Help needed: choosing equipment
Posted: Tue May 27, 2003 10:54 am
*steps quietly into forum, looking around, a bit intimidated*
I've always posted my music questions on Yehoodi, but this one is just a little too technical, so I hope you all won't mind a DJing question here from someone who hasn't actually gotten to try her hand at DJing yet.
My school's swing club does dances every week, and membership is really dropping--among other ideas to pick it back up, I was thinking maybe I should start sitting dances out and making things truly DJed instead of throwing in a mix CD, starting it somewhere in the middle, and hoping the newbie/intermediates don't recognize it for a few songs. I think the old system almost counts on rotating instead of holding onto members...I'd like to liven things up a bit.
We can't afford much new stuff--I'd like to make the cost of anything new something I could pay for out of pocket...perfect sound isn't important, but compatibility with the school's stereo system is.
I don't know exactly how it works, but I know there's this huge thing with an equalizer on top and a CD player near the bottom. I don't know how many, but it can have multiple inputs, because I've had to flip the switch to change the speakers from projecting a live band to our CDs after a jazz concert. I'm thinking I could probably find some holes somewhere on the machine for one or two more inputs--the problem is acquiring those inputs cheap.
The only idea I've had so far is to forget that CD player which is built in, because I don't think there's any way to route it to headphones. I was considering buying two cheap discmans, using a male-male audio wire I already have (used to use it for stereo->computer recording MP3s off a tape), and leaving that wire plugged at one end into the system. Then I could use manual "unplug the headphones, plug in the cord going to the main system, and hit play, all really fast" as a sort of cross-fader.
What do you think of this? Anyone got a cheaper idea, or a better-and-just-as-cheap idea, short of buying a real DJ system? Can't go with the real thing because even if we had the money for it, I sort of need to keep this homemade for a while as I try to convince the people who actually run the club that this is a good idea--they're not going to approve funds for a DJ system that is simply an experiment I want to do.
I've always posted my music questions on Yehoodi, but this one is just a little too technical, so I hope you all won't mind a DJing question here from someone who hasn't actually gotten to try her hand at DJing yet.
My school's swing club does dances every week, and membership is really dropping--among other ideas to pick it back up, I was thinking maybe I should start sitting dances out and making things truly DJed instead of throwing in a mix CD, starting it somewhere in the middle, and hoping the newbie/intermediates don't recognize it for a few songs. I think the old system almost counts on rotating instead of holding onto members...I'd like to liven things up a bit.
We can't afford much new stuff--I'd like to make the cost of anything new something I could pay for out of pocket...perfect sound isn't important, but compatibility with the school's stereo system is.
I don't know exactly how it works, but I know there's this huge thing with an equalizer on top and a CD player near the bottom. I don't know how many, but it can have multiple inputs, because I've had to flip the switch to change the speakers from projecting a live band to our CDs after a jazz concert. I'm thinking I could probably find some holes somewhere on the machine for one or two more inputs--the problem is acquiring those inputs cheap.
The only idea I've had so far is to forget that CD player which is built in, because I don't think there's any way to route it to headphones. I was considering buying two cheap discmans, using a male-male audio wire I already have (used to use it for stereo->computer recording MP3s off a tape), and leaving that wire plugged at one end into the system. Then I could use manual "unplug the headphones, plug in the cord going to the main system, and hit play, all really fast" as a sort of cross-fader.
What do you think of this? Anyone got a cheaper idea, or a better-and-just-as-cheap idea, short of buying a real DJ system? Can't go with the real thing because even if we had the money for it, I sort of need to keep this homemade for a while as I try to convince the people who actually run the club that this is a good idea--they're not going to approve funds for a DJ system that is simply an experiment I want to do.