A DJ Bag for Mental Health
What’s up everyone? My name is Patrick and I go by DJ AndOne. I’m an editor and content manager here for Heavy Hits and recently felt the need to write about some solutions I’ve found in hopes that it could help some of you in the near future.
Fair warning – this is not going to be some stereotypical list about how you need to get sleep, stay hydrated, etc. (all important things). But rather a more itemized list of little things I keep in my DJ bag to help through any mental health struggles I may have on gig days.
1. Pack of Gum
I always keep one full pack of gum on me at all times during a gig because if you get nervous or are experiencing anxiety, you tend to easily get cottonmouth which can cause issues when you’re talking on the mic. Chewing gum allows your mouth to salivate helping to fix this problem and not cause as much distress if you need to MC anything.
2. Hand Gripper
This is something I use all the time. If you squeeze the hand gripper for one minute in each hand four times, it can serve as a physical release of tension within the body and actually slow down your heart rate. Great for pre-show nerves.
3. Rubik’s Cube
This one may sound a little nerdy. But it’s important to occupy your mind with something if you’re just sitting around waiting for the show to start. If you keep dwelling about being anxious or whatever else it is. It’s only going to distract you. You don’t need to get a Rubix Cube and break a damn world record. But just find a little something you can do to help keep you engaged nd focused on what’s in front of you.
4. Anytime Fitness Membership
The reason I put this on here is because sometimes when I travel for a gig. I set all my stuff up and am sweaty and disgusting, but have nowhere to shower and get ready. If you get an Anytime Fitness membership, you have 24/7 access to a shower and a private bathroom. This same idea applies to Planet Fitness and many other gyms. Find a gym like that in your region with multiple locations because this really comes in handy (especially if you’re doing a wedding).
5. Headspace App
This is something that has helped me tremendously. I took up meditation a few years ago and it has done wonders for me in the long run. The app is packed with different long-term programs, as well as exercises as short as 3 minutes to help you step back and take a breather. I have it on my phone and use it almost every day, but if you can’t get to yours, you can login on your laptop and do a guided meditation on there.
I hope this brief list of things I use has encouraged you to try at least one of these out. As my Dad once said, “You’ll never get anywhere by stopping, but you will by starting.” So, do yourself a favor and start to try different things to help you manage any nerves or issues you have before you get behind the decks. Hit me up on Instagram @djandonemusic if you ever want to talk about things or if you have any questions.
Peace Out!
– DJ AndOne
Serato Celebrates 20th Birthday, and Serato x Phase collab!
Serato has been a fixture of the DJ landscape for 2 decades, and they have marked this anniversary with a special documentary charting the birth and development of their revolutionary product. It’s a fascinating insight to how they created it, and the resistance and snobbery that early adopters like Jazzy Jeff ran into from vinyl purists! Check out part 1
Serato (and other DVS systems like it) completely changed the DJ game, and enabled a style of DJing that previously was basically impossible, especially for touring DJs. The DJs who blazed a trail and troubleshooted out in the wild for Serato deserve a lot of credit when there was so much resistance to this change.
Serato x Phase
Less revolutionary, but equally fascinating and innovative, is Phase – the remarkable gadgets that enable DJs to use Serato on decks without requiring needles, eliminating problems with badly kept decks causing signal issues, needle skips, and a million other little foibles that Serato/vinyl DJs will be familiar with. It was exciting enough, but they’ve worked out a deal and a system whereby setup is even easier, with no RCA cables required, just USB.
Phase has had a tricky first year or two out in the market – lots of DJs complaining about dropouts – but with native Serato support, that can only mean good things for the compatibility and stability of the product. Apparently it’s a few months away, and the initial version of Phase had all sorts of delays, so don’t put all your eggs in this basket – but definitely keep an eye out, as this is a really remarkable piece of kit for scratch DJs.
Pioneer DJM-V10 Mixer Launch
We said it was that time of year because of NAMM, and here we go! Pioneer have unveiled a stunning looking new mixer, the DJM-V10
This looks like a serious unit, presumably aiming to become the installation mixer of choice for dance music clubs around the world, and with some fascinating features to cope with the modern DJing landscape. It doesn’t appear to be a direct replacement or successor to the very popular DJM900 range, but you would imagine that it will prove very popular with house, disco and techno DJs.
6 channels, each with a brand new 4 band EQ, switchable HP/LP filters for each channel (so you get the full range of the knob, rather than half HP/half LP as on the DJM900), an EQ section for the monitor, dual headphone inputs for B2Bs, 3 band isolater EQ on the master, a revamped and expanded FX section with sends on each channel (you can use FX units, guitar pedals, and even smartphone apps it seems!). There is a compressor on each channel, which will make mixing older tracks with modern, better produced tracks a LOT easier – that can only be good news for crate diggers around the world!
It’s also Serato and Traktor-ready.
It’s not exactly a budget mixer, the list price clocking in at $3199/£2799, but it looks like a serious piece of kit – I can’t wait to have a go on one!
Check out their video here
Rane Seventy mixer launch, with amazing new DJ Craze routine
It’s that time of the year that DJs love – NAMM is here, and with it, all sorts of announcements and unveilings about incredible new DJ toys to play with.
For a long time, the Pioneer DJM S9 has been the dominant scratch mixer in the market, but it wasn’t always this way – the Rane TTM57sl is a legendary piece of kit, the first mixer to include a Serato soundcard inside the mixer, and possessed a stunning fader, fantastic sounding EQs, and it was built like a tank. Their follow up mixers have been good, but never quite caught on in the same way, the DJing community seeming to prefer the DJM S9 layout and functionality.
The Rane Seventy Two went heavily in that direction, but now with the Seventy it looks like a direct challenge, and a strong one too! The EQ section has been shuffled around, they’ve cleared the clutter from around the FX paddles, and the headphone cueing is closer to the S9 style now.
The 3 faders are all brand new contactless MAG FOUR faders, with a tension adjust control for the crossfader.
For more info on the features, check out their video here
Having played on a Seventy Two quite a bit, a lot of my issues with that mixer seem to have been addressed here, and it seems that they have stayed true to their commitment to heavy duty build quality. They’ve to have adopted most of the workflow features that make people love the S9 – but it’s 2020, and you would hope that audio and build quality will have moved forward since that came out in August 2015. Rane EQs have always sounded phenomenal, and they have a well-earned reputation for making genuinely professional kit that is built to last. If you are faced with a choice between a 5 year old piece of technology, or a brand new one, you’d guess that the new one will be King – time will tell if that is the case, or indeed if Pioneer have a new mixer to reply with!
DJ Craze put together this fantastic routine for the launch, kicking off with a problem I think most DJs can relate to…