DJing today

[Nano]

Just wondering... It's been decades since I've been in a DJ booth and lately these guys are such stars that it's really hard to get to those booths. Plus I want to save myself being up so late. So, I'm asking the DJs of today in this forum...

How is DJing in a club nowadays? I know you guys still use vinyl to a certain extent. Only vinyl? Mixing vinyl with CDs or mp3? How? What machines do you use? And how "automatic" a mix really is in the era of BPMs noted in each record?
Sound FX? Microphone? What's your style?

Sorry if it's too much, I'm just curious.

[djoem]

I havnt been in a booth is a while either but i know most of them dont even install turntables anymore its all cds and i seen some one with a ipod and laptop its not like it was before all digital unless it on the laptop i want to see them sync up 2 songs at the same time to get a echo with out a echo machine ,what happenes if the laptop crashes or the hard drive on the ipod crashes the party is over sorry nothing is better then vinyl i want to see 20 or 30 years later that the cds are still working like vinly does

[Super D]

Most of the parties that I attend, for the most part, the DJ's still use 12's/vinyl. The only time you actually see a guy using c'd's/lap-tops/pc's etc...are the wedding/graduation style DJ's.

But, time will come, that it will be absolutely no need to use vinyl, other than your own personal usage.(and that's to bad)

super d(motordetroit)8-)

[tony98]

I know it's a shame but i hardly ever use vinyl these days. Two reasons are that in some venues they don't have record decks & if i play cds i can bring more tracks with me. What i've been doing lately is converting my rarer vinyl on my computer to cd. For years the Technics Decks has been the "King" but these days it's the various makes of club cd players that are more common.I have seen major DJs using laptops but thats a step to far from the original concept of a DJ for me.

[qdearl]

The only places I see with actual (vinyl) turntables, are establisnments that have been around for years, if it's a newly built venue, they may have space for turntables, but they're usually empty, (or like at the older places, have covered turntables that are so dusty and ill maintained that they look like something Taylor dug up on Planet of the Apes.....) Though this also depends on the type of music being played at the place, the Hip Hop crowd, or some Underground locations may favor vinyl, the HipHoppers because of the turntable acrobatics and vinyl manipulation and tricks that they are known for, and the underground because a lot of that stuff is initially released on vinyl, so if you're the type to "Have it First" you're probably toting around a bag full of hot off the press 12inches. In General most of these younger DJ's favor the CD turntables and in particular the Pioneer 1000's (which I have used, and liked....)
We use the Denon S5000, which I think is a great player.
For us its a matter of size and space, we mostly do the mobile thing, so two Denons in a case are lighter and take up less space(when packing up the gear to go to the venue) than the 2 Technics and 10 crates of records. 10 cases of CD's which is at least 1000 CD's which is at least 33,000 songs takes up the space of 2 crates of vinyl. So not only are we streamlined, but have more selections to play than some stores. And people (at these private functions) like when the DJ can switch up the music, and especially after they've been to the bar a few times, no matter how out of the blue the request might be, we can usually find it and get it on for them.