Why do festival DJs need 4 CDJs? CDJs Explained
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- čas přidán 12. 06. 2024
- Today we discuss 5 reasons why festival DJs and artists perform with 4 CDJs.
Contents:
0:00 Intro
3:51 Reason 1
5:37 Reason 2
8:14 Reason 3
9:29 Reason 4
13:10 Reason 5
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Product link:
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You got me there, I was about to snap! lol
most pro DJ's pre remix their sets and play from tracks only making it look like they are dj' live less mistakes
I take it that your unaware of how epic a failure the Pioneer CDJ 3000 is with the plastic jog wheel spindles. The thermal throttling that you are referring to is a 2019 Mac book specific issue and a cooling pad will take the edge off. I use a Lenovo IBM that I have modded by using a swap disc and every time I boot up go into task Manager and close all the unnecessary programs and .exe files . I use Mixxx and Map all the functions to a custom built Midi controller based on an Ardunio board. Easier and far more reliable other than that I run Ubuntu Studio and Reaper DAW
@@JohannesNielsen what's wrong with the cdj-3000 jog wheels? everyone I have used in the last couple years have worked perfectly. the 4 we have at my work has never had a problem.
also the Intel 10th gen cpu's were notorious for excessive heat. thermal throttling is a thing. doesn't matter what computer you're using if it gets too hot it will slow itself down on purpose. cooling fans are not capable of providing deep cooling of the CPU in laptops.. they're simply meant to help with air flow. which will improve the efficiency of the laptops active cooling system.. but they themselves don't lower temperatures..
great that you have Ubuntu on your laptop. Linux used to suck for audio.. still sucks for audio professionals because it still cannot run Pro Tools.
not sure what point you're trying to make by just ranting about your own personal computer specs.. doesn't change the fact that your computer will throttle if it gets too hot.. like being outside in the direct sun at a festival. it's called physics man.
whats a CDJ??
Not sure. :/ Might stand for cookin dem jams. Like, you remove the plastic wheel from the top of that scary black kitchen appliance, stick a jar in it, and press the "Play/Pause" button. Jam has never tasted better.
Technology has come so far.
What's an all vinyl mix
Who is Afrojack?
@@burgerstorm1091 WHO?
ratio
Since Noone is touching them, they are the cleanest place to rack some lines.
😆🔥🤘
Hahaha but a groupies cleavage in the back room is much more fun...!! Lollll
Fuck yea
Whew
Pretty much. I can think of maybe 3-4 djs offhand that are not turntablists that can successfully and consistently use 3. 4 is just dumb shit
Also, the subsequent DJ can use the extra CDJs to transition in while the current artist is finishing without dropping the sound.
Very true
backline tech here: this is the actual reason. i've done countless festivals with DJs and i've seen their tech rider every time. 95% use 2 and the other 2 are there for any support acts, plus they're already wired up just in case a cdj goes out and they need a backup.
That's bollocks! The previous dj will only be playing one tune so you use the other deck!
lol you only need one to transition
@Mick Barnes you only need one extra to start over, and the 4th is a backup. Just the way it is.
One to play their prerecorded mix, three to look cool
In quite a few cases, very true
Real
Another reason I noticed for having four decks in a festival rig is deck orientation. Some DJs like having the mixer
[💽🎛💽] in the middle,
[🎛💽💽] on the left,
[💽💽🎛] or the right.
Having four decks split by a mixer in the middle [💽💽🎛💽💽] means that you have all three orientations available with zero re-arranging/cabling. (And of course the ability to do more complex mixing)
What DJ (that actually mixes) puts the mixer on the side?
@@the1version422 some people are not ambidextrous and can only control a faders with their left hand and a platter with their right.
@@the1version422 i imagine this could be the case when you wanna scratch with your strong hand.. and a song is already playing on the same side. Disable the crossfader for the playing song and scratch in on the next deck..
Watch the first or second DMC world Championship that Qbert won. He picked up the left Turntable and moved it to the far right in the middle of his set lol.
Also there are festivals with 2 compete 4 deck set ups at each stage. I started seeing it way more often after Skrillex b2b 12th planet @ ultra 2012. They killed the mixer at like 45min into the set, Sonny (skrillex) started getting everyone to chant "mixer, mixer"
@@the1version422 tbh i thought it was weird at first too until i played somewhere where they had 3 cdjs and i caught myself only using the side that had 2 of the 3 cdjs cause it was a lot less moving around and turning my head if i didn't have the mixer in the middle and i'm lowkey thinking of using that setup if i ever upgrade from an all in one to seperate mixer and decks
As a DnB DJ 3 or more is basically essential to my mixing. Double drops are pretty common and then having your next song queued up too requires at least 3
This is very true. I'm totally getting to the limit because I only had money for 2 Players and 1 Mixer. DnB Sets get waaay more dynamic with 3-4 decks.
gotta avoid them long intros
cuz ur miximg 3min songs lol
Very true, dnb is a bit of a special case. Some dnb djs use a 3rd cdj for drum loops to fade in and out of
was just going to say this 👍🏼 dnb needs 3-4, using 2 is boring !
