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So two things recently. I finally got a hold of an Innofader PNP 2 to go into my Reloop Elite mixer. It’s the “red dot” version so it will work with the Elite. I got one before but it was an older version that won’t work. You need the one with the red sticker on the package to denote it’s the newer version. It’s a dope crossfader and it’s really made scratching even more fun. It was easy to install once I understood how to configure it properly. Second thing is I also got my second Gemini PT 2000 II turntable fixed finally. Shoutouts to Repair DJ Gear in Orange County, CA for hooking that up. It’s a great repair shop and Scott does excellent work. Wherever you are in the USA you can send your equipment to him and he’ll fix it. Do a Google search for them. My brother gave me those two Gemini decks as a gift and they both were messed up after trying to calibrate them while following erroneous directions. I have two Audio Technica 1240XP decks as my main decks, but it’s nice to have two classic decks like the Gemini’s as backups. They are missing their feet, but they work fine without them. They are great decks and are good for all kinds of turntablism. If you pick some up, make sure to get some Dr. Suzuki Skratch slipmats to go with them. When all I had was the Gemini decks, getting those Suzuki mats made them seem like new turntables. Before I thought they may be underpowered for scratching, but proper slipmats changed all that. Well that’s it. COVID is still popping off and the world has gone crazy. Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned… I’ve decided I’ll mix and scratch. Peace and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

So I’m using a new method to help practice scratching. I write down different scratch techniques on a piece of paper and label them 1 thru 6. Then I roll two dice and whatever numbers it lands on, I do that appropriate scratch off the piece of paper, which gives me two scratches to practice combining together. It’s working pretty well so far and this is only day two of using the technique. I’ve come to realize that scratching is like learning. Think about how long it takes a human to learn anything and be very good at it. A few years at least. I’ve been DJing since September of 2018 and seriously alittle less time. The good news is that us humans are amazing and in 3 years we can do amazing things. Don’t believe me? Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3875jSXk0s&ab_channel=NDTV

He was sick right? Well that’s about how long it takes to get really good at something.. so put in the time, be patient, and keep working at it. Peace.

So these are two very good DJ cartridges/needles. The Shure M447 is legendary and has been a mainstay for turntablism DJs for a long time now. It’s knack for holding the groove is the stuff of legends and it’s proven it’s worth at many a DJ competition throughout the world. The Ortofon OM Qbert is not as old and storied as the M447, but it’s no slouch of a DJ cart itself. When I first got a set I didn’t set them up properly and thus they seemingly didn’t perform as well as my M447s. However, if you secure them to the headshell deathly tight, calibrate your tonearm weight properly, they will hold that groove just as good as the Shure M447. Now spec wise, in terms of output, the OM Qbert is a “louder” cart at 10-11mV compared to the M447s 9mV. That difference is really negligible, especially when you’re running it on Phono output. To me the key difference between these two carts, is the needle cutout on the OM Qbert, and lack thereof on the M447. When you’re using analog vinyl, it’s hard to see the groove you’re dropping the M447 needle into. With the OM Qberts, when looking down on it, you can see exactly which groove you’re dropping the needle into, which during fast and furious mixing, can be a lifesaver. Now I’ll be honest, with the M447, you eventually get a feel for where the needle is on the stylus head, so it’s not THAT big of a deal. For a new DJ not used to either though, I’d say the OM Qbert will be easier to work with analog vinyl on. The Shure M447 cart is discontinued, as is it’s needle, but Jico makes great replacements for the M447. They sell a version with the “guard” on it and it looks just like the original. The OM Qbert still has needles being produced by Ortofon. The only other worthwhile note is that the M447 with Jico stylii is set to track at about 4 to 4.5grams whereas the OM Qbert gets down at 3g. That means that the OM Qbert will be a lot easier on your vinyl in the long run. At the end of the day it’s a matter of preference and really what you like looking at on your decks. Do you like the flatter, fatter look of the M447 with it’s guard hovering over your spinning vinyl, or do you like the sleeker look of the OM Qbert and the ability to see the groove you’re dropping into very easily? Either one will work well for playing music or turntablism. It’s harder to find a Shure M447 at a decent price these days. Right now they are going on Amazon.com for $300+ dollars and ebay isn’t much better. You can get lucky at times and find a steal for some, but you gotta keep an eye out. The OM Qberts are at $79 no matter where you go, so that’s another thing to keep in mind. Good luck and happy Djing!

