Best Buy DJ Turntables

photo credit: simonlesleyphoto

The best DJ turntables can help make the difference between a club that draws in the crowds or a club that flounders and dies a slow death. This is especially true if you plan to take music seriously in your own club, where the quality of sound is a major issue for you to handle.

If you’re out in the market and looking for the perfect tool to help you do your thing, here are a couple of things you’d want to look out for:

Direct Drive

There is a reason you want to get direct drive over belt drive, and that reason is a significantly higher level of torque on direct drives. Belt drives also have a tendency to slip and erode with use, and are generally not recommended for serious DJs who want to turntable as well.

High Torque

The best DJ turntables have a decent torque level on the disks, ranging around 1.5kg/m, and are usually found on direct drive turntables. The problem here, however, is that only an experienced DJ will be able to tell whether the label on the turntable is accurate or not. Check for resistance when pulling back the disk, and never get a turntable that doesn’t ’snap’ a disk back into a spin after stopping or pulling it back.

Straight tone arm

A good tone arm needs to hold a pickup and stylus where they need to be, and a straight tone arm gets the job decently well. The best DJ turntables usually have a straight tone arm, which is a good measure to prevent the needles from jumping all over the place and ruining the overall sounds on your mixes.

Decent pitch adjustment

And last but definitely not the least is a decent range of pitch adjustment. This will allow you to adjust the tempo of the music, varying between slower, somber tunes and fast-paced, energetic ones. A range of plus-minus eight is a decent enough value to work with for most clubs DJs, which then comes as the recommended pitch adjustment levels.

Keep all these factors in mind when shopping and you’ll be able to separate the cheap knock-offs from the best DJ turntables around.

The music is the best part of being a DJ, but the party also needs a little light and action from time to time. Professional DJs often come to a gig prepared with DJ lighting that creates a club effect in any space. The types of lighting used vary from the classic disco ball to LED light shows. The more advanced the DJ lighting, the more money you will put into the purchase and upkeep of the lighting and special effects.

The Classic Disco Ball

There was once a time when every club was fitted with a disco ball. The ball reflected spot lights in the room with its mirrored finish. The disco ball DJ lighting tended to be very heavy and required permanent installation from the roof of the club or room. Today, digital disco balls are much lighter and much more portable. The mirrors have been replaced with LED lights that provide a retro look to any space.

The LED Light Show

Most popular DJ lighting equipment will utilize multiple colored LED lights to create a light show. These pieces range in price from less than $100 USD to more than $1000 USD. The simplest LED DJ lighting is the table top unit. These are perfect for smaller rooms or dance floors. The LED DJ lighting comes programmed with light shows or allows the DJ to change up the flashing patterns based on the beat of the music.

The DJ lighting can make all the difference when trying to boost the mood of a party. Lighting sequences can improve guest interaction and the number of people you pull to the dance floor. Just remember, DJ lighting does not have to be expensive to lighten up the mood of any party.

photo credit: MShades

No matter how passionate you are about being a DJ, if you have no basic understanding of audio equipment, entertaining the crowd may be difficult. All DJs need to know how to connect DJ equipment before taking their first paying or free gig. Connecting DJ equipment is really quite easy with a little preparation.

First Things First

Most DJ equipment will have detachable cords. These need to be marked with the name of the equipment they will be used to connect. If one USB cord goes to the turntable, a small piece of masking tape can be used to mark that cord with the appropriate machine. Color coding the cords is another option. Just remember to place a dot of color on both the cord and the bottom of the machine. After the cords have been sorted – there are 5 steps to connecting DJ equipment.

Step 1 – Plug it all in. Turn off all DJ machines and plug the equipment into a power strip with a surge protector. The electrical strip also needs to be powered down before plugging in the equipment.

Step 2 – Connect the music to the mixer. The music source should be connected to the mixer using audio outputs and inputs. The cord should be plugged into the music output and the mixer input.

Step 3 – Connect the mixer to the amplifier. The mixer will feed the music into the amplifier. The cord needs to be attached to the mixer output and the amplifier input.

Step 4 – Connect the amplifier to the speakers. The amplifier needs to be connected to the speakers so the guests can hear the music. The cord should be connected to the amplifier output and the speaker input.

Step 5 – Check the sound. Once all pieces are connected, turn on the power strip and all machines. Once booted, check to ensure the sound quality is correct.

Once all equipment is working properly, tape down all cords on the carpet with duct tape. Colored duct tape can be used to match the carpet color. The tape keeps the cords safely close to the carpet or flooring so nothing comes unplugged and no one trips on the cords.

photo credit: _sarchi