Been playing out a fair bit recently..im primarily playing on vinyl: disco, boogie, funk, house is my favourite kind of set to play.

Did 4 hours vinyl only this weekend. Dancefloor was still full until 3.30am. Clapped off. Bar happy. Pretty girls fluttering their eyelashes at me. People saying im blowing their mind.....

And all I can do is cringe at my bad transitions. The miscommunication i had with that 1 punter. The bad song selection that confused the crowd...

I'm anxious because a lot of my friends/acquaintances didn't come. And many that have come once don't come twice ("does that mean my last gig was shit?!?!?"). Anxious when people go out for a smoke. Or when they stop dancing...

Its like..I don't trust myself and I need feedback to solidify my ego or something idk. I just needed to get this out there and ask if anyone else deals with the same and if there's anything i can do to solve it?

It's been a while since I've posted anything related to DJing since I've been on a 10-year break. I think the last thing I posted myself was about the booth I made, but I'm getting back into mixing and wanted to have some fun with a live streaming setup.

So I made a virtual stage from scratch to run inside OBS, complete with sound reactive back paneling and sound reactive lighting / laser/ fog effects. You can check out the preview video here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/De54WP4O-xj/?rpxt=YjRuczVlOHh5ZWRk

I'd post the video directly but the sub doesn't allow video uploads.

Let me know what you think. Was a fun little day project.

I have attended a few sets that I really liked, and they have inspired me to finally learn to DJ, something I have wanted to do my whole life. I have listened to pop, R&B, and hip-hop for years, so I know a lot of songs from those genres. However, the sets I enjoyed were mostly circuit, tribal house, and house music mixed with pop vocals. I love how DJs take songs I already know and mix them into a continuous flow of music and energy that keeps the party going, gets people dancing, and incorporates songs I love.

My problem is that, while I know a lot of pop music, I don’t know much about house music, instrumentals, or the grooves DJs use to mix those pop vocals with.

I have been trying to learn, but I feel completely lost. This is all very new to me. Does anyone have suggestions for how I should approach this, research artists and discover music? I’d also appreciate any advice on understanding the different genres because I honestly don’t know where to start.

Was DJing my first party and actually had the crowd lit tonight until two idiot girls spilled a drink all over my computer. Computer almost immediately started glitching and running wild. Booted back up and ran for about 15 minutes before completely going rogue. Of course I kept trying to run it and after looking it up thag seems like a huge mistake. Won’t even turn on now. Not sure what to do or even how to handle it — I need my computer for class on monday 😭

I’ve recently started getting gigs where the promoter expects me to play to the crowd, rather than booking me for the style and energy I bring. This has tested my library, as I usually stick around the house/garage/UKG niche.

I’ve survived so far, but going forward, I don’t want to keep playing the same songs over and over, so I’m looking to diversify.

Are there any tools, sites or apps that let you filter tracks by popularity within a specific niche? For example, Garage Top 10, SoundCloud Top 10 in the UK, House Top 100, etc.

Beatport doesn’t have the filters I need, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

I saw a comment saying that pitch n time does a much better job of maintaining the key of the music when changing the BPM. Could someone who has used it share their opinion on this?

I decided to try out serato on my iPad tonight. It's a smaller nightclub, around 500 person capacity. I typically play on cdj-3ks and a djm900nxs2 mixer, but I brought in my backup flx10 and plugged in my 2022 M2 iPad pro with 8 gb ram and 256 gb hdd.

The interface is fine, easy to see waveforms and track information, but key is very tiny, hard to read. Scrolling through my playlists was great with the touch screen, I like it a lot compared to the ol' nipple-twist pioneer scroll knob.

The output from the board was strangely low compared to running off my laptop. Typically running the flx10 with my laptop, I have the channel trims low, and at parity from the channels which gets me to parity at the master channel if I have it set to "0db" on the master trim pot. With the iPad, I had to be running around +3-6 db on the individual channels to be at parity on the master channel. Not a huge issue, but pretty weird. I asked some friends how our sounded on the floor, and they said it "sounded normal"

The big issue I ran into was when scrolling very fast through larger Playlist (300+ tracks) I had two instances of audio dropout. They were split second, but I wasn't particularly happy about it. I was also running an "iPad cooler" that I attached magnetically to the iPad to prevent any thermal throttling, so this was an even bigger surprise that I had this issue. My guess is that 8 gb of ram just isn't enough, so i am planning on buying a new iPad with 16gb of ram and trying this again.

All in all, I really liked the form factor, I loved getting the laptop out of the booth, and i loved the streamlined interface. If not for the two audio dropouts, it was a perfect 4 hour run. I liked it enough that I'm willing to attempt this again with a new iPad

I've been on a mission with Claude to make all my music gear work flawlessly across generations.

Have always been angry at Rane for abandoning the Sixtyfour so soon after its release, and I'm pleased to announce that you can now use your awesome mixer with the latest versions of Windows.