As a DJ preparing to make the jump to CDJs; I couldn't have asked for a better explanation. Thank You so much.
Glad it was helpful!
As a new DJ and long time festival goer, my mind was BLOWN by all the information you just provided. Especially the concept of interpolation. Great great great super high quality content bro 😍
Glad to help!
In Techno, dubstep and Drum & Bass DJ culture (im sure other genres as well) its normal people have 2 or 3 tracks playing at the same time. Bass from one track, tops from another then a third one coming in for the transition for example is very common. 3 Decks with 1 for backup is a must.
Back in the jump up days one deck strictly for Wu tang and PE samples lol
Deep Chicago soulful house like I play I have vocals, speeches, and hand drum tops and percussion breaks and glitches going all set long
I remember watching Armin Van Buuren's video a long time ago and was like, "THAT'S WHY!!"
I remember watching Armin Van Buuren's long time ago ... that's it. I hate COVID...
Just because it was repeated many times, I need to step in and clarify that "audio upscaling" is not a thing. What the CDJ does is internally process your audio at 96khz 32-bit float. This is great in a DAW like Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic where you're mixing anywhere from 8 to 100+ tracks with dozens of sensitive FX like compression and reverb, each one introducing a tiny bit of noise that adds up. But here, the CDJ is only playing one track with time-stretch & pitch-shift, so any perceived improvement will be extremely subtle. Worse still, once the audio leaves your CDJ, it either goes out the RCAs with 115db SNR (roughly 19 bits), or the digital coax output (20 bits). This is the same output as the CDJ-1000 from over 20 years ago.
There are many reasons to like the CDJ-3000, but "upscaling" is not one of them.
Yeah, that "upscaling" thing is clearly just marketing bullshit. And a lot people are falling for this.
Upsampling is still very real. This is required to perform non-lineair operations without introducing aliasing. The amount of fx is not really relevant. With lineair operations, upsampling doesn't add any benefit. Usually upsampling will be 2, 4 or even more times the samplerate. So, a 44.1kHz source is likely to be oversampled to 88.1kHz.
The CDJ 3000 has reliability issues the jog wheel spindles are plastic and often fail
What about using a optic fibre line out. I used to dub from a Sony CD player to a Sony Mini Disc using an optic fibre cable
Bill Lambert, exactly!
When I first started in 2003, it wasn’t long before I was on 2 turntables, 2 CDJs and my laptop when I did a Women’s music festival for 4 years. Now, I still have 3 CDJs, 1 Controller and 2 Turntables in 2021. It’s not only more fun, it’s just more accessible for creativity when you approach DJing as a musician, like how I tend to do. Great video! Thank you!
You are awesome
As a dubstep dj, we throw triples and quads in too... So having 4 cdjs is always alot of fun...
This is literally everything. Thank you dearly for making this video. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for including celsius in this and I guess all upcoming videos from now on! Much appreciated.
Thank you for answering a question I have been asking for many years!
Two reasons. 1. redundancy 2. flexibility.
I need at least 3 when mixing. I like to have two tracks double dropped and a third one ready to play the next song to transition.
This
So you basically use two just in case one fails? Trying to understand this!
@@chordandjocks He means he'll have 2 decks playing simultaneously (two drops playing at once) and then uses the 3rd deck to transition into a new song.
@@chordandjocks There are often times I have 3 tracks going at once. Or having two tracks together and getting the next one ready.
great video! both educational and enjoyable! production quality is on point, presentation skills there, your hand motions and clear speech and writing really help! thank you for the work you have clearly put into your craft :)
something ive always been wondering man, thanks for this
No prob!
Great video! I've been spinning for over a decade and I learned a lot! Very useful vid!
Wow this is an epic explanation of the value of CDJ’s. Thanks for this explanation!
Great video! Thank you!
Super cool and informative Video. Thanks!
Great insight here !!!💯💯💯 thx dude!!! 👊🏾🙌🏽😎
So much work on this video 🔥🔥🔥 Love it 🔥🔥
I really love your all videos Sir,i have lot of knowledge through your videos,thank you
loved the info on the old disco setup i always wondered why ministry had it like that lol
Thanks for the great insights!!!
