The first step to becoming a vinyl DJ is to acquire a pair of turntables.
You'll eventually need a mixer, headphones and a vinyl collection as well, but finding the right turntables is the most important step.
Even now, the Technics 1200 series turntable is the standard in the DJ world.
Other companies have made competing turntables, but in general the good ones are trying to duplicate the Technics 1200.
You can buy a pair of Technics 1200 turntables new, or many pairs are always for sale on the used market since they are so universal among DJs.
The most important requirement of turntables meant for DJing is that they have a direct drive mechanism.
This means that the platter of the turntable is connected directly to the motor without any intermediary gears or connections.
This confuses some people, especially those from the audiophile world because direct drive turntables are not known for the best quality sound: Most high end audio fans will prefer a turntable where the platter is connected to the motor indirectly through a pulley system since that isolates the record from vibration of the motor more efficiently.
The main advantage of the direct drive turntables is that they will come up to speed as fast as possible - when you hit play, the record will be at the ideal speed (and therefore the correct pitch) almost instantly.
It's also good for a DJing turntable to have a pitch control which will allow you to subtly adjust the speed of the record up and down in order to beat-match two different songs which were originally recorded at different BPMs.
You'll eventually need a mixer, headphones and a vinyl collection as well, but finding the right turntables is the most important step.
Even now, the Technics 1200 series turntable is the standard in the DJ world.
Other companies have made competing turntables, but in general the good ones are trying to duplicate the Technics 1200.
You can buy a pair of Technics 1200 turntables new, or many pairs are always for sale on the used market since they are so universal among DJs.
The most important requirement of turntables meant for DJing is that they have a direct drive mechanism.
This means that the platter of the turntable is connected directly to the motor without any intermediary gears or connections.
This confuses some people, especially those from the audiophile world because direct drive turntables are not known for the best quality sound: Most high end audio fans will prefer a turntable where the platter is connected to the motor indirectly through a pulley system since that isolates the record from vibration of the motor more efficiently.
The main advantage of the direct drive turntables is that they will come up to speed as fast as possible - when you hit play, the record will be at the ideal speed (and therefore the correct pitch) almost instantly.
It's also good for a DJing turntable to have a pitch control which will allow you to subtly adjust the speed of the record up and down in order to beat-match two different songs which were originally recorded at different BPMs.