Sign In:     

Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Music for wedding DJ's
Do you buy cd's and convert to mp3, belong to music download service for current music or do you belong to a music service to link to virtualdj or?? I also use a program called otsjuke for non-videos because I like the auto fade from song to song and the dynamics to monitor the incoming song for loudness etc.
 
Posted Wed 14 May 25 @ 12:26 pm
I'm old school. I have 1000s of cds and still buy them, albeit mostly music for my personal taste. Belonged to Top Hits USA and Promo Only for years and years but stopped them because I don't feel I need all that new music anymore. For any new music that I feel I need, or for most requests, I'll use Xtendamix (video service) or Amazon music.

Worst case, I'll go to YouTube or Spotify if I can't find a song anywhere else, and if it's to make a client happy. That said, I don't DJ to make the DJ community happy. I DJ to make the client happy.
 
I agree with the above poster. Either start building a library with ripping CDs, Amazon MP3 purchases, or spend marginally more and get MP4 videos on Xtendamix.

I honestly think if you spent a couple hundred through Xtendamix, you could have a great library of standards from 50s-00s and have videos if you ever need them on top of it! They have a DEEP library to pull from.
 
Yes a big up for Xtendamix too.

They have a very wide collection with not much missing, some videos are lyrics only but that's only if there is no original.

Most of their older collection is only 480 so I use Topaz AI to upscale them to 1080 and no issues whatsoever.
 
kradcliffe wrote :
Yes a big up for Xtendamix too.

They have a very wide collection with not much missing, some videos are lyrics only but that's only if there is no original.

Most of their older collection is only 480 so I use Topaz AI to upscale them to 1080 and no issues whatsoever.


Curious about Topaz AI. Can you tell me how much bigger the files are from the original on average, in percentage?
 
They are quite large, but then you can use Handbrake to compress them down again. Usually a 4 minute mp4 after running through Handbrake is 150mb or so.
 
DeeJay Doc Z wrote :
Do you buy cd's and convert to mp3, belong to music download service for current music or do you belong to a music service to link to virtualdj or?? I also use a program called otsjuke for non-videos because I like the auto fade from song to song and the dynamics to monitor the incoming song for loudness etc.


Your best bet, is to find someone on craigslist selling DJ harddrives. This ofcourse depending on your area. In my area I see posts of DJs selling harddrives already crated on craigslist or marketplace. You dont have to look very hard. Most DJ pools range between $15 (mp3 only) to $40 (maybe video) a month. Pools will have a back catalogue, bit they will be limited. If you are going to DJ weddings, you will be playing 95% timeless classics, you will only need a select very few current tracks. Couples tend to want music they grew up with, assuming they are in their 20s or 30s, do the math and start from there. I used a couple of pools and still had to resort to rip some youtube songs for specific requests, ex first dance songs, or some obscure sht that dj pools dont carry. I know its taboo in the DJ community, but we have all done it at one point or another.
 
djdonn wrote :
I'm old school. I have 1000s of cds and still buy them, albeit mostly music for my personal taste. Belonged to Top Hits USA and Promo Only for years and years but stopped them because I don't feel I need all that new music anymore. For any new music that I feel I need, or for most requests, I'll use Xtendamix (video service) or Amazon music.

Worst case, I'll go to YouTube or Spotify if I can't find a song anywhere else, and if it's to make a client happy. That said, I don't DJ to make the DJ community happy. I DJ to make the client happy.


Yes sir! For off the wall requests, I use a aux cable connected to the 4th channel of my controller and play from my phone or tablet through youtube or spotify, especially if its some bs dumb song I dont want to
Permanently keep/download
 
I appreciate all the help. Last time I turned on my lappys was 2011 and that was when I was doing house/club videos. The last wedding/party I did was in the early 90's.
 
DeeJay Doc Z wrote :
I appreciate all the help. Last time I turned on my lappys was 2011 and that was when I was doing house/club videos. The last wedding/party I did was in the early 90's.


Never too late to get back on the tracks. I also stopped DJing all together for a gap of 4 years before, not only getting back to it, but doing something new to me all together....weddings. I suggest you hit up local DJ Facebook groups, offer to tag along as a roadie just to get your feet wet again and have a refresher of how weddings usually go.
 
Be careful about licensing. A few years ago Yahoo had a music service. There stuff was DRM protected. Yahoo decided to get out of the music business and millions of users could no longer access music they purchased. So, be aware of where you buy online stuff from.

Personally, I try to stay away from ripping from sources like Youtube. Quality can be iffy and, the artists don't get any royalties.