Learn to DJ - The Required Equipment

If you are looking into learning how to DJ, you will needPioneer DJM-800. Other mixers have the option of
to know what equipment you need and how it all fitsattaching an effects unit to them. These give you the
together. In this article we will discuss the basicability to add echo, delay, flanger, auto-panning and
equipment that will get you started.much more. A good effects unit will be able to sync
Decksthe effect to the bpm of the song (in other words, the
You will need at least 2 decks to be able to mix songsspeed the song is playing at) so it sounds great.
together. Each deck will have a track playing on it.Monitors
When deciding what type of decks you want, youA good pair of studio monitors (i.e. speakers) will give
have a few options:you a good sound and help you create that perfect
mix. The monitors are also connected to the back of
1. Turntable - these play vinyl and are quite redundantthe mixer. In fact, most mixers have outputs to
nowadays.connect to more than one set of speakers with a
2. CDJ -these plays CDs and the pioneer CDJ1000volume knob for each.
MK3 is an industry standard.Headphones
3. DJ Controller - these are typically used with laptopsUnless you want everybody to hear your mixing
so you can mix with MP3s.attempts, you should get a pair of headphones to
Mixerconnect to the mixer. This will allow you to prepare the
The decks are plugged into a mixer which allows youmixing of the current song into the next song before it
to control how loud each deck is. Mixers tend to havecan be heard out loud. A good quality pair that does
features that change the sound being played, fornot leak sound is fine.
example reducing the bass frequencies.In this article we discussed the basic equipment that is
Effects unitrequired to learn how to DJ.
Some mixers have built-in effects such as the popular