The universe of DJ’ing is an incredibly rewarding one.
The best DJ turntables can help make the difference between a club that draws in the crowds.
Top 5 Turntables for Djing
1. Numark TTUSB Turntable with USB Audio Interface – Best DJ Turntables For Beginners
The Numark TTUSB is an LP to digital converter which can convert 45s and 33s.
This turntable includes the software EZ Vinyl/Tape Converter that walks you through the procedure for turning your LPs into digital audio files.
You plug your turntable in your personal computer via USB as well as the software takes you to step by step through the procedure.
This feature mechanically divides them for you and finds the silences between songs. The program split the tunes, which is fine as you can allow the record to play and walk away without needing to tend to it the whole time it plays up.
You can add the metadata to every tune, like the group name, tune, album, and year after the LP is digitized.
The Numark TTUSB has all the makings of an excellent converter turntable.
It comes with a belt drive motor to lessen sound during conversion, from jumping anti-skate management that keeps the needle and a counterweight to help set the proper amount of pressure from the stylus on the phonograph record.
Besides, it has a pitch; if you have to make small alterations to the sound of your record, correct the slider on the tabletop.
The Numark TTUSB has many of the characteristics you’d need from a converter turntable. The applications it comes with make it simple to get right to converting for first-timers.
The ease of operation improves the attractiveness of this USB turntable, especially for beginning users.
2. Stanton T.62 MKII Professional Direct Drive Turntable – Best Cheap Dj Turntable
Based upon the Stanton Top Selling Favourite for DJs and Vinyl fans alike, the T60, the T62 is an easy to run, direct-drive turntable greatest for DJs of any musical taste or experience degree.
The T62 MKII features a powerful motor with strong torque and a straight tonearm, which notably offers superb mixing skills for scratch DJs.
The T. 62 also comes geared up with the superb Stanton 500. V3 cartridge, along with a high-quality slipmat for extra control, offers the most effective setup for efficacy and perfect audio.
Among matters you may be attempting to locate in this turntable is the ease of audio and transferring vinyl to mp3 format, and although there are a lot of turntables out there which do this immediately, a lot of the testimonials for all those turntables as well as the sound quality, give a lousy conversion in the good quality.
With the Stanton T62, you’ll discover quality the most effective it could be.
It is an excellent turntable for those who love phonograph records, and in the event, you are a DJ or a conventional music fan, you need to add this to your collection of music gear.
3. Crosley C200 Direct-Drive Turntable with S-Shaped Tone Arm
For anyone seriously interested in spinning vinyl, the Crosley C200, the best turntable, is perfect for you.
With a metallic-black finish and brushed-steel hardware, this looks as good as it sounds. Exclusive for you to the Crosley C200 is a digital pitch control, enhanced tonearm regarding skip resistance, and adjustable electronic braking system.
The digital pitch control makes it easy to adjust pitch and keep it in which you are interested and constant from the turntable to the turntable. You can change between +/-8 and +/-16 at the touch of a button or reset the pitch to zero.
The increased tonearm helps alleviate skipping, has a built-in anti-skate adjustment, and is particularly height adjustable making it well suited for scratching.
You may also fine-tune the braking speed to create this Crosley C200 stop as rapidly or slowly as you need, and also, the high-torque motor makes for quick start-ups (0.07 seconds from stop to full speed).
Other features include long-lasting, built-in blue LEDs to illuminate the pitch indicator and stylus. The stylus features Kick Cancel and Anti-Skip functions, and the pitch controller is easily replaceable. An arm-end scale creates quick weight adjustments.
This fully manual unit has been heading strong since the’ 70′s and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.
Apart from Gold Ltd. Model Technics turntable is the one to produce any DJ the envy of the block.
Extended pitch flexible functions, braking adjustment configurations, and long-lasting led illuminator lights and increased anti-skating make an amazing analog machine/ DJ instrument completely.
Quality build is superb and designed to outlast anything out there in the competitive market.
4. Stanton T92USB Direct Drive DJ Turntable
Turntable purists will always say that vinyl is the best. While vinyl will never completely go out of style, the convenience of being able to put your entire music collection onto a flash drive the size of your thumb is something few DJs can resist today.
The only dilemma is how do you convert all that nifty vinyl you own onto a small, high-quality digital audio file?
One method is investing in a good quality audio card for your computer and combining that with recording software and a phono-to-line preamp that will make the modern line inputs of your computer’s audio card talk to the old school phono outputs of your turntable.
Another method is to purchase the Stanton T92 USB turntable, which simplifies everything by combining a turntable, a computer audio card, a phono-to-line preamp, and recording software bundled into one tidy product. It’s an excellent tool for both aspiring and professional DJs.
The production value of the Stanton T92USB turntable is high. It has a sleek design, measuring 17 inches wide, 14.5 inches deep, and 5.5 inches tall. It abandons a more traditional, all-metal body and is instead built with high-grade plastic, making it much lighter than most turntables.
The Station T92 contains a mode selector switch for 33, 45, and 78 RPMs, dual start and stop brakes, a reverse button, pitch control with selectable 8 percent and 12 percent ranges, and a key-lock mode designed for digitally modifying a song’s speed independent of its pitch.
A USB port is on the back, which allows you to connect to your computer, and it has stereo RCA outputs with a switch for phono or line impedance. Last but not least, it has a S/PDIF coaxial digital production and a power switch.
As far as programs go, the Station T92 comes bundled with two. Specifically, Audacity and Cakewalk Pyro 5. The former is an open-source audio recording/editing program and is not recommended for novices because of its numerous powerful features.
Users simply looking to archive their LPs, CDs, cassettes, and DVDs will opt for the latter, which is more intuitive. (For example, you can record one side of an LP and later clean and separate tracks, converting them to any format you please.)
