DJ equipment

So i recently bought a macbook pro and i wanted to mess around with DJing and mixing songs. What equipment and software would I need, I'm a beginner with all of this so any help will be awesome.

Well I'm no professinal by any means, but you can djay with simply iTunes and Garageband if you want I use Garageband to make IDs for made-up stations, export them to iTunes, and add my favorite music, plus some live announcements!

thank ill look into that but i want to buy like a truntable and everything lol

Well it's just a simple hobby for me and I'm not made of money, so I do fine as I am

IMHO you should go the digital dj route. The DJ mixers nowadays have usb and FW conections to connect to Laptops and connections for thumb drives, hardrives and iPods. A far cry from my days of djing with turntables, needles and vinyl.

yeah but turntables still have their uses. As they give more control when mixing songs and gives you the ability to "scratch." Thats why there are digital turntables like serato itch systems. And i'm no pro either, i dont even own my own decks, and to tell you the truth i'd probably try to go on another forum about this.

I just googled real quick and this is what i came up with:
dj forums - The Worldwide DJ Community - Powered by vBulletin

Best of luck!

Don't get me wrong... I have DJ'd for the past 22 years and have over 5000 records which i would never get rid of.
I just mentioned going the digital Dj route because I have run into literally hundreds of want-to-be Dj's who see me DJ and want to dj/scratch with turntables and records. When they finally realize how hard and costly it is to constantly purchase records, the cost of 2 turntables, the cost of up-keep of needles every 6 months and let alone carrying heavy record crates from gig to gig, they end up going digital.

well the easyest and cheapest way is beatport sync , its freeware and its based on tractor dj,

at the other side if you want better and more pro progs you can buy or download virtual dj , tractor dj , ableton pro , ...

all these progs i've workt with and they work pretty nice

but nothing beats djing with real turntables and cdplayers

JUKE179r said:

Don't get me wrong... I have DJ'd for the past 22 years and have over 5000 records which i would never get rid of.
I just mentioned going the digital Dj route because I have run into literally hundreds of want-to-be Dj's who see me DJ and want to dj/scratch with turntables and records. When they finally realize how hard and costly it is to constantly purchase records, the cost of 2 turntables, the cost of up-keep of needles every 6 months and let alone carrying heavy record crates from gig to gig, they end up going digital.

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Or just switch records for something like Serato Scratch Live.

It uses time coded vinyls you use with any standard set of tables and lets your scratcg/mix using traditional turntables and any music on your pc.

I use an idj from numark. Recently they dropped in price from $300 to under $150. It allows you sync 2 ipods, turntables, cd players etc. Easy to use and light weight.

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!! iPod DJ"s!!!!!

20 years of carrying too much equipment~ I love being an ipod dj.

Zippy said:

20 years of carrying too much equipment~ I love being an ipod dj.

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I joke... I joke. I kid... I kid.

I am a DJ and trust me, Traktor is the only way forwards. You can set it up so many ways. I warmed up from Graeme park a few weeks ago, he uses it, Danny rampling uses it, they all use it. Trust me.

Don’t buy any other decks than Pioneer.


Ill post a pic of my set up once i rearrange my office/studio in next few days

Bahja said:

I am a DJ and trust me, Traktor is the only way forwards. You can set it up so many ways. I warmed up from Graeme park a few weeks ago, he uses it, Danny rampling uses it, they all use it. Trust me.

Don’t buy any other decks than Pioneer.


Ill post a pic of my set up once i rearrange my office/studio in next few days

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You funny techno fellows...

Bahja said:

Graeme park

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Jeez... I haven't heard that name in years! I still got an old mix tape of his from back in '97.

I'm interested in checking out those pics of your gear.

I am not professional by any means, but you can DJ with simply iTunes and Garageband if you want I use Garageband to make IDs for made-up stations, export them to iTunes, and add my favorite music, plus some live announcements!

Here's my set up.

I use a Pioneer DJM500 Mixer
2x Pioneer CDJ800's
1x Pioneer HDJ1000 Headphones (they are not that good Seinhieser HD25's are the best for DJing IMO)
1x MacBook Pro
Traktor scratch pro NATIVE INSTRUMENTS : Shop : Catalogue : Product Detail


Here's two pictures.



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Traktor is great but it also beat matches for you if you want. There's a lot of skill been taken away from good old fashioned DJing, but the good thing is you don't have to take two heavy record box's with you now and the new Pioneer CDJ2000's you can use a thumb stick or SD memory card for carrying tunes!

PS you can't DJ properly with an Ipod!!! haha

I would vote for Serato scratch live too.
I'm an "old fashion dj", in love with vinyls and i like the way
serato handles them.