Over the years of DJing I’ve come across a lot of different cables and adaptors etc, you know the usual extra stuff you need to setup your DJ equipment.
All the recommendations have come about from myself DJing with record vinyls, CDJs and now DJ controllers, so I’ve got all the top recommendations for you below. Hope the below advice helps you out.
Adaptors
Cable Adaptors: 1/4 Inch Adaptors
Purpose
- Connects to a cable to then help connect to a device e.g. DJ controller
- Usually used for DJ headphones
- Can be used for cables to plug into mixers or speakers
Advice
Without a doubt, buy and use a metal 1/4 inch Jack adaptor as they are more solid compared to the plastic adaptors. You’ll be surprise how easy the plastic based 1/4 inch Jack adaptors might break if you accidentally pull on your headphone cable.
Cable Adaptors: 1/4 Inch to Mini-Jack Adaptors
You can actually get hold of the reverse of a 1/4 inch jack, which is 1/4 inch jack to small mini jack. Can sometimes come in really useful, most devices come with both compatibility but still worth having an adaptor available if and when you need it.
MacBook Adaptors
If you’re like me and have bought a MacBook for DJing then depending on the model and year, having USB-C adaptors are essential.
Advice would be to get a laptop that allows you to plug in USB directly, but sometimes personal preferences can dictate leaning towards a laptop that only offers USB-C.
From experience I’ve bought both non branded Apple back products and Apple products, and to be honest both work just as well. Especially in the realm of adaptors. (note: Apple non-branded batteries are a waste of money, but adaptors seem to be fine)
Cables
Recommended cables from my experience of using them include the below. I’ve bought various brands of cables in the past so I’ve definitely got more than enough experience to advise you of which cables break easily and which stand the test of time. Below are a couple of cables most often used by modern day DJs.
1/4 Jack to Phono RCA
Purpose: Plug into Powered Speakers from Mixer
Benefits: Varying lengths can be bought from this brand. The cable is thick and study, but flexible enough meaning less likely to break the internal cable and start breaking audio connection. Jack and phono connectors are of quality.
2 x Phono to 1/4 Jack
Purpose: Connect to mixer for recording mixes via Sound Card
Benefits: Strong and sturdy cable, I’ve had no issues connecting from DJ mixer to sound card for recording DJ mixes.
Sound Cards
Apogee ONE
The Apogee ONE Is really great as you can plug in using a 2 x phono to 1/4 inch jack cable from the DJ mixer for recording purposes if you need to.
The quality is definitely solid, although it’s tailored for music production and compatible for recording instruments, if you’re into music production then this is a double whammy sound card.
Numark Concorde Needles
Concord needles look slick and I’ve found them to be gathering less dust near the cartridge. When dust gathers this epic crackling sound can start to sound through the speakers. So you can see the benefit of better audio quality and potentially less cleaning and maintenance of the needles.
Of course you need to still clean your records so that the dust doesn’t build up too much and cause the issue.
With Concorde needles always be as careful as normal needles to make sure the needle itself isn’t pressed down too hard which can break them.
I’ve been DJing with the Numark needles featured in the photo above and can be bought using the below link. Reasonably priced and not the most expensive on the market.
Controller Carry Case
The controller carry case that I got for my DJ controller is by the same brand as the DJ controller itself, pioneer.
I’d recommend this carry case for DDJ-200 and DDJ-400 users, 800 too potentially.
There’s a foam insert that can be pushed out to allow for fitting the DDJ-200, as it’s the smallest in the range of controllers by pioneer.
