Advice on buying decks..

arybvtcw0eolkf

I hope this is the right place.

My son is looking for 'Decks' (being his ol'fella I haven't a clue about decks). Of course the only place I could look was the Argus book and seen two. One was for the old vinyl (sp'ing) records and the other was for CD's.

He's fiftheen and probably hasn't much more of an idea about this stuff than me.

I'm also wondering, if I buy these decks do I need to buy a separate amp, and what about buying record's?.

Any help at all would be appricated.

cornbb

Moved from Recording/Mixing/Pro-audio. You'll probably get better replies here.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Cheer's, I appricate that.

djdeclan

The first thing to find out is whether he wants vinyl decks (turntables) or djs cd players.
The main thing to take into consideration is the cost over the lifetime of the item; if you buy good quality turntables (I would recommend second hand technics 1210s mark II - they are practically indestructible) they should never give you any trouble, however the price of vinyl is IMO, shocking. You're talking between €10 and €20 for each vinyl. The reason i stopped buying vinyl was because it was just too expensive when you can get the same music for free, or a small download fee, from the internet and burn it onto cd. As a gigging dj cds and cd dj gear are far more portable.
If you are going for the cd players again I would recommend buying good quality dj gear (pioneer, denon) if your son wants to make some money out of it by doing gigs etc. again this can be picked up second hand but be sure to give it a good going over before you buy. If you dont know what you're at then bring someone with you who does! I got caught out before buying a set of cd players that were banjaxed (ended up dumping them!)
Whether you go for cd players or turntables you will need a mixer, these range in price from €50 to €2000...you get what you pay for! I'd say (new)€100 would be plenty for bedroom use and €500 for someone who wants to do gigs.
You will require a seperate amp but the amps djs use are inexpensive enough, if its just for bedroom use then he can plug his mixer straight into a hi-fi (provided it has aux in) and that'll play it out through the speakers.
If he wants to get amped up for the road then a decent power amp and speakers would be about €800+. the only thing about that is that they will never give you any trouble provided you dont abuse them!

Hope this has been useful for you. I'm selling my DJ gear to splash out on some cool new stuff, if you are interested pm me.

frobisher

Find out if he wants vinyl or CD. Vinyl is cooler but costs an absolute fortune in buying records. Although if he is into hip hop DJ'ing as opposed to dance or rock then he will want vinyl because the art of scratching doesn't exist in the same way on CD's and that's what hip hop is all about. The advice above of buying used is good. There are DJ's who sell their kit ready to go sometimes when they upgrade. You could also check here for a complete starters kit at decent prices. I've bought alot frrm them, they're great. Don't worry too much about an amplifier etc. Headphones will be enough at the start (they are 100% essential by the way) and if he really wants he can connect easily to a home hi-fi or a ghetto blaster with leads that cost €5.

Feel free to ask anymore questions.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Thanks for the replies guys, very much appricated.

Can anyone recommend a store in Dublin where I can enquire about decks, ie prices etc?.

Btw, thanks to your advice I'm pretty much sold on the CD option.

djdeclan

Another important point to mention is that whatever you decide to spend on equipment, make sure to buy good quality headphones. Again here, you get what you pay for, the rest of the gear can be fixed or replaced if it breaks...but you cant repair hearing once it starts to go. I've seen it among many DJs who insist on turning the music up way too loud in their headphones. I would recommend Sennheiser for good quality headphones.

_feedback_

djdeclan wrote:

Another important point to mention is that whatever you decide to spend on equipment, make sure to buy good quality headphones. Again here, you get what you pay for, the rest of the gear can be fixed or replaced if it breaks...but you cant repair hearing once it starts to go. I've seen it among many DJs who insist on turning the music up way too loud in their headphones. I would recommend Sennheiser for good quality headphones.

sorry , can you speak up there deco?!

JoeSchmoe

First off establish how into it he is going to be, is he mad into music at the moment, always blaring in his room? mp3 player constantly stuck to his head?
does he have any mates with decks? Is he into dance music websites/magazines? who's his favourite DJ?

the reason I ask is that if he's into it and is going to put in the hours of practice required before he starts getting decent results and make it his hobby/something more when he's older, then invest in decent stuff, (you talking about 1000 euro here) because it'll stand to him over the years, he won't need to invest in better stuff later, and it'll hold a decent resale value.

If he's not into the music end of things so much and he's just wants decks because it's cool at the moment/a fad, reckons it'll be a bit of a laugh, then buy a cheaper option, an all in one CD package for a couple of hundred quid, better to have that lying idle in the corner that a mountain of expensive stuff

BTW, Soundsaround at the liffey end of Capel st is about the only City centre DJ shop around, go in and see if there's anything in there you like/would consider write down the model number and then by it for way way cheaper on www.thomann.de

JoeSchmoe

double post

frobisher

Mairt wrote:

Btw, thanks to your advice I'm pretty much sold on the CD option.

Be sure that this is suitable. Like I said above, if he wants to do hip hop DJing, buying him CD decks as opposed to vinyl would be like handing a football player a rugby ball and saying, "What do you mean it's not right? Sure it's a ball isn't it?"