One of the first things that most people will tell you when you think of getting into this game is to try it out on someone else's equipment before you put your hard earned money into it. FANTASTIC idea. But what if you don't know anyone who is either willing, or has the equipment to let you practice on? You could always try to find somewhere that'll let you rent gear from them (I don't know of anywhere before you ask!) but not a lot of places do that. So, I'm afraid you have to think about buying stuff - sorry. Providing that you're looking to become a Vinyl using Dj, then there are a few basic thing that you are going to need:
| 2 x Turntables
2 x SlipMats
2 x Cartridges and Needles for the Turntables (normally included)
1 x Mixer
1 x Pair of Headphones
Something to amplify the signal (Stereo, Amplifier + Speakers etc.) |
So, apart from some tunes and some really friendly neighbours, thats should hold you for a while.
The one thing I'll say though before I go into each of this lot is that it's a good idea to spend as much as you can on the turntables, then whatever you have left on the rest of the gear. You can use a bad mixer with good decks without too much problems, but not even the best of mixers is going to compensate for bad decks. Plus, it's a lot cheaper to upgrade a mixer when you get round to that point than it is to upgrade your turntables.
TURNTABLES
The first thing you really have to make sure of is that there is a control on the turntable which allows you to adjust the pitch (the pace at which the record will be played at) of the record. Just a 33 or 45rpm setting is not enough. You're looking for something that will allow the pitch to be adjusted by AT LEAST + or - 8%. The larger the pitch control, the better. One that runs most of the right hand side of the turntable is preferred and is the industry standard for pitch control. The length allows more fine adjustments than just a small control on the front of the unit (see the Gemini XL-100 as the method you DON'T want to get. The next, and biggest choice you have to make when you are on a shoestring budget is whether to buy DIRECT DRIVE or BELT DRIVEN decks (another word for Turntable or CD unit).
Suffice to say, direct drive decks are by far the preferred means of powering the deck. Simply, because the Belt Driven decks use a rubber band and an intermediate to drive the deck, a lot of the power and accuracy is lost through the transfer of that power. This means that the pitch settings that you choose might not be held for long enough, meaning the tempo of the song you are playing will change while in use, causing havoc when trying to beat match. It also means that the deck does not have the power (or TORQUE) to withstand the vigours of scratching, and has a very poor start up time.
The problem is though, that cheap Direct Drive decks will still have similar problems, though not to the same extremes that the Belt driven decks will have. The power to the deck is still somewhat lacking compared to the better quality (and more expensive) models, and they can still have a tendency to lose their pitch settings slightly.
As I said before, I DO urge you NOT to get belt driven decks, but as so many people have hardly any money when they start, combined with a yearning to be a Dj, it might be something you settle for. Just don't come running to me when they start playing up on you!!
AND , I'm going to say this again. It seems to be lost on people, maybe they aren't reading this far into the site (1 page, lazy buggers!) but I'm going to re-iterate this now.
Belt Driven decks suck. This isn't from a "To be a Dj you must have Technics" point of view. It's the truth. Belt-Driven decks suck. You'll hear people telling you that they're using Belt-Driven decks, and there's nothing wrong with them, "Oh yeah, I've had mine for years, can do anything on them, scratch, mix, cook, play frisbee, solve the worlds debt and hunger problems...." Fine. If you want to listen to them rather than me, then I'm not going to get all fussed and bothered about it, but PLEASE, stop asking me if it's OK to use Belt-Driven decks, then bugging me about it for two weeks, ignoring what I say, then sending me a mail two months later saying "Yeah, you were right, they suck. How can I make them better?" At which point, I just hit the delete button. It's the only thing I'm a wanker about. This is something I feel passionate about, that belt-driven decks are for people who either a) Aren't serious about Dj'ing, b) are only going to use them for a couple of months as a test to see if they're going to like Dji'ng, or c) Think with their wallets instead of thier heads.
So, there are things like Soundlab's DLP30's (I think), Numark's TT-1700's, Gemini's XL-400's, Kam's BDX something's which are built to emulate a Technics deck, but don't quite have the power or pitch accuracy to be that much use after you've learnt to beat match. If you MUST go out and spend as little as you can, then look at these decks. I really would like it if this is the last I have to mention of not using them, I'm getting ready to punch my computer the next time I get a mail asking me about them. I was pretty sure that I'd plastered "Don't use belt decks" enough over my site already!! :-)
BUT, the thing I will stress, no matter how shoe-string your budget is, no matter how unserious you are about dj'ing (unserious? Someone get me a thesaurus) no matter how long you'll be using them before you know you'll buy better decks, DO NOT, I REPEAT
DO NOT
Use the Gemini XL-100 or the Soundlab DLP-1600 decks. These decks are NOT meant to be used as Dj decks. Yes, people like Sapphires advertise them as decks you can use, but you'd be better pissing off your cat so it'd stick out its claw, then making it run round the record, caterwauling as if to reproduce the tune you're playing. You'll have better power, pitch control and care for your records with the cat than you would with the XL-100 or DLP-1600. I can not stress enough NOT to use these decks. If you're cheap, go for the ones above, don't be fooled by the "Yeah, these are Dj decks" and the price tag. You'd be better getting "I'm a cheap twat" tattood on your head BACKWARDS for the money, rather than buying these.
Anyway, rant over, on with the site again........
Most likely, for a small budget, you'll be looking at this lot (no particular order):-
| Belt Driven Decks | Direct Drive Decks |
| Soundlab DLP1 | Soundlab DLP3R |
| Gemini XL-400 | Gemini XL-500/600 |
| Numark TT1700 | Numark TT1910 |
| Kam BDX180 | Kam DDX580 |
| sorry, ran outta decks! | Citronic PD-1 (best of the lot) |
Yes, I know there's a lot more makes and models out there, American Dj, Limit, Sherwood, etc etc, but the ones above are the ones I have had even the slightest of time on, and I'm loath to include stuff I've never used.
