Good god yes. This guy is king! THANK YOU DJ TECH TOOLS!!

Way more interesting than the Porter Robinson one.

THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!

My two biggest inspirations on the same screen for 8+ minutes.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Also which headphones were those?  They weren’t the 2000s he normally uses if I’m correct.

Best one yet!!

Love james zabiela that guy made me really get into spinning. Great job DJTT

Eff off Porter is king! This guy is awesome too though

zeb is solid.  also like that he does not use traktor and still have him on.

props from one of the critical

Agreed on the best one yet! This was awesome!

did he have a flashlight or laptop LED of some sort? because i dont know how he can plug all that stuff in blind as a bat in a club setting… :)

He needs some rubber bands of something, id go crazy with the cables not kept nice and neat lol

prepared for every eventuality it would seem, even the slim possibilty of having to tie all those wires together and ab-sail from the venue, I need on of those tardis bags, the gift that keeps on giving, great video nice to see whats in you bag making a come back :D

Great series. Don’t stop.

I’m surprised he only packs one KontrolPad, since the build quality is meh…

Porter has absolutely nothing on Mr Zabiela. He’s always pushing boundaries and is really entertaining.

Well if it breaks it doesn’t really matter does it? He’ll just not use it for the rest of the set and order another one when he gets home.

A bag that resembles the Tardis

haha, made me laugh! Good stuff!

edit: sorry, double post :P

2k’s for gigs.
Numark HF 125 for daily use.

This was actually extremely helpful!  For real!  I have CDs handy if my controller setup either fails or I just don’t have enough time to set it up before hand.  I better get the SD cards going too.  

its like a clown car… so small yest so much inside it…

That’s a pain in the ass when trying to get on a plane!!

We Need more like this! love it!

porter is a fucking hack compared to JZ. Eff off back to the S4 section.

And the condoms, James? hahaha!

What case was that on the Macbook Pro?  In need of one!

Thats one il remember, always take the RCAs XD

He is the first DJ I’ve seen on this site that I actually own music from.  You guys just pitched it up a notch.  No disrespect to the guys you feature on here but seriously, more dudes like this popping into the studio would really up the readership.  Now go get Sasha to dump his bag out in front of a camera.

Ahhhh ok I thought they weren’t the 2000s since Ean said the were new and aluminum

I just saw him in Amsterdam last saturday. He was hours late but when he finally arrived at 3 a.m, he managed to set the whole contents of that bag up in just 3 minutes or so and gave an awesome performance.
Now that was really amazing!

what about the MSTRKRFT one i thought that was a pretty big name and pretty cool seeing as it was just at some festival!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/eangolden#p/c/DCCBA05F161A9516/11/rvolo-_88hI

but your absolutely right best one yet!

I expected more midi controllers in his bag, but I guess he’s managed to map ableton to controls on the CDJ’s that are already in the club, so that’s pretty dope.  

Great video, really insightful. Top work DJTT & James! 

Agreed with all the posts below! Porter Robinson’s claim to fame was his production work. He is a talentless DJ, but has talent for producing. Does that make him a good DJ now…unfortunately, to the blinded masses yes. James Zabiela is a true DJ.

If it weren’t for sync, Porter Robinson would not be DJing around the country. With sync, its easier for producers to claim that title of ‘DJ’ think Deadmau5 and Skrillex, will.i.am. Is there a simple button that helps DJs become instant producers… sadly no, but software as allowed it easier for us to play with it. However, its still a huge hurdle when compared to DJ software.

You talk as if beatmatching is the be all and end all?  Seriously it wouldn’t take me that long to teach an old woman how beat mix on set of wonky belt drive turntables. Any one can learn how to beatmatch manually, it’s the most simple basic beginner skill of dj’n. It’s not like hitting sync will mean your dj software would shit out creativity on demand. The guys you listed Deadmau5, Skrillex and will.i.am no more about the dynamics of music and sound than 99% of the dj readers of techtools, if they needed or wanted to learn how to beat match manually they would most probably pick it up much quicker than any of us did. 

You gotta have respect for James Z, there aint many who have climbed to the top purely from being a great dj. 

Like nearly every other dj in the lime light, Porter Robinson’s has created a brand that will fill a club up thanks to his production skills, good luck to him! With current direction of production styled tools now found in most dj software, it won’t be long before producers minded jocks will make for better dj’s any way.

[...] DJ Tech Tools] Tweet Etiquetas/AmbientConsejosDJsEn vivoGearGigsHouseJames ZabielaMix SetsShowsTechnoTips [...]

The cool thing to with James is in every single interview, or sound bite or quote, he comes across as this super humble guy.  The type that if he wasn’t traveling the world playing at all the clubs we dream of, he’d be in his bedroom still mixing away and saving pennies for the next pioneer gear. 

