Ever since I started DJ’ing and teaching myself how to mix, I’ve been getting a lot of questions as to what I use for mixing, music, etc. So I thought I’d compile what I’ve used to get me started. I will have a full video and blog post with more tips, but here are the tools I have been using so that it can hopefully help you get started. I’m still a beginner so lots to learn, but this helped me at least get the basics of mixing down.
My motto always is invest in the basics then purchase more once you like it.
My Deck – Pioneer DDJ – SB3
I have the Pioneer DDJ – SB3 and it’s perfect for any beginner. I got mine from someone off Twitter for $170, but you can get it off Amazon for $249.
DJ Program – Serato Pro
My deck was branded by Serato so I chose that platform to use to learn mixing. This is where you’ll have the deck control the music and it’ll hold your music libraries. I have heard good things about Rekordbox, but haven’t tried it for myself. Serato Pro is $9.99 a month, but worth it if you want to really dig into DJ’ing.
Music – Tidal, Soundiiz, & Beatport
I pay for Tidal with my boyfriend to stream music through Serato which is $9.99 a month. We also pay $3.99 a month for another service called Soundiiz which allows us to sync our playlists from Spotify into Tidal which then syncs to Serato. We have it set to update so we’re able to access any new music we find and have it available in Serato when we want to play.
When you want to play live sets or record a mix, you’ll want to purchase the songs as you’re not able to record sets from streaming service music. I used Beatport to do this and found that super easy to use.
Headphones
I started out using an old pair of Beats by Dre plug-in headphones. I recently purchased a new pair of headphones for my podcast that also work well for DJ’ing.
Speakers
You’ll want to get a nice set of studio monitor speakers to be able to hear the music out of and you’ll need a cord for the left and right to plug-in to the deck. My boyfriend splurged and got KRKs off someone on Facebook marketplace, but you can search studio monitor speakers on Amazon to find something more affordable for now. I also have desk speakers that are perfect for practicing and fit great on my desk.
Tutorials
As for how I learned, honestly watched a bunch of random YouTube tutorials then just messed around on the deck a lot to figure out how to do transitions, beat match, etc.
Hope this helps you! Let me know if you have any more questions. I’ll have more detailed tutorials coming up soon.
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