Great perspective. Thank you.
Great info. You really got a deep understanding of DJing. I just play music. But great info to keep in my back pocket.
Loving the content!
well done, coming from a skratch head, finally understand. earned this sub. wow, always wondered about what the club/ dj scene is in the midwest, especially coming from the bay (daly city/ peninsula area - the mecca of skratching)
Love the knowledge. So badass the ravine spin back riser made it to ddjt labs. Heck yea
Nice information that turned into a documentary. You should do another historical video about hip hop and early electronic music both.
You're a good explainer. I don't dance, go to clubs, or listen to EDM, but I've seen Krafty Kuts with multiple CDJs, was only mildly curious, but your videos are so damned interesting, I ended up sitting around for 20 minutes listening to you talk about it anyway.
You are doing a great job!
Excellent video, I learned alot, thanks
very informative DJ history lesson, thanks!
Loved that u brought picture of James Hype when you talked about creativity, perfect exsample :)
He’s dope!
@@priyonjoni he really is! - and so are you!👍🏻 you inspired me to put some time into scratching, like really learning it🙏🏼🙏🏼👏🏻
Referring to this video I did send email. Thanks for sharing . Regards from The Netherlands !
Thank you so much for this information. You rock bro
Yes, I remember what Armin taught me and yes 2 CDJ for back up, but great in depth knowledge, it’s amazing how technology has changed in DJ world 🌎 it’s incredible, I just upgraded to DDJ 400 it’s amazing bit of kit
Awesome video!
Great video!
I play in a Club and I use 3 CDJs , totally love that set-up... helps to trow some tricks or just be really prepared for something big
Great video. Thanks.
Coming from the early days of dance music. The 3 turntable was also and mainly used for acapellas and sound effects records overlaying to what you were playing or as a filler between mixes.
Jeff Mills and Andy C are the guys who use the full set up to its potential.
There’s others of course. But those two just work it so well.
Great educational video. I guess I should start learning CDJs. Been using 1200s since I started DJing. And yes, please let us know how to grab an XMG in the States. Thanks for the info. Cheers.
Great review going way back! I have a question for which I have never found a good response. Is it possible to have your music library on a external disk for Serato DJ and also use it for RekordBox DJ? I also heard Mixed in Key 10 allows cue points to be used in both programs. Would this work? I value your opinion
main reason is that looks professional and people watch this amazing setup and think that dj is really good because he has a lot of plates
Me: Looks at my 20yr old 1210s and feels old...
Me too!
@@THEJUUICE I'm slowly embracing the whole digital scene, but it's a slow process... My back thanks me though :)
@@dorsetengineering I understand, I'm definitely getting into the digital realm Which to me is super easy and actually is cheating when it comes to DJ'ING. But, I'm still keeping my technique 1210s for life. The techniques just don't break - Just your back!!
Great video 👍👍👍👍 People tend to jump to conclusions when they see certain things that they aren’t used to seeing. Like you mentioned the RCA cables not hooked up. As a spectator how does one know if HID mode or the Digital connections are being used?
Honestly sets can be prerecorded, rehearsed, etc. I imagine top performers have a physical or mental playlist to put on a stellar show.
Thanks again 👍
damnit....this man made so many great points within 8 minutes, I now want to buy some cdjs. lmao
Same
So informative thank you! Also where can we buy that laptop?
Excellent. Thank you
I use a 4 deck setup primarily for adding effects and making better transitions, but I also some times get 4 songs rolling together but more of a rare thing.
well, i thought most of DJs use free CDJ to charge their phone.
Thanks man for this! I was always curious to why that was the standard set up for festivals. And I saw you gave James Hype a s/o. He def gets busy with all four decks!
You're actually the first person on the internet I've seen using the Samson Q9U. This was unintentionally helpful with setting up effects.
I love using the Q9U for setups where I just want to plug in USB direct. But I will say I prefer my SM7B over all, which I now use more often.
This was great
The James Hype shoutout. 🥳🥳
Brilliant work 👍👍
Back when I used virtual DJ, I would use 4 decks to make crazy mashups or essentially use a DVS like a DAW. It was really fun and you can still do it with any 4+ deck system
Great presentation bravo
I've been DJing for almost 30 years and have played at festivals. Spot on, and I learned some additional reasons of the 4 deck setup and really interesting information as to why festivals nowadays will probably always lean towards the industry standard CDJ3000s and DJM if not for consistency for artists for production and sound quality.
