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Finding the right DJ equipment cases for all your gear can be a real challenge. There are so many different types and styles out there that you may not know where to begin. The first step is to determine which pieces of equipment need cases. Cases are usually made for particular types of equipment. You will also need the exact dimensions of your various pieces of equipment since there can be many sizes of the same case.

It is helpful to determine how you regularly use your equipment. If you use a laptop a soft shoulder case is perfect for local use but a hard case will be better if you will be shipping it. If you want the best in terms of durability look for DJ equipment cases that come with ATA certification. This means the meet the quality standards of the Airline Transport Association and would quality for airline insurance.

Some DJ’s like to use a projector while they are working. Projector cases are usually built to work with certain kinds of projectors. Usually they will hold any projector which fits within certain dimensions but sometimes there are custom foam cutouts that only work for particular models. To order these you will need the make and models number for your projector.

When it comes to rack cases there is so many to consider. The technical requirements of your equipment and your personal taste will be two important things to consider. Standard rack DJ cases always have the same height and width. They will vary when it comes to depth. Think about how deep your equipment will go, how you use your equipment, and how much protection your equipment needs when picking rack cases.

Some rack cases include a power strip that you can use to plug in all your componants. This makes setup a cinch since you only need to plug this strip into one outlet. You can also have rack cases custom built to handle whatever specialized DJ equipment you may have.

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Working as a mobile disk jockey (DJ) brings with it a number of challenges that a resident club DJ doesn’t have.One of the main issues is the need to carry all of that essential DJ equipment to each and every gig, wherever it is.

I’ve worked as a DJ onboard cruise liners, in a hospital, on the radio and in various clubs but these days I make my money as a mobile DJ. Each week I meet new people with diverse musical tastes in some fantastic locations. I’ve played gigs in stately homes, tents, gardens, onboard ships and yachts and even on a private jet flying to America. It’s the variety that I love about this work, but lets get back to those challenges.

One of the biggest problems that us mobile DJs must overcome is the need to carry all of our equipment to every gig. The club DJ only has to turn up with his selection of records and CDs whereas I need a medium sized van to carry all of my DJ gear.

These days I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic assistant who helps setup and break down my sound and lighting rig at each gig. But back in the old days, before I was commanding a decent fee, I had to do it all myself. The key to selecting equipment for mobile use is compactness. It should ideally be small and as light as possible.

The DJ speakers that I use are the powered variety. This means no need to carry power amplifiers and much simpler system setup. These mean fewer cables to worry about and less that can potentially go wrong. For the past two years I’ve been using an excellent pair of active JBL PA speakers and they have proved to be a fantastic choice.

Another key consideration is lighting. Club DJs rarely need to concern themselves with club lighting systems as these are generally already in place and often have their own dedicated operators. Working as a mobile DJ means we’ve got to do it all ourselves. But luckily these days there are some compact DJ lights that use LEDs making them relatively lightweight, low power and cool.

But I think the most important piece of DJ gear is the music. This isn’t equipment you say, and you’re right. But I’m actually referring to the medium which can be vinyl records, CDs, DVDs and these days MP3 files. This all means that I need some turntables, a CD player, a DVD player and something to play MP3 files. I tend to stick to just one CD player, a pair of Technics decks and my laptop computer. I route all of these through my excellent DJ mixer and I’m just about ready for any requests, from Mantovani to the Wombles.

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It’s not just guitar hero that’s getting a whole load of people back into the idea of writing and recording their own songs. The hugely successful game may have inspired countless wannabe rock stars to pick up a guitar and start rocking out but with so much new technology available to budding musicians, it seems the cutting edge of new music is becoming less Gibson and more… Game Boy?? No, you didn’t read that wrong. As musicians are constantly trying to come up with more and more ways to stay ahead of the crowd people are finding inspiration in all kinds of unexpected places, from state of the art phones to old toys and retro games consoles. Here are a few of the more innovative and unique uses for technology in music that we’ve found:

Old Nintendo Gameboys – perhaps one of the strangest musical creations around, DJ Scotch Egg doesn’t actually use any normal DJ equipment but produces his tracks entirely using sound effects and software from Game Boys. But they’re not fancy new consoles like we’re used to nowadays – he only uses the old chunky grey ones we all remember playing in the early 90s. This unusual approach not only works surprisingly well (he even manages to pull it off live and gives a very energetic performance) but it’s also a a bit of a trip down memory lane as you pick out the sounds you recognize from the games of your childhood!

iPhones – Due to play a series of gigs at Wembley Stadium in July supporting Take That, Gary Go’s set is something a bit different to what you’d usually expect from a pop concert. He doesn’t play any actual musical instruments live, and he doesn’t have a band – he just does it all on his trusty iPhone. In fact, he wrote, played and recorded a number of the tracks on his album using only software he had downloaded to his phone. It should be an interesting show to watch, provided no one decides to call him half way through!

Laptops – OK so maybe this one’s not quite so weird and wonderful, it’s not exactly unusual to see a laptop being used onstage during a show. But what makes the laptop such an important part of making your own music is that if you have one you literally don’t need anything else. With so many different programs for musicians out there, able to recreate the sound of any instrument almost perfectly, and then record and mix your tracks, it’s just a case of picking the right DJ software and going for it. Gone are the days of ‘but I don’t know how to play the guitar’ and ‘I don’t know the first thing about recording music’, these days truly anyone can be a rock star.

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