Catch Me If You Can!

Hey everyone,

I haven't blogged for a while as I have been moving house, all very exciting but have just got internet today. The reason I am posting is to point you towards my live set tonight on social networking radio station, StudyVox FM.

I'm featuring on Deep Level Sessions, a show on StudyVox FM hosted by my good friend Duquan - who helped me get into DJing. I'll be talking for a bit and then get into my set, which will mainly consist of some of my favourite old dubs. The show starts at 8pm and runs until 9, and the radio station is very much in it's infancy so it'd be great if it could get as many listeners as possible.

See you all tonight at 8pm BST!

Technics Confirms The End of The Turntable

Very sad news today, as Technics announce they are to cease the production of turntables. On the face of it, this sounds awful for turntablists, but there is a silver lining.
I have a pair of Technics 1210 MKII turntables, and they are built so well. I honestly believe that when I die, they will be in as good condition as they are now, and I even bought them second hand!

There are enough Technics turntables in circulation for you to find some if you ever feel you want them. DJing is an evolving art, a lot of people upgrade to digital, so there is always someone selling a pair of Technics. This brings me to my next point.

Will Technics Turntables become collectors items?
Maybe. I think the units that were actually used in competitions will be worth something. I also think that the general price of a second hand Technics turntable will rise as they will be harder to come by.

Why has Technics made this decision?
It was always going to happen. Vinyl is dying out, unfortunately. So many DJ's are upgrading to digital, and there just isn't the market there used to be for traditional turntables. This is a business decision for Panasonic, and I can hardly blame them to be honest.

How Long will it take for vinyl to follow?
Not soon - I hope! I live for vinyl, I think it give a much warmer sound, and I enjoy using it to mix. The difference with vinyl is that there is still a large market for it. I find it very easy to walk into BM Soho and spend £100+ on vinyl. The key thing here is that although Technics have ceased production of turntables, there are still a lot of them being used. This, coupled with the fact that there are other brands producing turntables, means that vinyl will live on for a while yet.

Now, as a tribute to Technics, let's see the turntables in action. This video is Plus One (from the Scratch Perverts) with his routine, that won him the 2001 DMC World Title.

Vestax PMC-07 Pro - Review

I have been using the Vestax PMC-07 Pro for around 18 months now, so I feel I am in a position to give it a well balanced, in-depth review.

It's a popular, high end scratch mixer - aimed at turntablists that like to scratch and beat juggle. It's so much more versatile than that, though. The curves, and EQ settings allow any DJ to wow his crowd with whatever he chooses to play.

Features
Being predominantly a scratch mixer, the face is quite minimalistic and clean. There's a lot of room to manoeuvre the faders, and all the controls are spaced out well to allow fast movement when mixing. The EQ levels take some getting used to, as they are controlled by faders rather than the common twisty knobs. Once you get used to the change though, it becomes a lot quicker to switch the EQ up or down. It also has balance control, allowing you to switch your sound from one speaker to the other. When this is done well it is a great effect to use, although I definitely haven't perfected it myself!

If you compare the face of the mixer to that of my VMC-004 XL I reviewed here, you will see the differences.

• Four Faders This leaves the face a lot more cluttered, not allowing for quick movements. It does give you twice as many inputs, though.
• EQ Knobs The EQ levels are controlled using the standard knobs. This is fine, if you have more time to adjust your EQ levels.

I was lucky enough to buy the PMC-07 Pro, second hand from DJ Skully, a pioneer in UK hip-hop and twice DMC UK Champion. Although I'm not quite sure why I look miserable!

Skully sold me the mixer at a decent price, and also threw in some needles, and the mixer itself was fitted with a pro-x fader, bargain!

Quality
Now if it's good enough for Skully, it's definitely good enough for me. The main selling point of this mixer is quality, and robustness. The fader has worn out with previous mixers I have used, purely because they weren't built to take the amount of scratching I was doing at the time. The PMC-07 is different, particularly with the pro-x fader in there. I've done a serious amount of scratching on it, and the fader still glides smooth, with no bleeding or crackling. The sound quality from the mixer is also worth shouting about. When you have so many pieces of equipment working together (turntables, mixer, amplifier, speakers), each one needs to be spot on. This mixer doesn't let down the team and lets a great quality of sound boom out of my set.

Versatility
The picture above shows the curve control for both main faders and the cross fader. This is what makes the mixer so versatile. You can control - on a very fine level - just how sharp you want the cut to be. Have the middle curve (cross fader) set completely to the right as I have, allows a very sharp cut for scratching. I must add this is an incredibly sharp cut, and allows for  easy crab/transformer scratches. On the flipside, setting the curve completely left will have the opposite effect, allowing a smooth fade from one channel to the other. This is much better for mixing, and I have the fader on that setting for all of my dubstep mixes.

Aesthetics
I couldn't ask for much more from this mixer, I think it looks great. It's a smart bit of kit, and does a good job of lighting up when the music is playing. (This is also useful for making sure volume levels aren't going to blow your speakers!) It has a stainless steel cover which reassures the quality of this mixer, no corners are cut here.

Conclusion
I would recommend this mixer to most DJs. If you're anything like me, then you'll enjoy all elements of DJing - scratching, juggling, mixing and blending. This mixer allows for all of that, if you feel you're quite experimental, this mixer is for you.
The only thing I would change about this mixer would be to give it two outputs. This makes recording easier as you can play what you're doing through your speakers, while recording it through to your PC. Currently I have my PMC-07 Pro running into my VMC-004 XL, which then runs into my amplifier, as well as my laptop. Bit of an expensive way to get around it but I had the VMC-004 XL laying around anyway.