Many of you out there are new to the game and starting to get gigs with your digital dj equipment. As a few readers have pointed out, frequently that gear does not really mesh well with the bread and butter setups clubs have installed. Showing up and plugging in equipment can be a nerve racking affair to begin with but if there is one thing MORE scary- its your first 30 dj gigs. So, if you want calm nerves and smooth sets with digital dj gear your going to need a game plan.
For the past 5 years I have setup my laptop, sound card and midi gear in hundreds upon hundreds of clubs around the world. From a traditional Tico dance hall in Costa Rica to techno clubs in Berlin, there was always a way to make it work. Here are a few helpful things I have learned upon the way.
Continue reading ‘How to Set Up in a Club’
A few months ago I wrote a piece on the term “Microwave dj”. This negative description is used by a lot of different people to easily identify their personal interpretation of a push-play Dj. I expected the piece to be controversial but is was more miss-understood than anything else. A regular reader and fellow blogger put it best: “I sort of took offense to the article at first, but when I saw one of your youtube videos I totally understood where you are coming from - your motivation for the article is: if you’re going to be using a laptop to dj you better be putting it to good use… I think people who don’t understand that about you will think that you’re trying to defend that traditional dj culture but you’re really advocating change in a weird way.”
Until people really get the creative potential and intention behind this new digital movement they are not going to see how its can easily co-exist with the old traditions of djing. The German philosopher Hegel is thought to have presented the idea that everything begins as a conflict between two opposing ideas , the thesis and the antithesis and is ultimately resolved by the synthesis - the superior resolution that includes the best of both ideas. We are trying to find the synthesis around here at Dj tech tools.
Continue reading ‘Microwave DJs’
Two noteworthy dj stories popped up on the BBC radar today. In the first, English drum and bass dj Grooverider was arrested on his way to a gig in Dubai. Apparently carrying any marijuana into the the United Arab Emirates qualifies as smuggling drugs and will result in a 4 year mandatory sentence. Note to self, international djing is not all champagne and limo rides to clubs overflowing with models. It also includes, among many other things, the following risks:
1) getting charged 1.4 million Euros for playing “pirated” mp3s.
2) having the Brazilian police switch off the lights, pull a world famous dj out of the dj booth and put another one in his place because the club did not pay taxes on his dj fee.
3) getting 4 years in a middle eastern prison for carrying a joint.
Continue reading ‘Itunes Cracked and Dj Busted’
After many questions and some confusion about how I actually set up my gear and play in clubs I put together this video to show you a typical gig. I recorded an explanation of the gear and connections while setting up in a San Francisco club and then demonstrate some of the ways you could map the Novation SL25 to Traktor 3 after the show was over.
This is the first of many posts that will go into all aspects of djing. Techniques, theories and applications that will take you from your first mix to playing in front of thousands. They are grouped according to what might interest you:
dj 101: just getting started
dj 202: starting to get the hang of things here
dj 303: yeah, I built my own mixer from car parts, it was easy.
Continue reading ‘Headphone cuing 101′
The market is flooded with all types of bags that may or may not work to carry your digital dj gear. Rather than gamble with $80, I turn it over to you, the readers, to share with others what your favorite dj back back has been. Please specify what gear you carry in it and where some one can buy it.To get us started, Here is one of my recommendation’s:
Continue reading ‘DJ back pack?’
As a kid, my ultimate fears used to be about giant, purple polka-dotted monsters under the bed or accidentally showing up to school without pants on. Now that I am a big kid with big, expensive toys, my slumbers are interrupted by an entirely different kind of recurring nightmare: somebody stealing my DJ laptop. It’s safe to say the laptop has become like a baby; even with all the data safely backed up, you can’t help but worry about where it is at all times. Laptops have made DJing on the road for extended periods of time more feasible and significantly more fun. The only problem is that all this expensive gear has brought with it a host of new worries when traveling. To help ease the mind, I asked a few top DJs who travel extensively with laptops for tips or tricks they have learned to keep laptops secure and make traveling with digital gear as smooth as possible.
Continue reading ‘How to keep your laptop safe’
As a result of our videos a ton of people seem to be very interested in the VCI-100 but remain confused about how it works. Every day I get more emails asking “Do I need a sound card, if so how does that work?” Dont fret, here at Dj Tech Tools we have the answers for you. Just check out this Sound Cards 101 video courtesy of Ean Golden.
Waking up after a long gig you find a tiny mosquito has taken up residence in your ear. You can try to get it out, but no amount of prying will shake free this annoyance. The unfortunate fact is, you never will because the high-pitched hum doesn’t actually exist. It’s a very cruel trick your damaged ear hairs are playing on your mind. For most people who experience this disturbing reality, it dissipates after a day, but an unlucky few are left with it for life. For a dramatic and comedic version of this all-too-common tale, check out the movie It’s All Gone Pete Tong
(cheeky cockney slang for “it’s all gone wrong”). It’s what happens when a famous Ibiza club DJ gets tinnitus and eventually goes deaf from extreme noise levels. Hollywood exaggerations? Well, the average DJ booth is usually around 110 dB. According to industry standards, you should not be exposed to that level of noise for more than 30 minutes at a time before permanent damage can begin to take hold. Got your attention? Well, enough of the gloom and doom. Here is the good news: There is a simple way you can not only save your ears but also significantly clean up your mixes at the same time. All you need to do is let go of those clunky DJ headphones and try out in-ear monitoring.
Continue reading ‘Dont go deaf- change your headphones.’
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