Best DJ Setup Under 800$. From Bedroom DJ to Berlin’s Finest.
I’m writing this article for those bedroom DJs (who I was somewhat recently) to genuinely help in taking the next step in their DJ journey. It is incredibly important to keep practicing your DJ skills such as selection, beat-matching, and the ability to maintain the right energy throughout your mixes to end up playing in a proper club, and for that, you need the right equipment.
I made mistakes investing in the wrong equipment at first, such as controllers, mixers, and headphones that simply don’t do justice to your DJ skills. Thus, having two CDJs and a proper mixer is a must in order to really get to know the art of DJing in this day and age (vinyl heads would disagree of course).
Without further ado, here is a perfect DJ setup for your home studio that will make you a way better DJ.
2x Pioneer CDJ 350 + Xone 23 Two-channel mixer
So why this particular setup? Let’s start with CDJs.
Most of the modern Pioneer CDJs that you will see in the clubs have big screens where you can observe waveform, BPM, and sync function. Some of them even have insane touchscreens that let you slide through folders fast and do swift loops on the go. The problem is, they are very expensive and truthfully useless in the home environment. The above-mentioned functionality will make you a somewhat lazy DJ when you have so many crutches to assist your lack of skill. As a result, your overall mixing style becomes stale.
With CDJ 350 things are a bit different. No waveform, no sync, and no fancy big display. Loops are tricky to execute. So why would you buy these then? Well, they are cheap (around 500 USD for a pair on a second-hand market). For this kind of budget, you will either get a silly overpriced controller that is as good as djing on a laptop or end up having nothing to DJ with. But most importantly CDJ 350 trains you to beat-match by ear which is somewhat close to vinyl djing, except you see the BPM on the screen. After getting a pair of those for my home studio my DJ skills skyrocketed. I can easily mix two tracks together not looking at the screen at all. Moreover, I can beat-match a track played off of vinyl which came in handy after a couple of performances with some of my mates who play lots of vinyl.
As for the mixer, Xone is a top-notch band to buy from. In my humble opinion, the sound coming from any Xone mixer is better than on Pioneer. Thus, the entry-level mixer Xone 23 would be your best friend.
At first, I made the mistake of getting a secondhand mixer Ecler Nuo which sounded brilliant but was already quite tired from use when I got it, and eventually burned after several months of use.
Thus, getting a secondhand mixer is definitely not an option. Mixers are probably one of the most complicated parts of your DJ setup that is hard to fix. So in a way getting it secondhand is buying a mystery bag that may have full of unpleasant surprises that you cannot anticipate. But if you still think you want get it secondhand then buy it from a trusted friend or an established shop with a warranty.
Then, after watching several YouTube videos on affordable mixers I got a new four-channel Behringer DJX750. That was another fatal mistake… The YouTubers that might have been sponsored by the brand made me think it was a great buy. By all means, it looked like one. It has many effects, four channels, a microphone connection, etc. However, the sound was horrible. The low-frequency knob would essentially take out half of the track’s volume. That slowed me down from becoming a better DJ for at least half a year.
Lesson learned, don’t buy equipment just because several famous YouTubers recommended you something. Always, test the equipment beforehand in your friend’s studio or in the stores.
With that said, I’m not sponsored by any brands and have zero intention of you spending money on something you don’t need. I know DJs who don’t have any equipment at home and they still do great. For me though, having something to practice with is a must. Putting hours into your work regardless of your talent is the key to success (whatever it may be).
I hope you found this article helpful. I will continue writing about the art of DJing, sharing track lists and reviewing equipment in the near future, so if you are interested in that, follow me on Medium.
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