So I got a great deal on some Shure M447s a while back. It was two carts for about $80 which if you know anything about how Shure M447s prices have been being gouged lately, that’s a steal of a deal. I decided to try out the Ortofon Qberts, but I kept having problems with both when trying to beat juggle. The needle would end up skipping and with control vinyl, it would start drifting toward the outer edge of the vinyl/platter. I finally realized recently that the screws and nuts I was using for the carts I have were not being tight enough. I found a nut or two that would tighten the Ortofon OM Qbert cart to the point where it was rock solid and immovable on the headshell. Once I did that, the drifting to the outer edge issue went away completely. The cart is more stable and it does not skip. It’s a night and day difference. No matter what I did with the previous screws/nuts, it would not get extremely tight so I thought that was how all carts were. That’s not the case and you want it so tight you can’t move the cart on the headshell not even a centimeter. I’m pretty happy with the Ortofon OM Qberts now and see no need to get the Ortofon VNLs that are releasing soon. They look like Shure M447 clones but they don’t have as high an output as the Shures. Between the OM Qberts and the Shure M447s with Jico Stylii, I’m good on carts for the forseeable future. I even have some Ortofon OM Pro S carts for backup. Long story short, get those carts secured as tight as possible and work from there. If you need better screws/washers/nuts, check out your local Home Depot or at worst, Amazon.com. Perhaps on one of my pages I’ll put directions on how to properly set up a DJ turntable for turntablist DJing. Peace and stay up!

Hey what’s up? Happy Friday! So I’ve decided I really want to buckle down and get in peak physical condition. I’m already doing crunches/situps as well as pushups, walking, lifting weights, and other calisthenics. I need to reign my diet in though. I gotta stop eating Twizzlers, Happy Cherries, and the occasional bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos. I don’t eat that stuff all the time, but I want to cut it out completely. I’ve also started messing with drinking soda again after leaving it alone for a long time. Gotta get rid of that again too. I’d like to get to a point of shape where I could go play some basketball and really get busy once this COVID mess subsides. I’ve been able to quit smoking and vaping so my lungs and heart are ready for me to really start pushing the limit. I’m concerned about running too much on the concrete because that is very bad for your knees. I’d like to start swimming and use the elliptical mainly for my cardio. Time will tell, but I’m going to start punching things into high gear fitness wise. I’m decently fit now, but I wanna get pro-athlete shape. Peace and stay up!

So my DJ gear problems have been resolved… by me! So basically, the Numark Scratch mixer had a problem with it’s fader which I was trying to get a replacement for but none would ever work in it. I realized the issue is most likely the connector cable that goes from the Scratch motheroard to the crossfader. I was able to solder together two wire sets and use it in the mixer. I was able to get that fixed and now the crossfader works in the Numark Scratch mixer. I also got one of my mini Innofader Pros to work in the Ch2 fader position of the Reloop Elite mixer. Even thought the Scratch is my secondary mixer, it was important to me to have it be in good working order and cutting properly with the crossfader. Both mixers work fine now and I don’t need to have a replacement fader sent out to me. Just calibrated the Innofaders and they work fine now. Again as I said, the main thing with the Scratch mixer was that bad cable. I plan on putting up a video showing people how to make that cable if needed and how to calibrate the Innofaders on my Youtube channel. I’m mixing and scratching on the Numark Scratch right now and it’s working great. Peace out and it sucks how fast this weekend flew by. Back to work on Monday yet again. It could be worse though. L8r!!

