My Gear

I’ve been using DJ gear for the last 25 years and I’d like to share a bit of my gear history on this page.

Over the years I’ve been able to take advantage of the latest technological developments, but I feel lucky that I got into the DJ game in the turntable era. It helped me build a solid foundation and it makes me appreciate new tech even more.

I remember my first DJ set: 2 Technics SL 230 belt drive turntables and a two channel Alecto mixer with no eq and no crossfader. Now I didn’t just learn how to beat match on that set, but I also learned the basic turntables techniques like scratching and (even) backspinning.

The upgrade

When I eventually upgraded to a set of Technics SL 1200 mk2‘s and a better mixer (with eq and a crossfader) it felt amazing! Since that time I went through a bunch of different turntables (like the Vestax PDX2000, PDX3000, QFO and the Numark TTX) and mixers (like the Numark PRO-SM1, DXM PRO, the Vestax PMC-05PRO, PMC-05PRO2, PMC-07PRO and the Pioneer DJM909).

I also took my first steps in the digital realm with the introduction of Final Scratch 2.0 dvs. This was a collaboration between Stanton (hardware) and Native Instruments (software). A couple of years later I switched to Serato Scratch Live dvs and Serato Itch (with the Numark NS7).

Currently my favorite setup is a digital vinyl system setup with two turntables and my Pioneer DJM-S9 mixer with Serato DJ running on a Apple Macbook Pro.

Now when it comes to making beats I started with a Commodore Amiga with some tracker software. I also experimented with Cubase (on the Atari ST) and the Akai S950 sampler.
Even though I liked making music, I did not really like working on the computer. I wanted more of a hands on experience so I spent quite some time working with the General Music (GEM) S2 workstation.

So making beats on keys is ok, but when I switched to the Akai MPC 2000XL I found what I was looking for: pads! After a couple of years I did switch back to computers, but in combination with pads: Cubase with the Akai MPD16.

I currently use Native Instruments Maschine with a Apple Macbook Pro.

When I started my first YouTube channel I used whatever camera I could get my hands on. I quickly realised that most old handycam style cameras (with tapes) were not the easiest for exporting the footage to a computer. A point and shoot camera seemed to be a better solution.

I used a Sony Cybershot and a Logitech webcam for a couple of years until I eventually upgraded to my first DSLR camera: the Canon EOS 600D.
So I spent a lot of time researching lenses and figured out what would fit my needs. This led me to a Sigma 30mm prime lense and a Tokina 11-16mm ultra wide angle lense. Now, as you can imagine, the production quality went way up!

Another important factor was lighting. I started out using any lamp in the house and (of course) daylight, but the addition of a soft box lighting set contributed to the major improvement of the image quality.

Last but not least I have to mention the audio. Without good audio your video just isn’t good. The onboard mice on most DSLR cameras are not good so I invested in a good external mic: the Rode Videomic Pro.

The 600D is a great camera, but I had a growing list of things that were missing on the device. After doing a lot of research I upgraded to my current camera: the Panasonic Lumix GH4 with a Lumix 12-35mm f2.8 lense.
I still use the Rode VideoMic Pro, but I started to record my voice with the Rode Lavalier microphone and the Zoom H5 audio recorder.