Interested in DJing? Or vinyl? Starting with vinyl is expensive, even if you just get Serato or something. I recommend a small DJ controller. It has everything

Interested in DJing? Or vinyl? Starting with vinyl is expensive, even if you just get Serato or something. I recommend a small DJ controller. It has everything included. You don't need all the fancy features to learn the basics. As long as he eventually learns to avoid the sync button, he'll be able to transfer the skills to most digital setups with ease. Vinyl is different, and there's really no emulating it. If he can mix without syncing or visual cues (such as the transient indicator on most digital setup, where you can match the peaks of the track) and do it entirely by ear, that gets him most of the way to vinyl mixing. The other half of vinyl mixing is actually the vinyl aspect. Drifting the tracks is different than you'd do it on CDJs, and it's different if you're on a belt driven turntable (which you shouldn't use for DJing anyway) or direct drive. That needs a bit of practice regardless of actual mixing skill. But the core concepts are the same. As long as it has the faders, the low/mid/high knobs and gain, he can learn most of what he needs. I started on a single Stanton CDJ, a cheap Behringer mixer, and Virtual DJ on the other "deck" that I pirated. I'd mix a track in, mix out the previous one, then transfer the track to the other deck and mix again. All of the actual adjustments were solely on the CDJ. It taught me enough to really warrant a real second deck later on. I've gone on to play clubs in several countries, if that matters. Learning the basics can be done on even the most budget of setups (in fact, you might even be better off). Hope that helps!