I'm considering buying a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 for the purpose of DJ'ing weddings and events. Will it suffice for running the type of software needed for this? And storing a music library? Second question: What are some good programs to look into for this DJ'ing idea? Spotify? Itunes? Or are there any programs specifically geared for this that you guys know of? I've got a wedding in two weeks and am just going to jump right in, so any help would be awesome, thanks guys!
I think most anything will work, but you will need some powered speakers. I would suggest downloading the music onto an external hard drive, so you have the library handy without relying on the internet or cloud options. I'm not a big fan of relying on the internet for things like that. Windows media player works just fine for creating playlists.
I take a surface pro to tech shows where we show off pc and other software and it does the bit for the most part. Somethings to note, it doesn’t have very many USB ports if you have peripherals you will need a usb hub to go with it. I find coding it on it to just suck, we had a bug we found before a show a few months ago and we had the pro on the show floor and after about 20 minutes decided to go to our hotel room to get a laptop. - Point being I recommend the hard work being done prior to using it. Overall I say it’s a pretty good product though. In terms of music software we have an in house IDE that we made a garage band plug in for and it’s fun to play with.
Technically, you could run a whole wedding off an iPod or iPhone. I’m a Mac guy so I use a MacBook Pro. I agree that you want some good speakers. For events where you don’t need to rock the house, Yamaha or KSR powered speakers are nice, clear and loud. You can plug a mic right into them so you won’t need a separate mixer. If your doing dances, then the same speakers with a powered sub-woofer is enough. Lights on stands and a digital dj device would be next steps. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/XDJRX2--pioneer-dj-xdj-rx2-digital-dj-system
Make sure to go full John Mason and announce the couple as “Here comes the 6’3 Groom out of Linfield College, and NOW can I get all your attention for the B-b-b-BRIDE!”
I've got a Fender 600w PA system that should work fine for intended purposes. I may upgrade later, we'll see how she goes.
I've actually got Maschine MK2 already that I use for my own production shit, it's pretty dope. My laptop I ran it with got fried awhile back though. This whole wedding DJ thing is mostly my wife's project, im trying to get her all set up. I don't think she'll be doing as much mixing/sampling as she will be simply taking requests and cueing playlists.
