Warmest greetings again to all dance fans and DJs (be it beginners, bedroom or club ones) out there. Welcome to another edition of my diary.

Before I start, I have to make it clear that I am only touching on vinyl mixing in all of my entries, and not CD mixing. I apologize for that but as I have no experience whatsoever with CD mixers, it would be totally inappropriate for me to touch on CD mixing. Hope you guys understand.

In this entry, I am going to wrap up on the topic of equipment by touching on the rest of the equipment a DJ needs to begin with, like the Mixer, the Headphone, the styluses, slip-mats and vinyls.

Mixers

A DJ will need a minimum of a two-channel mixer. The reason simply being that you will be mixing with 2 turntables right? So won't a mixer have to be equipped with at least a two-channel mixer to allow the two turntables to connect to it? Common sense I guess. *smiles wryly* While a two-channel mixer is sufficient for mixing vinyl, those with more channels allow for more connections. You can actually connect a microphone, a sampler or a sequencer to your mixer for better sound effects while mixing. With more channels, you can even add a third turntable to your whole set up! Like rocky and diesel X-press did during their stint at Zouk and Ade Fenton too, at 'HARDCORE 003'. Extra connections to stuff like samplers and more turntables help enhance a DJ's set and music style. But back to the point, beginners should try (I said TRY!!!!) to start off humbly with a simpler setup of a basic 2 turntables and one mixer. Once you feel you are ready for more challenges, and you are also feeling kinda rich, then you can proceed on to upgrading and expanding your decks setup.

What should you look out for in a mixer? You had better a down a cup of coffee before I start or something, because I may get long-winded along the way. Hehe. Firstly, A basic mixer should have 2 channels at least (as I have mentioned earlier on)! But then again, I doubt that shops catering to DJs will be selling one channel mixers out there, because it doesn't make sense to sell those to DJs who want to do mixing or scatching. The mixer should also have individual EQ for each channel for easier mixing. Look out for the cross-fader. This is a very important element of a basic mixer. The cross fader control allows you to switch the sound from one channel to the other and vice versa. Or it lets you put the cross fader in between while you are doing 2 channel mixing. Cross-faders are replaceable. Your mixer should also have individual faders for each channel. These individual channel faders are very important, especially during mixing, when you need to bring in an intro of a track into an out-tro of the previous track or even when you are mixing two tracks together.The Gain controls that you should have are for accurately matching audio levels of the channels. If possible, do try to get mixers with kills. This will definitely help your mixing as kills enable you to cut the bass, middle or treble away from a track easily. Hey, techno DJs use kills pretty often to play around with their techno track's minimalist sound. Your mixer should also have a Headphone output. You will definitely need that to plug in your headphones for sound monitoring -- essential for all DJs. And there should  be a cue section, to allow for mixing with the use of headphones.The mixer should also have a switch between Aux/phono and line. The mixer, to be amplified over a hi-fi speaker system, is usually plugged via RCA cables from the mixer into the Aux/phono of the hi-fi.

Other features that may come with higher-end mixers include BPM ( beats per minute) counters, attached samplers that allows the DJ to isolate a particular riff and play that section of the music repeatedly. But these samplers found on the mixer have limited capabilities compared to those sold alone. If you feel the need for a mic, do get a mixer with a microphone connector.

Mixers that I recommend for a beginner's budget of around $300-$500 are the Gemini PS 646 (currently used by DJ Itchi from frontal), PS-626 and the KAM's KMX-300 which is highly recommended by William of Wicked Records. I myself am using a Numark DM2002X mixer. I got it for $321 from Swee Lee when they were having a sale on Numark mixers and I suppose I got it for a steal because the original price was around $500 plus. It has all the above mentioned standard features.

Vestax mixers are really popular amongst scratch and breakbeat turntablists. Vestax mixers are a little pricy but worth every cent because of its renowned quality. Ritchie Hawtin's favourite Vestax mixer PMC -55 is going for around $2380 at AudioSports ProShop! woah!Pioneer, Behringer, Denon, Stanton are also labels that carry mixers which range from low-budget bedroom ones to high-end club standards.

