Beginner DJ's - For me, all it took was a few episodes of the red alert show on the radio to know that this was something that I wanted to do. The sound of a record going back and forth ignited a passion to get involved and learn more about this art.
I started out with some cheap belt driven AKAI turntables and a mixer that I caught on sale at one of the local pawn shops. This was the foundation of what would eventually turn into an obsession. Starting out was really tough and very time consuming. One of the key elements was developing a feel for being able to put my hand on some spinning vinyl, stop it and move it back and forth without making the needle jump. On top of that, doing it at the start of a beat or phrase presented an even harder challenge.
After a lot of practice, needle burnt records, several stylus', and many hours of practice...I started getting the hang of it. Throughout, the 'learning process', I would listen to other DJ's and I would try to mentally envision what they were doing to create certain scratches on the wheels. I thought to myself 'what would it take to achieve that scratch?'. I wanted to get good but some of these cats were doing things that was too advanced for my skills. So I would focus on most of the easier tricks.
Eventually, I reached a point where my limitations were being dictated by my gear...(I had cheap gear and couldn't go any further with it). The next step was obviously to upgrade. Everyone told me to get a pair of Technics 1200's which at the time were waaaay out of my price range.
Skip forward a couple of years...I got my first pair of 1200's. The difference was like night and day. Surprisingly, I was able to do a lot more on the 12's than I imagined and the things I already knew came almost effortlessly compared to the belt driven AKAI's. The rest is history...
A lot of people ask me about DJ'ing and putting scratches in their production work. My advice is to take it slow...any DJ will tell you that it takes a lot of practice to develop that 'feel' and it really does. Some get it fairly fast and for some it takes a lot of hard practice. In either case, it's achievable with time. Todays gear doesn't come cheap, if you're starting out, start cheap, be sure that this is what you want to do. Don't invest a lot money if you're not sure that you will be able to invest the time and effort in it. Just remember, the gear that you get will dictate your abilities (if you max it out), but I strongly suggest that you leave room to grow.
Good Luck.
I started out with some cheap belt driven AKAI turntables and a mixer that I caught on sale at one of the local pawn shops. This was the foundation of what would eventually turn into an obsession. Starting out was really tough and very time consuming. One of the key elements was developing a feel for being able to put my hand on some spinning vinyl, stop it and move it back and forth without making the needle jump. On top of that, doing it at the start of a beat or phrase presented an even harder challenge.
After a lot of practice, needle burnt records, several stylus', and many hours of practice...I started getting the hang of it. Throughout, the 'learning process', I would listen to other DJ's and I would try to mentally envision what they were doing to create certain scratches on the wheels. I thought to myself 'what would it take to achieve that scratch?'. I wanted to get good but some of these cats were doing things that was too advanced for my skills. So I would focus on most of the easier tricks.
Eventually, I reached a point where my limitations were being dictated by my gear...(I had cheap gear and couldn't go any further with it). The next step was obviously to upgrade. Everyone told me to get a pair of Technics 1200's which at the time were waaaay out of my price range.
Skip forward a couple of years...I got my first pair of 1200's. The difference was like night and day. Surprisingly, I was able to do a lot more on the 12's than I imagined and the things I already knew came almost effortlessly compared to the belt driven AKAI's. The rest is history...
A lot of people ask me about DJ'ing and putting scratches in their production work. My advice is to take it slow...any DJ will tell you that it takes a lot of practice to develop that 'feel' and it really does. Some get it fairly fast and for some it takes a lot of hard practice. In either case, it's achievable with time. Todays gear doesn't come cheap, if you're starting out, start cheap, be sure that this is what you want to do. Don't invest a lot money if you're not sure that you will be able to invest the time and effort in it. Just remember, the gear that you get will dictate your abilities (if you max it out), but I strongly suggest that you leave room to grow.
Good Luck.
