Flexible set-up for small new club

[Haydn]

Hello all and greetings from London, where the sun is shining today

I've recently started DJing in a new club which a friend of mine has started in London. It's an informal night. No lessons, no entry charge for the moment, swing music in the downstairs room of a small bar. I'm currently the main DJ, but we both want and need other people to DJ too. So that anyone who wants to can have a go, and so that I have a break and a chance to dance. I use iTunes on an iMac as my database for my collection, and a Numark CD Mix 2 for DJing. I buy the original CDs, put the tracks I want into iTunes, then make CDs for DJing. I might take say 10-20 CDs for a night.

The medium-term aim in this club is to have different people DJing in slots. In the short-term, it's mainly me. The problem I had this week was I was getting lured away for dances which meant I couldn't 'watch the floor' to make sure the next record was the best one. There were also occasional pauses while I finished a dance and had to rush back and start the next track. Not the best thing to happen. But it seems too rigid at the moment to say 'I'm DJing so I can't dance with you tonight'.

Ideally, at the moment, I would like to have my iMac there AND the twin-deck CD mixer. This would mean I could switch over to Party Shuffle on the iMac and have a dance if there were only a few people there, but people could also DJ using the deck and CDs of their own. I don't want to use my iPod because of the risk of it being stolen. I'm a bit reluctant to drag my iMac all the way to the bar, partly because I would have to get taxis and my travelling costs would increase. The other problem I was having on Tuesday was actually finding a track on a CD. Even though I had printed neat 'CD jewel case insert' covers with iTunes, I was finding it suprisingly hard to find tracks. Any tips on cataloguing, or CD cover software?

Ideally I would like an iTunes 'Party Shuffle' style continuous modifiable playlist, and the ability to take CDs and preview tracks with headphones. A key requirement is simplicity - I'd like something a novice DJ can walk up to with their own CDs and start using straight away.

Any tips on how to achieve this or other ideas?

[CafeSavoy]

You might want to check if the CD Mix 2 has a setting that will automatically start the cued track in the non-playing deck. I think both the Mix 1 and Mix 2 have that feature. You can turn it on and not have to worry about dead air when you're dancing.

[Toon Town Dave]

I have a Gemini dual deck which has the auto start. It's great when it works but seems quite intermittent.

My solution is usually to create some mix CDs where there are lots of groups of 2 or 3 tracks that go together. Handy if I want to dance or have to take more than 2 or 3 minutes to attend to other business.

I haven't really gone the digital DJ route but I tried it out once. I was able to queue up several songs. I'm not usually re-evaluating the next one or two recordings to that usually allows a few opportunities to dance.

Another technique if you find a co-DJ is to trade 3's or 5's or something so you can usually dance to the last track of your group since the other DJ is responsible for queuing up the next one.

[GemZombie]

I'm set up with a Gemini CD Dual deck as well... no problems with it, except refusing to play one CD (Wasn't even a swing CD, just a CD i was using for a sound test). I assembled my Small Club System altogether for around $500. I got an incredible deal on that mixer and Deck from Reuben though.

I perfer Laptop DJing, but I have the equipment to both (in fact easily can switch between 2 CDs and a Laptop using the mixer).

Before I went Laptop, I used to create a new Mix CD every time I DJ'd so that I could set it to play 2 or 3 songs, and then go dance. (Free venue, I don't get paid, so I justified the pre-mixed setup). Since Swing DJing is largely grassroots (ie we don't get paid much if any), I don't see a problem with using mix CD's from time to time.

[Toon Town Dave]

I picked up my Gemini unit off e-bay from a DJ that was upgrading his equipment for about $200, it was in excellent condition. I picked up a 2 channel Stanton mixer for about $100 new. My weekly gig at the time had a Fender Passport so I didn't need speakers. Most of my out of town gigs now have pretty good stuff so I don't really need to drag my gear around anymore.

I plan to get a good set of powered speakers and eventually upgrade the mixer and CD player when I can justify the cost.

[Haydn]

You might want to check if the CD Mix 2 has a setting that will automatically start the cued track in the non-playing deck. I think both the Mix 1 and Mix 2 have that feature. You can turn it on and not have to worry about dead air when you're dancing.

The only way I can see how to this on the CD Mix 2 is by using the 'Fader Start' button which lets you pause one deck and start the other by sliding the Cross Fader between them. There's also a 'Program' feature which lets you program up to 20 tracks from a single CD. Just tried it, and combining these two features gives more flexibility. I think you could actually program several tracks on each CD and switch between them using the Cross Fader and 'Fader Start'.

[Haydn]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think you're suggesting that I don't bother taking a Mac AND the dual-CD deck, but that I stick with the dual-CD deck, make mix CDs so I can easily set a sequence of tracks to play, and get another DJ involved. That way, I would be able to take a rest and have some dances.

[CafeSavoy]

You might want to check if the CD Mix 2 has a setting that will automatically start the cued track in the non-playing deck. I think both the Mix 1 and Mix 2 have that feature. You can turn it on and not have to worry about dead air when you're dancing.

The only way I can see how to this on the CD Mix 2 is by using the 'Fader Start' button which lets you pause one deck and start the other by sliding the Cross Fader between them. There's also a 'Program' feature which lets you program up to 20 tracks from a single CD. Just tried it, and combining these two features gives more flexibility. I think you could actually program several tracks on each CD and switch between them using the Cross Fader and 'Fader Start'.

i think if you turn on the 'fader start' and have the decks set to single play, when one deck stops, the other will start.