Well it’s true, my 14 (soon to be 15) year old has decided that being a turntable scratchin’ manic is the one true career path. I suppose I should blame myself as geekdad has indulged almost every electronic whim she has desired to date but this DJ stuff has me worried.
For one thing it’s expensive. Good DJ’ing equipment is apparently pretty pricey but it’s not just the money it’s well… it’s analog and I just don’t get it. I left turntables behind over 10 years ago and now they’re the hippest “instrument” on deck. (?!) I remember you had to treat cartridges and needles with extreme care and now people are using them as percussion instruments?
She’s too young to go out but via anime and the net she got introduced to trance and through trance to club music, which she loves. I am only too well apprised of DJ Keoki’s latest artistic triumphs. Frankly I think it’s more the above it all, in control uber-cool image these A-V club wannabees project but that’s another issue entirely.
Now that I’ve completely blown the good will of any DJ with useful info I beg to ask where can I find any real world information on what is needed a good starter D.J. setup?
Tell her Ducky says, “You go, girl!” I am envious of any parent who has a teenager who actually has some idea of what she wants to do with her life, besides spend the next 50 or 60 years hanging out at the BF’s house.
And driving Daddy’s car around town…
IANADJ, but here’s a quick sampling of what Google has to offer under “DJ equipment”.
I will also point out that she doesn’t need a ton of equipment to spin platters for her pals at the sock hop, while she’s waiting to make her public debut. All she needs are a couple of (loud) CD players, a good CD collection, and the patience to set up her playlist ahead of time, writing it all down so she knows which track on which CD to play next.
And they sell mikes down at Toys R Us, you know. She doesn’t have to tell anyone where it came from–she can wrap it up in duct tape so the Barbie[sup]R[/sup] logo doesn’t show.
I wish… apparently (according to her) the must have for a starting DJ is a pair of Technic 1200 m3ds with Ortofon Night Club Pro cartridges, a Roland DJ-1000 Mixer and a pair of Pioneer SE-DJ5000 DJ headphones. I haven’t priced these out but I can feel my wallet wiggling around in my back pocket trying to make a last, desperate break for freedom as I type this.
Ok, this is where you pat her on the head and say “it’s good to want things!” Then explain that until she’s sure it’s what she wants to do, and HAS THE TALENT FOR, she’ll be starting with the Fisher-Price “My First Scratch System” which will be made up of used and cheap alternatives.
I am not a DJ either, but my first plan of attack would be to look in the classifieds (or put an ad in yourself) for anyone getting rid of a similar setup. Failing that, check eBay. I just did a search on “turntable” and in various states of repair they seem to be running from $9 to $450 (wha?!?!). A search on “Roland mixer” turned out to be somewhat price-ier (starting at $100.) So even if you can’t get better deals than that, you could maybe set up a reasonable fascimilie for maybe $200 with the wiring, etc.
If she still insists on having new, tell her a heartwarming story of poor baseball players using milkcartons for gloves until they make the big time on natural talent alone, and offer to put $200 towards the cause, and she has to make up the rest. (You will have to come up with things for her to do, and you’ll have to pay her to do them until she’s old enough to do something besides paper route/babysitting type things.) If she still balks, tell her that if it’s not important enough to her to work for it, then why should you?
(Sorry this is so IMHOish…I suppose it’s not very informative.)
back about 10 years ago (just as I was graduating), I used to hang around with DJ’s, and used to try my hand at it once in a while… not the scratching and stuff, but cueing up and beat-matching for a fade into the next song…
Basically, all she’d need is either 1 turntable and a cd player, or 2 turntables, a mixer, and a set of headphones so she can cue up records. (see below about amp/speakers)
for a starter DJ mixer, you could always check out Radio Shack too…
Wow!! I’m just pricing their DJ mixer, and the <<10" Rack-Mount 2-Channel Stereo Mixer>> is on sale for only $69.99!! regular price of $99.99… damn, it’s too bad I had no talent as a DJ, or I’d get one!