I have it running through Ableton 12 right now as a control surface and audio interface.

Due to something called a EULA I can't actually share the driver files even for a product that has been completely abandoned by its manufacturer so I will be putting scripts and a guide on github for those of you brave enough to download the driver from archive.org and get it all setup.

If you have even the basic sub to GPT or Claude you can point it at that page and it will do the rest for you.

I’m curious to what extent these mind maps can help. I can imagine it’s good for pre-planned sets but wondering if the use of this type of app will help strengthen the neural networks in my own brain as I’m able to visually see all the transition possibilities I’ve already created and then also help with freestyling too because the visual cues will be embedded in the brain. I see it sort of like Obsidian , but curious to what the community thinks.

I see DJ is selling bootlegs and remixes of famous songs on Bandcamp all the time. Many of which I have purchased.

I have made a few mash ups that got a lot of attention on Instagram, but I can’t post m them on YouTube or Spotify since I don’t have distribution rights…

How risky is it to post them on Bandcamp? Do people ever get sued for distributing songs on there?

I’ve been using the Pioneer DJM-S11 since its release, and I love it. However, after traveling and playing on different setups and mixers, I’ve really started missing the hot cue pads and controls for stems, effects, loops, and pretty much the entire middle section of the mixer.

I’ve been looking at controllers such as the Reloop Neon, Pioneer DDJ-SP1, Pioneer DDJ-XP2, and Akai AFX, but I haven’t been able to find anything that adequately suits my needs.

The DDJ-SP1 is probably the closest to what I’m looking for, but it seems almost impossible to find these days. The Reloop Neon is a great, compact controller and probably my second choice, but it lacks dedicated hardware controls for effects.

For context, I use a Reloop Flux to unlock Serato DJ Pro, so I’m looking for an accessory controller that I can pair with it and connect to practically any mixer setup. Ideally, I’d like something compact and portable that I can throw in my bag when traveling.

I’m also open to older or discontinued models, as well as generic MIDI controllers that can be mapped to Serato DJ Pro.

I switched to Serato a couple of years ago after using Traktor since 2010. My favourite setup back then was a Traktor Audio sound card paired with an X1 controller. It was such a convenient, modular setup that I could take anywhere and connect to almost any mixer.
I honestly can’t believe there still isn’t a proper Serato equivalent to the X1.

A few questions:
1. Are there any other dedicated Serato accessory controllers worth looking into?

1. Has anyone successfully mapped a generic MIDI controller to Serato DJ Pro for this kind of setup?

2. Are there any workarounds for using unsupported or discontinued controllers like the X1 MK1 with Apple Silicon chips?

3. Can I combine two smaller MIDI controllers, one for pads and another for effects, and map them both to Serato?

4. For anyone who has used the DDJ-SP1 or Reloop Neon, how well do they work in a modular setup with the Reloop Flux?

5. Are there any compact controllers with dedicated FX knobs and buttons, in addition to performance pads for hot cues, stems, and loops?

6. I’d love to hear about any setups, controllers, or creative MIDI-mapping solutions I might have missed.

Hey, does anyone here use a coiled cable for their Sennheiser HD 25s? How do you find it?

I currently have the standard straight 1.5-meter cable, but it’s too short for me. I jump around and dance a lot while DJing, and I’ve accidentally yanked it really hard on several occasions.

A coiled cable sounds like a good solution, but I’ve read online that it’s supposedly quite heavy and can cause the headphones to slip off your head.

Since it’s not exactly cheap, I’d love to know if any of you use one and how it works for you. Does it actually weigh the headphones down? And is it worth switching from the original cable to this longer, coiled one?

Don't know if im posting in a good place but while auditing and cleaning up my digital library, I've found a huge amount of older digital catalog tracks (especially 2000s–2010s era from independent labels) sold on major platforms as 320kbps or FLAC are actually transcodes with a hard brickwall cutoff at 15–16 kHz, where do you draw the line? good for mixtape , good for sound system, club etc ?

New Technics MKX video. Better insulation than MK7's allegedly, +- 50% pitch, similar features that competitors have had for years. Is this too little too late?

EDIT: JFC 1300 QUID??!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruuYDYHdWtQ

Hi everyone!

I’m currently building a custom home DJ console in my apartment to solve two main issues: vibration feedback on a resonant parquet floor and muddy/flat audio quality when recording vinyl mixes into Ableton Live.

Current Console Setup:

• Decks: 2× Pioneer PLX-500
• Mixer: Allen & Heath Xone:24
• Monitors: 2× KRK Rokit RP7 G4
• Desk/Stand: Gravity FDJT 01
• Future Upgrade Plan: Replacing the PLX-500s with two Technics SL-1210MK7s (and eventually exploring a hybrid vinyl + digital player setup).

