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introduction : types of deck : battle packs : functions : tonearm shape : Turntable Types Quite obviously you can't be a DJ unless you own (or have serious regular access to) two of these, unless of course you have taken the digital route an mix off a laptop with MP3s. The turntable should be your friend and you'll find you spend more time than you once thought possible with them at your finger tips. With almost as many manufacturers as there are models, choosing your decks can be a very daunting task. What makes a deck good? A variety of points which we will look at in turn. Decks or turntables can be classified into two types with the second type being split further into two categories. Belt Drive These are the cheapest decks known to man. For the sake of audio listening pleasure some may argue from an audio lovers point of view that belts are the way to go. The decks referred to by these music lovers can cost way more than a top DJing deck. In fact to replace a stylus and cartridge on a really good audio record player can be as much as a top deck. The belt drive DJ decks you may hear of are anything but. In car terms these are the Reliant Robins of the DJ motorway. Unfortunately this is not the case when it comes to DJing. The motor on a belt drive (as it is on any deck is what makes it spin. The motor's position is the breaking factor between which category a deck is placed in. On belt drives it is positioned within the deck to one side of the platter. The motor spins when the deck is powered and started. Connected to the drive spindle of the motor is essentially a big rubber band that loops round the underside of the platter. As the motor turns, it moves the band which in turn rotates the platter/deck. Although the band will have grooves along it to help grip the platter, as it is turned it means the whole feel to the deck is rather flimsy. Pressing on the platter you may see vertical movement near the spindle of the vinyl being pushed down. Holding a record with your hand while its spinning may mean that the platter can also be forced down and may create a slight raise on the opposite side. This can upset the needle and cause it to skip. I'm not saying it acts as if its on a hinge and these minor things may be unnoticeable unless you are actively looking for them. A wobbly platter is only ever going to be a problematic one. DJing is about the hands on approach which totally contradicts your parents telling not to touch the record as you'll "break it". As we've said, belt drives are great in terms of audio listening when you play the record, walk off and leave it. Even the DJ ones. As soon as you press or touch the record the platter comes to a grinding halt underneath the record. The weight of the platter and a little resistance is enough to stop the motor turning which stops the deck. As you become more familiar with what DJing is all about you will soon realise the importance of the motor and its power or torque as it is also known. A torque test is simply how long it takes the platter from a stationary position to get up to and be playing at full speed. The higher the torque value, the stronger the motor and the quicker the pick-up. Belts are rubbish and on older models can take over half a rotation to get up to full speed with no assistance from you helping it on its way. Belt decks are also notoriously poor for what is called wow and flutter. These terms are used to describe the accuracy that the deck can hold a constant speed and the amount of sway that there is either side of that speed. When the pitch is adjusted to any set level, the wow/flutter level will determine how much the speed changes of its own accord without you touching the pitch control. It will not be audible to the ear whilst listening to a record but poor quality componentry and precision in manufacturing will mean you could play the same record on two separate decks, at exactly the same pitch setting starting both records playing together. You can pretty much guarantee that the speeds would be ever so slightly different (due to the inaccuracy of the components and engineering) and that both records wouldn't finish the record exactly together. One is bound to finish slightly ahead. This is due to the wow/flutter of that particular deck. Use two belt decks and the problem becomes instantly twice as bad, an unsurprisingly enough somewhat unpredictable. Belt drives are awkward to use as any manual (hands on) changes to alter the playing speed of the deck are very audible. This becomes very apparent once you start mixing and have two records layering together. When using belt drives you have to be so very very careful as the slightest change (i.e. touch) will have a huge impact. There is a possibility that this sounds as if it will make mixing easier. Far from it. Wavering pitches will mean no matter how close you match the two records they will wander of their own free will, meaning you have to constantly correct it. One slightly too firm a contact when correcting a mix can do things as severe as stopping the deck totally to a little poke making the record (due to the weight of the platter behind it) speeding off on its own. More correcting by which point the listener has fired your mix out of the nearest window. More advanced techniques to reduce the need for hands on, don't work on belts as to do this you need accurate pitch control. Using the pitch to nudge on a record is not viable as there is likely to be no resistance in the pitch slider itself so you have no idea how much you've actually changed it by. Availability You may find that DJ decks such as belt drives are easy to get hold of and seem a good cheap solution to your DJing craving. Just before you switch your PC and go and buy them, there is a reason they are so cheap ..... pardon me ...... inexpensive. Anyone who knows anything about DJing will highlight the same issues to