Here's where I put in a disclaimer though. The decks that I mentioned above will just about do for normal beat mixing styles (trance, house etc) but if you're thinking of doing ANY scratching at all, then you're wasting your time and money considering any of these decks. For start, belt driven decks are RIGHT out of the question. The other decks I mention, though direct drive, just don't have the power to the deck plate to make scratching a viable option on them, they just aren't made to cope with the vigours of scratching. I've put a bit about equipment on the Scratching page on this site. Read that if you're interested in Scratching gear.
SLIPMATS
The purpose of the slip mat is to reduce the friction between the record and the turntable to the point where you can hold the record still, and the turntable will still turn underneath it (which is yet ANOTHER problem with basic, cheap decks, their power is so weak that this won't happen). The setup should go like this:- At the very bottom, is the deck plate in all it's shiny glory (make sure to take off the removable rubber mat that comes with the deck (NOT the rubber coating, the rubber mat). On top of that goes the slipmat, and on top of that goes your finest record.
As mentioned, there can sometimes be problems with the decks that causes the deck to come to a grinding halt when you are trying to cue up the record. The way to try to get around this is to reduce the friction further between the deckplate and the slipmat. This can be done by either cutting a six inch diameter circle piece of cardboard out, punching a hole in the middle, then sitting this between the slipmat and the deck plate or by cutting out a piece of wax paper (some inlays in record sleeves are wax paper) to the size of your slipmat, and putting THAT inbetween the plate and the slipmat. The second option there is by far preferred, by putting the piece of cardboard between the two, the friction IS reduced, but so if the stability of the record, so you may find the needle jumps a lot. Go for the wax paper if you're having issues.
Try to steer clear of the mats with lots of printed designs on them too. They can (sometimes) damage your records, and they are (sometimes) not as effective as plain felt ones.
I don't really know the part where it comes to what makes and models (if there are models) of slip-mats are best, but, the Technics ones are damn good, a great choice. Just look for generic hip-hop ones, coz they're designed to be very slippy. The best ones I've ever used are ones I got from M2 (The people who sponsor my equipment pages). They're light, thin and minimal printing on them, making them perfect.
MIXERS
The purpose of the mixer is to change the sound you can hear from one turntables output to the other ones, without having a break in sound. Typically, this means that deck 1 is in Channel 1 and deck 2 is in Channel 2. To change from one channel to another, a cross fader is normally included on the mixer, which, as you move it, moves the sound from one deck to the other.
When you're starting off, you are going to be fine with a really basic mixer like Numark's BlueDog. Ok, if you have the money, get something better, but again, I'm just talking bare minimum equipment right now. The problems that you'll encounter with a very basic mixer should only add up to sound quality issues. With no kills or cuts on the mixer, you'll find that a lot of the times the bass drums and bass melodies will clash with each other, and with no Gain controls, or means to measure the strength of the incoming signal, you'll find that there will be mismatches in the levels (volumes) of each tune as you go through the mix process.
Just make sure it's not so basic that it doesn't have a cross fader, or it doesn't have a headphone cue on it. By headphone cue, I mean a means that you can listen to (monitor) the turntable that ISN'T playing out of the speakers. A normal cue will allow you to listen to the unheard turntable and the live (playing through the speakers) turntable at the same time and will have a slider or a rotary knob which lets you adjust the volume at which you hear either of them. This allows you to be more precise when it comes to matching the beats.
CARTRIDGES AND NEEDLES
These are what transfer the vibrations caused by the grooves in the record to sound. The needle (Stylus) itself sits inside the groove of the record, and as the record passes through it, it vibrates. The cartridge hold the needle, which is then screwed onto the headshell, which is locked onto the tonearm - all of which translate the vibrations to an electrical signal which is turned into the music that you hear.
There are MANY different kinds of Needle and cartridge (cart for short) out there, but the chances are the ones that you'll get included with the decks will be Stanton 500AL's. Check to see whether they are included with your decks or not, as there's nothing worse than taking all your stuff home, only to find that you can't use anything because of missing equipment.
AMPLIFIERS
The signal that comes out of the mixer is barely strong enough to power your headphones, so you need something which will increase (amplify) this signal so that it will drive (make 'em work) a pair of speakers.
There's three choices (as far as I see it) to how to do this:-
1) Buy a separate amplifier and speakers. This can be a bit costly, but it is a great way of doing it.
2) Plug the output cable into either the CD or AUX port in the back of your stereo (if you have one) . This is what I do at home. I prefer this method because it cuts down on the amount of equipment you need (and so money you'll have to spend) and it means that there's already a built in tape recorder, or MiniDisc recorder etc. to record your mixes. DON'T use the PHONO input though. The Phono inputs use a completely different means to process the signal, and are only meant for Turntables. Though you ARE using turntables, the signal you are using is from the mixer, which is known as a LINE signal and is far stronger than that of a turntable, and therefore can't go into the PHONO input.
3) Using POWERED speakers. A few people that have written to me over the year or so that I've had this site up have used these. Really, they are just speakers with a built in amplifier, so you have to plug them into a power socket, but, provided they are powerful enough to let you hear the music loud enough, the will suffice. A few people I know actually use the powered speakers from their computers. For professional use, the JBL EON PWD 10 is great, I've seen it used a lot for the monitor in the DJ booth.
So apart from getting records to play, and having some nice understanding neighbours, that's the basics of what you need. Ok, there's stuff like something to keep your records in, and something to put your decks and mixer on, but you can work that one out yourself.
Article written by: DJ Recess www.recess.co.uk
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