Category — DJ Accessories

Considering all of the bugs/complaints surrounding the new iPhone this Bluetooth headset feels strangely appropriate.

via Instructables

Like most other nerds out there, I spent a few hours in front of a Apple store last weekend waiting to buy the new iPhone.  Now that I have spent countless hours getting up to date with all of its new features, I have been feeling the urge to go buy some accessories. The only problem is that most of the accessories you see in the Apple store kind of suck! So naturally I started looking around on the web this morning, and  was surprised to find a whole slew of nice iPod docks I had never seen before. It was actually more of a bummer since I don’t really need my iPod(s) anymore since I can now store my music on my iPhone, and most of the docks were only for iPods, but I figured they would be worth posting in case some of you guys are on the look out for a new dock.

As it turns out, Porsche doesnt just design cars, but also products like phones, GPS, and iPod docks!  The Eton P9120 is a table top system made of extruded aluminum and includes three 1.5″ full range drivers, and a 15W 3″ active subwoofer.  It has a separate dock, and a remote control that seems to have far too many buttons than necessary to operate an iPod.  The Eton has a OLED alphanumeric display with a clock function, AM/FM tuner and DAB tuner for the British market.  A wallet buster though at $600.

The next one I found is a new dock soon to be released by LG Electronics called…hold on let me check that again…the FA163DAB iDock Micro System.  Despite the random name, the dock itself should sound pretty good with a output power of 160W, and its two subwoofers.  It also features touch sensitive controls, a vertical slot-loading CD player with a MP3 encoding function, auto-equalization and DAB radio which provides over 50 stations in digital.  Should be available in stores later this month for around $400.

The iTUBE by Fatman promises to match your decor while delivering a “luscious warm analogue sound”.  It not only comes with a built-in amplifier (25Wx2) and iPod dock, but also two other source inputs, as well as the option for matching speakers.  The dock allows for any iPod to be used except for a iPod Shuffle, and it also comes with a 27 key remote control.

UPDATE: Turns out that there is a new iTube docking system that is even better than the first!  The new design, called the Red-i, is based on the first iTube, and also features 25 watts per channel and two line-level inputs, only this one also has a 3.5mm jack so you can connect to your other digital devices, and best of all, it works with the iPhone!  Apparently its one of the few music systems properly equipped for use with the phone as it is capable of eliminating TDMA noise - the noise that happens when the phone is put too close to an audio device.  It will be available exclusively in the UK from Henley Designs in September for approx. $700..yikes!

If you are less concerned about sound, and more interested in having a unique looking dock, then perhaps the Mytunes MP3 Amp is for you.  While it does have working treble and bass knobs, they are probably mostly useless as this little guy can only push out an output of 5W.  But in terms of of iPod docks that look cool, this definitely near the top of the list.  Only $40.

Remember the tiny record playing VW bus called the Vinyl Killer? Yeah i never wound up getting one either, but now there is a variation on it called the Sound Chaser.

Unlike the Vinyl Killer, the Sound Chaser is not restricted to driving in circles endlessly, but rather whatever path you choose to send it on. The designers of the product, Yuri Suzuki and Yaroslav Tencer were careful to point out that the records they used were “cheap records bought at jumble sales or used record shops,” so as to not offend those of us who generally prefer our vinyl intact.

Like any DJ, I am always on the hunt for new music. Its almost like an addiction in the sense that I quite simply can’t get enough music to satisfy my musical appetite. Consequently I am constantly writing down song and artist names on my phone to look up later, and I always carry around a USB drive just in case I get my hands on some tracks through friends or remixes from dj buddies while I’m out and about.

But sadly, I have yet to get my hands on a flash drive that I didn’t either loose or break at some point. Which is not only annoying on my end, but can also be potentially harmful if a flash drive that contains unreleased songs winds up in the wrong hands.

That having been said, I’m kind of stoked on getting one of these Goldkey USB Security Tokens. It not only allows you to encrypt any of your ’sensitive’ documents, but its also supposedly durable enough to withstand water, fire, or even getting run over by a car.

Best of all, it also has some funny Will It Blend esque videos.

It seems everyone can be a DJ these days given the never ending releases of portable music software. This time its the ProteinDS scratching application for the Nintendo DS.

I recently bought one of these Pyle Pro Phono Preamp’s, and its actually come in handy recently. I’m not sure what/who it was made for specifically, since it essentially just converts the phono output of a turntable to line level. It’s supposedly for people who want to connect a turntable to their stereo without using a mixer or a preamp similar to this one(which are usually much more expensive), but I thought most stereos came with phono inputs..maybe I’m wrong. Either way I’ve been using it to connect a third turntable to the AUX channel on my mixer.  Perfect if you want a 3 turntable setup, but you only have a two-channel mixer.

You can get one HERE

So I was in the middle of recording a new demo last night in my apartment, when I was rudely interrupted by a security officer that seemed to pop out of nowhere. Apparently I had been blasting the music too loud, had received numerous complaints, and since I obviously didn’t hear the doorbell, the security guy had invited himself into my apt. to tell me to turn it off. Aside from getting completely freaked out and nearly knocking over one of my speakers when he tapped me on the shoulder, the incident got me thinking that I badly need to do some sound insulation. Instead of dishing out the dough for pro-foam, or looking like an idiot by using egg-crates I decided to do what this Los Angeles-based commercial and movie composer Brad Breeck did…using quilted down blankets from IKEA to cover the walls, and putting rubber underneath my carpets. I know using blankets is nothing new, but these look just like a tiled white wall. So if you’re in a similar situation…there ya go!

Here’s a pic of his studio…

via Unplggd

Step up your accessory game with this Cassette Face watch, and reminisce over the days when making a mix-tape meant either single takes, or precise usage of the pause button.

via BoingBoing

After browsing for records over at Turntable Lab the other day I wound up buying one of these iKey USB recorders. I had been planning on recording a new mix for a number of weeks, but I never seemed to have the time and/or energy since I’m already juggling a day job and dj’ing a few nights a week, so recording a live set seemed like a good idea. The device is super easy to use, you simply connect it to the output of the dj mixer, choose the bitrate you want to record at, and hit record. Done. I tried using it for the first time last night, but for some reason it stopped recording after 45 minutes without me noticing, which was annoying since I had been quite excited about the set I had put on. I must have hit the record button again by accident, since that’s how you stop the recording. The best part is you can record the audio to either a USB drive, or directly to your iPod, which is perfect if you want to listen to your set on the drive home.  I’m going to give it another shot in a couple nights, so if all goes well I might post a short mix soon.