The most POPULAR DJing set-up right now 👉 7 types to choose from..

Back in the "old days" it was all so simple - You had two turntables and a mixer - but these days there's so much gear to choose from! Here's a breakdown of the seven most popular ways DJs like to spin their music..

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[LegendaryMaoMao]

Oh man, when you show No. 7 I feel appreciated and a smile was put on my face in all honesty, I've been DJing with my phone for almost 5 years with edjing first then WeDJ but always looked down on and I feel like I'm not different from every other DJ around the world, thank you so much for making this video :)

[larrycoffey]

Phil - Bravo!!! Will share this video w/DJ friends from my gen. Much better than me trying to explain. In my 60s, club/radio DJ '70s-'90s. I retired, bought a controller, and was LOST, CLUELESS! Have taken several of your courses, and this old man is now doing a club (special events/occasions), private events/parties, and charity fundraisers (1k+ attending).

[potterb]

8. The eighth way is Dj'ing with Ableton. When CDs phased out, I decided to switch my mindset and use Ableton only, without decks or a mixer in the middle. i'm not sure if it was the smartest move, as challenging and daunting as it was, but it forced me to think different about how to mix. Creativity was the advantage, but the disadvantage was losing the hands on feel and control of the ones and twos. However, I did recently buy a controller to marry it all together.

[terrancekayton]

Thanks for breaking all this down…and explaining what the heck a CDJ was. Been watching YT DJs for a year and haven’t understood what the hell a cdj was until now. 😆

[toadscrote]

I've definitely went overkill with a pair of SC6000s, Xone DB4 and Mk2 1210's. Bit much for a home setup but hey, I've been at it 30 years and that's what I wanted

[MrOldSkoolMan]

I have the Denon P4 & have never looked back. No risk of laptop freezes or hassle. Perfect for the mobile DJ.

[kennethmalafy]

Personally, I like the CDJs the best. I started on two turntables, went to controller (DDJ 1000) then a stand alone (Prime 4) then a CDJ set up. The two CDJs and a mixer give me the closest feeling to the old two turntables and a mixer back in the day.

[saintsteve]

I started on a controller with serato, then a prime go, then a prime 4 and now I’ve sold them all and bought a pair of technics 1210’s and a xone mixer and just use vinyl. I don’t play in clubs instead I stream on twitch. I just love mixing using vinyl so much more than digital.

[ChristianFusillero]

DJs nowadays also brought their DJ controller to a club to play on, the controllers really dominate nowadays and the mobility level has expanded throughout the days

[HouseJackBuilt]

Started with vinyl, switched to CD's when pioneer released their CDJ range. After that I switched to a computer, first with DVS and after a few years a controller. But after a few years I got really bored with playing digital. You don't have to put out any effort to mix records. I even tried DJ'ing with Traktor and Ableton connected but everything is so perfect it just bores me. Plus music on beatport is so cheap in comparison to vinyl that you just start buying too much music. I started to lose the fire inside of me... So I switched back to vinyl. It made me a better selector. Vinyl isn't cheap so you buy only what you like. You have to work every mix to get it right. I just love it. On gigs I don't always play on vinyl. Sometimes it's a stick and Pioneer CDJ's.

[lustforlow-end]

Hi Phil. I love your recommendation at the end: get a dj controller & use it with a laptop. I’m still using vinyl but I’m dying to go digital. Mixing vinyl is fun but it can get quite boring. I really want to go digital & explore loops, fx, slicer & all the other creative goodness that digital can bring! 👍

[bitangayves]

Hi Phil! I'm a laptop dj - used to feel self conscious using only a laptop to club and private party gigs, but if the crowd doesn't care and love how u make them feel, then who cares 😁. I feel vindicated hahaha. However, i just bought the dj inpulse control 500 from hercules, and can't wait to master it 😁😁

[rolobotoman]

6th option for the win.

I use to do this when Ableton became a thing. Cheap firewire interface, 10+ channels of tracks, effects, drum loops, basslines, sends, samples. And to make it all legit looking, I would bring a few weird ass vynils to spin here and there, use a a 25keys midi controller mapped to random things and a hardware gaget or two ( gameboy, arkaos, whatever).

How to go back to the archaic hardware DJ setup after tasting that much possibilities.
The only problem is that a setup like that keeps you really busy so you better bring a hypeman, have a crowd with more ears than eyes and maybe have some visuals going.

I came back to it in the last year playing a couple parties and all I used was a live mixer/controller and a laptop.

[rdPersonProductions]

Excellent video. Brilliant comparisons between the different methods and their historical use. Thank you so much 🙌

[NexuJin]

In the techno scene. I used saw quite lots of small controllers like NI Z1, X1, F1 or Xone K1/K2 being used. This was way before I finally decided to learn how to DJ myself when Covid started. Now I have grown to love the Xone K2. When I'm at home, I can use it as a supplemental controller beside the DDJ-400 in RekordBox (brilliant way to control all the FX1 and FX2 and sampler parameters). But I can also just as easy run it with only the laptop, K2 and my Minirig and go outside play some tunes while travelling relatively light.

Then there are also Ableton Live "DJ's" out there.

[altermx]

Very and i mean, VERY informative. Thanks A LOT Digital DJ Tips.

[CM-ysdo]

I wish I had found this video a few years ago when I was trying to decide what my set up would be - but thats half the fun too! With all of the research I did, I came to the same conclusion.... Controller and laptop every day. I do like Vinyl however and the conroller that I have (Mixars Primo) allows two phono inputs so you can play regular records or play around with the control vinyl either... if you already have decks, make sure your controller will take them... well worth it. Thanks Phil... you featured in my research too :D

[itshunterking]

Mainly use ableton to preform/DJ. However I’ve been getting into using Traktor with a TouchOSC setup instead of a physical controller. Feels at home to
How I preform in ableton but let’s me do more set switch ups on the fly. Only issue I’ve been having is getting “cue” to work without running headphones out of a physical controller

[feso]

great vid phil I want to add the traktor x1 z1 f1 to the list its still going till this time.
thank you so much for making this video

[djchrisstafford]

I asked about this last week! Great video and really well explained. Great work DDT