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 Which bits and bobs you need depends on many things like what type of DJing you want to do, whether you want to be a bedroom DJ or play out in clubs, how much money you've got, etc, etc. So there's no way anybody but you will be able to tell you want you need (arghh). I've not had a huge amount of experience with different bits of equipment, so do take what I've written below as a guide only...ask friends, DJs, try and play with some different setups either at your mates or in DJ stores, and make up your own mind.
If you're buying new and can afford to buy more than one thing at the same time, get them all from the same place and get a package discount. Phone round equipment dealers (many of them will deliver for free) and get the best price you can. You should be able to get yourself a good deal; as a small profit margin for a dealer is better for them than the no-profit margin they get when you buy from somewhere else.
Decks
Technics SL1210's are by far the most predominant in the DJ world. You'll find these in most clubs; so if your intent is to be doing your thing in clubs get these if you can, so you're familiar with them from the word go. The Technics are direct drive turntables (rather than belt drive), so if you can't afford 1210's (don't forget second hand - the things are built like tanks, so should age very well), then think seriously about getting direct drive decks as these should behave in a more similarish way than belt drives.
Mixer
Whatever you get, if you're intending to play out; ignore anything other than the very basic features for a lot of your practice (this doesn't mean you can't buy a mixer with them on for having fun and for use once you've got the hang of things). If you rely on having headphone pre-fade, 3-band EQ (or even any EQ), and kill switches to be able to function behind the decks, you'll be in for a few shocks (as I was) when you encounter the mixers in some clubs. The basic minimum to get used to working with is:
- Crossfader
- Input Channel Faders
- Headphone Gain
- Headphone Selector (rather than fader)
Other things which are important to think about are:
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Replaceable Cross Fader:
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Your cross fader will get a lot of use and no matter how careful you are, eventually you'll find that bits of grime and dirt will get into the thing, making it noisy. You want to be able to replace this easily yourself.
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Layout:
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This is very important. You don't want a mixer with piddly little knobs and sliders, all crammed onto a postage stamp sized faceplate. You need room to work, so you must be able to get your fingers at each of the controls without accidently tweaking the others. Having a logical layout on the front pannel is also important, make sure the controls are arranged sensibly and grouped together by function.
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Inputs/Outputs:
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The inputs you need on your mixer depend on what you're going to hook up to the thing. The minimum is obviously an input for each of your decks, the rest is really up to you (I find having a couple of line inputs very useful). It's good to have a pre-fade gain on the mixer too for getting the levels at the inputs matched to each other (as well as channel gain sliders). If your mixer has a toggle switch for selecting its inputs, you can use this for flashy-sounding tricks - mine has a rotary switch :(. You obviously need an output to connect to your amp. You may also (specially if you're going to be making mix tapes or recording yourself - which you should) find a Record Output useful. Most mixers I've seen have one.
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Mono/Stereo:
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Mono mixers are normally cheaper and more reliable than their stereo equivalents as there's much less to go wrong, but obviously you only get a mono signal out of them. If you're going to be making mix tapes for your friends or as demos, it might be better to get a stereo mixer for the better sound (specially for demos).
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EQ:
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This is your tone control; often three band (Bass, Mid, and Tops), but I've encountered two band (Bass and Tops) and even none on some too. You really want these on the inputs to your mixer so you can do things like cut out the bass or tops of a track when you first bring it in. I like having three-band. These should be rotary controls.
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Channel Level Meter:
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This shows you the level of signal on the mixer's inputs, making it much easier to get your levels lined up. You want to be able to set the level of the side of the mixer you're cueing up on to be the same as the other.
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Other features:
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The features above should give you the basic functionality you need. There are, of course, a lot of other features you may want to consider such as kill switches, punch in/out, effects loops, beatcounters, digital effects, samplers, etc. Personally, I see these mostly as 'bells and whistles', and it's up to you to decide what you want - having some is fun!
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Slipmats
When you get your decks, you'll probably get slipmats thrown in. These will undoubtedly be fairly cardboard like thickish affairs and although they do the job, having lovely soft flexible thin slipmats will make your life much more pleasant, particularly as you start to get better. A decent set of slipmats is not expensive - get some!
Headphones
If you buy your decks and mixer as a package, you'll probably have a pair of headphones thrown in too. These will be functional, but obviously not of the best quality. They may be fine for you if you never intend doing anything outside your bedroom and can't have your music on very loud. But go beyond this and you'll need better phones. Much better. You need headphones that go really loud without distorting. A distorting headphone clamped to the side of your head will fill your lug-holes with lots of high frequency crap and'll start to really screw up your hearing. You have been warned! All this is particularly important if you intend to play in clubs; where you'll often have to put up with obscene sound levels, and if your headphones aren't loud and clear you'll have problems hearing the record you're cueing and be adding to the damage already being done to your ears.
Sennheiser HD25 is the way to go in my books. They are expensive, but are very well built, go incredibly loud, and they're fairly modular should you ever need to replace any bits.
Records
Not much to say here, except the obvious - you'll need some. What might be a good idea if you're starting out is to have two copies of the same record. Pick one you like with a fairly long intro which doesn't have much more going on than a drum on each beat.
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