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’
Dj tech tools is working on an extensive comparison of 4 excellent dj sound cards for under $200. We are testing their performance and have created a way for you to listen to the difference between the Numark Dj I/O, Novation NIO, Maya 44 and Indigo Dj. The video and full reviews will be posted on Friday which brings me to my other point. From here on out we are moving to a regular posting schedule. New articles come out every Monday, Wed and Friday morning with bigger reviews and tutorials published on Friday mornings. Its very tempting to get caught up in the blog rush of posting small bits every day but we want keep our focus on a few really helpful articles per week and not dilute the content. So check in on those days OR subscribe to our feed via email in the bottom of the Tool bar.
From the editors desk, on which is piled 50 sound cards-
Ean
I just got back from my first NAMM and man was it an eye opening experience. Like many of you, I dj for the love of it, cut up gear and re-wire software to challenge myself and make cool shit. So when we get ideas for really great things that seem very simple to implement, it gets really annoying when it feels like NO-ONE is paying attention. F&%k, everyone wants a black VCI-100 so release the damn thing already, right? Continue reading ‘Don’t Blame the Suits’
I know you are surrounded by the overpowering urge to buy your body-weight in consumer electronics this Holiday season, so don’t let me stop you. Buy, buy, buy to your hearts desire but you might want to just wait about 2 weeks. In fact get your parents and friends to also wait a few weeks before also buying more electronics no-one really needs. Why, you might ask? 4 little letters my friend, NAMM. There is going to be some crazy things that will show up in Anaheim on January 17th and you might just want to save your hard earned money until you know what they are going to be. Sure, the loving- always delivering products on time manufactures might make you wait until next Christmas to actually get some of the new products they show this year but trust me, you might want to wait 2 weeks before you buy anything else. There are several key manufactures that will be dropping some really cool stuff into the digital dj mix this year so stay close as we will keep you posted on the most important.
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’
If you want to be taken seriously as a dj. Don’t make your marketing platform the fact that you play digitally. Digital, analogue, hi 8 tape - Its all just music. The question is; what are you doing to contribute to the quality of the game and the quality of other peoples musical experience. Thats what sets apart the ground breaking cats.
Rewind 4 years. Cue up the grey album. People are over the stale music industry and a bunch of crazy kids like CRFTP and BOOTIE and GO-Home Productions start to make some strange blends of classic songs. Its cool, fresh and different, people dig it. Fast forward to the end of the tape. Endless supply of genre band wagon jumping new comers marketing themselves as “mash up” djs. They give the whole concept a well deserved bad name and mash-ups become a dirty word.
Do you want that to happen to digital djs? Careful folks, its already happening as some big name djs are lining up to bash digital djs (dont worry- its just a big publicity stunt without any credibility) but even if its all smoke and mirrors public opinion can be a fickle girl friend. So go out and represent our craft well, advertise your art- not the medium.
Do you dj in clubs or bars? No matter how cool or underground you may be, eventually your going to run into a common bar dwelling species formally known as:
“homus- bacheloreticus-drunk-as-hellitus”.
Yes, lets face it, they exist and they get wicked drunk. So next time a bachelorette leans over your dj booth, long island ice tea in hand, and tries to verbalize a request for that one “birthday song about 55 cents”. Dont freak out about your 2 thousand dollar laptop investment drowning in cheep alcohol. Get pro-active and protect that $#%@! Slap a plastic key guard on there so the liquid cant get into the keys (the one really vulnerable part) Here is one for the PC type laptops and here is one made for a Mac.
Want to kill two birds with one stone? Here is a plastic key guard with the Serato hot keys printed on it!
If you dont use Serato, bust out the permanent markers and make your own!
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.’
