First Gear

CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
edited July 2005 in Strut Central
Just wondering what king of dj/production gear people started out with and what made them decide to buy it. I broke my TV in high school and my mom gave me some old savings bonds and said I could use them to get a new one. I had always wanted turntables so I got them instead of a TV. Best thing I ever did with my money. It was shit equipment though. I had some crap 500xl Gemini Tables and an even worse mixer I think it was Gemini too. The fader started bleeding a couple of weeks after i bought it. I was just looking at all of the new shit they have out now and how far shit has come in the past 7 years. Just wondering what other people started with and why.

  Comments


  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,902 Posts
    Old skewl pyramid mixer (With my moms old turntables). The one with the sound efx's. It were a must for basement dancehall parties. Then I bought a pair of 1200's off a guy at school for 300 bucks.

    This was around 88-89' mind you...

  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
    Me and some friends started DJing by combining crap in the early 90s.

    Take one of these (with pitch control)


    Place near a crappy 80s Hitachi hi-fi so that the 2 sets of speakers are next to each other. Use the volume levels as faders, put your ear close to the record instead of use headphones, and voila, you have a setup. We spent all our money on drugs so this was good enough and still made the neighbors complain. I had a 30 minute beat-matched set using records that could be mixed using only one pitch control, although it did go to +12 or something.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts

    ^ Hard to see but this is their second lp, Caution Use, and harder to find than the first.



    ^Here is the first. Larnell Harris was the lead singer, the band was tight with a Tower Of Power sound. 2 of the best records you will find on Myrrh.

    Dan

  • i thought this was gonna be about:


    i started working on music on a 4-track (which i still have and occasionally use)
    in 11th grade. i'd record guitar and myself doing 3+ vocal tracks, then would
    start messing around with feedback, distortion, bass guitar, Dr Rhythm drum
    machine, and beats made with Super Mario Paint:



    then in college i started effing with cool edit to make beats and eventually moved
    my way up to turntables where i am today.

  • JINX! (no justin)

  • CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
    Apparently, a bunch of people have a shit load of records, but nothing to play them on.

  • asparagusasparagus Northampton, MA 333 Posts

  • DJPrestigeDJPrestige 1,710 Posts
    gemini tables and even lamer gemini mixer...then eventually reconditioned tec 1200 mkII's and a vestax 05....then on to the rane tti56

  • Pistol_PetePistol_Pete 1,289 Posts
    i


    Super Mario Paint was the shit. Fuck an MPC and Protools.

  • twoplytwoply Only Built 4 Manzanita Links 2,914 Posts



    Damn! And I've been told my sampler looks like a big calculator:




  • Mr_Lee_PHDMr_Lee_PHD 2,042 Posts
    A kid I knew had a set of belt drive Soundlab DLP3's.

    You needed a clockwork handle to get the record up to speed when you were trying to mix.

    1200's were a shock to me when I finally got my turn.

  • DJAckDJAck 255 Posts
    i'm glad i learned on shitty equipment (gemini beltdrive TT, radio shack 4-channel mixer & technics sl-1300). it made the jump to 1200's feel like putting the training wheels back on.

  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
    i'm glad i learned on shitty equipment (gemini beltdrive TT, radio shack 4-channel mixer & technics sl-1300). it made the jump to 1200's feel like putting the training wheels back on.

    Your set up was like a Lincoln Mark VIII to my Ford Tempo, but yeah, learn on P.O.S.'s and if you still love it, forking out for the Technics is a correct move.
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