introduction
vinyl vs cds
the turntable
cartridge and stylus
the CDJ
mixer
slipmatts
headphones

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introduction :

Slipmatts

First things first. What's the point of them?

Before we get into that you do need to know that the great big, thick, fat, black rubber mats that came with your new equipment are not needed for DJing. Originally that rubber mat was used to create friction between the platter and the vinyl. The vinyl sticks to the rubber and thus slippage is avoided. The platter turns the rubber mat which grips the vinyl and rotates it at a constant speed.

Your parents will have told you "don't touch the record, you'll break it". You won't. But to help you understand why you can't live without slipmatts in DJing is very simple. Vinyl is manipulated by you the DJ. Sometimes you want to find a particular point on the record. When you do so, you may not want to release the record the instant you find it. You may have to wait for the playing record to be at a certain point. This means you need to literally hold the record stationary under your fingertips, so when you do let it go it starts playing exactly from where you want it to.

[ Don't try this next bit at home, it's just an example and it can potentially damage your equipment ]

In order for this to happen (and relating to the opening paragraph) and reduce the strain on the motor of your new decks, if you left the rubber mats on, the first thing that would happen as you stopped the record would be that the vinyl would grip the rubber mat, which grips the platter and brings it to a grinding halt underneath the vinyl. Just because you can't see it, the motor is still trying to push the platter round and is not having much success. The pressure being applied by your hand holding the record is greater than the motor so in essence its going to break and burn out fairly quickly. A slipmatt turns this friction between the platter and vinyl into an frictionless movement. Even if you stop the record and hold it under your fingertips a good slipmatt (and combination of the quality of deck don't forget) will mean the turntable can carry on spinning the platter with no extra effort or strain, just as if it was playing as normal. No strain on your deck and it works for more than two mixes without you having to buy a new turntable.

Slipmatts always are purchased in pairs and come in many designs. Generally speaking there isn't too much between them. Stick with any good manufacturers (Technics/Vestax) who will have ensured that a slipmatt is slippy and doesn't cause friction i.e. they are designed for their purpose. I bought a lesser branded one which was fine until I was given some Technics ones as a present. The difference was frightening. The pick up of the deck dramatically improved (bearing in mind I'm on Technics anyway) and when scratching I found the deck doing more of the work without me having to push and pull the vinyl as I had had to do before.

Should you be a budding scratcher (or even if you are using budget decks that don't have a particularly good pick which you want to improve) it might be worth you checking out what are called ButterRugs or their rival SicMatts. These are designed for the turntablist to reduce friction much more than your standard DJ slipmatt. Vinyl becomes almost ultra lightweight under your fingers giving you much greater scope for manipulation.

They are also very thin indeed - approximately half the thickness of a normal slipmatt and are made of what I can only describe as very thick tissue paper with a rough(ish) surface. Its very difficult to describe. The ButterRugs do come highly recommended however. The sheer thinness of them also means the vinyl itself sits lower on the platter itself offering greater stability to your stylus and cartridge.

Other ways of Reducing Friction

Should you be using more budget decks you can, in some cases aid the slipmatt and improve the slipperiness of your deck without upgrading to the top deck on the market. Obviously these are only quick fixes and the success will vary from deck to deck. One thing to remember in all this is that although reducing the friction is the aim, you can go overboard and make it too slippy. It is possible. There needs to be a little friction so when you release the record some grip occurs it actually starts spinning and gets the vinyl up to speed as quickly as possible. Just a thought before you try and of the ones below. Combinations may work too but remember the more stuff you put between the platter and the vinyl the more it will raise the vinyl itself which may mean you'll need to recalibrate everything. You can try these in conjunction with or without a slipmatt. Trial and error is the key and all these are cheap methods for getting what could be a significant improvement.

Option 1 - The Plastic Bag

Cheap and readily available, just hack a 12" circle out of a carrier bag. Poke a hole in the centre (can be bigger than the spindle to prevent it scrunching up as the record turns). Get a decent quality one (not those see through stripey ones from the petrol station) where the plastic has some rigidity to it. You want it to retain its shape. A really thin one will create a lot of static between the platter and the vinyl and when you remove a record from the deck your DIY slipmatt will have found a new friend and will want to share its sleeve. Avoid this as it will not only upset the other records but the extra static will attract dust to the vinyl meaning you have to clean it more often.

Option 2 - Wax Paper / Brown Parcel Paper
I heard this mentioned. The same principal as above cut into a 12" and used instead of a slipmatt. I think this is a crap idea as wax paper has a wax coating on it surprisingly enough which will soon transfer to your slipmatts and vinyl leaving a residue on either or worse still both. What this would do to a stylus over time I dread to think.
Personally, I would recommend using brown parcel available from any post office. It has the bonus that it has a ridged surface which reduces the surface area contact between the platter and the vinyl. The less there is touching the less friction there is, and the better the platter will continue to spin. The parcel paper is particularly hard wearing and will retain its shape. Cheap, thin and lightweight too.

Option 3 - Use a CD
Sounds bizarre but pop a CD under the record to raise the vinyl from the slipmatt. The order from bottom upwards would be platter, slipmatt, cd, vinyl. Again you are reducing the amount of vinyl in direct contact with the slipmatt. this however has the disadvantage of raising the centre and leaving the edges relatively unsupported. I should imagine you will cue up a tune by holding the record at 9 o'clock. If you push down on the edge of the record here you will find the vinyl at three o'clock will lift slightly, just at the point before where the cartridge sits. You could increase the chance of the needle skipping out of its groove. Any old CD would do. One free with the paper, a crap one that hasn't burned properly. You could also try putting the CD between the slipmatt and the platter then using the vinyl on record as normal. This would reduce the sudden step down in thickness at the edge of the CD and make it a more gradual reduction. The slipmatt itself would act as an edge softener, if you see what I mean.

Option 4 - Use felt
Simple - a circle of felt. Yep, that's it.

Option 5 - Use silk
More for the posh folk this one. A circle of silk. Slippy as you like but a tad more expensive. Use a handkerchief if you can find one. Yes it will be the wrong shape (probably square) but worth trying before you go buying a section of silk material.

Summary

So there we have it. A little crash course on slipmatts which is by no means exhaustive. A little creativity and you may think of something not listed here that could solve all your pick up problems.

Finally just to say although you don't need those big rubber ones for mixing, they are worth keeping. Should you decide that you want to record your records to your PC (if you need help on setting this up click here) you can use the rubber mats to ensure that you get a good steady tempo of track that is as accurate as the turntable you are using. There will be no slippage so the tempos will remain as good as the original. This is particularly important if you are backing them up to use them in your CDJs. A tune with a varying tempo, no matter how slight is always going to cause beat matching issues when you are in mid mix, as it may pick up slightly or loose the tempo throwing your mix out, in turn making it harder for you to judge when this will happen and what you need to do to correct it.

Remember that you do not want to remove all friction entirely between the platter and the vinyl. You will need SOME or when you let go of the record to release into the mix, the record won't pick up to its normal speed and if it does it could take til next week. It'd be like the worst belt drives ever.

Try combinations of the methods above if you wish and some trial and error will be needed to improve the handling of your Budgets. Oh yes....one last thing...these techniques and tricks will never make budgets into Technics but could certainly improve these decks' performance and may even pro-long their life with you!!!

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