Laptop DJing

Message

GemZombie · #226 Post by **GemZombie** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:53 am

While I agree that the issues you have raised are far too often a problem, it's not always the case.

I laptop DJ for my regular event. Because of this, I experience no technical issues (adapters and the like), because I'm always prepared. Laziness is a problem no matter what, but I'm confident that I can work with the crowd and not be corrupted by the convenience of a "playlist".

Having said that, I would definitely have to agree that trying to take your system to someone else often produces problems. A good DJ would be prepared to go either way. This is what happened to me the first night I DJ'd at the Sac exchange. The system just wasn't set up to handle my Laptop that day, so I said the heck with it and used CD's which I also brought. I was able to use my laptop later, when the problem was corrected.

It just happens that I carry more music with me on the laptop (536 albums counted this week), wheras I generally only carry about 200 with me in my CD case. Something I've thought about doing is pairing down my CD's into self-made collections... I think this is something a lot of people already do.

Greg Avakian · #227 Post by **Greg Avakian** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:55 am

GuruReuben wrote:What's interesting to me is that I've been too two events within the last two months that had a couple dances set up where if all you had was CDs you couldn't DJ. (all they had were amps and speakers)

I've seen that happen at local events, but nothing big...

I thought that carrying my laptop around the country would be easier than a big CD book, but it's as much of a pain in the ass ...and I really don't want to worry about my laptop getting hurt or stolen.

And whereas I feel OK about leaving my CD book on the DJ table next to a cup of coffee, I can't sayI feel the same way about my laptop...

And what if it got dropped and I lost my Morrowind saved game, or my music -or even worse, my porn collection?!?

Mr Awesomer · #228 Post by **Mr Awesomer** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 11:57 am

And Creative has a new toy for laptops to ensure the sound coming from your laptop doesn't sound like crap:

Audigy 2 ZS Notebook

Andy Reid · #229 Post by **Andy Reid** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:14 pm

I have it and will be testing it out this Tuesday.

Sounds good in the house.

AR

GemZombie · #230 Post by **GemZombie** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 2:10 pm

GuruReuben wrote:And Creative has a new toy for laptops to ensure the sound coming from your laptop doesn't sound like crap:

Audigy 2 ZS Notebook

It's about time!!!

Bob the Builder · #231 Post by **Bob the Builder** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 3:04 pm

I have to say there is one simple reason why my DJing is considerably better since I have switched to computer.
“I have twice as much time to study the dancers on the floor between song selections.”

Brian

GemZombie · #232 Post by **GemZombie** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 3:23 pm

Bob the Builder wrote:I have to say there is one simple reason why my DJing is considerably better since I have switched to computer.
“I have twice as much time to study the dancers on the floor between song selections.”

Brian

Good point, i spend so much of my time pulling a cd out of it's case, putting it in the player, and cueing it up that by the time i do that i have to get the next song ready... some people are faster than others, but with swing songs using clocking in at 3 minutes or under, time isn't "on my side".

Bob the Builder · #233 Post by **Bob the Builder** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:14 pm

Can anyone advise me of the PC DJing software that is happy with AAC file format?
I'm finding it a very limited market.

Thanks - Brian

Mr Awesomer · #234 Post by **Mr Awesomer** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 12:11 am

Winamp plays AAC, though it's not technically "DJ" software.

Shanabanana · #235 Post by **Shanabanana** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 11:19 am

GuruReuben wrote:Winamp plays AAC, though it's not technically "DJ" software.

I crashes on my AAC files, though. I've just started converting everything to mp3.

Nate Dogg · #236 Post by **Nate Dogg** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 11:44 am

Greg Avakian wrote: I thought that carrying my laptop around the country would be easier than a big CD book, but it's as much of a pain in the ass ...and I really don't want to worry about my laptop getting hurt or stolen.

And whereas I feel OK about leaving my CD book on the DJ table next to a cup of coffee, I can't sayI feel the same way about my laptop...

