There comes a time when you just need to let go of older technology. When I DJ at larger events my normal rig is to include the digital world and the analogue world. I lug with me my CD players, a case of CDs, my laptop, Dj controller and PA system. However, at these gigs I use my laptop 99% of the night. So why bring all this other equipment?? It is heavy and takes time to set-up!
When I first started DJing in my early teens I had two dissimilar turntables without pitch control. Myself and my dj partner scrounged money to buy vinyl records and we recorded mix tapes always starting them out by citing our DJ names through some cheap microphone trying to make ourselves sound cool... I would give to find some of these old tapes...I am sure they sound awful!
For a breif period of time I started getting recorded music onto cassette tape a format that I really did not like to use but was practical since I could not afford to buy countless albums of older tunes. I even recorded music from the radio...cutting out the announcer's voice...oh the sound quality!
But that didn't last. Pretty soon my buddy and I were working and soon after afforded our very first used Technic 1200s. We also frequented the local record shops on a weekly basis to get the latest 12" releases...we were the real biz now!!
Compact Disc did not come out till the early 80s and it took a long time before CDs and CDRs became main stream for DJs. It just made sense to carry a sleeve of CDs instead of milk crates to carry 12" vinyl (btw...the back of Becker's convience stores was a great source for crates...)
When I came out of University in 1997 I decided to get back into DJing and purchased my first dual-CD player the Denon 2500F! Full pitch control...loops...wow! I was blown away by the new technologies and the race was on to rebuild my music collection. I was at the local HMV constantly buying Various Artists CDs...and then came Napster...oh free music! I also joined the ERG music pool an easy way to get all the latest tunes legitimatly since I started to make some cash DJing.
At the time however the Technic 1200s were still going strong and vinyl was still the cool way to DJ so I purchased a brand new pair of Technic 1200s! I ordered house music off the internet and visited downtown weekly to buy some of the latest house releases. At $12-15 a track...wow that got expensive! An expensive hobby since I never brought the turntables out of the house!
When I first started DJing in my early teens I had two dissimilar turntables without pitch control. Myself and my dj partner scrounged money to buy vinyl records and we recorded mix tapes always starting them out by citing our DJ names through some cheap microphone trying to make ourselves sound cool... I would give to find some of these old tapes...I am sure they sound awful!
For a breif period of time I started getting recorded music onto cassette tape a format that I really did not like to use but was practical since I could not afford to buy countless albums of older tunes. I even recorded music from the radio...cutting out the announcer's voice...oh the sound quality!
But that didn't last. Pretty soon my buddy and I were working and soon after afforded our very first used Technic 1200s. We also frequented the local record shops on a weekly basis to get the latest 12" releases...we were the real biz now!!
Compact Disc did not come out till the early 80s and it took a long time before CDs and CDRs became main stream for DJs. It just made sense to carry a sleeve of CDs instead of milk crates to carry 12" vinyl (btw...the back of Becker's convience stores was a great source for crates...)
When I came out of University in 1997 I decided to get back into DJing and purchased my first dual-CD player the Denon 2500F! Full pitch control...loops...wow! I was blown away by the new technologies and the race was on to rebuild my music collection. I was at the local HMV constantly buying Various Artists CDs...and then came Napster...oh free music! I also joined the ERG music pool an easy way to get all the latest tunes legitimatly since I started to make some cash DJing.
At the time however the Technic 1200s were still going strong and vinyl was still the cool way to DJ so I purchased a brand new pair of Technic 1200s! I ordered house music off the internet and visited downtown weekly to buy some of the latest house releases. At $12-15 a track...wow that got expensive! An expensive hobby since I never brought the turntables out of the house!
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| Dual CD Player and my Technic 1200s |
While all this was going on CD turntables started to take over the market for even the biggest of DJs. Their larger platters were pretty good at mimicing vinyl so I just had to get some! In 2005 I bought a pair of Denon 3500 CD turntables and to this day still use them...a little bit...
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| My First CDTTs! |
I started dabbling with Native Instruments Traktor DJ software a few years ago and last year added a NI Traktor X1 control surface. I used these alongside my CD turntables at all my events. Having both would mean if one went down I would be safe with the other. I also joined a Digital DJ Pool... Zip DJ where I get all my latest music. This lead to me using my CDTTs a lot less at recent events. I am now using my laptop for 99% of the time.
So I think it may be time to say goodbye to the CDs...
In comes the Native Instruments Kontrol S2! I just bought this at the beginning of the week in hopes to totally switch to the digital world. I am still looking for a good back-up system which I am leaning towards our families IPad. Relying on computers is still a finicky business (really it's all about comfort level) and is why my switch has been slow. The S2 allows for an amazingly quick set-up...all the controls are there. There is of course a stigmatism that goes with being a DJ and looking the part and standing there with an iphone connected into a speaker system is not meant to be.
There is still a debate that Djing in front of a laptop is taking away from the Art of the DJ. I disagree...embracing these new technologies opens avenues to other ways of expressing yourself. I've more then paid my dues adjusting pitch faders to match speeds of music. Don't care to do it anymore...in fact has re-invigurated my love for DJing. Also for the mobile world it means lugging less stuff around. I figure the Kontrol S2 with scratch pad surfaces partnered with the X1 and a bunch of flashing buttons will still make the customer think they are getting what they paid for...that is...b4 I rock the dance floor :)
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| My new Kontrol S2!! |
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