I am new to the world of Djing and when I decided to buy some CDJ decks I was completely in the dark. I had never done any DJing, never touched a turntable before and didn't know where to start. My total experience consisted of playing around with the trial version of Virtual DJ. So, I did a ton of research before I bought my setup and I am writing this post because I hope that some of the info I learned will help others who are thinking about buying gear but might not know where to start. I will say now that I am completely happy with what I bought (view my profile to see the details of my setup) and I have a lot to learn before I will go beyond the capabilites of my gear. Hopefully if you consider my advice you will be happy with your purchase too.

The first thing I can not stress enough is that you get what you pay for. I would recommend to EVERYONE that is thinking about getting into DJing that you start by buying new gear. I know you can save some money when buying used equipment, but if you are really going to use your gear hard (like I plan to) it is important to start with brand new and fully waranteed gear. The warranty and condition of the gear you buy is very important since it would be a big dissapointment to get your new gear and then not be able to use it or have to lay out even more money to get it fixed if the knobs, faders or electronics go out. If you look at it, the used gear is not really that much cheaper in the first place and if it does break the costs of the repair will probably eat up the money that you saved. Also, when you buy new you will have access to full customer/techincal support which is sometimes very valuable to a newbie (speaking for myself here lol). One last note is that you can sometimes get added stuff thrown in when you buy new gear. Make sure you look around at different dealers because sometimes there are promotions or discounts that you can get when you buy a new setup. Ask aout promotions and look for a dealer that will offer you a package price for your setup. Then you can buy all the major compnents as one package at discounted price and you can add on the extra stuff you need.

Now that I have stressed the fact that buying new is important, the next thing to think about is what kind of DJing you are going to be doing. Do you want to scratch or mix? That is an important question to answer because you will need to look for different things in your gear depending on what kind of performance you want to get out of it. A good example of this is that a "mixing" mixer is sometimes different than a "scratching" mixer. The faceplates will have different knob/fader setups and the knobs and faders themselves will be different depending on how the mixer is supposed to be used. In my case I planned to do a lot of mixing but I still wanted the option to scratch when I wanted to so that is why I went with the CDJ-400s.

It is also important to be realistic when you buy. What I mean here is that you need to admit that you are a beginner and buy gear that is high quality, but also gear that fits your skill level with some room to grow. When I bought my gear I was fortunately in the position where I could have bought anything up to and including a setup with 2 CDJ1000s and a DJM800 mixer. In the end I bought a package where I got 2 CDJ-400s, a DJM-400, and an Odyssey Flight Case. So why did I do that when I could have bought the top of the line setup? Simple. I would have been in WAY over my head with a top of the line pro setup like that. Not only would I have been swimming in confusion with all the added features and buttons to manage, but I would also have been paying good money for a lot of features that I wouldn't even understand how to use for a while. Plus there is some logic to learning how to use your equipment really well and actually outgrowing it before you step up to a more professional setup. I know in my case that I will be able to use my gear for quite some time before I outgrow it. The other thing to keep in mind when buying gear to fit your skill level is that your skills and, along with them, your needs will change as you get better. So the reality is that by the time a new setup is needed you will probably have different needs than you do now. You will also have you own style by then so that may cause you look for different features when buying upgraded gear in the future. Learn that basics first and spend the smart money to get the best setup you can afford that will fit your skills and give you room to grow. One last note here is to match your equipment whenever you can. Buy a setup where the CDJs and the mixer are meant to work together. If they are paired like this you will get better more integrated performance with less bugs than if you mix and match from one brand to the next.

That brings me to price. I said you get what you pay for and that is true. Typically the more expensive compenents will be better quality and have more features and effects. The higher end CDJs have larger more colorful displays, larger platters, more cue points and are more accurate in their scratching and display readouts. The higher priced mixers have more lights, more channels (so you can connect more than 2 input devices), more effects and usually more accurate and sturdy knobs and faders.

You also need to know what music format you are going to play or record. Will it be MP3, WAV file, CD, CDR??? Do you need MIDI controller capability??? Then make sure the player you buy will play that format. I use mostly MP3s and I buy them from various DJ sites online. So for me the CDJ-400 was a better choice than a CDJ-800 because it has USB capability and the 800 doesn't. When it comes to music also make sure you are using high quality music files. You have to pay attention to the bitrate because the higher the bitrate the better the frequency response of you music. When I buy MP3s I always try to buy 320kbps bitrate and I dont go any lower than 256kbps. This is because a normal MP3 that may be recorded at 180kbps sounds great on your personal player but it will sound like crap on a club sound system or on good speakers or headphones.

This brings me to my last point which is to make sure that you budget your money to include everything that you will need. If you are buying a basic setup you will need AT LEAST: 2 cd decks, a mixer, and headphones. If you are just starting out I would recommend learning on headphones before you put the money into speakers. I do not have speakers yet and I am having a great time just learning and mixing on my headphones. Plus it keeps my dogs from howling along with the music - lol - just kidding there. Most of the time when you buy your decks and your mixer all the connecting cables come in the box. However, if you buy CDJ-400s like me you will need to buy USB cables separately if you want to hook them up to your computer. So that is the basic setup (2 decks, mixer & headphones) however I would also recomend a couple other things. Definitely think about buying a flight case. It keeps you gear safe, gives you a sturdy platform to play on and if you do go somewhere to DJ you will need to be able to get you gear there without breaking it. If you plan to use external speakers make sure you also budget enough money to buy the speakers but don't forget that you will also need an amp, a crossover and high quality cables.

Ok - this post is getting long so if you want some more ideas of other gear you might want to buy check out my earlier post titled "Some dj gear tips for beginners - from a beginner". In that post I talk about some of the extra stuff you might want to get. Lastly, don't forget to budget money to buy some new tracks. I hope this helps. Have fun mixing!

Great post - I'm sure people will certainly add to this.

Nice post...

Good effort man...

Do a youtube video.

And much respect for telling it like it is with the "CDJ1000 for beginners" topic.

Thanks to all for the compliments on this post. As far as the youtube video goes I am definitely going to do one. I am actually going to do a couple. While learning myself, I have noticed that there is not much out there for beginners even with the youtube tutorials. So, maybe I can help fill a gap there and help others while I learn too.

I am also excited because I am putting the finishing touches on my first mix! It is going to be a disco-latin house mix. I am going to record it after I am done practicing. Then I will put it out there for the rest of you to listen to and critique - just remember to be nice lol. Have fun mixing!