Video DJ Question...

[RaphaelJohn]

Ok, so I've been djing for almost 2 years now, and never thought I'd be making the transition to doing video, however a new night venue that I may be spinning at more often has option for video. My question to you video dj's is this:

-Do you keep all your videos on the HDD on your lap top, or do you have an external that you use?
-If you use an external, what size, and is it USB/FIREWIRE/Thunderbolt?
-Do you use Serato Video or Mix Emergency?
-Last but not least: How many videos should I have before starting to spin video?

Thanks in advance guys

[DJ ATX]

-Do you keep all your videos on the HDD on your lap top, or do you have an external that you use?
-If you use an external, what size, and is it USB/FIREWIRE/Thunderbolt?
-Do you use Serato Video or Mix Emergency?
-Last but not least: How many videos should I have before starting to spin video?

Thanks in advance guys

Can't answer the Serato question since I use Virtual DJ.

I made the move to video DJing last year. And here's been my experience.

If you are going to keep video on an external, make sure it it has firewire connection for faster loads. As far as videos, I would say at least 60-75% of your set. The rest you can use some vid clips that can be played for when you don't have the video. I spin a lot of Top40 remixes and EDM. So some music I have I do not have videos to. I typically keep most of the current stuff I spin on my internal HD. A lot of the vids I don't use go into the external. I do my music that way too.

Since you are getting started, let me give you a few sites to get videos from:

www.vjstreet.com - great for Top40 remixes and also has quite a few old school selections. 80's and such. You can also get a lot of VJ tool like the small vid clips I mentioned above.

www.dtvideos.net - make sure you go to the .net site the .com site is a porn site. lol. This site has a lot of EDM vids if you spin that.

www.crooklynclan.net - nice little pay per video spot. I use this if I can't find it anywhere else.

www.smashvidz.com - nice video pool, but their videos have tags (annoying little tags that show up at the bottom left of the video with all the info: song title, artist, where you got it, etc.)

You can also use 8th wonder, but their vids are not very high resolution. One spot I spin at has a 60ft screen with an HD projector and you can really tell the difference.

Hope that helps.....

[TrueWind]

I personally keep all my videos inside my HDD. Since i am using a macbook pro with the SSD / HDD "Mod", My HDD is 750 GB, so plenty of room for videos. I would suggest you doing videos ONLY if you will actually take the time to understand how the basics work. Even though it is in a way similar to mixing Audio, you are not only Adding the visual perspective into this (meaning that visual efx come into play, Video Quality, Video size, Formats, etc..) but there are more things that you MUST worry about in terms of offering a good to high quality perofrmance.

In terms of software, I hands down recommend MIX Emergency. Although I do not own ME, I do Own Serato Video, and I must say... Serato VIDEO SUX compared to ME. ME is just that much superior in terms of quality and features. (Mind that you cannot use Serato 2.4 and above with ME for now, nor can you use Rane's newer 61 / 62 mixers for now).


As far as number of videos, I would suggest getting into a pool that can offer you a solid catalog. I would recommend having AT LEAST 400 videos. My current collection is of 1589 Music Videos, and I have been getting these from pools since Late December 2011. Also, some songs may not have a video for them (esp. Remixes) so be ready to create your own Edits.)

Before you go out and drop Big Money into this, I suggest doing the following:
- Join a Pool that is cheap (maybe like 25$ a month?) that offers videos. Download a few of them, and download the demo version of both Serato Video and ME. Give it a try! Spin and see if you REALLY want to do this. It's not an easy thing to do (like most things). If you enjoy it, and you are sure this is what you want to do, then go ahead and drop some big bucks on a) ME or V-SL (only 1 is necessary), and b) Get yourself into a GOOD Pool where the video quality is HIGH.

If you can, avoid the "pay per video" types of pools.

Smashvisions is no more as they merged with this company:
http://www.vj-pro.com/?dis=true

It is expensive, but of the best quality out there.

[VJ LouNYC]

Ok, so I've been djing for almost 2 years now, and never thought I'd be making the transition to doing video, however a new night venue that I may be spinning at more often has option for video. My question to you video dj's is this:

-Do you keep all your videos on the HDD on your lap top, or do you have an external that you use?
-If you use an external, what size, and is it USB/FIREWIRE/Thunderbolt?
-Do you use Serato Video or Mix Emergency?
-Last but not least: How many videos should I have before starting to spin video?

Thanks in advance guys

-I keep my videos that I use for gigs on an external 1tb firewire drive. The transfer is faster. no lag.
-I use both mix emergency and serato video. I use serato video because the rane mixer doesn't support ME. I would HIGHLY recommend that you use mix emergency. Great program.
-You should start spinning videos when you have at least 3/4 of videos from your mp3 playlist.

good luck.. it takes preparation to start spinning. get all the connections you need. make sure your laptop can handle it. get familiar with effects and transitions.

what mixer will you be using?

[VJ LouNYC]

be careful with cheap pools. they don't have quality control. they have been known to crash your system. join smashvision and buy a few credits. get good videos, they are worth it.

my collection is over 15K videos. I carry about 4500 videos in my portable drive for gigs.

[VJ LouNYC]

Just saw your profile, since you already have the 57, definitely get mix emergency. the new version is crazy. good luck.

[RaphaelJohn]

ATX, thank you so much. Yeah, some of my good friends are VJ Blaze and DJ Gregg R on Crooklyn. We've been super busy so I haven't really had time to talk to them about video yet. I met VJ Marx owner of SmashVidz not too long ago. Real cool dude. I want to find a video pool that you can pay a year subscription with unlimited downloads. I think SV used to be that way before they merged with another site.

[RaphaelJohn]

TrueWind = I think vj-pro.com is a pay per video site, and you've got to pay $19.99 a month as a membership fee.

[DJ Matt]

-Do you keep all your videos on the HDD on your lap top

yes i keep them on the laptop, and i back them up at home on a external

-Do you use Serato Video or Mix Emergency?

no

i use Virtual DJ

How many videos should I have before starting to spin video?

how many songs did you feel you needed before you started Djing with audio?

if you have DJd before, then im sure you know that 40 songs is about 3 hours , but im sure you also know that you can never have enough music

[VjQue]

1st thing first make sure you got a mac. (don't go thru the pc headach's)

All hd should be firewire

Get all the cables and scan converter possible

Get in the pools mentioned (except 8th wonder there crap)

Learn to edit and make your own video's with programs like final cut proX

Its not easy couse you have to go thru every video that you will play in the club.

You can get away with the songs u play all the time. But 1/2 is a start.

I have 1.5 tb of video's (different genre's)

Also you will need double or tripple the cables and hd's

Last but very very important learn everything you need to know at home like.

Crash
Freeze.