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The DJ Headphone Round-Up

Written by mikecharles on December 16th, 2009 116 Comments

headphones

DJ headphones: It doesn’t matter if you are mashing VCI buttons, flippin’ CDs or spinning vinyl — we all need them. A few months ago, I wrote an article about my quest for good headphones. The response was overwhelming, and shortly thereafter Ean called me up and said “Mike, how would you like to do a full-on headphone review?” Naturally, I jumped at the offer and we requested the most talked about pairs. If you’re in the market for a new set of cans this season, you’ll want to hear what we thought of the best offerings from Allen & Heath, Pioneer, Ultrasone and Shure.

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iTunes Power Tips, Part 4: New Smart Playlists

Written by mikecharles on September 27th, 2009 21 Comments

iTunes4SmartPlaylists

By Mike Charles

Apple recently rolled out iTunes 9, which included a slew of new features–none of which seemed to be of particular interest to DJ Tech Tools. However, Apple quietly updated my all-time favorite feature, the Smart Playlist, to include a powerful new option: nested conditions. This really excited the nerd in me, and I’d like to show you how this new option will help Smart Playlist-using DJs.

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Filed under Digital Dj Tips- Advanced, and tagged Tags: .

My Quest for Good Dj Headphones..

Written by mikecharles on August 20th, 2009 139 Comments

by Mike Charles

In the digital age of DJing, the gear we use evolves and changes at an ever accelerating pace. Mixers are now also sound-cards and midi controllers. CDJs are being replaces by buttons, sliders, and VCI platters. Record bags and CD wallets have given way to Laptops in the DJ booth, and unless you use Scratch Live, turntables no longer serve much purpose. There is one bit of kit however, that has remained relatively unchanged during a turbulent decade of evolution in the DJ booth, headphones.
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Filed under Digital Dj Tips- Basic, Dj Equipment, and tagged Tags: , , , .

Streamline Your Mac

Written by mikecharles on August 5th, 2009 52 Comments

streamlinemac

A few weeks ago Monika.mhz wrote an excellent article called “Streamline Your Windows Laptop”, and it inspired me to write something similar for the mac. Windows PCs can really benefit from optimization, but many of you out there with Macs probably don’t do much, if anything, to optimize your mac. Today we will discuss a few simple changes  you can make before your next gig, and how you can do it all with one click.  Many of these changes are one time dj tasks that you normally would not use, so I will show you how to automate that process for a simple and stress free dj start up every time.

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Filed under Digital Dj Tips- Advanced, Digital Dj Tips- Basic, How-To Video Tutorials, and tagged Tags: , , , , , .

MixVibes CROSS Reviewed

Written by mikecharles on June 24th, 2009 19 Comments

By Mike Charles

On a cold rainy New England day, I fired up the latest vinyl control system from MixVibes known as CROSS. This is one of the newer DVS systems on the market and DJ TT decided to tap yours truly for a review. The first thing I noticed was how small the packaging was for a standard digital vinyl system. A sticker at the top however, kindly notified me that the system includes two 7 inch control records. “That explains the size” I said to my dog Walter as I opened up the box.

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Filed under Dj Equipment, Dj Software, and tagged Tags: , , , , .

iTunes Power Tips, Part 3

Written by mikecharles on March 12th, 2009 26 Comments

by: Mike Charles

We’ve received lots of great feedback from our popular series, “iTunes power tips for DJs”. Today I’m going to address a some important questions that have come out of the comments sections of Part 1 and Part 2.

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Filed under Digital Dj Tips- Advanced, and tagged Tags: , , , , .

Itunes Power Tips

Written by mikecharles on December 19th, 2008 16 Comments

Here is a continuation of tips from last weeks popular post:

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Itunes power tips

Written by mikecharles on December 5th, 2008 48 Comments


by Mike Charles

In the “old days” I would head over to my record shelves, pull down 60 to 80 pieces of vinyl, toss em in my record bag, and go spin records. I hated this, because it limited me to only that one crate of records and many times the perfect tune had been left at home. You try to prepare, but vibes shift in a nightclub, and a good DJ should cater to that shift, keeping people entertained. Today my record “shelf” is my MacBook Pro, which solves that problem nicely but has posed some new challenges. Managing a collection of 500 to 1000 tunes and finding the right one on the fly can be pretty difficult so here are some tips that might help you in the digital age of multiple artists, sub-genres, and sub-sub-micro genres.

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Filed under Digital Dj Tips- Basic, and tagged Tags: , , , .

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