Making Great Vinyl Records–United Record Pressing on Mastering For Vinyl

United Record Pressing has an interesting section on mastering for vinyl. There is plenty of advice there about the physical limitations of vinyl as a medium and what bands can do to make sure they get good fidelity from the finished product.

My only question about this section–having been written in 1997, is what has changed and updated since that time? Surely not the laws of physics with regard to how hot your master tracks can be before they overload and distort, or when too much treble becomes, er, troublesome. (Treblesome is not a word. But I almost used it here. Heh.)

Fortunately there are more recent discussions on the mastering to vinyl issue. Gearslutz.com has a thread from 2008 and another one here. CustomRecords.com throws its two cents worth in here, so you’ll have plenty to chew on. … Continue Reading

Introducing the Roland SP-404SX: Roland Updates SP-404 Sampler

The Roland SP-404 portable sampler is a battery-powered phrase sampler with a built-in mic for mobile sampling and resampling–perfect for DJs who love to throw in some extra oomph into their sets with tabletop gadgets above and beyond what Tracktor or any other laptop software or mixer-bound hardware gives.

Now Roland has released the Roland SP-404SX, the update to the SP-404. It has 29 DSP effects (filter, delay, subsonics, looper features and vox FX). You also get a dozen trigger pads, three control knobs, and a Sub Pad. The sequencer offers new shuffle features and 16-bit linear sampling.

The SP-404SX is priced well under $500, so this is not out of reach for a working DJ. Got turntables? Mics? Laptop and software? Add this to the mix for your secret weapon. And could you pre-load this with a pile of vinyl samples and hit the club with a pre-programmed plan of dancefloor attack? Oh yes.

P.S. Electronic Musician has an in-depth review of the Roland SP-404SX here…if you’re tempted, have a go.

Mackie D2 DJ Mixer Demo

Yes, the name of this blog is TURNTABLING, and while vinyl records get much of the love here, our job is to cover all aspects of using vinyl including the industry responsible in part for keeping it alive over the last ten years–DJing.

In a recent blog post we covered the Mackie D4 production mixer, but if you’re budget-challenged and are considering the earlier Mackie D2 instead (or a used Mackie D2), you should have a look at this demo video from Mackie on all the features of the D2–including the firewire in/outputs, optical contact-free fader, backlit EQs and other features. Brand new, the Mackie D2 DJ mixer runs well under $1000 but used you could score quite a deal. Grab an eyeful on the vid, ignore the corny hipster-speak at the front end of the clip and marvel at the glory of all things Mackie.

Mackie D4 Mixer

Once upon a time I edited and wrote features for a website called Gearwire.com. One of those features was on the Mackie D4 DJ production console. I talked on camera with Mackie rep Ronnal Ives, AKA DJ Buttnaked, about the Mackie D4 at a music industry trade show, NAMM 2007. Revisiting that video now (where the D4 was featured in a demo of  Mackie’s Traktion3 software),  I am tempted to pick up the D4 to integrate into my setup for Paisley Babylon, which goes back and forth between straight music production/performance and DJ sets.

The D4 connects to your Mac or PC via firewire, features Onyx mic pres, XLR outs, and sports four stereo program channels for your CD player, turntable, and FireWire inputs. The turntable inputs have Mackie-designed pres. It also comes with Traktion 3 software.

I’d love to hear from anyone who owns and uses the Mackie D4–drop a comment and let me know how you like it.
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Crosley iJuke CD/MP3 player

Coming to a convention near you? We’re seriously thinking of scoring the Crosley iJuke CD/MP3 player for the Turntabling.net booth to display and play Goblin CDs  on when doing horror movie conventions. It looks great, the price is decent, but we don’t know anybody who’s actually used one. Amazon.com customer reviews notwithstanding, we know very little about how good this little baby might be. If you own one or know someone who does, drop us a comment and let us know what you think–we’d love to get some feedback on this unit before dropping cash on it.

