You’ll find that the record slips more easily now.
Cardboard cut-out
Another option for fighting friction is to reduce the surface area that slips.
Take a piece of thin cardboard, cut it into a 6-inch (15-centimetre) diameter circle, poke a hole through the middle, and place that between the slipmat and the deckplatter.
Be careful with your choice of cardboard because if it’s too thick, the record may be unstable when you hold the outer edge to stop the record, causing the needle to jump.
This cardboard circle reduces the surface area of the slipmat that’s in contact with the deckplatter, and because cardboard creates a lot less friction than the felt of the slipmat, the records slip more easily. You may even want to try cutting out a 12-inch (30-centimetre) circle.
Getting Groovy with Needles and Cartridges
The needleis the part on the turntable that sits in the groove of the record. As the record plays, the groove causes vibrations in the needle, which the car- tridge translates into electrical signals, which are then sent from the turntable to the mixer, and you hear music. This is how the groove makes you groove.
You need to know what the different kinds of needle and cartridge are, and how to pick the correct ones for your DJing style. The needles you use as a DJ are a lot stronger than the ones you find in home turntables because they need to take a fair bit of abuse. Back cueing(playing the record backwards while trying to find the place to start), scratching, the inevitable whoops when you rip the needle right across the record, and repeatedly taking the needle off and placing it somewhere else on the record with a thump can all take a toll on even the most robust of needles.
Along with strength, you also want to demand good sound quality from your needles and cartridges. You need them to pick up the solid bass melodies and bass beats and still give you the crisp high frequencies from the records.
The good news is that any needle and cartridge designed for DJs can go on any turntable. You don’t have to use Stanton needles and cartridges on Stanton turntables; you don’t have to use the Technics headshell that comes with Technics turntables. Manufacturers of DJ turntables have been smart enough to design a universal connection from the cartridge to the tonearm, so that you can use any cartridge on any turntable. This flexibility stands assuming that you’ve not just bought a basic, cheap, hi-fi turntable with an all-in-one, moulded tonearm and cartridge, or gone for a high-end design that uses different connections. Figure 6-1 shows the back of some cartridges with the same connection.
Figure 6-1:
The same connection on the back of different cartridges.
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Your cartridge and needle considerations come in pairs (fitting, because you usually buy them in pairs). Firstly, there are two main designs for how the cartridge eventually attaches to the tonearm, and then there are two different styles of needle that you have to decide on:
Headshells with the cartridge and needle screwed on: This design is the one that nearly always accompanies your turntables when you buy them. This doesn’t mean it’s a poor design, it’s just the design that covers all bases. One of the most popular and enduring scratch DJ needle setups is a Shure M44-7 needle and cartridge attached to this headshell, and the Stanton 500AL (see Figure 6-2) is found in clubs and bedrooms all over the land.
The top of the cartridge is screwed to the headshell, and the needle plugs into the cartridge (the needle is the front, white part shown in Figure 6-3). Four coloured cables make the electrical connection from the cartridge to the headshell, which then plugs into the tonearm to make the final connection.
Figure 6-2:
A Technics headshell with Stanton 500AL attached.
Built-in headshell: This design does away with the separate headshell;
instead, the cartridge, which is the main body of this unit, plugs directly into the tonearm. The needle is still separate, and easily removed and replaced, but the sleek all-in-one design makes this cartridge a very attractive part of your turntable.
Many people mistakenly believe that this all-in-one design isn’t suitable for scratch DJs, but this isn’t so. To name only two, the Numark CC-1, pictured in Figure 6-4 below, is the ‘signature model’ of the Scratch Perverts, and the Ortofon Concorde QBert was developed through DJ Qbert (both world-class scratch DJs).
However, this style of needle and cartridge does have a strong link in clubs for the beatmixing DJ. As well as commonly using elliptical-shaped needles, which produce better sound quality than their spherical cousins (I go into this in more detail next), this design makes seeing where the needle is on the record a lot easier.
Figure 6-3:
A dis- assembled needle and cartridge with a Technics headshell.
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After you’ve decided on the design of your needles and cartridges, the next thing you have to think about is whether to buy elliptical or spherical needles for your carts. A lot of manufacturers supply both shapes for the same cart, and you can get them for both the designs mentioned previously, so the choice is down to your preference rather than availability.
Spherical: A spherical needle has a rounded tip that only makes contact with the straight sides of the groove, so the contact between the needle and the groove is extremely small (see Figure 6-5). This means that the sound quality is reduced because the needle isn’t picking the amount of bumps and variations from the groove that it could if it were making contact with a larger area.
Contact Contact
Spherical needle Figure 6-5:
The small range of contact with the groove when using a spherical needle.
Figure 6-4:
The Numark Carl Cox needle and cartridge.