Hehe…nice vid. Also because there were some nice tips. Amazing how much stuff was in the bag.

Hehe…nice vid. Also because there were some nice tips. Amazing how much stuff was in the bag.

Um, one thing reading more of the comments here. I just don’t get the constant comparing like “this guy is better than that guy” or “this vid is better than that vid”. Who cares? Especially the comparing of people (DJs). No two humans are alike, so there is no use in comparing them. They are just as different as the perpectives people have on their music, mixing or producing capabilities or what ever it may be the person does well. The main thing is, they are having fun doing it and also people are getting enjoyment out of it too.

Um, one thing reading more of the comments here. I just don’t get the constant comparing like “this guy is better than that guy” or “this vid is better than that vid”. Who cares? Especially the comparing of people (DJs). No two humans are alike, so there is no use in comparing them. They are just as different as the perpectives people have on their music, mixing or producing capabilities or what ever it may be the person does well. The main thing is, they are having fun doing it and also people are getting enjoyment out of it too.

If you cant beatmatch, whats the point.
If you cant scratch, whats the point.
 
mau5 and skrillex are still terrible DJ’s despite being good producers.

If you cant beatmatch, whats the point.
If you cant scratch, whats the point.
 
mau5 and skrillex are still terrible DJ’s despite being good producers.

no vinyl?

no vinyl?

Banana is vital to a good set! I absolutely loved this. Zabiela is one of my favorite inspirers.

Banana is vital to a good set! I absolutely loved this. Zabiela is one of my favorite inspirers.

the first time i can say  I LOVE THIS!! amazing JZ one of my favourite!!

the first time i can say  I LOVE THIS!! amazing JZ one of my favourite!!

Clown car +1, good go

Clown car +1, good go

cool tips, but i didn’t understand the accent on the part where hes saying how to sync ableton to the cdj’s, what function in ableton is he talking about, anyone care to share that

cool tips, but i didn’t understand the accent on the part where hes saying how to sync ableton to the cdj’s, what function in ableton is he talking about, anyone care to share that

i had that multi plug and used it on a gig…and it blew up.

what about a “What’s in your DJ bag”? with Richie Hawtin? It would be great!!!!

Here’s a tip.. I deal with a stupid amount of cables and power supplies.. I do a lot of geeky crap with mod files on old PDA’s and palms, korg DS-10,androids, ipods etc. go to walmart and buy various sized zip lock backs.. put everything in zip locks and you don’t have to wear your cables out winding them up all the time.. besides, as we all well know, you can wind up cables nice and tidy, through them all in a bag, and when you go back to them they’ll all be twisted together like snakes..  With ziplocks you can just stuff the wall wart, headphones, etc seperate bags, zip it up, toss it in.. you’ll never detangle or unwind a cable again. They make ziplocks big enough to fit a 12FT set of jumper cables or a 8 channel 1/4″ snake.. If you wanted to take it up a notch you could jam your notebook in one and all the sudden your bag is weather-proof.. It may LOOK anal rententive from afar BUT you save hours cumulatively not winding, unwinding, and detangling.

i just saw him describe his setup on you tube.  He uses traktor and some allen and heath mixer/midi controllers and it looks great.  I might sell my technics and get what he has it looked so amazing!

NICE TO KNOW HE CAN BEATMATCH-MY ESTIMATIONS OF HIM HAVE GONE UP A NOTCH

Is no one else pissed that he laughs about stealing the club’s cables? I hate walking into the club the night after a punk steals the cables. Makes everyone’s life harder.

[...] substantial use of the Kaossilator in a DJ set, including the impressive James Zabiela (see our interview with him). Korg today announced the release of their iOS version of the device – check out the video [...]

[...] substantial use of the Kaossilator in a DJ set, including the impressive James Zabiela (see our interview with him). Korg today announced the release of their iOS version of the device – check out the video after [...]

greenpeace t-shirt india…

[...]a central element of jeu stroke, physiotherapy, osteotherapy, stress leadership and relaxation therapy.[...]…

[...] And just because you are really good at mixing doesn’t mean you are going to be the next James Zabiela, either. Think of how you can approach the craft of mixing songs in new and different ways, and [...]

[...] And just because you are really good at mixing doesn’t mean you are going to be the next James Zabiela_kmq.push(["trackClickOnOutboundLink","link_50a29018d61ac","Article link clicked",{"Title":"James [...]

[...] And just because you are really good at mixing doesn’t mean you are going to be the next James Zabiela, either. Think of how you can approach the craft of mixing songs in new and different ways, and [...]

deadmau5 is more of a live performer than a dj. have you seen his live setup and all the instruments and effects racks that he uses live?