And what if it got dropped and I lost my Morrowind saved game, or my music -or even worse, my porn collection?!?

Getting set up to DJ is more of a pain now that I use a laptop, not so much at my home venue, but on the road it can be a pain (cables, strange mixer/amps/equipment, power outlets, etc..). However, the task of DJing itself is much easier.

Using a laptop and intelligently using filenames, folder names and tags, allows me to search my music collection like a database (artists, albums, style, song length, BPM, style, age, personalized song ratings, etc...). I know this is obvious to those who DJ from a laptop already. But, the main value for me is not being CD case free; it is the ability to DJ in a much smarter way.

Also, unlike some DJs, I don't keep every song I own on my laptop. In the folder that contains the songs that I DJ from, I only have included the songs that I deem worthy of playing, the rest are ripped and stored on portable hard drives at my house (which are backed via DVDs that keep at my office). Since, my laptop has 80 gigs, potentially holding thousands of songs; I don't need to bring an external drive with me.

When DJing from a laptop, I don't believe setting a playlist and walking away, that is just lazy. But, I do build my playlist many songs in advance, consisting of songs that I am interesting in playing, either beforehand or as I get inspired during the dance. It beats relying on my memory/paper notes and it saves me the trouble of flipping through my book. I can find and play a request in less than 5 seconds (which happened last night).

Another example of how using a laptop helps me occurred last night. We had a Tsunami benefit and one of the features was a wedding style dollar dance. So, it was a good excuse to play a long song, to maximize the revenue generation. All I had to do was sort all my songs by length in WinAmp and drag over a suitable 7-8 minute song, very easy.

Nathan

Mr Awesomer · #237 Post by **Mr Awesomer** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 11:45 am

Do you have the latest version of Winamp? It's been playing the ones I have just fine... though they are ones I created myself, not downloads from iNslaveYouToOurRulesTunes. Maybe those files it crashes on, question mark?

LindyChef · #238 Post by **LindyChef** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 12:41 pm

Greg Avakian wrote:You know, it's kind of funny that I started this thread with an interest in DJing from my laptop and I have decided to forget it. At all the events I have been to, some laptop DJ has had "something" go wrong. Or they didn't have the right adaptors. Or the volume from their laptop was so low, their set sounded like crap. In a few cases, those DJs had to give up their spots because they literally couldn't "spin".

I've also noticed that a lot of DJs get lazy when they use a laptop. they will often miss changing the next song or simply make a play list and forget about DJing for the crowd.

I've had my fair share of problems with burned CDs that I've made not working in certain CD players, causing me real issues.

Most of the issues that come with laptop DJing with the computer dying/messing up honestly have to do with poor maintenence and care of computers. If you take care of your computer properly, about the only thing you really have to worry about is hardware failure, which is something that happens very infrequently.

re:lazyness. A laptop is a tool, nothing more. DJs can be lazy no matter what medium they use. I've heard a DJ play at one venue and then a few weeks later play at another venue, reusing about half of the stuff they played before. There's nothing inherently bad about using a laptop. A tool is only as good as the user.

Shanabanana · #239 Post by **Shanabanana** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 1:46 pm

GuruReuben wrote:Do you have the latest version of Winamp? It's been playing the ones I have just fine... though they are ones I created myself, not downloads from iNslaveYouToOurRulesTunes. Maybe those files it crashes on, question mark?

It's a recent download, so I assume so. I haven't invested any time figuring it out since it was just as easy to change everything to mp3.

Bob the Builder · #240 Post by **Bob the Builder** » Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:42 pm

I just did a little test of converting my AAC to MP3 on iTunes and it brought every thing (all it’s ID3 – images, volume level ECT) over with it. The only thing that was different is that if you have a different start or finish track time to the original track it will crop the new mp3 file. I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
The good thing is that is copies and converts so you don't loose the original file. I think if I am to buy PC DJing software, I’ll have to convert every thing to mp3.

Brian