Long time no see. Sorry I haven’t updated lately. Been busy with work and life. Anyway, I had some trouble with my Reloop Elite mixer recently. The channel 2 fader is having issues, well actually it was the cross fader, so I swapped the channel 2 fader to the crossfader position, then I put a mini Innofader standard from my Numark Scratch into the channel 2 fader position on the Elite. It works fine but if I turn the mixer off, it won’t boot up with the Innofader standard in it. I have to get a mini Innofader Pro to replace the channel 2 fader with I think. It really sucks and it seems like any old fader won’t do or work in the Reloop Elite. That’s kind of disappointing. The Innofader Pro is great and it’s only $50 bucks on Amazon, but if I wanted to use an Innofader Pro 2 I can’t use it it seems and the PNP 2 you have to have a certain one. One with the red sticker on the package. Anyway it’s been quite an ordeal dealing with this and I spent all of Friday evening messing around with it trying to get it fixed. I tried messaging Sweetwater to see if they’d send me a replacement fader but they are not answering too quickly. It’s the weekend for them so I’m not surprised. Well I got the mixer working (kinda) for now so I’ll just rock with it I guess. Peace and I’ll post what Sweetwater says about getting me a new fader. L8z!

Today was another Wednesday. Hump Day… the middle of the week. I’m not sure why we look forward to the weekend so much or why some people stress about that. The weekend flies by so quick and it’s right back to work on Monday. Learn how to find happiness no matter what day of the week it is and find joy in the challenges and triumphs you face each day. I work in a service industry full time, and although it’s not my ideal work I’d like to be doing, I’m trying to teach myself to take joy in the overcoming of issues each day. I work in a technical field and I’m a right brain person. Right brain people are more creative and we’d be good musicians, counselors, or managers of some sort. We have active imaginations and tend to daydream a lot. That’s definitely me. The field I’m working in is meant for a left brain person, which is why I don’t feel content in it. Hopefully some day soon I’ll find my true calling, and although I’m not miserable working everyday, it would be nice to LOOK FORWARD, to going to work. You should do the same. Peace and blessings to you.

Hey! Happy Friday to all!! So I just wanted to share that I’m working on selling some DJ gear/accessories online. I won’t go into Detail on what it is but I have a prototype and it’s fairly simple. No moving parts. I’m trying to figure out how to get them mass produced and how to sell them online. I’ll post an update once it’s ready to go live. This is just a little fun side thing I’m trying to do. I have no intention or expectation to get rich off this. Money don’t mean that much to me… it’s a means to an end. Money helps me buy some things that I can enjoy myself with.. mainly music and DJ equipment.  I’m pretty excited about it and hope to have more information on it soon. Keep pushing, keep dreamin’, and keep livin’.  Start reading your Bible and come to Christ. That’s the best advice I could give anyone. Peace and stay black (you know….).

So in this post I just wanted to talk about my current state of Djing.  I work full time but I am able to listen to my music all day while I’m working.  I’d really like to get proficient at scratching but it takes a lot of time and effort and I’m trying to enjoy listening to music, mix music, occasionally make a beat, write a book, read and study God’s word, help my wife, do house chores and so forth. It’s very difficult to keep up with all that and sometimes it feels like there’s not enough hours in the day. I’ll admit I slack off a lot and get caught up watching Youtube videos, but I rotate what I focus on quite often. For a while there I was practicing scratching every day and putting a lot of effort into it. I was figuring I could probably get like a daily planner and really dole out my day to myself but that would feel extremely regimented and almost military like which, like most people, I don’t care for. I prefer to “play it by ear” when it comes to what I’m doing at the moment. As long as I’m not up to no good, I feel like I’m doing alright. I watch some people who are really good at scratching and I know it just takes years and years to get to that level so I guess I have to just be patient and keep making an effort. I may try to post a short clip of myself scratching so a visitor to this site can see where I am with it. What are some things you’d like to accomplish, whether Djing related or not? Let me know in a comment if you can. Peace!