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How to Become a Laptop DJ?

HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
edited May 2015 in Strut Central
Got a friend in Costa Rica (not Frank) who has told me I could get dj gigs down there. But I'm a vinyl-only dj and I'm not trying to lug all the records and equipment I would need down there. So for the first time ever, I'm entertaining the idea of digital djing. Problem is, I don't even know where to begin.

What would I need to buy? An Apple laptop, but which one? Which software for storing music? And which software for mixing/playing music? Do I even need to bother with an external dj controller or can that all be done on the laptop itself? Can I plug the laptop into a club's sound board/pa directly, or do I need some sort of interface?

I've never had it myself, but I would want to throw Ableton on there as well, so I could produce some of my own tracks to throw in my mixes. Is there a package deal out there with everything I would need at once?

Help an old fogie out.

  Comments

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts


  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    Doesn't have to be a Mac. Serato is probably your best bet. Someone else can probably answer this better, but a laptop and serato would probably be all you needed, but...

    The process of digitizing is a daunting task. Even downloading shit would take a long time. Unless you just plan on digitizing sets, like only the songs you need.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    I've watched friends use Serato for years. Not sure why so many still use turntables with it. Sticking with what they're used to, I suppose. But yes, I see that it can be used with a scaled down controller. Okay, thanks, guys.
  • johnblackjohnblack 147 Posts
    I would learn how to use CDJs (something I have been meaning to do for years), they seem to be pretty much in every club set-up now.
    A pain, but mostly reliable. Newer versions can also run tunes off a USB stick.

    Serato are only as good as the turntables (if there are any) they are running off, which in general is old and utterly neglected. There are (as mentioned) plenty of controller options with Serato, but in general that will be something you have to supply (there are some many different DJ controllers about now, you never know what is going to be set up).

    Not sure about Ableton as a live method, I know there are controllers / triggers for it.
    I have only used it for "Studio" mixes, and it is perfect for that but i am not sure how that translates to club mixing.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Yes, Ableton would be in addition to Serato on the laptop. One for mixing live and one for doing studio production. Just figure I should go ahead and get it all at once.

    And the idea behind all of this is traveling as light as possible.
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    And I do already have an 8 year old Dell laptop. I wonder if it's even worth trying to throw the softwares on there. My thought is I might as well get a new laptop just for music purposes only.
  • johnblackjohnblack 147 Posts
    If you get serato I would be tempted to clear out and do a clean install on the Dell.
    but only have Serato installed on it and nothing else.
    that would mean maybe having another lappy with everything else on it though!

    but yeah, any new above average spec'd laptop should be pretty solid with just a couple of heavyweight programs running.
    I run all sorts of software on this new lenovo (adobe suite etc, cubase... and so on) and so far it is solid as a rock.
  • volumenvolumen 2,532 Posts
    I would recommend an apple and serato. Your going to have the best compatibility that way. Running serato on an apple gives you more effect options and other things. You don't have access to as many of the extras when you run it on PC. You can also pretty much get anything on iTunes if you don't want to digitize your whole collection. I'm amazed at all the rares on their now. If you do digitize you can use the free garage band on Apple and get pretty good quality and editing options. It will transfer song right into your iTunes for you as well. You can record vinyl on serato but there really isn't any editing just a straight one shot recording. Finally you can use the internal mode on serato and just play songs back and forth though you can't do any mixing. I would still get a mixer style trigger device like above so you can actually do some DJing stuff.

    You can save money and use a PC but it will be less user friendly. I'm not an apple freak but they are great for music and DJing. A lot of this is a money issue as well. You could digitize your whole collection onto a cheap PC and get by if you had to. As mentioned I recommend having a dedicated computer for this if you can with the least amount of extra programs and storage as possible.
  • johnblackjohnblack 147 Posts
    Agreed, I have heard Apples are rock steady with Serato.
  • DJ_EnkiDJ_Enki 6,475 Posts
    HarveyCanal said:
    Not sure why so many still use turntables with it. Sticking with what they're used to, I suppose.

    Yeah, this is the biggest part. Other things--consoles and such--pretty much demand that you learn a whole new setup, whereas Serato is basically vinyl emulation. If you're used to turntables, the only thing that changes is choosing a song on your laptop instead of switching records. Now, there's all sorts of other stuff Serato can do, as they've added a shitload of bells and whistles, but you can easily ignore that stuff if you'd like and spin exactly as you would with vinyl.

    As far as laptop brands, I've always been on Mac and never had any real problems. I've heard from a couple of PC folks that Serato just plain runs better on Macs (I guess it's developed/optimized for Mac, then ported to PC?), especially with iTunes integration, but if you prefer PC, it does just fine on that.

    If you're looking to travel light, then laptop/Serato can't be beat. Just confirm that the place you're playing has a mixer with a built-in Serato interface (Rane 57/61/62/68) or a Serato box so you don't have to bring the box yourself. Then all you need is your laptop, headphones, needles, and Serato records--and you can even use somebody else's headphones/needles/Serato records if neither of you is picky about it.