The small contact area compromises sound quality, but also means that the tracking force(the force created between the needle and the sides of the groove) is incredibly strong, so the needle puts up a fight against jumping out of the groove when scratching or finding a start point on the record. However, the concentration of the tracking force means that the record wears down more quickly.
Elliptical: Elliptical needles make more contact with the sides of the groove because of their cone shape (shown in Figure 6-6); therefore, producing much better sound quality because they can pick up more information from the groove. However, the trade-off for this increased sound quality is that the tracking force is now spread out over a larger surface area, making the needle a bit more sensitive, and prone to get- ting knocked out of the groove. What this spread of tracking force means to a beatmixing DJ is that you can’t be as rough when working with your records during a mix, making them unsuitable for advanced scratching by most people (though simple scratching like baby scratching should be fine).
Choosing the Right Needle for Your DJ Style
Scratch DJs and beatmixing DJs demand different features from their needles.
A scratch DJ is more concerned that the needle stays glued into the groove than about sound quality, so a spherical needle that creates a lot of tracking force is more suitable. Headshell mounted carts such as the Ortofon GT and the Shure M447 are both popular, but the built-in headshell carts like the Ortofon Concorde QBert are also popular with scratch DJs.
Elliptical needle
Contact Contact
Figure 6-6:
The larger range of contact with the groove when using an elliptical needle.
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Beatmixing DJs are more concerned with sound quality, though they do still demand that the needle stays in the groove. Fortunately, because this kind of DJ isn’t too rough when working with the vinyl, elliptical needles are a great choice because they give the sound quality desired while preserving the life of the DJ’s records.
Ortofon have a vast range of pro carts designed for mixing, and in my experi- ence, Stanton’s Groovemaster, Numark’s CC-1, and Shure’s M35X all offer great sound quality and long life for your records.
The last thing to say about needles is that if you’re buying new turntables, find out if they come supplied with needles and cartridges. Most stores include the basic Stanton 500AL cartridge and needle set with turntables, but do check – never assume. Imagine this scenario: You’re waiting excitedly for your decks to be delivered, but then find out that needles and carts haven’t been included, so you have to wait before you can use them – and all because you forgot to check when you ordered them.
Feeling the Force with Counterweight Settings
The counterweight affects the tracking force of the needle in the groove. The heavier the counterweight, the stronger the force, so the more secure the needle in the groove is – but the quicker your records wear out.
In Chapter 11, I describe how to set up your tonearm properly for DJ use, to add the correct amount of tracking force with the counterweight. How much counterweight you add on the tonearm is dictated firstly by the needle manu- facturers. The documentation you receive with the needles and cartridges tells you the suggested tracking force, and suggested tonearm height for the needles you’ve bought. However, some of these figures aren’t aimed toward DJ use, and are actually calculated for the greatest longevity of your records.
As a brief guide for you, here are the most popular counterweight settings for common DJ needles:
Needle Counterweight (in grammes)
Stanton 500AL II, Stanton Discmaster II, 2–5 Stanton 605SK
Shure M44-7, Shure Whitelabel 1.5–3
Numark CC-1 3–6
Ortofon Concorde DJ S 2–4
Ortofon Concorde Night-Club S 2–5
If you find that the needle still skips when you’re scratching or trying to find the start point of the record, first check your technique. If you’re quite rough as you move the record with your hands, may be you’rethe one making the needle jump out of the groove. You don’t have to be forceful to move the record; you can move it back and forth just as quickly with a light, fluid motion as with a harsh, rough, jerky movement. When you push and pull the record, follow the curve of the record, rather than pushing and pulling in a straight line. This ‘straight line’ force is a common cause of the needle pop- ping out of the groove.
If you think that the needle is jumping because not enough weight is on it, try gradually increasing the counterweight until the needle stops skipping. Take your time and increase the counterweight by small amounts each time, and when the needle does stay securely in the groove, try taking a little weight back off again; you’ll probably find it’s still okay.
Though vinyl is designed to be long-lasting and not wear out too quickly, if you find you’ve had to use the full counterweight on the needle to keep it from jumping out the groove, you must understand that the record and the needle will wear more quickly than usual because of the added tracking force.
Nurturing Your Needles
Knowing when you need to change your needles requires a mix of profes- sional help and general knowledge. The only way to truly know if your nee- dles are worn out and in need of replacement is to look at them through a microscope. Not many people have a microscope sitting next to their turn- tables, so you may want to do a bit of research now and get in touch with some of the specialist stores in your area to see if they can check your needles for you. A few DJ stores may offer this service, but the high-end audio equipment stores are the ones that can help you, or guide you toward someone who can.
However, you can look for the following simple things yourself:
Is the needle picking up lots of dirt from the record?
If you play a quiet part in a record, the next time you play it, does it pop and crackle?
