Recently it came time to update DJ TechTools founder Ean Golden’s artist website. Since the last update was more than three years ago and a lot has changed since then, he was wondering: Does anyone even need a website anymore? Why not just focus on Facebook/Twitter and ditch the .com altogether? Since you’re probably wondering the same thing, we scoured the net and asked industry professionals for answers.
Author Archive
Self-Promotion Tools for DJs: Facebook Fan Pages, iPhone Apps, Outsourced Press Releases
One of the dirtiest jobs in the DJ business is marketing and promotion. If you already have a big following, you could probably hire a publicist to do the promo grunt work for you. But how do you get a following without promotion? There’s the catch. Although DJing is good work if you can get it, it is still work. You’ve got to be your own hype man before you hit the big time. Luckily, the wonders of the modern world – technology and outsourcing – have your back. Read on to discover tools and services that will help you spice up your Facebook page, create a personal iPhone app with no coding required, and blast a press release to the music media masses.
Continue reading Self-Promotion Tools for DJs: Facebook Fan Pages, iPhone Apps, Outsourced Press Releases
Drivers Wanted – Audio on Macs and PCs
A recent DJ TechTools round up of soundcards sparked some queries about whether latency is a bigger problem on Mac or Windows machines, or if it’s a moot issue these days. Latency is a murky issue with many factors affecting it: the number of audio channels and effects being used, CPU power, and more. However, one of the most important factors is the audio driver at work. To get a better handle on what the differences are when creating audio drivers for both Mac and PC, we asked a couple of third-party audio hardware developers who produce products for both platforms. Continue reading Drivers Wanted – Audio on Macs and PCs
Dj Soundcards for Less Than $200
You may have to decide whether to fill up your gas tank or fill up your belly far too often these days, but luckily, one area where you still get more for your money than you did 2 years ago is technology. Since the last DJ Tech Tools budget soundcard romp in Feb. 2008, 2 Benjamins now gets you a considerably more impressive array of audio interfaces with which to weave your magical musical tapestry. Whether you spin DVS control discs or rock controllers, you have to get your tunes from the computer to the soundsystem somehow. So because those gallons of milk and 87-octane aren’t getting any cheaper, we went shopping for the best DJ soundcard values, and passed the time savings on to you.
Tiefschwarz Interview: The Death of Vinyl and Big Labels
The brothers that make up the electro-house duo, Tiefschwarz (“deep black” in German), Ali and Basti Schwarz, started DJing in Stuttgart, Germany in the early ’90s. Since then they have risen from local club promoters to worldwide club culture celebrities. Through it all they witnessed several sea changes in the way that dance music is produced, distributed and DJ’d, yet continue to thrive. On a recent solo stop to San Francisco, Ali Schwarz sat down with Ean Golden to discuss the acceptance of digital DJing, the merits of Internet distribution, the importance of personal style, the questionable necessity of big music labels and the one single constant in the world of DJing: that no matter what happens, it’s always about the music.
Continue reading Tiefschwarz Interview: The Death of Vinyl and Big Labels