    Finally, I guess Serato Scratch Live is now being called Serato DJ, and it's slightly different from Scratch Live. Not really sure what the deal is with that--everybody I know is still on an older version of Scratch Live. But if faced with the choice, I'd opt for Scratch Live over DJ; it's tried and true and stable, whereas it sounds like they're still working the kinks out of Serato DJ.
  • deezleedeezlee 298 Posts
    If you use an old computer run DSL 1.9.2 and old iTunes.
    I run that in my 2006 MacBook no problems.
  • deezleedeezlee 298 Posts
    Ssl (serato) 1.9.2 I meant
  • SmallAxeRickSmallAxeRick 497 Posts
    I found the difficult part of making the switch to be organizing and selecting songs. Having files to scan through instead of flipping through a crate of records was the most foreign thing to me. Learning to use a CDJ or controller was a breeze. Cue points are your friend.
    I'm not a globe-trotting superstar dj, though, so I still rock the vinyl 9 times out of 10. Sometimes I'll just bring 1 CD with some digital-only or exclusive stuff that's not available on wax.
    If you're playing all digital, the traditional setup (two 1200's) is silly to me. People cling to odd things from the past. Every time I see somebody juggling mp3 doubles, I cringe.
  • DJBombjackDJBombjack Miami 1,665 Posts
    SmallAxeRick said:
    If you're playing all digital, the traditional setup (two 1200's) is silly to me. People cling to odd things from the past. Every time I see somebody juggling mp3 doubles, I cringe.

    SMH. I can think of countless DJs, routines, DJ sets and mixes that would render this statement as one of the biggest examples of horseshit ever.

    I'll just leave this here...
  • covecove 1,567 Posts
    SmallAxeRick said:

    I'm not a globe-trotting superstar dj, though, so I still rock the vinyl 9 times out of 10. Sometimes I'll just bring 1 CD with some digital-only or exclusive stuff that's not available on wax.
    If you're playing all digital, the traditional setup (two 1200's) is silly to me. People cling to odd things from the past. Every time I see somebody juggling mp3 doubles, I cringe.


    Then why do you cling to rocking the vinyl 9 times outta 10? Surely a book of cds would be easier to transport, provide more options for songs, etc.
    People can be more comfortable with what they are familiar with while still moving into the ~now~.
  • the_dLthe_dL 1,531 Posts
    Serato will work on basically any decent laptop, when I used to travel a lot for work I installed serato on my work laptop ( a shitty dell) for when I did gigs that coincided with my work trips, it was never an issue. The worst thing about serato is digitizing your files, so labor intensive. Sorting isnt that hard, you just take serato offline and run an analysis, this will tell you roughly the bpm of each track, makes it a little easier on the fly. Always take a few records with you for technical issues that will at some stage occur.
    I'd also +1 for the new pioneer USB cdj's, I love using them, even with serato I very rarely use it these days, but I love when a set up has turntables and USB cdj's it means I can play my own stuff, do live remixes and so on as well as records. There is also heaps of options for setting loop/cue points for the cdj's (i havent had to use the software yet as the cdj's are so user friendly)
  • the_dLthe_dL 1,531 Posts
    SmallAxeRick said:

    If you're playing all digital, the traditional setup (two 1200's) is silly to me. People cling to odd things from the past. Every time I see somebody juggling mp3 doubles, I cringe.

    I dont know what is silly about using a set up most of us are extremely familiar with, I still think for control there is nothing better than 1200's.
    FWIW I have seen dj's juggle vinyl that really had no business doing so, I have also seen good dj's do things on cdj's and serato that most others couldnt do regardless of the platform it was delivered on.
  • JectWonJectWon (@_@) 1,654 Posts
    SmallAxeRick said:

    If you're playing all digital, the traditional setup (two 1200's) is silly to me. People cling to odd things from the past. Every time I see somebody juggling mp3 doubles, I cringe.

    What about .flacc and .wav? Do those get your panties equally bunched up, or is the hate limited to the act of juggling with .mp3 file extensions?
  • scebasceba 122 Posts
    Finally you can use the internal mode on serato and just play songs back and forth though you can't do any mixing.

    This is actually not true. You can mix in internal mode without turntables using cue points to drop the beat and keyboard keys to nudge the song forward or backward and adjust the tempo. Also you have to have the serato-box plugged in to be able to use the two virtual turntables in the interface.
  • scebasceba 122 Posts
    JectWon said:
    SmallAxeRick said:

    If you're playing all digital, the traditional setup (two 1200's) is silly to me. People cling to odd things from the past. Every time I see somebody juggling mp3 doubles, I cringe.

    What about .flacc and .wav? Do those get your panties equally bunched up, or is the hate limited to the act of juggling with .mp3 file extensions?

