The Mixer:
The mixer. They come in all uncommon forms and prices. A common mixer will have 2 channels which allows you to mix 2 out of a total of 4 inputs – 2 line ins and 2 phono ins. Some mixers are only 1 input, 1 channel, but most modern mixers have 2 inputs for one channel. A button or flip-switch allows you to choose the input that is put through to the channel, phono in for the turntables and line in for the rest of the equipment.

Each channel requires at minimum a 2-band UE – bass and treble ( or high range) equalizer and the mixer requires a VU meter. From here on it can only get better, more busy and more expensive. Higher quality will show in the durability and toughness of the mixer and the better sound it will pass to the amplifier(s). on the contrary to the previous 2 items, the duel set of decks and the headphone, if you get a mediocre mixer it will not really affect your own mixing skills, the music itself will not sound as good. Using poor decks and/or a poor quality headphone will make it harder to mix right. As such, headphones should be one of the most important things you ought to spend your time researching on, prior to purchase.

Amplifiers and Speakers:
Amplifiers and speakers – This is where things get slippery because it now really depends on what you have in mind – are you a weekend warrior dj’ing out of your living room or are you trying to bring the house down by rocking the dance floor at some house party or club? There are many cheap dj systems in a box out there which will include both the amp and speakers as well. A quick google for dj amps and speakers should yield you w/ some good info.

Recording Equiptment:
Recording equipment is discretionary, but a very useful aid to practice. And if you take it more critically, you’ll also need it for recording demo tapes/discs.
That’s it for the first part of this post. Please stay tuned as we update w/ more dj news and product reviews…