Setting up laptop in clubs

[tomflynn]

Hi,

I have a question that bugs me out, for laptop dj's, i use my laptop with traktor pro and a X1 kontroller, and my audio interface is the native instruments Audio 8DJ.

What i'd like to know is how do you guys find setting up in a club after the dj before you has finished?
I always worry about having to plug in 4 pairs of phono/rca cables into the back of the mixer (or just 2 pairs if i'm just using the 2 decks in traktor).
And i always think i'll have to unplug the cd decks to make room for my cables. I bug out over all this stuff and i don't think i should be.

Also, if the last dj is playing on cd's, how do you go about mixing your first track on the laptop into his cd.
Its things like this that get to me in a way, i just wondered if anyone had any advice, suggestions or tips or experiences on how they do things when they set up in the booth.

Thanks for all your help and advice

Tom :)

[Kristoph]

I've become a bit of a ninja at this kind of thing - I moonlight as a technician in a nightclub so I've become very quick at setting up serato and NI boxes!

Obviously, the best way is to try and get set up at the beginning of the night, that way you can run the thru's properly so you don't need to fiddle with anything when you're about to go on. Granted, that's not always possible, so I tend to run my CDJs digitally into the DJM-800. This frees up 5 actual analog RCAs on the mixer for your traktor or serato box, and means you can take your control signal inputs from the CDJs without interfering with the playing track... you can just flick the digital switch on the back for those channels when you want to start using traktor. As far as mixing in the first track, I just use a timecode CD-R and do it the old fashioned way! my timecode CDs are custom though, I've burnt the orinal traktor control signal on the first 3 tracks, then put a few normal CD tracks in varying styles afterwards. This is just a little insurance incase it all goes tits up, I just push next track a few times on the CDJ, flick a switch and I have music again within 5 seconds, instead of waiting for a laptop to reboot or traktor to restart... Also handy if the previous DJ has only left you 30 seconds on the track and you've not setup your audio8 yet! I've never had traktor cut out on me, but I've seen it happen to some other DJ's - hence the extra safety precautions!

[meanstreetsmusic]

Allways pre-setup and soundcheck..

[Kristoph]

in an idea world yeah, but sometimes there just isn't time! sometimes you land in a strange country, flight delays or cancellations mean you have 15 minutes to get to the club and on the decks, if you're lucky you get to the hotel for a shower!

In cases like that it's sometimes an idea to put an audio 8 on your rider, and draw them a diagram of how it's supposed to be hooked up to your mixer... quite a few hire companies now carry NI and serato boxes...

[hotry]

you can put on CD on CDJ, while its playing - connect 3 plugs, then mix to one of traktors decks and then fade out CD currently playing, unplug it plug the remaining traktor plug and you're ready.

[dramirez]

This is a really interesting thread for me started by Tom as he has the exact same DJ set up as me and i have the same issues and problems.
There are 2 things i can get from this - A, hopefully some advise on how to do it in a more efficient way B, i can offer some advise as it's what i have to do every weekend in different clubs around the world.
How i currently do it is like this which seems to work - I don't get to the club early and set up, as Kristoph said it's not always possible when you're in a foreign country and you arrive late. I get to the club while the other DJ is playing and i set up around him towards the end of his set. I know this is annoying for the DJ but i try and do it as quickly as possible and keep out of his way. I currently use the CDJ's to control Traktor (i recently switched from Serato) and a trick i've learned is to take the phono from the CDJ which is already plugged into the mixer and connect it to the output of the respective channel on the Audio 8 box. Then i simply connect another phono from the CDJ to the respective input on the Audio 8 - the reason i do this is that you don't always have access to the back of the mixer and as the CDJ is already plugged into there it saves me scrabbling around the back. At the end of the set it's easy to put the cables back where they were into the CDJ's and the next DJ can carry on.
What has caused me problems in the past have been if the other DJ is using Traktor before me as there's not usually enough room in the DJ booth for 2 laptops and the connections have been taken already - the swap over is virtually impossible and has caused me much stress! Also what i find tricky is if the CDJ's are wired up digitally to the mixer meaning i have to connect all the RCA's from the Audio 8 into the CDJ's and the mixer etc - that means i'm around the back of the mixer with no light to see what i'm doing and i'm having to find the digital switch etc. What i do now is request that the sound engineer doesn't connect the CDJ's digitally to save me that issue.
I know some other DJ's who have a road manager who's job is to do all of this for them which is the ultimate way to do it - unfortunately that's expensive and i would loose half my fee so i don't have that luxury. Also i have had problems letting a sound engineer do it for me and twice it has been wired up wrong thus my first track didn't work and there was a 2 minute pause while i tried to figure out what was wrong!
I love using my laptop to DJ, it's the best way for me as it saves burning CDs but the setting up issue is always a nightmare for me which i don't enjoy - i get by and most of the time it's fine but sometimes i have real problems which ruin my experience.
I would appreciate it if people can share their experiences with me on this and hopefully we will be able to find a better solution to this issue.

[jamesb]

Ive always found if there is the issue of the previous DJ using a laptop and an impossible situation of switching over that getting a mic ready and having a tune with an epic intro works fine.

The crowd thinks you've just stopped to warm them up and give some love for 20 secs... no one is none the wiser!

I can imagine if you are actually a respected DJ the crowd would actually like to hear you appreciate the venue etc?

My particular fave atm for this situation is a bit of King of Africa..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giXDt3ceaN4

Other ideas would be great!

p.s. I always find asking ahead for for spare RCA/Phonos to be left on the remaining channels and out somewhere obvious saves diving in the dark behind the mixer.