Hey I'm a producer and I'm thinking of getting into djing
Do you often dj tracks you've made?
@@lilaclazaI used to. But I've started playing more Bass House, Drum and Bass,Indie Dance and Melodic House. Not all on the same set lol but I had been making tech house and I'm trying to step away from that. Therefore I would like to start remixing and creating bass house and Indie Dance.
@@EricBishard ah alright, thank you for the input!
I prefer 3 decks. If Im riding a mix on 2, the dj after me can insert drive and cue up on the 3rd. Thanks for all this info. Great video.
What you need to understand, is that a star DJ (Let's say Carl Cox) has a very specific set-up with special routings. They even have tour manager hooking up their set-up before. It's not like they will wait for the other DJ to let one CDJ available at the end of the set and plug their USB key at the last minute. A guy like Sasha will have RMX 1000s at the end of every single CDJs, some CDJs will be routed to a laptop, some not. They will not take the chance that the DJ before change stuff, switch channels, leave an FX or a cross fader on and try to figure out what is going on.... I, for instance, will use one channel specifically for browsing tracks. So sometimes you will see the set-up of one DJ and the other will play on another set-up.
your videos are so good
I live in South Africa and would be interested and purchasing One Of those laptops tested in the desert.Thanks for always bringing great content.
The two additional CDJs are use for back up
Great Video! Nuf said
I just learned more in this 8 minutes than I have in the last 16 years
Very interesting.THX
Thank you so much for this important message PRI YON JONI ❤
very knowledgeable!
Recently started playing with 4 decks and it's a game changer, if for no other reason than being able to load up several tracks ahead so you're not frantically searching later on. But god it's really fun to be able to always have two tracks playing
Great video. What is the difference between HID mode and 'Rekordbox' mode on CDJs(the option on the top of the 'LINK' button)?
This video should explain it czcams.com/video/fzKXGCDVoiU/video.html
Nah I have worked backlining and am an audio operator by profession.
It really comes down to it being way easier to just have the same gear for everyone. It keeps rental company's from having to stock 50 different controllers. Everybody can use cdjs.
And some djs specify 3 or 4 cdjs in their rider so the table they get has probably already 4 decks on them, so why remove one or two?
Vinyl can be a mess on huge sound systems if they are not setup perfectly.
Having showcontrol mode can be a huge sweat saver sometimes.
Audio quality is not really a problem as long as we get digital signal that hasn't been converted to often, is less then at least 48khz or comes from an mp3.
I play triple decks standard mainly to speed up my work load for double dropping tunes even triple drops. flexibility is key to a good set up
Great content. I was interested in purchasing a CDJ-3000. In this video you indicate the maximum operating temperature is 150F. I just spoke with my sales rep and he indicated that on page 83 of the CDJ-3000 manual, it says 95F. I just verified this. The manual says 35C which converts to 95F. What is the source of your information? I am not trying to be confrontational, I just want to make sure I understand this parameter as I live in the South where we experience temps greater than 95F many times in the summer.
Very informative
Great video, as always. Would you care to elaborate more on audio improvement in cdj3000? I mean I can imagine it would work with mp3 but is it even possible to improve the quality of wav file? Sounds like cheap standalone speakers and home audio system back in the days. They also had an audio chip that change audio so it would be more pleasant to the listener but that was kinda cheap trick
No prob! It's a process of interpolation. It's analogous to how there is tech that can upscale a 1080p video to 4K, and make it look 4K. It's a process of filtering and predicting pixels based on the available information. Check out Topaz Labs if you're interested in that. For audio, what that means is, there is enough information in a 44.1khz sample rate to predict what the waveform will be for 96khz. It fills the open gaps of the audio sample with what the computer predicts is an intermediate point. The result is a higher resolution sample rate. The CDJ-3000 can do this in real time with any audio. Whether it's an MP3 or a WAV file. The results are apparent when you're listening through high quality studio monitors or on a large system. I used to believe you can't really tell the difference between 44.1khz and anything above. But it does become apparent, especially when time stretching the audio with Master Tempo aka Key Lock. There's more resolution to work with, and the result is tighter and more accurate. You don't get the muffled kicks or softening of the snare attacks.
@@priyonjoni DSP guy here. Your explanation is close but not exact. When upsampling you don't gain information. Actually the information is exactly the same as with 48 kHz since audio above 20kHz is pointless, we just can't perceive it. What you get though is higher time resolution which has advantages when using pitch effects or playback speed shifts. Depending on how both of them are implemented you may get really good or somewhat "old school" sound. Also you have advantages with non-linear effects like distortion. If not properly upsampled, you would get spectral foldback at Nyquist frequency and that can sound rather strange.