you. Avoid them. You may think its economical to see if you like DJing but buying new they are relatively expensive and in some cases so awkward to learn on just to get the basics can be enough to put a newbie off DJing for good. They are awkward and unpredictable to use, the pitches can have no resistance or any changes you may make to it will take a few seconds to kick in on the platter. This time delay can mean you think you've not altered the pitch enough. You have but the deck hasn't caught up. It still sounds out so you adjust again. The first adjustment kicks in. Five seconds later, after the mix sounds good, the second adjustment kicks in and your mix suddenly falls apart for reasons you are unable to explain. If you buy them, decide they are rubbish in two months and want to sell, there are several disadvantages to this as well (not many positive points yet are there?!). You may be lucky to find someone who actually wants to purchase them from you. If the God's are shining on you that particular day, you may be able to buy a packet of Salt and Vinegar with the money you've recently acquired from the now completed transaction. Anyone who has done any research will know (some of) this but may not have the in depth knowledge that you now have. They may have just been told "avoid" and so they have and won't even be considering them. This also explains why belts are so easy to find. Check Ebay today. There'll be oodles of them to choose from, all oozing their DJing poisons. If you buy these you will soon realise how useless they actually are. This doesn't mean you CAN'T physically mix on them but there are techniques and run-along fixes you will have to do to have any fighting chance. This can lengthen and steepen what is already a difficult learning curve, making it even more long winded and frustrating than it actually needs to be. Financially you will also make a large loss in the long run as you will upgrade - no question so it is far from cost effective. You will have to upgrade as you can just about beatmix on these. Any touching of the record should be kept to an absolute minimum, so if you plan to do scratching you will have no luck with these and it's pretty much impossible to do the most slow and basic scratches. Any slight warping (or most likely no warping is needed) in the record may mean there is no chance of the needle even staying in the groove for you to cue it. That I can assure you is the most irritating problem. It may be possible to mix on them but how can you do that if you can't find the first sample on the record? When mixing, you set up the beat in the headphones and release. Belt drives can take up to half a rotation of the platter to get up to full speed. The older and more used they are the slacker the belt and the longer it takes to do so. This isn't much use so you basically have to shove the record with your hand to get get it up to max speed as soon as possible. This helping hand you apply can also make the needle skip and you are back to where you began setting up the record again and balancing the needle in the groove again. Prices for these decks I would estimate up to £150. In my opinion, you spend that on these you may need your head looking at. If budget is really that tight and the option is these or nothing I'd seriously not bother. Save up for a bit longer (if you are still saving in three months you know you want to do it and it isn't just a passing fad) and go for the next category up at least. It sounds harsh and not what you want to hear but with everything on this site, you'll get the opinions and experience free of charge. That doesn't cost you £200 to find out you've just purchased two useless hunks of scrap that you couldn't sell for the materials they are made out of. I promise you the difference between belts and the next category is almost undefinable.
Instead of relying on rubber band technology, the motor can be found directly underneath the platter. When operated the platter spins as a result of the motor being directly attached to it. Although this is much better in theory there are still two distinct bands of quality to be found within this category. On the budget decks (anything under i would estimate in the region of £180 to £275 per deck) the accuracy and build quality will still be suspect. Excellent starters for beginners though as these are great to learn on. Although there are some flaws in the componentry doesn't mean they are useless. These decks will actually aid the Dj in some respects with a more stable tonearm and a heavier weight to the deck itself. A little note of warning though. There are many decks that are styled on the likes of the Technics 1210. It may look aesthetically similar but will certainly handle very differently. You still need to be only using light pressure and these decks are still susceptible to skipping needles. Granted it will be nowhere near as bad as the belts but stability (such as wobbly platters) issues are not uncommon. Componentry is of a better and more fitting quality providing the user with reasonable all round handling. You may be able to learn the basic scratches (as I did on my faithful Soundlab DLP3s) but certain manufacturers still haven't quite nailed this. Quite simply you get what you pay for. Pitch sliders may give you an option of +/-10 or +/-12 but this is purely a selling feature, trying to convince you they are a contender with the likes of the next category. If you can afford these by all means get them. You will have a much less frustrating time learning on them although like an old car you can't just "drive" them. There are tricks and measures to get you from A to B and the journey is not always a smooth one. You will, after time automatically put little techniques in place to overcome these flaws and short-comings. Flutter and wow will be heavily reduced when compared to belts but are still present none the less. A mix will sit together for