    I would stick with FLAC and WAV files instead of 320kbps mp3s if you're playing on a somewhat decent soundsystem. Also I personally would try to stick with files of the same bitrate and source so that you have a somewhat consistent sound, instead of the quality and the texture of the sound jumping all over place between tracks. Playing vinylrips made with beat-up needles, FLACs bought from the an online store and unmastered Soundcloud tracks can make for a very inconsistent experience and nasty contrast between songs in terms of the mixes and balance of sounds. Not to mention the bad idea of downloading tracks from torrents which might well be converted from VBR to lossless just to get warez props. It's not only questionable if you want to maintain a smooth sound but of course morally dubious to say the least as well.
  • scebasceba 122 Posts
    Also wanted to underline vinyl-ripping is a good if time consuming method to get tracks for playing out, but just make sure you have a good set-up to do it. (also in my country you're supposed to pay a transfer fee for ripping your own vinyl to your computer, but hopefully the States don't have this kind of idiotic legislation...)
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,905 Posts
    Jesse DeVille said:
    SmallAxeRick said:
    If you're playing all digital, the traditional setup (two 1200's) is silly to me. People cling to odd things from the past. Every time I see somebody juggling mp3 doubles, I cringe.

    SMH. I can think of countless DJs, routines, DJ sets and mixes that would render this statement as one of the biggest examples of horseshit ever.

    I'll just leave this here...


    DJing on anything other than turntables feels foreign to me. I get it that with controllers or whatever things have advanced. But can't we use whatever tool works best for us?

    And like posted. I could care less what people use. It all comes down with what are you gonna do with it.



  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    I look forward to throwing all prior convention out the window. Give me a phone with 3 buttons that will allow me to DJ a set and I'll use that as long as the end product sounds good.

    Also looking forward to working with a limited number of songs. I want to quit focusing so much on the breadth of selection and do more live remixing and whatnot.
  • kicks79kicks79 1,343 Posts
    sceba said:
    Also wanted to underline vinyl-ripping is a good if time consuming method to get tracks for playing out, but just make sure you have a good set-up to do it. (also in my country you're supposed to pay a transfer fee for ripping your own vinyl to your computer, but hopefully the States don't have this kind of idiotic legislation...)

    What country are you in ? I've never heard about this before ? How is it meant to work if you were ripping some private press LP ?
    Tell me more !
  • EL CHAMACOEL CHAMACO 96 Posts
    I can't stand Serato, I much prefer cdj's if I'm gonna digi dj. For me Serato is clunky and unnecessary. Just give me a usb stick and some pioneer decks and fall back. Harvey I think you should rent a setup and see what you like.
  • scebasceba 122 Posts
    kicks79 said:
    sceba said:
    Also wanted to underline vinyl-ripping is a good if time consuming method to get tracks for playing out, but just make sure you have a good set-up to do it. (also in my country you're supposed to pay a transfer fee for ripping your own vinyl to your computer, but hopefully the States don't have this kind of idiotic legislation...)

    What country are you in ? I've never heard about this before ? How is it meant to work if you were ripping some private press LP ?
    Tell me more !

    I live in Finland. You need to buy a DJ-licence if you play music digitally. If you play "original" vinyl you don't need the licence. If you record the vinyl and play the files you need a licence. Just going over the licence stuff and apparently you need another licence if you record your set and put it on the net. LOL. Also if you buy digital music from a store that has been licenced to be played publicly you don't need a licence but if you make a copy of the file you need a licence to play that copy. There's a licence for performing/playing songs and another one for recording them. So yeah, it's an outdated and stupid system. It used to be even more stupid but public outcry made Teosto (http://teosto.fi/en), the agency that enforces it, update the licence details to this new one, which is marginally less stupid, but still very stupid. This is one reason I've generally gone back to playing vinyl-only sets, you don't nedd to dell with these follz.
  • scebasceba 122 Posts
    Someone said that serato is only as good as the 1200s you're playing on. A pretty fair assesment. If you've not setup the equipment 100% correctly or have problems with the rca's the tonearms or needles, the vinyl emulation/tracking is not going to work well and the digital distortions and the likes that follow, sound horrible, much worse than vinyl skipping imo. I've never really gotten with deejaying with cdj's but I can see why people would prefer them to Serato. Having the computer with you can be a barrier between you and the music. You might easily start to stare at the computer screen and don't necessarily deejay so much with your ear as with your eyes. Another thing is that when I have only vinyl with me it's a more pure experience. With Serato and the computer you have your bills and other work stuff and everything with you and it feels a bit different if that makes any sense. In that sense playing with cdj's would remove some of those things I don't like about Serato. In any case, I still deejay with Serato at some functions where I need to play for hours on end and many styles especially if the gigs are in different cities. It's just a lot easier to do that kind of gigs with Serato but I prefer vinyl if it's logistically logical. I've never tried a controller but they look like toys and so do deejays who play on them. But that's probably because I'm old. I can see the appeal of computers and controllers to someone who is just starting off or plays a genre that has to be extremely current and in which the music is somewhat/arguably disposable such as top-40 rap or modern dancehall.

    In Harvey's case I'd personally go with usb's and cdj's if he's touring venues with proper setups, cdjs etc. and if he and the crowd know what he's going to be playing. But if it's random bars with little or no equipment and a random crowd a controller might be a good choice.
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