[Simon The Gooch]

I use an Edirol PCR-300 controller and a Focusrite Saffire, which gives me all kinds of cool routing and performance options but finding a spot in the booth for a keyboard can be pretty rough. Setup time is pretty quick though as I've been using this setup and tweaking it pretty constantly for quite awhile now. I mix internally in Traktor so that cuts way down on setup time as I only need one mixer channel.

I'm thinking about building a little coffin-style flight case thing and having everything pretty much plugged in and ready to go when I walk out of my pad to go to the show. Many of my gigs here are underground raves so it's good to be able to tear own and be out the door quickly when the fuzz shows up lol...

Always have a stash of extra cables and adapters as well, you never know when you might have to plug into XLRs or 1/4". Also you get to be the hero when some other guy forgets their USB cable at home :)

[scottb]

This all sounds like a nightmare to someone who is going to start Dj'ing again after a 10 year break (and I wasn't much good back in the day)!

I could do with some advice on the simplest approach when using Traktor with 1 or 2 X1 controllers.

Think I'll start with one X1 controller which I am guessing will take up 2 mixer channels which ain't so bad depending on how many channels the previous DJ was using.

I know I sound dumb with all this but all I ever used was decks a mixer and beer so this is totally foreign and scary to me.

Feel free to move this post to a new novice thread =)

[Simon The Gooch]

What I really want is a dubplate cutter :D

[tomflynn]

Very interesting, early doors is a good point but like has been said not always possible.
An idea i'm having is to make myself a CD with 2 tracks on already mixed, thus making the length of the cd about 10mins, then when i get into the booth, mixing that CD in to the last dj's track, now i have given myself 10mins to plug my cables in and get setup.
This makes me a feel a bit more at ease, knowing that i have a bit longer to setup and i'm not interfering on the last DJ's time. I think kristoph mentioned something similar, i may have misunderstood what he said.
Also, a mini pocket torch is invaluable. Same goes for a few spare leads/cables in your bag, i don't rely on riders/promoters to give me cables and stuff, although they should, i can't stand in the booth and shout to everyone "he said he'd bring the cables!" so i figure take things into my own hands and don't rely on others, if they got it - cool, if not then i'm prepared.

That trick you said Dean about 'get the phono from the back of the cdj and put it into the audio8 is genius! That way you don't even have to mess with the back of the mixer. For me as i use the X1 kontrollers it is even better as i wouldn't have to connect phonos from the cdj to an IN on the audio8. I really really like that idea. I'm going to play with that idea at home and see what its like.

I worry too much about this stuff, and i shouldn't, but i just don't want to piss off the dj before or after me, and would like things to go smoothly.

Sometimes when i'm in my hotel room i will go online for pictures of the mixer, allen and heath or whatever mixer it is at the club, and i'll study the back of it, so that when i get there i'll kinda know a bit about its ports ont he back of the mixer. That's how much i worry about it!

The more tips/advice on forums like this, the better!

Great work! :) :D

[Kristoph]

I think kristoph mentioned something similar, i may have misunderstood what he said.

sorta ;) - what I meant is I burn custom control CDs - so I have the 3 standard traktor timecode tracks, then 5 or so music tracks after the timecode tracks. so if I have 4 CDJs, I bung 4 control CDs in then I have backup tracks either on the CDJs I'm not using with traktor, or on the thru's or digitals - just incase I need extra time to setup or incase my kit dies...

[Kristoph]

I think kristoph mentioned something similar, i may have misunderstood what he said.

sorta ;) - what I meant is I burn custom control CDs - so I have 3 timecode tracks, then 5 or so music tracks after the timecode tracks. so if I have 4 CDJs, I bung 4 control CDs in then I have backup tracks either on the CDJs I'm not using with traktor, or on the thru's or digitals - just incase I need extra time to setup or incase my kit dies...

[N1DrlPro]

This MINT this thread! :D:D

I sold my CDJ1000's too get a studio setup! Now I am looking at the NI S4, i know you's mentioned about taking a mixer to the club being all big n shit but the S4 actually has the Audio 8 built into it so i am thinking that all these RCA's leads flying al over is gonna be reduced too just 2 reet ?????

I was always curious as too the problem a laptop setup would have especially if you was't a top name dj (hence i am not) but like Deano says must bee better than actually fucking about with burning cd's! I loved my CDJ's But BURNING CDS IS WANK!! <<< sorry for the lingo but when you burn any amount of cds at 1 time you do get zapped!

Sssssooooooooo maybes' these issue's are a bit on the funky side but its all comes down too pro's & cons at the end of the day!

[Stephen]

Just scanned through the posts so forgive if this already has been mentioned:

Bass Kelph explains a brilliant way that involves using a combination or female RCA plugs etc

Anyway check out this vid of him explaining :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBx_RHjLh7Y

[tubmanaxton]

while its playing - connect 3 plugs, then mix to one of traktors decks and then fade out CD currently playing, unplug it plug the remaining traktor plug and you're ready.

I completely agree with hotry..I also think so..you can put on CD on CDJ..

[Kristoph]

I keep trying to get into rekordbox / cdj-2000s but for me traktor still gives me way more functionality when it comes to looping / cues and fx etc with the X1...

I think I will eventually head that way though, the cdj-2000s are still very much a "rider" item, very few clubs have stock of them (certainly not the calibre of clubs I'm currently booked in anyway!)