Headphones

For beginners, I would advise you not to spend too much on Headphones because they are darn expensive. The cheapest pair of Headphones cost around 30-40 dollars (SGD). But do not stinge so much as to get one that has such lousy sound frequencies that your bass starts to go berserk!! Hunt slowly and patiently for a good pair. Try to get DJ monitoring Headphones, beacause these have rotating earcups which are useful when you need to have one ear on the phones and one ear listening to the bass beat from the amplifier or speakers. Expensive ones include models from like Sony and Technics, e.g. the Sony MDR-V700 costs around SGD200 plus. These are really for professionals and clubs, but if you think it will be worth it to get an expensive pair because they may last longer, by all means, do so. I myself bought a pair of Sony MDR-V250 headphones. These are the cheapest Sony DJ monitoring headphones around. I got them for $42 at Sim Lim. And it was a steal too, because I had a friend who paid $62 when he was supposed to have been given a discount from the original price of $72.

When purchasing a pair, please look out for good bass production, durablity and comfort. But do not come slamming me if you decide to buy a cheap pair of headphones and it spoils soon. As I have pointed out, quality comes with cost!!

Styluses and cartridges

I have to admit that I do not know much about cartridges and styluses. But I can explain what they are for. The stylus is the direct link between your decks and the vinyl. When you play a record, the stylus scores and sort of reads the grooves of the vinyl record whereby an electric signal is picked up, fed through the stylus and amplified via the system. Styluses are very very sensitive and must be handled with extreme care! They are also really expensive. With prices ranging from a $40- $300 or more! The Stanton groovemasters I have that came with my second-hand deal cost about $175 per groovemaster! And these were bought in 1999! Shure, Stanton and Technics are just some of the brands that carry styluses and cartridges.

Slipmats

'The purpose of the slip mat is to reduce the friction between the record and the turntable to the point where you can hold the record still, and the turntable will still turn underneath it . This is very important during cueing of a record, when you have to rock the record back and forth.' Slipmats are pretty pricey too. A good pair of slipmats may cost up to $35. From what I know, DJs are encouraged to get slipmats with less patterns or designs on its surface for easier scratching and spinning. I got my pair of slipmats for $32. I guess that was a steal too. *smirks* If your budget is too tight to spend much on slipmats, buy some felt and cut it out in accordance to the size and shape of  a record! A cheap and useful tip from a friend of mine.

Vinyls

Yay! We have reached my favourite section, vinyls! Vinyls cost around $14- $18 when bought new from shops. Sometimes when you are lucky, DJs or people who want to give up the hobby will put up advertisements in the DNS forum to sell their vinyls second-hand. These can be bought for below $10. Try to look out for second-hand buys because vinyls are hardware and do not spoil easily, so you do not have to fret much about second-hand vinyls being of inferior quality. Comercialised tunes may be hard to find due to their popularity. But you can always place orders at the shops and they will try their best to help you bring in that tune. Try to stick to one vinyl shop so that once you establish yourself as a loyal regular, the proprietor will give you the discounts and privileges accordingly! You can also order vinyls online. But I personally would not encourage you to do so. Firstly, due to the exchange rates which fluctuate, and high shipping and handling fees, you may end up paying up to $25 for each piece. Unless you are looking for a certain vinyl which is so exclusive you can only get it online, or if you know that is is a special-edition vinyl which is very rare in the market. To order online, you can check out some of our links. 

Alright, Looks like we have come to the end of my boring and draggy introduction on equipment. These pieces of equipment that I have touched on are only the basic essentials for beginners like me.  When you have progressed into another level of turntablism, then you can bring in other equipment like CD-mixers, samplers etc.

Oh yeah, when setting up the equipment, please do set them on a flat even surface which allows quick and easy movement. Also try to place them in such a way that it is easy to plug and unplug your wires and stuff. Do remember to earth your turntables to your mixer ro prevent 'static; and 'low-humming' sounds.

In my next entry, I will be touching on music tastes and more on vinyls.

Till then, take care! And Spin on...... (corny, I know.)

*** The writer can be contacted at waynelee@purplemonkeymedia.com ***
 

• Underground Clubbing 06.08.01

• Our Local scene. Support? or Just easy Talk? 10.07.01

• Music Taste 18.06.01

• Equipment- the rest 13.06.01

• Equipment- Turntables, 26.05.2001

• Introduction to DJ-ing, 14.05.2001