Cheap DJ Equipment For Beginner DJs - Tips, Advice And Reviews On Budget Gear

Cheap DJ equipment in the US can roll in at around $150-300 (a bit more in the rest of the world) and with that you can get nifty full DJ controller with headphones. These controllers are fine for house parties, little college raves, and getting your skills honed.

After this, hopefully you'll earn some cash and be able to invest in some mid range digital DJ gear and get to play in clubs.

But all this depends on you and if you are motivated enough to infect enough people with your party music and make them dance. More on that later.

Let's take a look at how to get yourself on the DJ ladder with some cheap DJ equipment that rocks.

1. ION Audio Discover

This is the lowest bargain price controller on the market. It's great for a bit of fun and if you're not really trying to play anywhere but at home and at friends' parties.

The best thing is that the ION Audio iCUE3 Discover DJ System is very easy to learn to use and you can read and mix directly from your i-tunes library, rather than having to reorganise your music.

If you want more from DJing then it's best to spend more cash, but for a bit of fun it's a smart little console that looks cool too.

2. Hercules DJ Control MP3

This little demon of a controller really surprised everyone in the DJ world with it's great value for quality.

Reasonably robust for an amazingly low $89 price, you can cook up a nice little party mix with all the basic mixing functions.

It's user friendly, easy to learn, you can loop sections of tracks, record your mix and it's easy to carry with you.

3. Hercules MK4

Again from Hercules, who dominate the entry level digital DJ gear market with their cool little great value consoles, the MK4 is well worth your cash. You could probably even get some small bar and party gigs using this.

With Virtual DJ included, the MK4 is really light and has good, strong buttons and nobs,

You can even customise the buttons to your style, which is unique for it's $99 price tag.

Again, all the basic DJ mixing functions are included and work well. It's a similar machine to the Hercules DJ Control MP3 but with a different finish.

If you prefer this metallic finishing, with nice solid buttons, then this is for you.

4. Numark MIXTRACK DJ Software Controller

Numark are a much respected and reliable name in the DJ industry and it shows with this cool little entry level controller, the Numark MIXTRACK DJ Software Controller.

Why is it any good?

What I like is the price and the fact that it feels like you're actually mixing, rather than twiddling buttons. Having platters with manual control on the tracks, decent standard effects and Traktor included, what can you say? Well, you can say you'll need a soundcard.

If you have a decent one already in your laptop that's great. If you don't, then then the Numark MIXTRACK PRO is what you need. I highly recommend this little beast for value.

Over to you to find cheap DJ equipment.

This review and many more other DJ tips, reviews, advice and a free guide to getting DJ gigs can be found at The Total DJ

The Top DJ Tips, Tricks and Advice for Club DJing and Making People Dance

Here's my multi steroid booster, magic bullet little blue pill designed to make you perform like the best hot list of 6 key DJ tips:

1. Be the Master of your equipment

Don't think you'll somehow get by without enough practice.

You may not want to hear it but you'll need to know your DJ gear inside out and like a real pro.

Read the manuals, look up the best video tutorials, practices and advice on how to use it and try some little tricks with it yourself in the weeks and days leading up to events.

Develop your own little techniques and wizardry. Take it to the max.

Be the geek who knows all about how to make the most of your gear.

Make sure it's 100% reliable and carry out all the maintenance checks you'll need. Take a back up solution if you can.

Back up gear

For example: if you have no back up for your laptop, burn some tunes onto CDs. At least if your laptop crashes you'll be able to play from them.

Know exactly how everything works. Be relaxed with it. This'll free you to think about other things, such as..

2. Know your music

Knowing exactly what tunes you've got in the bag, case or on your hard drive is a huge bonus.

Knowing when to play the right tunes and who to play it to is just as important.

A deejay who cannot perform should either not be playing or has forgotten to check through his or her music recently.

Check my pro DJ tips on knowing all about your music.

3. Watch the crowd

Now, you can master your DJ equipment perfectly well.

You have the best tunes in town.

But if you're not paying attention to the heart and soul of the party, then none of that matters.

A real pro will be watching the crowd every few seconds.

He or she won't be just looking up every ten minutes, they'll be feeling the dancefloor out, connecting with them.

A top deejay won't be so immersed in their mix that they can't look up. They are comfortable enough with their mixing techniques that they can afford to check out who's dancing, who's going crazy and they'll see if people start to sidle off the dancefloor.

Reading reactions

You'll be able to gauge people's reactions. Maybe they're happy, drunk, drugged up, boys or girls, black, brown, white.

All of this is important when deciding how to react by choosing your next tune.

It's the intuitive part of DJing and it's why some make it and others don't.

Luckily you can find out much more about DJ Tips to read the club dancefloor.

4. Look great when DJing

Like it or not, how you look is part of your image and impact.

Some people even prefer a good looking guy or girl to someone who puts on the best tunes.

No really, it's true.

Ask your image conscious friends some tips on how to dress and adapt to the venue you're playing at.

People will relate better to you if you at least make an effort.

I'm not saying you have to look like Brangelina, but be smart, adapt and make the most of what you have.

When I say adapt, I mean that you'll need to know about the people who hang out there and they'll react better to you if they relate to your image.

You'll go further if you do that.

5. Don't get distracted from your set

It's all to easy for the weak willed boys amongst us to get distracted by a hot gorgeous girl coming up to the booth with a flirtatious smile and asking for Lady Gaga right this minute, because it's her birthday, she says. Be respectful, but remain in charge Be polite, but don't get distracted. Speaking to her is not more important than getting your mix right. Now, maybe it's just me but people always seem to ask me for stuff right when I'm lining up a tune and I need to concentrate. I just ignore them until I'm set and satisfied. Then I'll answer them, quickly. Remember your priorities Don't let them distract you from your set. Listen, be nice, but they can't change the course of a night that's going so well. The priority is your set. You need to remember that before some big breasted dolly puts you off. If you find that you have difficulties with saying no to requests then see exactly how best to handle them with my tips on dealing with booth requests.

6. Play the music they want and not what you want

Now let's get this straight.

While it's hard not to think this is all about you, numero uno, number one son of a gun and the king of the booth, it isn't. I know I just said you shouldn't get distracted by hotties asking you for music, leave that until the end. One of the best DJ tips is for you to pay attention to the whole crowd, not just one person asking for Lady Gaga. You see, people are there to have a good time and very few of them will actually be looking at and wondering about how cool the deejay actually is. It feels grand to lay down tunes that make people dance from a club booth, but you're here to make people dance. You're not playing to jerk yourself off in a booth. The more people that dance, the more successful the night will be and the more chance you have of getting bigger and better paid future gigs. So it's up to you to adapt to the crowd and not the other way around. The above DJ tips should help you play your set better, get invited back for more gigs and rock the dance floor.

This article and many more other DJ tips, advice and a free guide to getting DJ gigs can be found at The Total DJ Blog