DJ Equipment Buying Guide

Buying equipment is hard and if you're not careful there's an extremely good chance that you'll end up blowing your money and get nothing out of it.

1. BE PATIENT!!! This is THE single most imporant tip. Be patient and READ everything you can. It's extremely important to be an informed consumer when buying dj equipment. Go to the manufacturer's websites, Read dj websites to learn the terms, and read reviews if you can find them (turntablelab has reviews for everything they sell). Every mixer, turntable, cartridge, headphone, and connection cable is different. It's important to know how they differ so that you can get the equipment that best suits you.

****************READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!******************
"How to DJ Right: The Art and Science of Playing Records" by Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster

This book is essential reading for DJs old and new. It covers mixing, beatmatching, how to read a crowd, how to make it in the industry, basic scratching. The most valuble thing in this book are the elements of DJ'ing that are rarely discussed to newbies...things like mixing harmonically, song structure, basic musical understanding, and a lost art...reading a crowd. Most djs today take a very "fuck you crowd...I'm gonna do what I want" which is the wrong attitude to take. You need to work with the crowd...not against them. That way they trust you, you can play what you want after you've strung them along with what they want.

There's extremely valuble amounts of information and history in this book and is a VERY easy read. I read it less than a day and comprehended everything perfectly. It costsa about $15.00 and i found it at Barnes and Noble.

************STRAIGHT FACTS TURNTABLE BUYING GUIDE************
(from turntablelab)
1) If you financially able, buy Technics 1200s or turntables with similar specifications.If you are serious about djing or plan to do it it for an extended hobby, the smart and recommended way to go is with the 1200 or similarly priced models like the Vestax PDX2000 or Numark TTX-1. Without getting too much into technical issues, it has to do with torque, pitch control, tonearm, sound quality, and most importantly durability. You will quickly outgrow cheaper turntables, and in that case, will eventually need an upgrade. In our experience, beginners will out grow their "beginner turntables" in less than a year. So why buy turntables twice? Trust us, we've seen it happen a lot.

2) If you can not afford to buy two, buy one, and save up for the other
Buy one 1200 and a cartridge to start off. If you can afford it, buy a mixer with it. You can always use a discman or cd player in place of a second turntable. Build a modest record collection (records are 50% of djing). If djing interests you, you will find a way to buy the other turntable (it happened to us). And in case you don't like djing, you can easily sell your used 1200 at approximately 75% of the cost (in vg+ condition).

3) If you choose not to follow the previous suggestions, do not spend over $200.00 on a turntable. Whatever you do, do not buy a turntable in the $300 range. There's is not much difference between these and turntables priced $200 and below. And the $300 turntable will not be as good as a 1200. If you are going cheap, go cheap, because if you go this route, you will eventually have to replace your turntables.
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(My tips)
4. ONLY BUY DIRECT DRIVE!! Ok..there are two kinds of tables...belt-drive and direct drive. Belt drive tables use a rubber belt connected to a small motor in order to spin the platter. this creates a slow start up time, poor torque, poor skip resistence, and is prone to breaking. Direct drive tables are connected directly to a motor giving almost immediate start up and high torque. It is a NECESSITY to buy direct drive. You WILL have to replace your belt-drives at some point. If you already have belt-drives...don't worry. It is possible to learn on them but it will take a long time and the quality of your scratching and mixing will not be that great until you get direct drive.
5. Avoid any brand that isn't one of the following STANTON, VESTAX, NUMARK, OR TECHNICS. Other brands simply don't have the quality as the brands listed above. Stanton and Numark due tend to have poorer quality among their lower priced albums but I trust them more than other brands.

A WORD ON CD TABLES:
Just about the only brands worth buying are the Pioneer CDJ-1000 and the Pioneer CDJ-800. Everything you can do with vinyl...you can do with these cd players...you scratch, juggle, mix, everything.

*********************Mixer Buying Guide*************************
Things to look for:
1. 3-band eq.
2. headphone cue
3. Penny + Giles or PCV faders Or focus fader (if your looking for an extremly smooth fader)
4. Curve adjustment

Ok...there are a lot of mixers out there. is the quick and dirty differences between some.

Scratch Mixers: Two channel mixers with a focus on scracthing. This means that they usually have reversable faders (hamster style). Occasionally includes other features good for scratching, i.e. fader eqs, flash switches, etc.
Examples: Rane TTm56i, Vestax 07 Pro, Stanton, Ecler Hak-360, Stanton SA-5
The Vestax 07 pro: http://www.vestax.com/products/PMC07Pro/1.jpg

Club/dance mixers: Usually have more than two channels, can have more than a 3-band EQ. (basically a whole lot of knobs and a whole lot of faders). Usually have a wide range for eq and a wide range on the curve adjustment. Occasionally can have all knobs and no faders, typically has EQ kill capabilities. Some also include built in FX (Pioneer DJM-600 is one example)
Examples: Rane MP-44, Pioneer DJM-600, Allen & Heath Xone:464.
Allen & Heath Xone62: http://www.jam.se/images/xone62.jpg

Hybrid: This is a fairly new category for mixers to accomodate the numerous djs who now scratch and mix. Three channel mixers which mix qualities of both categories from above.
Examples: Rane Empath, Stanton SMX-501, Vestax PMC-37 Pro
Rane Empath: http://www.pro-mix.com/acatalog/empath_small.jpg

********************Cartridges (needles) buying guide**********

There are mainly two different kinds of needles...scratch cartridges and club cartridges.

Scratch cartridges focus on an extremely high skip resistence, loud output, and low tracking force (For less record wear). The best example is the Shure M447 pictured here: http://www.turntablelab.com/cartridges/pics/m-447.jpg

Club cartridges focus on a superior sound quality and output. However some cartridges of this brand can cause some record wear. Ortofon needles are some of the highest quality in this category: http://www.turntablelab.com/cartrid...on-niteclub.jpg

**********************Headphones buying guide******************
What you want:
1. Coiled cords
2. swiveling ear pieces
3. foldable.
4. loud, clear output.
You want all those things so you can have the maximum amount of comfort and the clearest sound. Suggested: Pioneer HDJ-1000, Sennheiser HD-280, Sony, MDR V500, Sony MDR V700: http://www.turntablelab.com/headpho...phones-v700.jpg

**********************FX Processors************************

FX processors are what you use to get effects like filter, flange, echo, delay, etc.
Here are the prcessors I'd reccomend:
Korg Kaoss Pad: Simple to use, easy to understand, cheap, perfect for beginners.
Pioneer EFX-500: Very dope, used extensively by a large number of DJs including DJ Z-trip along with many many others.

If you intend on buying some equipment, I highly recommend

www.turntablelab.com

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