Equipement: slipmats, Cartridge and cables

rawiboks

New Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2011
Hi, I wish to start my adventure with DJing. I wish to buy Technics SL-1210 MK2 and Newmark Dm-950 Mixer I think they are good for begining. I assume the other things I need are slipmats, Cartridge and cables and vinyls of course.

Can you advice me any Cartridge?
Is it good to start playing on the cheapest vinyls from ebay just to save money and learn, I wish to learn to scratch?
I have Sennheiser HD 215 headphones, are they ok? They are on small jack so need to adapter will this not destroy finall effect? Can't play on speakers because live in hall of residence.
Slipmats if I decide to an from ebay are they going to be good or does brand matter for completly beginner?
The last question is about cables what cables do I need do you sugest any specific ones?

Big thanks for answers :)
 
slipmats You will most probably get the standard TECHNICS slipmatts when you purchase the 1210's, these are absolutely fine.

Cartridge Look for 1210's that come with the standard kind of cartidges, mine came with the technics headshell and some stanton 500's that were quite old, but have done me well until i decided to get some ortofon concorde's.

cables RCA's are soldered onto the 1210's, same for the ground cables, you wont need anything extra, except possibly some xlr OR rca's to plug mixer into speaker if theyre not provided

vinyl If your going to be scratching i recomend getting a scratch vinyl record, Superseal is a good one to go for. Other than that, if you just want to build a collection of dnb i recom end an ebay seller called dnbsource (no affiliate with me i promise, theyre just an awesome seller).
Heres their "items for sale", they do job lots of 5, 10, 20, 40 and 50x dnb vinyl. On a couple of occassions ive bought their 20x packages and recieved quite a few little gems in there. You wont get any new releases, but it'll quickly build your collection. They sort their lots of vinyl into genres too, so you can get a dancefloor package, jump up package etc.

Like i say, no affiliate with them, but theyve done me well in the past. In fact, ive bought so many job lots off them, they cant offer me any more packages as i have them all.

headphones those will be fine for mixing, but obviously dont crank it stupidly high or you may damage them, as theyre not specifically designed for cueing. You will most probably need a 1/4" to 3.5 converter plug, they just look like this, and can be picked up on ebay for pennies.

Headphone_Adaptor_6_35MM_1_4_Jack.jpg



I do highly recommend having some speakers though mate, no matter how shit they are, as the whole principle of dj'ing well is to hear one track in your headphones, and the other playing through monitors, so you can beatmatch and cue a track before bringing it in.


Hope i helped mate. Always good to see someone starting out with technics. Its never a bad choice.
 
Cartridge - Shure M447 is what I use, but a lot of people swear by ortofon. My mixing is a lot better now I have decent carts, but they do cost 50+ each. Worth thinking about.

HD215s should be ok, I think I use them at a party once and they were alright. Nothing like the clarity of the hd25s but loud enough, and ok to mix with. I would worry about a 6.3mm adapter ruining sound quality on those headphones.

slipmatts - they depend on your preference. I have just used the ones that came with my decks (bought them second hand separately so completely different slipmatts) You will just get used to whatever you use.

Cabes..... what cables are you on about? they will all have their own power cables, and the decks will have cables to attach to the mixer. The only cable you would need is to plug in an amp/speakers but if you aren't using them I am not sure of the problem.

Might be worth getting cheap vinyl off ebay, not really too sure. Would definitely learn to beatmatch and mix properly before you try to scratch. It isn't something that interests me, but by all accounts it is VERY hard.

hope that helps
 
Thanks guys. I think the same that the adapter can destroy sound effect but I have just realised that I can uncouple cable from headphones, so I'll buy small/big jack cable :).
 
Back
Top Bottom