In theory you could use all that techniques in software, too but as you correctly stated: a PC has a lot more to do any may be unstable (esp. on Windows - my own experience). Coupled with a good interface you would get good sound, too. Traktor is for instance way better with pitch shifting than something like Mixxx.
In practice nice, specialized hardware is always better, since it's purpose built and allows for lower latency.
I need 3 for sure. Keep the blends going as a techno head or mixing dnb
In drum & bass it’s common practice. You have someone like AMC turn up, the expectation is that he has at least 4 cdjs.
Instant subscribe
Please tell us more about the XMG laptop. Thanks.
Video coming soon
i use the 3rd and 4th deck to play either acapella tracks or simple beat/clap loops to add a layer of depth to older tracks...
I used to DJ from a laptop for years. In hindsight I felt very disconnected from the crowd. I much prefer just using a USB or Vinyl.
How does one become familiar with the base music, in order to know you want to mix it? What are the typical logistics of the performance of the original music? Is it usually a band of a few pieces working in a studio? An individual using a synth?
I use Pioneer DDJ controllers almost exclusively (im not rich or important enough for CDJs yet). Some of them access to four decks. You switch between the 4 & control them on the two main decks. So far the only time I have gone over two decks is to mix in a loop or sound bite. Also possibly to use the stems function in virtual dj to create an acapella on the third deck and drop it In for a mash-up. Yeah I know Im using Virtual DJ. I get a lot of hate about that. I really wanted to use locally produced software like Serato over anything else but VDJ works natively with all my other gear. I use my Novation Launchpad for example to launch samples, loops and beats within a song. IDK. I feel like I should be using Serato cause of the CDJ thing. (They all seem to run with Serato or Rekordbox) But maybe its just the peer pressure getting to me.
and that's why i love dnb the mixing/beat matching is standard and 4 decks setup is also pretty standard there are some 2 deck djs but ya the thing is we like the search the next song also because most dnb tracks aren't that long and in my latested track there are 2 combos that make use off 3 tracks and the thing you said about laptops, just use a beefy cpu and only use that laptop for music the chances of falling and thermaltrottle is so low nowadays but i get your point that a cdj setup is safer
when will rekordbox dj will have folder serch and work native with rane mk2?
How do you get the xmg in the us? Definitely need that!
Video coming soon
because you brought digital dj tips, phill when talking about the merge effects on the flx6 said that at 4 min and 51 sec says "the truth is that ITS ALL pre recored in the studo" and its ok because i dont know about you but if you were playing tomorrowland with millions of ppl watching (just on youtube) i would also prerecord it
Just a simple question PJ, what 4 channel mixer has a feel as good as battle mixer with relationship to cross fader and channel fader?
Not sure about 4 channel, but my favorite multi channel mixer for its crossfader and butter smooth channel faders is actually the DJM-V10. I know it sounds insane being such a huge mixer, but I love cutting on it.
Is this a CDJ ad? 😀
Seriously though - great vid! 👌
1 day ago I got rid of 1 cdj... Now I still have 3 cdj's 1 technics1200SL and 1 DJS 1000 sampler. The reason was that on my DJM V10 I couldn't link 4 cd;'s together with the turntable on channel 1 and the sampler on another, despite the 6 channels, they can only link 3 cdj's. The 4th keeps blinking. How can you say 4 can be linked? I did see Carl; Cox actually operate an entire show with multiple cdj's. Am I missing something here? I started in the early 80's. We had no digital gear and in the clubs mostly 2 SL1200's. The originality of ' mistakes' or faults was part of the show. (people accidently leaning on the dj station... It was the trick to solve that with echo's delays or reverbs. That was less static than the 'perfection' nowadays. I am not saying I was the best dj at all... But calling people using a laptop and computerized DSj's.. I think we should stop that . It is a true insult for the real Dj's out there, Like calling David Guetta the nr 1 DJ? When on 1 of his shows the devices are not even on?! He is definetliy a great producer, but a DJ??? We should not mix ( no pun) a real DJ such as Frankie Knuckles and early vinyl DJ's to machine users that push buttons and let computers do the work. Only reason we should be choosing for the CDJ's is that we don't have to carry the big crates anymore- Although selecting the records for the specific nights also is lost, which was the cherry on top of the performance. And last but least, the quality of true vinyl, the feeling of the record, the lowering of the needle and the smell of vinyl (even the sleeve)... That is what a DJ had/ has... Anyway. Thanks for the review. And a tip for all starting dj's: Never BYOG on beach parties;)