It would make an awfully cool addition to the table, I must say…

Korg KAOSS Pad Vs. DJ Puzzle

It’s been a while since we threw up any DJ gear posts here, and while we’re cataloging some new vinyl that came in over the weekend (stay tuned for those new for-sale items to be added later this week) it seemed like the right time to showcase this.

DJ Puzzle, AKA Jason Donnelly demos the Korg KAOSS Pad and how to create a loop using the Pioneer CDJ1000 MK3 as a sound source. Once upon a time, I worked at the company these videos were made for, Gearwire.com, and I can tell you Jason Donnelly definitely knows his stuff…I just wish this weren’s split into part one (below) and part two… which you can click on to view from the source at Gearwire. … Continue Reading

Marathon eLIGHT 80 Record LP Travel Case

I really want to own one of these cases. The Marathon eLIGHT 80 album LP case is great for gigging when you want to carry some of the sweet titles you’ve got stashed but can’t bear to convert and use as MP3s instead. My one big issue with ANY of these types of cases is that for air travel, you REALLY need a case that is ATA rated. That means it’s been judged “safe” to run through the baggage abuses (remember the United Breaks Guitars guy?). Unless it’s ATA rated, you might have trouble making a claim at the airport. BIG trouble. Don’t take MY word for it, read Patrick Ogle’s dirt on traveling with your gear.

I’m not saying don’t buy the Marathon eLIGHT LP travel case...but I AM saying that unless that case clearly says “ATA RATED” you should not put through as checked baggage. It will end in tears. What I would love is for someone out there to chime in with a good source of ATA record cases that they themselves have actually used with no negative consequences after air travel. The voice of experience sure would come in handy here…

Skullcandy Lowrider Silver and Red Headphones

This is not a gear review, because frankly we don’t own a pair of these Skullcandy lowrider-style headphones. But the color scheme and design sure is eye-catching and it’s tempting to purchase a pair based on looks alone. A few reviewers mention that these are great for drum-n-bass sounds, which sounds fine to us. If you’re interested purely in style over function, these are pretty sweet. But how do they stand up to the test of the tunes? If you own a pair, we’d love to know–help us decide whether to buy or flee? Drop us a comment, eh? They sure are pretty though. … Continue Reading

Moldover Album Cover is Also a Theremin

I found this amazing little oddity referenced at The Walrus. It’s a CD cover for an album by Moldover which is–I am certain–the first of its kind. The artwork is actually a circuit board that is a working theremin. No cheesy toy, this–there is an explanation video showing the theremin/CD art at work and it sounds FANTASTIC. I am stunned by how great this is–a great marketing gimmick that is also a no BS musical instrument. Both retro and future at the same time, this wins hands down as the coolest thing I’ve seen all year in terms of indie music innovation.

Numark Total Computer DJ in a Box

Aspiring latop DJs, take note…here’s a complete solution from controller to soundsystem interface--AND it’s priced to move. This starter kit is simple to learn–the Numark Total Control mixer is simple to learn. It uses Traktor LE, which is really all you need to get started learning the ropes. That said, be prepared to fork over the cash to upgrade to a full version of Traktor, as you’ll want the extra tools once you’ve mastered the basics.

I can’t vouch for the quality or lack thereof when it comes to the headphones–I only use Sony or Sennheisers. The DJ i/o box is designed to get your signal from the laptop or desktop (shudder) to a mixing board or PA system.

Your signal is run through RCA jacks into the soundboard…don’t expect XLRs out of this package, but again for those getting their feet wet in the DJ world (or DJ podcasting ) this is a nice compact package.

I strongly recommend you use a backup system including CDs and vinyl in case your computer setup tanks for any reason—including system crashes, hard drive failure and other gremlins that can jack up a gig. The Numark Total Computer DJ in a Box itself is quite reliable from my experience with the gear, but your computer’s hard drive may be another story. Don’t rely only on MP3s to get the job done, new DJs…you’ll live to regret it.