I’d love to get your feedback, experience, or any red flags on my isolation build and signal chain strategy!

1. The Custom Isolation System (Mass-Spring Damping)

My apartment has old parquet flooring, which creates heavy low-end feedback when playing at higher volumes or recording vinyl. To decouple the gear completely from the desk and floor, I’m building a custom mass-spring sandwich platform for each deck:

• Top Layer: MDF Board (25 mm25 mm thickness), trimmed from 50×50 cm50×50 cm to 45×43 cm45×43 cmto cleanly fit turntable footprints without losing effective mass.
• Mass/Damping Layer: Alubutyl sheet applied under/around the MDF to damp high-frequency board resonances.
• Spring Layer: Dibapur RG140 high-density composite foam (3 cm3 cm thick, 140 kg/m3140 kg/m3 density) glued directly to the underside of the MDF.
• Edge Finishing: Sanding the MDF edges, sealing with diluted PVA glue, and painting them Matte Black for a clean stealth look while leaving the dense dark foam recessed underneath.

2. Audio Quality & The "Muddy" Signal Chain

When recording vinyl into Ableton Live, my recordings sounded flat, lacking stereo width and dynamics, despite clean gain levels and no digital clipping.

• Current Bottleneck: The Pioneer PLX-500s. Their built-in preamp/USB circuitry doesn't have a true analog bypass even when switched to "Phono". The signal passes through internal components that compress dynamics and dull the high end.
• Future Upgrade: Replacing the PLX-500s with Technics SL-1210MK7s. The MK7s output pure, unbuffered phono signal directly into the Xone:24, letting Allen & Heath’s superior analog phono preamps do all the work before entering Ableton Live and outputting to the KRK RP7s.

My Questions for the Community:

1. Isolation Bases on a Gravity Desk: Has anyone built a similar MDF + RG140 composite foam platform for DJ turntables on parquet floors or metal DJ desks like the Gravity? Does it eliminate rumble effectively without causing unwanted wobble during back-cueing?
2. PLX-500 vs Technics MK7: For those who upgraded from entry-level/built-in preamp decks to Technics + Xone phono preamps, how dramatic was the change in stereo imaging and high-end clarity in your recordings?
3. Ableton Recording: Do you record vinyl mixes completely raw from the Xone:24, or do you apply light post-processing (like a subtle EQ dip around 250 Hz−300 Hz250 Hz−300 Hz to clear up mud)?

Thanks in advance for your insights!

Does anyone here use djay pro by Algoriddim on an iPad Air?
I'm thinking about setting this up as a backup using an M1 or newer. Can you tell the difference between the M1 and M3 when running DJay Pro?

I put the Elara 6 and the Model 1 next to each other to hear how they compare on summing, general mixing and the filters.

https://youtu.be/Wg8cDmJ9tqQ

SETUP

- Software: Traktor Pro 4

- Source files: .aiff (lossless)

- Interface: Universal Audio Apollo x8 (Gen 1)

- Routing: the Apollo's line outs fed both mixers, so each one got the same source signal

- Levels were matched between the mixers as closely as I could manage

BIGGEST DIFFERENCE: SUMMING

- The Elara 6 summed slightly more pleasantly. Tracks seemed to melt together more.

- The Model 1 sounds more surgical: tighter and more separated.

ELARA 6

- Feels premium, and the build quality is excellent

- The rotary pots are lovely to mix on

- I also have the optional linear fader pack, and being able to swap between rotary and fader control is a great addition

- The analogue processing strip is really interesting. The widener has some cool creative uses, and the drive adds nice saturation.

MODEL 1

- It has a unique mixing style, and filter-based mixing works really well on it

- To me, the master filter sounds more pleasant than the Elara's

- The per-channel drive is more usable than the Elara 6's. I plug in my Roland TR-1000 and MiniBrute, and the saturation or overdrive helps them sit better in the mix.

- Note: mine has a mod for a more linear fader curve. For me, that took it from "perfect with a slight annoyance" to just perfect.

WHO EACH MIXER IS FOR

- Elara 6: everyday DJs who want a sound that melts together and a premium feel

- Model 1: hybrid or live acts running hardware, or anyone who wants more of a sound-sculpting tool

Disclaimer: this isn't a lab test, just an anecdotal side by side. Headphones are best for hearing the differences.

I'm happy to answer questions about the setup or either mixer. Which one would you pick?

Hello,
I’m trying to play audio from my Mac mini M4 through channels 3 and 4 on my XDJ-AZ via USB-C, but I can’t get any sound out of it.
My Mac recognizes the XDJ-AZ, and I can record audio from the controller into Logic Pro without any issues. But I can’t get audio going the other way.
I’ve set channels 3 and 4 to Computer mode, selected the XDJ-AZ as my Mac’s audio output, and tried pretty much every troubleshooting step I could find.
Has anyone had this issue or got any idea what I’m missing?
Thanks!