What Kind of Equipment Should a DJ Buy?

7/24/08

What Kind of Equipment Should A DJ Buy?

A Part of My DJ Setup

When I first started doing the dj thing I did a lot of research on the internet to figure out what kind of setup I needed.  There are many ways a dj can go…from vinyl, to cds, to mp3s or laptop djing.   I wanted to go a route which was simple and very portable, since I am a mobile DJ.   I was weary of going the computer dj route because computers freeze and crash, so I didn’t want to go totally digital.   I figured I would combine two different systems which would also give me a form of backup if one form didn’t work.  I decided to go with cds and mp3s.

 CD Player

 

Numark ICDX

 Here is a video about the ICDX. 

 

I chose to utilize a cd player because a lot of times guest will ask you to play a song off of their cd.  I also make a cd of wedding songs I use during the reception and give the bride and groom a copy of the cd at the end of the evening.  It adds a nice touch.  Another feature of the ICDX is that it can use flash memory sticks and even hard drives which connect to a USB port.   I use 4 GB memory sticks which holds plenty of songs to play through the night.  I create folders by genre and can easily search through the folders to find the song I need.

 

Another cool feature of the ICDX is that you can choose a song and fade into it while a song is playing.   Thus you can use the mixer or the player itself.  I have two players hooked up to my mixer with fader start cables, which allows you to mix from one song to the next with the slide of your mixer’s fader.

 

The ICDX has been around for awhile and companies are always coming out with new CD players, but so far this player still has all the features that I need and want.

 

MP3 Player

 

 

Denon HD2500

 

 

The Denon HD2500…now this is SWEET piece of machinery right here.  There really isn’t any need for a laptop with this player.  It plays mp3 files and has a USB port.  It also has 40 GB of memory built in, which I never use.  I just plug in a flash memory stick.   I also have a keyboard hooked up to it so I can type in searches by artist or title.  You can program playlists on this, hook up a hard drive, use relay play to play from one side to the other or fade from one song to the next in continuous play.  This is the smartest purchase I have ever made as a dj.  I can actually turn on this machine and walk away from it because it basically does all the work for you.