lol your friend was talking to me about DJing too.
As an experienced musician, here's my take on it:
If you're going to use a turntable (i've used one before)
you'll need lots of CD-Rs and only one song per CD.
If you wanna mix the songs to play at the same time for a cool effect, make sure you have the key of each song along with the BPM (beats per minute) so that they'll sync in perfectly.
And turn table requires amazing hand-ear coordination, so if you're a musician already it'll be pretty easy to get into the hang of.
==========================================
If you're just talking about playing music at clubs and parties, then you'll really just need an ipod with lots of music and cross-fade turned on. DJs use CDs instead sometimes because they subscribe to 'hit DJ music' cd stuff where they'll constantly be receiving the hit songs from every month of every year so that their songs will be modern-pop culture music. That's really the only reason they'd use CDs if they werent using a turntable. or just to look cool.
==========================================
The Mixer! It's something you hook up all the instruments into (this includes the microphone, the iPod, the CD-player, the turntable,) and all of it comes out into the PA SYSTEM!!
The mixer'll include several inputs (for the instruments) with adjustable volume control, EQ, and FX for each input channel.
It'll have outputs for: Headphones, Control Room, General output, Sub-bass.
Along with a line-in/line-out for your ipod/cd-player. (it's an alternative input/output using RCA cords.)
============================================
The PA SYSTEM!
If you're using a powered mixer, then you won't need an amp head to power the mixer itself.
However if your mixer is NOT powered, you will need a amplifying head (I'd say anywhere from 400-1000 RMS) (total approx. 2500W)
Make sure your speakers are big enough to handle the power of the head. Also, don't mistake Speaker cables with Instrument Cables.
They look identical. Check the fineprint on the cord and see whether it says speaker or instrment.
You'll need an INSTRUMENT cord to hook up the UNPOWERED mixer to the amp.
and a SPEAKER cord to hook up the amp to the speakers.
orr a SPEAKER cord to hook up the POWERED mixer to the speakers.
There is a big difference between the two in terms of their functions.
Use the wrong one and either your amp head, mixer, and or speakers may all blow/fry/get raped up the butt.
==========================================
Costs:
Speakers usually come cheap. Goto Musician's Friend, find a model you want, and then google shop it to get it cheap from a different dealer. Speakers should handle about 500W each with 4-16 ohms.
Cost'll probably be about $250.
Unpowered mixers will be especially cheap. For an 8-16 input unpowered mixer, it should cost about $40-150.
Powered mixers will be very expensive. Especially for a 800W powered mixer, it'll probably be around $400-600.
An amplifying head will also be pretty expensive. Get one that handles 800W for about $400-600.
Mics are cheap. Especially for a DJ. His voice isn't being recorded at a studio or anything. Buy a cheap $30 dynamic mic.
Headphones will be very important. I say get a Bose headphone for around $70-100.
Cables are pretty cheap. You'll probably want a few 30-40 ft SPEAKER cables. (About $20 each)
and maybe a few 15-20 ft INSTRUMENT cables. (about $12 each)
===========================================
I hope this helps out.
<33 Grape
btw, you can buy a pa system package for 800W for about $1200?