They also have turntables, and a headset mic setup…
maybe you can splurge, and get a mini light show for her too…
seriously, though, if she has a mini stereo, she can go straight from the mixer into the line-in of the stereo… like that, you don’t have to spend $$ on amp/speakers…
I agree that it’s “good to want things.” My first guitar was some cheap knock-off, not a high-priced Fender… DJing (good DJing at least) is an artform - anyone who has seen Gransmaster Flash knows that in the right hands, the turntable is just as powerful and viable an instrument as any guitar, drum, violin, etc. It’s a lot more than just fading from one song to another…In fact, check out http://www.grandmasterflash.com/start.html for more info on yr daughter’s interest (it even has a glossery!). Also, I am familiar with an Georgia-based avertising agency-cum-DJ supply outlet (strange, yes, and owned by one Michael Lachowski, former bassist for Athens, GA, band Pylon) that offers DJ starter kits and instructional videos. Their website is http://www.candysticker.com/index.htm. I hear they don’t have a physical address at the moment, but you can e-mail or phone them and they’ll probably be happy to set you in the right direction w/r/t what to buy (most of the employees I met were pretty friendly). Don’t spend too much $$ right now (even a cheap radio shack turntable costs approx. $100 I believe – and she’ll need two of them plus a fader/mixer, etc…) (*addendum: unless she just wants to spin other peoples records while sucking a pacifier and watching people shake their booties…in which case forget everything I just wrote and buy her a couple of cheap CD players, and then buy her Aphex Twin’s “Selected Ambient Works Vol 2”, some Brian Eno, and some GM Flash and explain to her how much cooler it would be to actually CREATE the stuff that people shake their booties to) If she sticks to it, let her earn some $$ DJing with her less-expensive equipment and buy a higher-priced set w/ her own money…
Yet another thread that will probably end up in the Cafe…and it will probably be my fault…
All I can say is that if it keeps her out of drugs and alchohol its good. I am 25 and wish I had some kind of hobby like that to distract me from the party scene. Support her, and let her go with her dreams, I wish I could have.
I dont wanna get too off the point here, but being a “club DJ” isn’t necessarily the best way to avoid the “party scene.” I’ve seen it. Now, it don’t mean ya gonna do drugs, but yr in much closer proximity - like, say, ground freaking zero - than if yr dream is to be a mathmatician…
If she develops like any of the other successful professional DJ’s I know, she will experience at least a few years of incredibly hard partying. This includes every drug under the sun with the possible exception of heroin. It is then very likely that she will swear off drugs all together, again, with the possible exception of marijuana, alcohol, and maybe the occasional ecstacy.
If she is any good, rather, given that she has any talent, it could take her for an extremely wild ride all over the world. It is not unusual for some DJ’s to travel to Ibiza for one weekend then Amsterdam the next. Luckily, I believe that club music is here to stay based solely on the fact that it is the best stuff on earth to dance to, besides funk.
So, if you want her to stay away from drugs, I wouldn’t encourage her to be a DJ. But then again, discouraging young teens from doing what they want to do is pretty much a waste of time, especially if that thing is drugs. Maybe she will have a couple of bad ecstacy trips and quit all together, but chances are she’ll love it.
Tough call, but it sounds like she could possibly be inching in that direction anyway.
I think what you need is a two turntable system with a decent mixer. One of the advantages of turntables is that you can get one spinning and manually adjust it to match the rythm of the one playing the music. That way you can fade from one to the other without disrupting the beat.
The equipment can get expensive. I think good needles can cost $75 apiece. The stuff is made to last, though, so you can probably find some used in useable condition.
A quick search on ebay gave me this item which was the first turntable I saw that looked like it was meant for DJing. Of course, I know nothing about whether it’s a quality brand or not.
If you get a turntable system, and don’t live in a large city, be prepared for her to always want to get a ride (or use the car herself) to the nearest store with a large vinyl selection. If she’s not always looking for vinyl, she’s probably not really into it. And try to get used to hearing her music constantly.
Slightly off topic, if ya wanna channel her energies, you might encourage her towards going to University with a radio station and being a broadcast DJ. Man, 5 of the best years of my life were spinning wax on the air. Most college radio stations have some sort of mobile DJ unit and they do parties and stuff as well. I know that probably means jack to a 15 year old, but never hurts to plant the seed.
