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Do speakers make the DJ?


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Lately I have become a lot more critical with the way that I DJ for misc. reasons and frankly I am not pleased with what I can accomplish. I used to get stoned all the time and play with my KP3 while mixing and of course everything sounded wonderful but I want to continue to progress so that my mixes sound great no matter what the situation is.... I am currently using a NumarkDXM09 alongside Traktor 3 and Virtual DJ for creating playlists in conjunction with two small Logicool speakers.

 

Heres my question.... I am just a bedroom DJ so I have yet to throw out money on a decent pair of speakers; the only speakers I have ever mixed with were a shitty home theater system, my Bose-Triports, and my current Logicool desktop speakers. On all systems my mixes sometimes sound very tinny and often jumbled or hollow which I know is usually because of speakers, but could it be my mixer, my speakers, or just the way that I mix? Maybe it's all three?

 

Last night I headed to a psytrance club downtown that I often go to and spent the night (literally) in front of the DJ's booth watching their every move. I unfortunately forgot to check what sort of mixer they had and didn't recognize any of the music that they were playing, but the guys at this club ride their mixes for up to five minutes (I recorded how long they rode the mix on my stopwatch) and it sounds great! The speakers that they use (I think) are JBL's. They have four stacks of speakers and on top of each stack are a speaker with a horn a mid and a low (maybe two mids?), then two sub's underneath.... So it's a pretty banging setup, not to mention the acoustics in the room are out of this world. Still! 5 minutes? They really didn't even mess around with EQing either. Maybe 10-11/1-2 O'clock on the pots.... Is it because I am not properly pitching/beat matching? Even when I take hours to search through all my music using Mixed In Key and listen to the songs overlapped over, and over to see if they flow well they still come out weird.... Do larger speakers just fuzz everything together better?

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good speakers (speakers towards the audience you mean right?) definitly dont make the dj.

Good monitors will help (are maybe even necesarry). But you need to have good quality tracks (no 128 kbps fe :P ), a good mix technique and a good track flow. And good presentation (which i could personally do alot better at ;) ) of course.

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get monitors.

kick ass speakers, even if they cost 2000$, are not monitors.

you only need basic monitoring though - so check out some 2nd hand mid/low range monitors. depends on how much money you have actually.

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You don't need good monitors. I have been at so many parties where there has been bad or even no monitoring, so I have gotten used to just using my headphones.

 

Get a pair of great headphones, and you're well on the way.

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You don't need good monitors. I have been at so many parties where there has been bad or even no monitoring, so I have gotten used to just using my headphones.

 

Get a pair of great headphones, and you're well on the way.

I think in the end I would like a pair of decent monitors so that I could throw small parties for friends every now and then. I already have a pair of Bose-Triports which are pretty amazing headphones. What would you suggest for a decent pair of monitors (i'll go comb the forums to save possible time in a sec)? My limit is about $500.00 and I would like a pair....

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I think in the end I would like a pair of decent monitors so that I could throw small parties but as far as headphones go what would you suggest? Eh, maybe while were at it.... What would you suggest for a decent pair of monitors (i'll go comb the forums to save possible time in a sec)? My limit is about $500.00 and I would like a pair....

Same with me..

 

Im considering AKG K701 for headphones and Fostex, KRK for monitors..

But this answers confuse me.. What to buy, monitors or heaphones and should I go for reference monitors/headphones or monitoring?

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I think in the end I would like a pair of decent monitors so that I could throw small parties for friends every now and then. I already have a pair of Bose-Triports which are pretty amazing headphones. What would you suggest for a decent pair of monitors (i'll go comb the forums to save possible time in a sec)? My limit is about $500.00 and I would like a pair....

I think you are mixing up speakers with monitors here.

Speakers are normal everyday things that create sound (waveforms) from the electrical output of your amplifier. They are made to sound good, whatever that means. It ll be different for rock/ trance or gospel. Some for example will have a boost at 80 herz and a dip at 550 (no idea about these figures.. but they serve as example)

monitors on the other hand are meant to have a 'flat' response. Meaning they dont try to boost or cut any frequency but try to give you a good idea of the music comeing from the pc or whatever you are producing on.

For djing you dont need monitors but just speakers. Monitors of course are speakers so if you have them laying around they will serve the purpose. But a flat response for djing is not necesarry. The better the speakers the better the sound will be of course. Which for example also means you can turn down the volume a little to stop it from hurting your ears ;) without losing the experience of a good sound.

 

 

go check out isratrance forum. There is loads of info about monitors/ speakers. Or any other forum about music amplification/ production for that matter. Often the manufactures have a forum on their site as well.

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Ah, I will head over to Isratrance now and see what they have to offer in the information department. Just to clarify a little further; when I think of monitor I instantly think of the great big speakers DJ's have right next to their heads while mixing but are those the same as a studio monitor? When I think of studio monitors I think of the very small speakers paired with studios, but do those pack as much punch? This is a tough decision because I want to both DJ around town at random parties as well as in my own home but also produce.... I think the best thing for me to do now is to just read and figure this out for myself :lol:. Learning experience.

