I have a pet peeve. Well I have several, but one of the biggest is when people take a look at particular lumps of DJ gear and proclaim that “you’ll never see that in a booth”. Because as we all know, the booth is THE ONLY PLACE that people DJ right? Oh wait… this just in — people DJ in all manner of settings, and one such place is the stage. So I was especially happy to see that perpetual club bridesmaid Denon has been picked above all others to be Modestep’s trusty weapon of choice.
Denon UK have oh so proudly put together a lengthy piece of PR for you to chew over:
Modestep have been re-writing the live music rulebook across Europe, introducing a new wave of Dubstep and Electronic rock fusion to the masses.
Formed in 2010 by brothers; Tony and Josh Friend with Matthew Curtis and more recently Nick Tsang, the group started performing Dubstep vibes with soulful vocals (Josh), later adding rock elements to their music to create the familiar sound known today through UK chart hits such as “Sunlight” and “To the Stars”.
To coincide with the new “Evolution theory” album launch the band are heading around the UK to promote the new release, starting early February.
Denon DJ are proud to be Tony’s choice of DJ gear as he tours across the country with the band, showing off his skills on two Denon DJ SC2900’s and utilising Denon DJs flagship mixer: the DN-X1700.
At first glance, the DN-X1700 is a standard matrix club mixer consisting of 4 CD and PHONO inputs, 4 digital inputs, 2 microphone inputs, 2 master outputs, booth and recording outputs and more. But it’s the levels of sound quality and incorporation of forward-thinking performance features that make the DN-X1700 Professional Digital DJ Mixer the ultimate performance tool for top-flight professionals.
X1700
Every detail was considered and no corners cut in designing the DN-X1700 and its accurate sound representation. The mic amp, with its own discrete transistor configuration, incorporates a low equivalent input noise of 127 dB while even the phono amplifier has a 89 dB signal-to- noise ratio, all due to its own discrete FET circuit configuration. And at the heart of it all, the power. The DN-X1700 employs two extremely high-end, low- noise R-core power transformers for the analogue circuit with Denon DJ custom designed electrolytic capacitors.
Furthermore, film capacitors designed to enhance sound quality and high-precision metal film resistors round out the power circuit, resulting in sound quality that is overwhelmingly high and breathtakingly accurate. Unlike any other DJ mixer in its class, the DN-X1700 is equipped with a high performance 32-bit DAC (digital analogue conversion) at the audio output stage. Even the world’s best-selling DJ mixers, CD / DVD players and home theatre systems boast only 24-bit DA conversion; 32-bit conversion provides additional “headroom” in the conversion process, providing an analogue output signal with greater resolution and frequency response. The resulting ultra wideband output signal makes the DN-X1700 one of the best sounding pieces of digital audio equipment ever made for the DJ market.
SC2900
Designed with both Professional and Club DJs in mind, the Denon DJ SC2900 steps-up to the booth with a fresh take on true digital-media versatility. No longer is there a need to struggle dragging a mass of CDs to the club or through the studio doors – the SC2900 includes playback from USB drives and offers the ability to share one USB stick over (up to) four networked Denon DJ SC2900 or SC3900s. However, traditional CD DJs and producers can still make the most of the front mounted CD slot, and pure software DJs can utilise the Traktor 2 compatibility* to mix and produce.
What set’s the Denon DJ SC2900 apart from the conventional “club CDJ” is its leap forward in display technologies with the introduction of the ‘Eclipse’ platter with glowing LED markers that surround the circumference; enabling a very clear and elegant method of accurately displaying ‘Cue Point’ and ‘Playback’ markers. Combined with the ENGINE for iPad® App means that a networked iPad becomes the biggest and most versatile media navigation screen in the industry, giving every DJ a powerful way to manage tracks and playlists, ready to perform, all through the iPad touchscreen.
‘ENGINE inside’ ensures compatibility with ENGINE software – a unique combination of software and hardware that empowers todays DJs with high speed access and control over their extensive digital music libraries. Leaving the ENGINE software to manage the set from a USB connected, or networked, PC or MAC and the hard work down to the player itself – reducing the need for a super-powerful computer to manage the DJs performance.
What I like about this, and the main reason for posting it, is that outside of the confines of the booth, you have freedom to use whatever you please to DJ. I’m certain that a great many of you never set foot inside a booth, yet still feel the need to fall in line with industry standards anyway.
So let’s fling this open to you — do you use Technics or Pioneer because it’s industry standard? Do you them because your local club has them? Or do you use them because you genuinely like them more than anything else? Do you hanker for something else but can’t because the venues you play has them? A few questions there, but you get the idea.