What equipment would depend on what style of DJ she wishes to be. If beat-mixing is what she’s after, it’s hard to beat those Technics she mentioned. They have a phenomenal pitch control and long-lasting motors that can take abuse like no other. They also have crappy covers which will break about 10 seconds after removing them from the box, a little pop-up lamp doesn’t last much longer, and are pretty expensive. Their good qualities far outweigh the bad, and they are still the favorite, even though many other manufacturers have tried to take that business away. If she just wants to play music, fading one song in while fading the other song out (doubtful if she’s into trance), any turntable will do the trick. As for the cartridges, there are several good manufacturers, but the Ortofon look pretty sharp on that turntable, so they’ve become popular.
The Roland mixer is fine for what she wants, but the two channels might be limiting if she gets serious later. I used to use three turntables, two CD decks, and a tape deck, which wouldn’t work with that model. You definitely want one that allows you to easily switch channels on headphones, and ones that allow you to combine channels is a nice feature for beatmixing.
She’ll also need an amp and speakers to complete the set.
As for the cost, most of the equipment can be bought at a decent discount when used, but the turntables don’t depreciate as much as most electronic equipment.
You’re still looking at between $1000 and $2000 used for a decent setup. The same equipment new will likely cost between $2000-3000. The variance is dependent on amp and speakers.
If beatmixing is not a requirement, you can probably get started in the $500-800 price range.
All that money, and you’ll still haven’t bought a single 12" single and I’ve seen imports go for $25 a pop.
I forgot to mention, the above prices are for a home setup. The speakers and amp for an actual club or rave party will have to be a different caliber.
She’ll also probably want a tape deck to record her work on. What’s the point of doing it if you can’t share?
Disclaimer for the RIAA: At my advanced age, I can’t recall ever recording a session and giving the tape to other parties, nor do I actually condone that behavior. The above paragraph was for amusement purposes only. Everyone who receives a tape should go out and purchase all of the songs found on that tape.
Well, I wouldn’t agree that a career as a DJ automatically means that she’ll end up heavily into the drug scene. If she’s gonna do drugs, she’s gonna, and keeping her out of clubs is no guarantee of safety.
And (parent of two teens speaking) telling her, “No, you can’t be a DJ because you’ll be around drugs and you might take some” is practically guaranteed to make her go find some
[Officer DARE voice]
DRUUUUGGS…
[/Officer DARE voice]
–and take them, just to show you she can handle it.
Hi, I play guitar and use a funky little app called Mixmeister 3, the demo of which you can d/l from cnet, to loop parts of songs in mp3 format when i’m learning them or to practice to. It can also (big surprise) mix 2 mp3’s together, change the bpm of a song, do cross fades etc. Why not start her out on that, and if she doesn’t get bored in 30 seconds flat, and shows a little abilty or just a lot of determination then buy her a cheap ‘n’ cheerful pair of decks. My first guitar was found in a friends attic when I was 14. It was a 3/4 size nylon strung accoustic on which a part of the nut had snapped off meaning fretting at the first fret of the low E had absolutely no effect on the pitch, but I played it till my folks bought me my first real guitar for my 16th birthday. The sad thing is typing this with my current babies gleaming in their stands next to me is I actually wish I still had that old heap of crap. sniff
I’d hate to be the only stick in the mud here, but do you really want to get your daughters these expensive equipment? I mean she’s only 14 and there’s a really big chance that it’s just a phase… Hell when i was that age, i really really wanted saxophones. I never got them and now that i think about it, it would’ve been a great waste of money for my parents if they actually bought them.
Maybe you’re spoiling your daughter… Or maybe not. You should be the judge.
I second the idea of a computer program and MP3’s to get started.
I use BPM Studio at work, and while I don’t work at a club and instead run corporate meetings, it is very flexible, allows you to mix songs, save playlists, insert sounds (like, if you really want it, record scratching) and convert all your CD’s to MP3. This combined with whatever speaker system you need seems like a good way to get into it all. It would be really handy for high school dances and that sort of party she would be first DJing for.
Of course, BPM Studio might be expensive, but there are surely other computer options.
I am envious of any parent who has a teenager who actually has some idea of what she wants to do with her life, besides spend the next 50 or 60 years hanging out at the BF’s house. 