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USo what do u want in the end? Loud speaker to do small parties or a real monitor.. If ur into JBL try check out JBL referance monitors..

Im interested in them also.. Some new technologies that looks promising, u dont have to worry about your room acoustics anymore with theses monitors

Yeah that does look promising. Thanks for the link. In the end I really would rather have a nice pair of studio monitors; that's where I would be 98% of the time.

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Ah, I will head over to Isratrance now and see what they have to offer in the information department. Just to clarify a little further; when I think of monitor I instantly think of the great big speakers DJ's have right next to their heads while mixing but are those the same as a studio monitor? When I think of studio monitors I think of the very small speakers paired with studios, but do those pack as much punch? This is a tough decision because I want to both DJ around town at random parties as well as in my own home but also produce.... I think the best thing for me to do now is to just read and figure this out for myself :lol:. Learning experience.

both are referred to as monitors indeed. but one is preferably as flat as possible (production) while the other just has to give some idea of what you are doing (djing). They are def not the same (can be but most likely not).

 

 

USo what do u want in the end? Loud speaker to do small parties or a real monitor.. If ur into JBL try check out JBL referance monitors..

Im interested in them also.. Some new technologies that looks promising, u dont have to worry about your room acoustics anymore with theses monitors

sorry to be lazy.. but what new technology is there that makes you not having to look at room accoustics? sounds incredible but impossible to me..
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Yeah that does look promising. Thanks for the link. In the end I really would rather have a nice pair of studio monitors; that's where I would be 98% of the time.

Well situation is a bit different with me cause I would also like to produce away from my home on laptop and I need a headphones for that.. But that JBL sure looks promising

 

 

 

 

 

sorry to be lazy.. but what new technology is there that makes you not having to look at room accoustics? sounds incredible but impossible to me..

Well I dont know the theory about JBLs.. Here is a quote

"JBL's exclusive technology that automatically analyzes and corrects the response of each speaker in the room for absolute accuracy at the mix position. The first studio monitors with powerful network intelligence built into each speaker specifically designed to deliver an accurate mix in any room, the LSR4300's are the ultimate monitor for modern production studios."

 

I think its not some super intelligence behind this nor some hi-tech alien shit in those speakers rather that I guess ithis could be simply achieved with microphone inside a speaker that measures reverb in a room.. That was the first idea I have but probably this system works in some different way.. Ill check it out.. Maybe they are hiding data about that "exclusive technology" and theres no info about it..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eddy: Oh yeah I was right.. Looks like I know enough about room acoustics to have ideas like that..

It works on the mic principle like I thought.. You actually get remote control with them so u can stand in your room in the centre on sound field and set them correctly.. After u do improvements in your room in acoustics you just set them up again and voila.. Check this out

Posted Image

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Genelec has a similar technology.

Yeah but I dont think they got mic and remote included in the package and they are more expensive and the most important thing, for me and only problem with genelec I have is that they are ugly as they can be.. Although they look awesome if u got a pro studio and buikt in the wall top end genelecs..

They have better bass response up to 38 Hz compared to 50 Hz JBL has but JBL also has a separate woofer so thats even better..

 

Anyway JBLs are expensive.. In Adam price range, or KRK..

I have to save a whole lot more for them..

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Same with me..

 

Im considering AKG K701 for headphones and Fostex, KRK for monitors..

But this answers confuse me.. What to buy, monitors or heaphones and should I go for reference monitors/headphones or monitoring?

I wouldn't recommend those AKGs for DJ headphones. Get something more heavy duty, closed instead of open, and cheaper.
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I wouldn't recommend those AKGs for DJ headphones. Get something more heavy duty, closed instead of open, and cheaper.

Man first u said I should take those K701 when I said I am about to buy K271 S and now u are talking opposite..

Trohr should check out K271 but I am in need of headphones for production, not djing so wouldn't K701 be better for that like u said once?

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Man first u said I should take those K701 when I said I am about to buy K271 S and now u are talking opposite..

Trohr should check out K271 but I am in need of headphones for production, not djing so wouldn't K701 be better for that like u said once?

Yes, for production they're good. You made it seem like you wanted headphones for DJing in your statement. Sorry for the confusion. :D
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for djing there is only ONE headphone for me and that is Technics RP-DJ1210

 

Posted Image

 

during my 16 years (this year YAY) of djing, I have not come across a better pair of dj headphones.

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for djing there is only ONE headphone for me and that is Technics RP-DJ1210

 

Posted Image

 

during my 16 years (this year YAY) of djing, I have not come across a better pair of dj headphones.

Yeah, maybe the only thing thats bad on them is the cable.. Its good cause you can strech it but it can jam up also
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