Do the high frequencies (especially the hi-hat cymbal sounds that nor- mally play in between bass drum beats) sound fuzzy?
Have you had your needles longer than a year, and used them nearly every day for a couple of hours?
Do you simply think that they need replacing?
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If you can answer yes to half of these questions, especially the last one, then the chances are you need to replace your needles. If you’re using relatively cheap needles such as Stanton 500ALs, you may simply want to trust your gut instinct and buy some new needles. But, if you’re using something like the Ortofon Night-Club E, which cost £45 each, if you answered yes to these ques- tions, get them checked out first by a professional – rather than immediately going out to spend £90 on a pair of new needles.
Because you plan to DJ with these needles, their lifespan is inevitably some- what shortened, but you can do a couple of things to extend their usefulness:
Keep your records clean. You’d think that if Mr Diamond and Mr Dust got into a fight with each other, Mr Diamond would win. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with your diamond-tipped needle and the dust in the groove of you record.
If you consider that by the time you play three or four records, the needle has travelled through over five miles’ worth of record groove, if a piece of dirt is constantly grinding away on the diamond tip, the needle’s going to wear down much more quickly than if it were playing on a clean record.
Keep the weight down. The more counterweight you add, the quicker the needle wears down. It’s as simple as that.
Your needles and your cartridges are literally the first point of contact for the music you’re playing. Take care of your needles, and make sure that you replace them when they’re worn. No matter how good the rest of your equip- ment is, if your needles aren’t picking up all the information they should from the record, your music won’t sound as good as it can.
There’s a saying in the television business that I keep repeating when I’m editing: that you can only make poop from poop. It’s exactly the same with your needles; bad sound in equals bad sound out. Enough said.
Chapter 7
Keeping Up with the Techno-Revolution
In This Chapter
Looking at the blurry line between analogue and digital formats Understanding what CD deck styling means for the DJ
Mixing with MiniDisc, MP3s, and iPods
Introducing the big boys on the block of mixing software
Kane and Abel, the Capulets and the Montagues, Apple and Microsoft, Britney and Christina; throughout time, history and literature have told of the wars between two similar sides. Wars that exist because of what the two sides have in common, not because of how different they are. When CD decks first came onto the scene, vinyl purists all over the world cried foul.
CDs were seen as a great threat to the vinyl DJ and DJs started to take sides between the standard vinyl method of DJing, and the CD upstart (and to a great extent, CD has won a fair share of battles, if not the war).
With MP3 and laptop DJing becoming more and more popular, CD and vinyl formats have both come under threat, but with technology evolving at an incredibly fast rate, the reasons for choosing one format over another become more and more blurry.
This chapter covers the major differences between CD and vinyl, and what the MP3 new kid has to offer.
Choosing Your Format:
Analogue or Digital
In brief, digital audio is better than analogue audio – but that doesn’t neces- sarily mean it sounds better.
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Analogue audio (which you encounter as a DJ when you use vinyl) playing from the right sound system may sound warmer (more pleasant with a feeling of depth and warmth) than a CD playing through a stereo, but the fragility of vinyl, which suffers from cracks, pops, skips, and jumps through time is a flaw that (in my opinion) gives digital audio an edge over analogue audio.
Digital music doesn’t have the same risks attached. The only time a CD sounds different is when you use a different sound system. A CD never wears out, it never degrades, and, as long as you take care to prevent deep scratches on the surface of the disc, you never need to worry about the CD skipping or jumping.
MP3s and MiniDiscs are different again. To keep the digital file sizes small, both of these formats are heavily compressed, so they lose a lot of audio informa- tion in their creation. How good the music sounds relies on the compression setting. If the music has been too heavily compressed, it can sound as if it’s been recorded underwater, because too many audio frequencies have been removed to keep the file size small (see the section ‘Wising up to MP3s’ later in this chapter for more information on how different amounts of compression affects sound quality). For some people, with the correct compression setting, the convenience of the small file sizes (and disc size for MiniDisc) is an accept- able trade off against audio quality when compared to analogue vinyl.
My way is the best!
For the DJ, audio quality isn’t normally the ammunition (or defence) used when arguing over the best format to use. The arguments that you hear put across concern:
Versatility
Cost
Aesthetics
Versatility and cost are related to each other:
Vinyl DJs say that CDs aren’t good because it costs too much to buy a CD deck that lets you scratch, and for the beatmatching DJ, you’re just pressing buttons on CDs, and there’s no showmanship in that.
CD DJs say that turntables aren’t good because you pay a lot of money for something that just plays the record, with no effects, no loop func- tion, and the needle has a tendency to skip and jump.
MP3 DJs who use computers to DJ with scoff at both of them for wasting time carrying around records and CDs while they can store an entire music collection on the hard drive of a laptop or Apple Powerbook.