much longer before the decks start fighting each other for who's going to win the beatmatching race. Pitch sliders are more accurate without question but its very rare indeed that you can walk away from a mix and let it finish itself. You may find getting speeds as close as possible is the best policy as one little nudge too far can send your mix in a downward spiral at one wrong but very light touch of the platter or vinyl. These decks are fairly forgiving as their accuracy when in a mix is questionable. they are good enough but if you are serious about DJing, you will find you will outgrow them in a matter of a year to eighteen months I would guess depending on your speed of progress and how dedicated you are. Then you are back to square one and you are the proud owner of annoying decks that don't do what you want them to. Budget direct decks are in demand by those users wanting to upgrade from the "Day of the Belts" (because after owning some you realise that about as long as their appeal lasts) or simply those newbies who don't want to pull all their hair out from trying to learn on the worst equipment ever invented. How quickly the deck starts is also vastly improved although it can still take a quarter of a platter rotation to get to full sped. You may need to give these al little push when releasing the record, but nowhere near what you would have to on the belts. You may even find the platter rotates underneath the record if you hold the vinyl stationary. The platter may slow a little as it is fighting the resistance being placed on it by your hand holding the record but it should at least carry on spinning. Belts in this situation would come to a grinding halt, which is I have to say as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. With budgets if you buy new and sell them second hand you are likely to get approximately half what you originally paid for them. When looking to buy ensure you get a good deal by doing plenty of research which will soon highlight those decks to consider and those to avoid. Most decks are usually sold in pairs if you buy second hand probably with a rubbish mixer as part of the deal. No point splitting it as most people have a crap mixer already. Not much call for them. Don't panic if this is the case. Any mixer will do for you to learn on as you only need the absolute basic functions. Forego a new mixer if necessary as in your initial start up you must get the best possible decks available to your budget. Componentry in this category on some manufacturers is still questionable so don't expect them never to let you down. When I got the Tech's, my Soundlabs had just about given up the ghost. One of the start/stop buttons didn't work and powering on and off had to be done by using the main switch. The pitches had gone slack in the regions where I mixed most (+2 to +5) while the slider retained its resistance at all other points. Working around the 0 point was almost suicide. If you set the pitch to zero and sped he deck on the pitch so slightly that the green light goes off, the deck would actually run fractionally slower than it did at the quartz zero point. You'd then need to pitch it up a bit more to get it to the same point and then the pitch would work as it should (from +0.5 upwards) With these obvious disadvantages the news isn't all bad. If anyone tells you that you can't mix on these and they aren't worth a carrot, I'd just like to blow my own trumpet here if I may for the sake of proving a point. I learned on my Soundlab DLP3s which I owned for three years after spending my initial year using a friends two Kam belt drives. I competed in a local competition in December 2000 entered . It was my first time using Technics since some plays at university some six months previously but was my first time on a proper night club system. Technics handle totally differently to what I was used to. When your performance of 15 minutes is what you are being assessed on dodgy beatmatching is not required, but there is also the nerves backed onto that. I went on to win the competition by 9 clear points scoring 42 out of a possible 50 over four judges. My main exposure was budget directs and had learnt very simple scratches. That's what set me apart from the other competitors I'm sure and that is how I got my Technics. There is proof in the pudding that learning on budgets can make you as good as those who play on the best decks. Time, patience and more practice on practice will be what helps you get by. The basics can be learned on these without question. The Big Boys Toys If you are new to DJing you may be wondering why I'm telling you about the best decks available on the market. Yes they are expensive and yes they are the best you can get. There are however good reasons for jumping in at the deep end and spending somewhere near £500 for a pair of decks. You may think that trying DJing out for as cheap as possible is the way to go to see if you like it. OK budgets it is then. There are the flaws above which there is no point listing again, the main one being the cost. Imagine you buy two 1210s for £450 and have the worlds worst Radio Shack mixer. I'd take that setup over and of these out of the box packages for not much less money. The initial outlay on budgets can be around £300. Own them for a year and sell them and you'll be lucky to get half what you paid. Already you are out of pocket by £150. If you give up DJing and never look back the experience has cost you that much plus however much you have spent on vinyl. However you may decide there is a ned to upgrade when you grow out of them. It took me three years to save for my technics and in the end I won them in a local DJ mixing competition. Then you'll be looking to upgrade. There is only one way to go and that's to the best products in the market. You now need £450 to get them, and that's second hand. So far you need another outlay of £450 on a £300 spend already - not quite