When connecting the Stanton T92, you shouldn’t encounter programs. The USB audio drivers will be recognized immediately and installed themselves. Afterward, you install the recording software, and you’re on your merry way after choosing the option to “Make CDs from your cassettes and LPs.”
Buyers beware. However, that sound quality can only be as good as the sources themselves (i.e., old, scratchy records will produce old, scratchy MP3s, WAVs, WMAs, etc.) By default, the audio card records 16-bit at 44.1khz.
Because of its capability to double as both a recording and a playback interface for your computer’s audio, the Stanton T92 allows you to instantly playback the results of your digitally recorded vinyl through its RCA outputs.
Allow you may simultaneously mix your computer’s audio and your turntable’s audio into the same output, which will bridge both analog and digital.
Are Digital DJ Turntables Better?
Digital DJ turntables have become a staple in the modern DJ’s plethora of turntables surrounding him.
So the question remains: are digital DJ turntables better? The answer, as stupid as it sounds, is yes and no.
First off, these digital turntables store and automate many things, like holding music on flash memory, auto-looping, and cue point marking.
These little things can be genuinely appreciated by a turntablist, as the automated work frees up his hands and mind to focus on manipulating the music for some pretty wicked sound and music enhancements.
These digital DJ turntables also have a slipped disk to emulate scratching an entire disk, which is another bonus in their favor.
On the other hand, some DJs and turntablists don’t like the artificial feel of the slip pad and would like to have more control over the sounds they produce.
Analog DJ turntables prefer to get down into their music, popping a disk and scratching it out with their own hands.
Analog turntables also require a heightened degree of skill to master, which most DJs are very proud to possess.
They also like to tweak around with the inner workings of their turntables, adjusting mechanical settings and incorporating the irregularities of their tables with their music.
What it all boils down to is the personal preference of the DJ or turntable list. Digital DJ turntables appeal to those who want more variety and jazz to their music, while analog DJ turntables appeal to those who want more control and snap.
Both can be put to good use by a skilled DJ, and both have their place in the clubs and parties.
How To Choose The Best DJ Turntables
If you’re out in the market and looking for the perfect tool to help you do your thing, here are a couple of things you’d want to look out for:
Direct Drive
There is a reason you want to get the direct drive over a belt drive, and that reason is a significantly higher level of torque on direct campaigns.
Belt drives also tend to slip and erode with use and are generally not recommended for serious DJs who want to turntable.
High Torque
The best DJ turntables have a decent torque level on the disks, ranging around 1.5kg/m, and are usually found on direct drive turntables.
However, the problem here is that only an experienced DJ will be able to tell whether the label on the turntable is accurate or not.
Check for resistance when pulling back the disk, and never get a turntable that doesn’t’ snap’ a disk back into a spin after stopping or pulling it back.
Straight tonearm
A good tonearm needs to hold a pickup and stylus where they need to be, and a straight tonearm gets the job decently well.
The best DJ turntables usually have a straight tonearm, which is a good measure to prevent the needles from jumping all over the place and ruining the overall sounds on your mixes.
Decent pitch adjustment
And last but not least is a suitable range of pitch adjustment. This will allow you to adjust the tempo of the music, varying between slower, somber tunes and fast-paced, energetic ones.
A range of plus-minus eight is a decent enough value to work with for most club DJs, which then comes as the recommended pitch adjustment levels.
What exactly are you currently hooking up to?
A computer? Conventional mixer? Do you have your mixer?
Do you want two or one?
We have gotten away with one if we are scraping for a track or sampling with some phonograph record; yet, if you need to mix tracks or need a conventional DJ set up, you will need to get two. If you are planning your budget or attributes desired, only keep that under consideration.
Brand
This is always a variable for us. We take their name into play occasionally and do have brand loyalty. Whether that is precedence is actually up to you personally.
Added equipment?
You may need platters, some DJ headphones, cases, or more. Bear this in mind for budget functions. If you are thinking about going the USB path, you will want DJ applications to play with your sounds.
Keep all these factors in mind when shopping, and you’ll be able to separate the cheap knock-offs from the best DJ turntables around.
How To Connect Dj Equipment
No matter how passionate you are about being a DJ, entertaining the crowd may be difficult if you have no basic understanding of audio equipment.
All DJs need to know how to connect DJ equipment before taking their first paying or free gig. Connecting DJ equipment is quite easy with a little preparation.
First Things First
Most DJ equipment will have detachable cords. These need to be marked with the name of the equipment they will be used to connect.
If one USB cord goes to the turntable, a small piece of masking tape can be used to mark that cord with the appropriate machine.
Color coding the cords is another option. Just remember to place a dot of color on both the cord and the bottom of the machine.
After the cords have been sorted – there are five steps to connecting DJ equipment.
Step 1 – Plug it all in. Turn off all DJ machines and plug the equipment into a power strip with a surge protector. The electrical strip also needs to be powered down before plugging in the kit.
Step 2 – Connect the music to the mixer. The music source should be connected to the mixer using audio outputs and inputs. The cord should be plugged into the music output and the mixer input.
Step 3 – Connect the mixer to the amplifier. The mixer will feed the music into the amplifier. The cord needs to be attached to the mixer output and the amplifier input.
Step 4 – Connect the amplifier to the speakers. The amplifier needs to be connected to the speakers so the guests can hear the music. The cord should be connected to the amplifier output and the speaker’s input.
Step 5 – Check the sound. Once all pieces are connected, turn on the power strip and all machines. Once booted, check to ensure the sound quality is correct.
Once all equipment is working properly, tape down all cords on the carpet with duct tape, colored duct tape can be used to match the carpet color.
The tape keeps the cords safely close to the carpet or flooring, so nothing comes unplugged and no one trips on the ropes.