It figures that I just posted a list of my DJ gear last week. Here is what basically happened. I bought a pair of Denon DN-HP 1000 headphones for $150 about 15 or 16 months ago [remember that number for later] to replace a set of old worn out Sony MDR-V700 headphones. After years of use, the Sony’s were starting to crack and the sound quality was deteriorating.
Shortly after I got the Denon’s there was a problem with the wire near the plug and I would have to wiggle it to get sound in both ear cups. I found a good spot in the connection and then electrical taped the sh*t out of it to hold the wire in place. Problem averted, but unfortunately it was only the first of many. Read on to find out what else happened, see more pictures, and find out what Denon told me when I contacted them.
Q&A: Mike Charles DJ Set Up
I get asked this question a lot:
What equipment do you use in your DJ sets?
Or some variation of that. Currently my DJ setup consists of the following:
This setup has been road tested for a while now and works well for me. The padKontrol is a new addition that I’m still trying to figure out how to incorporate. If anyone has any suggestions, make a comment. The DJM 600 is my mixer at home, and on the road I don’t always have the good fortune of playing on something from the DJM series, but its no biggie. I just take the line outs on the Xone 2D and run them to two line inputs on the whatever mixer I’m playing on. I’ve been using Traktor Pro since it first came out in November 2008 and subsequently sold my serato set up on eBay.
As for incidentals, it is well documented that I use iTunes to catalogue and organize my music collection. I travel with everything pack up in a UDG backpack. I record my DJ sets using Audio Hijack Pro, a simple easy software that only takes me two clicks to record a set.
FYI on the backpack, UDG makes some great bags but the zipper pulls on this bag suck. Everyone has broken off and I’ve replaced them all with improvised zipper pulls made out of 550 cord. FYI on the headphones, they are great cans, put out great sound, but like most DJ headphones, they break. The size adjustment slider on on side cracked pretty bad so I just taped it closed with duct tape. The slider on the other side still works, so I’m good. Still, the search for a durable set of headphones continues.
Old DJs, New Tricks
A friend of mine emailed me the other day and asked me this:
I was wondering if you might be able to throw some suggestions my way. I’ve been wanting to get back into the swing of spinning, mostly just for me cuz I miss the music. The problem is my equipment is old and everyone seems to be making the transition to mp3 mixing. Is there any way to jump back into this…?
So responded with this advice:
I went digital about a 1 1/2 years ago. I hated CDs and vinyl is on life support. My setup now is a macbook pro and a midi controller. I then route the output to a mixer, and still use the mixer in a traditional sense. I use Traktor Pro. I used to use Serato, but sold it and went with an all midi set up. If you’ve got tables, a mixer, and a computer already, the Serato is the most painless way to easy into the digital age, cause you still spin vinyl or cds, just with the laptop involved now. Other stuff pretty much changes the game all together, and you start yo have to rethink DJing in general because what you can and can’t do changes the way you’d approach DJing. If you use Traktor Pro or Ableton live, you don’t have to beatmatch anymore… but a whole new realm of loops and effect are opened up.
I would say if you want to ease in and not reinvent the game, go with serato. A new box for serato just came out so the old ones should start to be pretty cheap on ebay. If you want to jump head long into the digital age. check out Traktor Pro or Ableton Live.
iTunes Power Tips #3
So you may or may not know by now that I write a series of popular blogs for the digital DJing site DJ Tech Tools. I just wanted to let you know that part 3 of my series on managing you tracks collection with iTunes was posted today.
Check it out if you get a chance. The are some really good iTunes tips.
So I have a large [vinyl] record collection and when I moved to a digital DJ set up I knew one of my biggest challenges was going to be recording all those records to mp3. Over the course of the last year I’ve recorded a good chunk of them but am by no means finished. While recording the last few batches, I came across some really good B-sides that I had either forgotten, or more likely overlooked to begin with. It got me thinking…
Digital DJing is great, and you’ve heard me talk about the convenience and cost saving benefits in the past, but it apparently also means giving up one of the cooler aspects of vinyl, the B-Side. Most of the records I’ve bought over the years were purchased for 1 track, but the majority of them contain 3 or more tracks in total. Now before I get all nostalgic and misty eyed, let me tell you that I’ve got plenty of 33s with crappy B-Sides, some down right awful.
Every now and again though, I find a B-Side that is awesome and add it to my ever growing archive of music. Did you know that “Maggie May” and “Black Water” were both B-Sides?
So before I ramble on too much, let me try to make it to a point. Progress is great, digital distribution has benefits for both music producers and consumers, but are we losing something in the transition? Every track I buy is deliberate now, which means I’ll never be able to stumble across that horizon broadening B-Side ever again.
This topic has moved. Click Here to find it at DJ Tech Tools.
So a funny thing happened to me this evening. A promoter emailed me this evening and asked:
“If you could pick one of your mixes that you feel portrays your music the best, which would it be?”
So this was actually a pretty difficult question to answer and my initial reaction was that they all portray me in one respect or another. I didn’t think I could get off the hook that easy, so I gave my best, honest answer. Click through to read more on this.
This topic has moved. Click Here to find it at DJ Tech Tools.
CDs for the Troops
I know I’ve said it before, but i just waned to mention again, my support for our troops. Its tough to be shipped over to Iraq or Afghanistan, so if there something I can do to help, I will. Any serviceman (or the family of any serviceman sending a care package) who wants to include some of my music, I will mail CDs out free of charge.
Read more
Part 2, DJing Digitally
So we already talked briefly about the benefits of DJing digitally. First is the actual cost of new music, which is much lower when you purchase digitally, rather than physically, because there is less overhead. Second is portability. I now carry 500+ tracks to every gig I play. I used to carry 2 record crates that combined carried 100 – 120 records. Oh and btw they were a lot heavier.
I’ve also come up against some downsides. Read more