Reddit reviews How To DJ Properly

Casual sexism? Cmon' OP. 99% of the projectionists back then were men (maybe 100%) there is nothing wrong with the use of this pronoun. In the book How to DJ Properly (published in 2006) they use the pronoun "he" because, let's face it, most DJs are men. Silly thing to make a fuss about.

I suggest that you head over to /r/beatmatch, a lot more helpful people and some links in the sidebar that might help you. Also, go down the library and see if they have the books "DJing for Dummies" and "How to DJ (Properly): The Art and Science of Playing Records". Good luck!

If you're using a single "all in one" controller (or a collection of smaller controllers), all of the manipulation and mixing of music is being done inside your laptop, in software. That software is the Traktor, Serato, Virtual DJ, etc. that you may have heard of.

If you use CDJs (or turntables for vinyl records) to play regular music (CDs, vinyl, or CDJs with a USB stick with MP3/WAV files on), then you connect those up to a mixer which tweaks and combines the analogue audio feeds. No laptop.

Of course things are never that simple, so you can use CDJs and TTs (turntables) to control DJ software. In some cases, CDJs can be set up to act as controllers - or otherwise you play a special CD / record called a "timecode", and wire the CDJ/TT in to the laptop. The software listens to the "robot noises" (think fax/modem sort of stuff) on the Timecode disc, and from there can work out how the disc is being played and manipulated.

I would suggest starting with this book, because digital DJing with controller-and-software is still very much an extension of the analogue workflow. Understanding what is done and how in vinyl-land will help you greatly in figuring out if you want to be over there, or if you're more drawn towards CDJs, or a controller-based setup.

Something that really helped me was this book. Tells you everything you need to start - making your music collection, mixing on different hardware, how to mix two tracks at the same time (beatmatching) and so on. I'd really recommend you getting a cheap controller to start as it is much more fun than using just your notebook or whatever and then just play a lot even if you will suck hard at the beginning, because mixing is something your brain will get used to and once the connections in your brain are made playing will become natural to you. Nobody really touches the decks for the first time and plays like Andy C.

I highly recommend this book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science-Playing/dp/0593058119/

Easily the best book on the subject and covers a lot more than just 'how to mix', which is a relatively small aspect of DJing and increasingly becoming less necessary with modern digital DJing equipment.

If playing around in the bedroom and at home then I recommend going for a digital controller such as a Pioneer DDJ-SB2 or the Traktor Kontrol S2. Traktor has far superior software but does cost a little more.

If vinyl is a must then locate a second hand pair of Technics SL-1210 turntables, although they will not be cheap and you'll also need a mixer. However, this would be an excellent long term purchase and the value of the 1210's is unlikely to drop. Alternatively, go for some cheaper turntables available from a site such as djstore.co.uk.

My mum bought me this book about 20 years ago. Still recommend it to this day...anything not covered in this book is stuff you have to discover yourself.

Read this book.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science-Playing/dp/0593058119

Will let you get the theory down but you really want to be mixing and practicing alongside it. Theory is all good until you go to put a set together and everything you thought might work, doesn't.

I'll answer your questions, trying not to sound like a dickhead - but read a book about digital DJing if you want to do it. I used "How to DJ properly". I'm sure you can find a free copy online, it'll explain why you use lossless and not MP3s

if you can't be arsed like most skids..

iTunes is less than 320kbps - really avoid using it for tracks you'll play out, and they often compress the song to make it a smaller file.

lossless formats are WAV/FLAC etc - in short the file's not been compressed to or edited since the source from your artist - that's all you want to use for a pro sound. They will thump the low end and have nice detailed highs, along with the dynamics your artist intended! If you play an MP3 on a big system you'll loose the whole crowd, seen it so many times.

I'm afraid you wont often get lossless for free or from any domestic supplier like iTunes. Use DJ specific sites. Read the book!

Practise, practise, practise.

When I first got started, this book: How to DJ (Properly): The Art and Science of Playing Records was my guide.

I've recently picked up some new kit recently, and much of what I practise now came from that book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-DJ-Properly-Science-Playing/dp/0593058119/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1314714205&sr=8-2

Get that mate, a must read

Read this.

Get this book and read it post haste.

Basically... you will become a popular/successful dj through 1) serious talent or 2) social networking and being on the scene and staying in touch and having your crew do their crew a favor for gigs etc.

Call dude and invite him to some non-dj event to discuss working together. Go get food or go music shopping.

because I'm not wrong. also, contrary to trashcomment, I have both a residency every month and multiple gigs aside from that. DJing is just like show business, so suck it up buttercup and read a few books. I recommend this to get you started.