It used to be simple when DJs used two vinyl records to play their music. Today, you must decide what equipment you will use.
Turntables: These are still a viable option, and many people prefer to watch DJs who use turntables. This cachet is countered by the fact that vinyl music is becoming more difficult to find and records get scratched and damaged.
CD/MP3 Players: Performance quality CD players allow DJs to change the speed and pitch of digital music as well as set loops and cue points. They also enable DJs to find and purchase music quickly and easily online in digital form.
Computer tools: An entire industry of DJ software solutions exist for DJs seeking to turn their laptop into a powerful music tool. While many are inexpensive, most software packages demand a fairly steep learning curve before being mastered.
Decide which equipment works best for you or mix and match two or more types of equipment to suit your personal style.
The DJ mixer is the vital link between two songs. Regardless whether you decide on turntables, laptops or CD players, or a combination of the three, they will all feed into your mixer. As the name suggests, you use the mixer to "mix" a number of input sources into one track that the audience hears. Many also allow you to add effects or to adjust the sound of each song individually. Before you purchase a mixer, decide how many sources you will input into the device and what type of manipulation of the sound you desire.
The signal output from the mixer is the sound you want the audience to hear. To accomplish this you need speakers. If you are planning on being a bedroom DJ, you can send the signal from your mixer to a home stereo or even to computer speakers. If you want to perform at parties, you will need to rent or buy speakers. Speakers can be purchased for under a hundred dollars to over many thousand of dollars.
DJ headphones allow you to listen to any of the tracks being fed into your mixer, without your audience hearing. You can listen to upcoming tracks, match the beats of two songs before you mix them live, and experiment with effects. DJ headphones usually have large ear pieces so you can hear the track you are monitoring without the live track in the room overpowering the volume.