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.

Both beginner turntablists and established DJs can make full use of DJ turntables packages, especially when you consider the convenience and practicality of making use of such packages. Turntables, mixers, sound cards and sometimes even turntable emulation software come bundled in with these packages, which makes for some really good deals. Some people, however, have a bit of a problem actually finding a place to buy these packages. As such, here are a few places to buy DJ turntables packages:

Your local audio and music shops are good places to start. Look around town, browse the ads and check each audio and music shop for packages, and you will find maintaining and upgrading your turntable a snap. The problem here is that not all people have access to audio and music shops that stock DJ turntables, which can then be solved by going to the one place where people and boundaries meet together: The Internet.

Search engines are your best friend. Simply key in the words ‘DJ turntables packages’ and you’ll be presented with a list of websites that specialize in selling the hardware. The problem here is that you need to know your stuff about turntables before you buy them off the Internet. Package content and pricing are two factors that take high priority, while brand name and authenticity are two others that will seal the deal. You need to choose where you shop on the World Wide Web if you want to find a good place from which to buy your packages.

DJ equipment sites come more recommended than auction or commerce sites. Such DJ equipment sites specialize in this particular niche, which means they develop a reputation based on the quality of their products and services. Auction and commerce sites, on the other hand, are more interested in a sale than providing quality goods, which is something you do not want if you are serious in your pursuit of good packages.

So there you have it, three basic places where you can find the best DJ turntables packages. They are good places to start your hunt, as long as you keep your wits about you and make a smart and informed purchase.

photo credit: laffy4k

DJ turntables were never designed to scratch, until one day when a certain DJ going by the name of ‘Grand Wizard Theodore’ tried to stop a vinyl record when his mom came calling. The result is the scratch that we know and love today, which was popularized by Theodore’s mentor Flash.

As time passed, however, technology has come to emulate the distinct sound of a scratch as the art has become more and more popular. Most digital turntables nowadays have a built-in vinyl emulation software to come up with the scratching sound. So what, exactly, does all of this have to do with what materials on DJ turntables to scratch?

If you want to go for the traditional analog turntables, then you may want to get professional scratch cartridges for protecting your records. These cartridges are used to spray a thin layer of protective material on records, which definitely helps to prevent wear out on the long run. The quality of your scratch cartridge will determine the longevity of your vinyl records on DJ turntables, which is why you should spare no expense when it comes to cartridge quality. Stick with high-quality brands brought from DJ and turntablist supply stores, and you’??ll make sure your records last a couple of years even with hard use.

On the other hand, digital DJ turntables already have plates designed to emulate scratching. If you use digital turntables, your music will come in digital format as well. The plates then serve as ‘controllers’ that can be spun and scratched at will, even without the presence of a record to scratch in the first place. This option is definitely useful for the DJ who does not want to collect a couple of identical vinyl records to keep in stock.

Of course, the DJ turntables themselves are your primary tool in scratching. Each DJ has a particular preference for the scratch produced by a turntable, and both analog and digital turntables definitely have their own unique ups and downs when it comes to scratching. This is a purely subjective experience, and each aspiring turntablist is just going to have to get used to one type of turntable or another

photo credit: Pernell