so cheap now is it. In this range however buying second hand is of little concern. They are so well built and the componentry is so accurate that no matter who has had them the chances of anything being wrong or even going wrong with them is highly unlikely. Its a safe bet. If in a year you can't mix on them or just want to give up for whatever reason you can sell them in a heart beat and get, on a good day, what you paid for them. You then recoup any money spent on vinyl. You will have the best in the market and know that DJing wasn't for you. If you do buy these straight off you will never need to replace them. Ever. A one hit on the wallet and you're done. If the difference is budget decks or saving for six months I seriously would wait. They are that good. Pitches are as accurate as you can physically get them and you are only hindered by your skills and experience, not because the deck is having an off day and has got a strop-on. Of all the people I know I have never heard one story of a major problem with a Technics. Yes, you've heard it all before but going for this category will without question save you money should you stick at it, and will cost you relatively nothing if you sell. Everyone wants this grade of deck and to be any good you do need he best equipment. You can blame poorly built decks and failing componentry but saying Vestax are rubbish and you can't mix on them is purely rubbish. The fault is at this level solely with the user not the equipment. If you are upgrading be warned: they are difficult to get used to. If you can mix flawlessly on your budgets expect at least a few weeks of going back to the drawing board. With the slack motor and in accurate pitches of the lesser decks, there is some forgiving grace that the deck will give you. A little help here and little pokey finger there can result in consistent mixes presented to the listener to the listener although you are having to do an awful lot of work just to keep them together. This grade of decks (Tech's especially) are totally unforgiving and require you to be totally accurate with your pitches and you cueing. If not your mixes will sound a total mess. It may feel like you've taken a step back but sometimes you need to take a little knock back to take that leap forward and it really is worth it. Every one goes through this to some extent but I found it very difficult. Once you've got he hang of them though you will never look back. Scratching on these decks will cause no issues once your decks are calibrated and balanced correctly (incidentally something you can only really guess at on the budgets). Pop some decent cartridges and needles on it and you can have a pretty much unskippable deck. The sky is then your technical limiter. Pick-up from stationary on these is a matter of split second as the torque/pull that the motor applies is very strong indeed. A must for budding scratchers. Add all this to the fact that a deck weighing in excess of 18kg is not uncommon. For the best quality of sound a deck needs to be totally grounded. This means being free from vibrations in the surrounding area as these can cancel out frequencies transmitted through the tonearm and can take the clarity and edge of a sound. Even though budget decks will have four feet these won't have the same vibration reduction design as on the top decks. At house parties you are unlikely to scratch on budgets as any knock on the table of bouncing floor boards of people dancing about will transfer through the table onto the arm and knock the needle out of the groove it was attempting to play. Top decks will suck all that up and unless the deck itself or the table is directly knocked really quite hard, your music should remain unaffected and play with no problems. Flutter and wow on these decks is virtually non existent due to the high quality manufacturing process and precision engineering that goes into building one. Components used are of the highest quality and this is the reason they are so reliable. I have used the words Technics and 1210s on here a great deal. They aren't the only decks but those which I have most experience with. Vestax are a contender and I found them to handle like seriously well built and stable Soundlabs. All the disadvantages removed and everything bettered beyond anything you would expect. I found these very easy to mix on and I didn't have any trouble going from budgets to these. i felt totally comfortable and my mixing didn't suffer at all. There was no "getting used to them" period. I just got on them and played. Not the same can be said for the Technics. As you are probably aware Technics are now viewed by some as a great Mixing deck but the features could be seen as basic. But with that comes reliability and stability. The likes of Vestax have been around for a few years now and they are proving to be reliable and serious competitor to Technics. I believe the Technics 1210 was released in the late 70s and because of it's exceedingly long life and reliability it has become what some might call the Industry Standard. That's not because everyone has given it the label or made it out to better than it is. This has been proven for nearly three decades to be a top quality product. Technics 1210 or 1200s? Just before I sign off you may be wondering what the difference is between a Technics 1210 and a Technics 1200. Quite frankly not a lot. The 1200 was originally designed to be sold in the US so removing the platter will show a little switch allowing you to select either 110v or 240v as the power supply. That and the colour of the 1210s being black and the 1200s being silver. I've read hearsay that one motor is better than the other but that as far as I can tell is not accurate. From a user's point of view I can't confirm or deny this. They both handle exactly the same and if you were blindfolded I'd challenge you to tell the difference. 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