I have to be completely honest with you: DJ TechTools got off track this month. We got caught up in the product release hype machine and churned out a lot of news and not as many great articles. Don’t get me wrong; new gear is great — we all love it and will continue to review the best gear — but that is not what this site is about. We are here to show you how to get more out of technology, not convince everyone to buy new stuff. That is what the old music publishing paradigm has been about, and we are trying to offer something different, something more special.
THE MISSION
DJ TechTools is an open book. It was created by me (Ean) for you (the community) and is run by a small handful of passionate DJs (Markkus, Phil, Bento and I). We sell a few controllers and accessories that I designed, because no one else would make what we needed and really wanted. Those sales pay the bills and keep us from taking advertising dollars that would require more of the same old stuff from the past. Plus, it is totally transparent; you know who we work with and where the money comes from… it comes from you! All of the profits go right back into designing and creating new cool things that might otherwise never be created in a million years. Who hand-modifies controllers with arcade buttons one by one? We do — and love every minute of it. Apparently you dig them too; they sell out every month in 1-2 days.
So in the spirit of transparency, we want to share our editorial mission statement with you to make you aware of our goals and to keep this site accountable. If we start to veer off course again, tell us! This does not mean we are doing away with reviews; it just means less news and more great articles on DJing. –Ean Golden
We commit to creating compelling articles that enable and inspire creativity through DJ technology.
DON’T G.A.S. OUT
Hi, this is Markkus, a recent add-on to the team as editor of the DJ Tech Tools blog. Before this, I spent more than three years as Technology Editor of Remix Magazine, where Ean got his start as a writer on Remix’s Digital DJ column. Some may think that it’s a step back to go from an editor at a glossy magazine to the editor of a blog. That may true in some cases, but in this case, it’s definitely a step up for me as a creative professional.
For far too long in my decade as a magazine editor, I felt like a cog in an endless consumption machine that ultimately made people dissatisfied with what they already had and encouraged them to buy new things they didn’t need. Of course, that was only the bad half of the equation. On the other side of the coin, I got to try a lot of really fascinating new technology and legitimately help people get the most out of that technology. Now, at DJ Tech Tools, I’ll try to focus on only the good part of informing people about cool new DJ technology that we all appreciate.
As Ean was saying, we have spent a lot of time lately covering new product announcements. It’s always fun to examine and speculate on the new stuff, but I’ve also noticed in the comments that it inevitably leads to a certain amount of anxiety and stress on the part of people wondering which piece of gear to buy or worrying that the thing they have isn’t going to good enough now that a new thing is available. After spending too many years in debt because of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), I definitely believe that it’s better to maximize the potential of what you have by practicing your art than to spend too much time upgrading your system.
Today, DJing — and the live performances that are blurring the definition of DJing — are wild frontiers in which you have near infinite freedom to create your own sound and your own performance set up. That freedom can be both a blessing and a curse. Like the wild child who benefits from the discipline of a military bootcamp, some DJs may prefer a standardized booth of two decks and a mixer. Certainly, having some boundaries can benefit everyone.
Our goal is to help you navigate this new DJing frontier and establish your own boundaries for your performances. Your comments and suggestions for how we can help you are most welcome. But don’t stress too much about not having the hottest new widget just because Richie Hawtin does. Stress is proven to shorten your life, while listening to and performing music has known benefits to your brain chemistry and stress levels. So by all means, seek out your dream set up, but if you’re feeling anxiety about it, remember that the greatest albums or DJ sets you’ve ever heard were brought to you using equipment that wasn’t announced in the last month. Live long, and rock out. -Markkus Rovito
