Rossini's Jazz

Of all the components of your DJ equipment, the most important has to be your turntables, whether vinyl, CD or digital. However, without certain other components, your system will be incomplete. This is why you must put as much care and attention into choosing other items, such as headphones and a DJ mixer, for example, as you would when shopping for turntables.

The DJ mixer is a crucial piece of DJ equipment, used to create DJ mixes and redirect non-playing audio sources to the DJ's headphones. DJ mixers also have crossfaders, which are essential for allowing easier and smoother transitions between more than one audio source.

Most DJ mixers can have anything from two to six channels, used to connect and mix audio sources. Each channel has a line level input, so you can connect sources such as CD players, and a phono input, used to connect your turntables.

Anyone who is new to the world of DJ equipment will not know which features to look out for in a good DJ mixer. These people should opt for a basic model for their very first DJ mixer, and these will generally be the most affordable options. Even though it is cheap DJ equipment, it will be fine for practising on. When you have honed your mixing skills enough, you can upgrade to a more advanced DJ mixer.

In a basic DJ mixer, you should be looking for something with 2 line inputs, 2 phono inputs and one mic input. You will also need a well laid-out and easy to use display and controls.

Mid-range DJ mixers, on the other hand, generally have three equaliser channels, along with a better crossfader and far more functions and features. When it's time to upgrade to more advanced DJ equipment, you should look for mixers with many premium features, plus more channels and mix levels.