I've picked up DJ1800 since I last posted in this thread, and on the weekend I did a few sets at (the very excellently excellent fun)
Hullabaloo in Perth using headphones to preview! I didn't intend to at first, but decided (mid-way through a disastrous blues set on the Friday) that I might try some previewing to help myself. It didn't help the set any, but I noticed a few things...
But first, the equipment I used:
- itunes as my library, and as the program talking to the mixing desk on an ibook G4. I turn off all the other programs but DJ1800 to save battery and efficiency
- DJ1800 as my 'previewing' program, running through my headphones. I didn't want to jump right in with DJ1800 as my main DJing tool at a big exchange, and I was wary of the technical issues you guys've mentioned here
- I plugged into the power. I don't usually need to plug in when I do 1.5 hour sets, but DJ1800 + itunes = bigger power drain. This sucks a bit as I often play at venues with difficult power point issues.
- my lovely
Sennheiser headphones for previewing
- my new sennheiser adapter thingy (which you can just see in
this picture), which lets me plug a mike and headphones into one adapter which then plugs into the usb
It was great to be able to preview, and I found my method got smoother and smoother as the weekend went on. By my final set on Sunday night I was feeling pretty shmicko. I'm not sure the dancers would have noticed or cared.
Advantages to previewing:
- I can 'sound test' songs to see if they'll suit the vibe you have going. This is great when you're not quite sure of a song.
- Good headphones mean that I can block out the ambient noise to better hear the song I'm previewing. Little ipod ear buds are less useful.
- I look really cool-DJ with the headphones around my neck.
Disadvantages:
- I noticed that I was increasingly depending on previewing songs before adding them to my set list. Which meant that I'd physically flick through and listen to about 5 songs before adding one to a playlist. Usually I'll be looking through my music (by artist or bpm or 'style') for something to catch my eye, adding a few maybes to the playlist, or I'll have a clear idea of which song would really work next, and add that to the list. This means I end up with a fair few songs at the end of the list which I
might play in that set, but which are really just 'maybes' I've thought of during the set and don't want to 'lose' when I shift my attention.
Overall, using the headphones meant that I was actually
slower in making my decisions about which song to play next, and that I was working with a shorter 'shortlist' - about 5 songs as opposed to the zillions I'd scan as I scrolled through my collection. This could just be a noober thing, and I guess I'll start using a combination of approaches and get a bit better at this.
Ideally, I'd like to keep working on knowing my collection really really well, and use previewing as a backup or 'verification' if I'm not sure of a particular song. I've noticed that there's nothing more useful than knowing artists/bands well, and knowing what sort of music they played in which periods - so dates are extra important.
Thanks for all your advice though, everyone.
). We also had a monitor speaker next to the DJ table, which I've never had before. So I could hear the track being played on the monitor speaker, while listening to others on the headphones that I was auditioning for the next song. I'm also keen to get a laptop (I use CDs), but now I know to preview using CDs, I might be more choosy about the computer because I don't want to lose the ability to preview.
