Todays artist gear setup features rapper turned producer Ricky Vaughn. Over the course of his career Ricky Vaughn has spanned multiple genres including hip hop, breaks, and most recently Moombahton and Trap. Now that he has switched to using Traktor and CDJs for live shows his travel setup is pretty light. Keep reading to learn more about his travel setup and be on the lookout for his new EP, soon to be released via Babygrande Records.
1 – Headphones
- Sol Republic Tracks Ultra – My Sol Republic headphones are mandatory for me when I’m mixing/mastering or DJing out on the road. I love the crisp TRUE sound it gives me plus they’re extremely comfortable on my ears.
2 – Midi Controller
- Traktor Kontrol x1 – I know this isn’t the newest model but I’ve recently started to implement a more live aspect to my sets with looping and live effects/mash ups etc. My DJ sets are 90% my own music so I’m practicing to be more creative since I have all the stems to my songs. For 2015 I’ve set a goal to create a unique experience with the sounds I’ve created. I modified the mapping to what I need at the moment for looping samples and juggling between decks. Touch back with me in a year and I’m sure my whole setup will be 100% different.
3 – USB Flash Drives
- SanDisk 64GB USB flash drive – I went from using Serato to Traktor to CDs and then finally USB sticks while DJing in the matter of 2 years. I taught myself out of necessity and now it’s super convenient to walk up to the booth and just plug in and start playing my set.
4 – Soundcard
- Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 audio interface – This interface is extremely durable, has an aluminum chassis, and the sound is amazing! It has 2 XLR ports, plugs in via USB and built in phantom power. I’ve never had any issues with it to date and I love the Red compressor and equalizer software it comes with.
5 – Laptop
- HP Beats Audio Laptop – I bought this laptop a couple years ago already but it’s still the foundation to what the Ricky Vaughn project is. I run FL Studio and they didn’t have it for Mac up until recently so when I bought the laptop it was specifically design to run FL studio flawlessly (as possible as that sounds). It has a 750GB hard drive and 8GB ram, a very cool graphics card and I can probably count on my hand how many times I’ve gotten the blue screen of death which I think is pretty good considering how long I’ve had it. I also run Photoshop on there because I do 95% of my designs/artwork and web stuff.
6 – Microphone
- Samsung USB Go Mic – I started out as a rapper before I was producing music so every once in a while I’ll get an idea and record a reference vocal or filler vocal for a track. The mic plugs in via USB and folds down into itself to a small compact size. The quality is surprisingly great for what it is and 7 times out of 10 I’ll do a little EQing and effects and not have to replace the vocal at all.
7 – hand carved Dominican pipe
- I recently went to the Dominican Republic with my girlfriend and found a little shop on the beach that sold souvenirs and they had all these hand carved wooden items. I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest stoner but it’s definitely helped me finish some of my best songs, so this pipe comes in handy when I’m out and about and just want to take a few hits then get back into the studio.
For more Ricky Vaughn check him out on Soundcloud, Twitter, Facebook and iTunes.
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photo: Jay Tovar // http://www.lifebeginsatmidnight.com @ Blackouthtx.com
so cool to see HP laptop instead of Mac . nice set up .
I used to DJ on a HP laptop until one day it just stopped working at a gig. I took it home, found out it had a major flaw in the soldering and ordered a new motherboard, because HP would not recall it or repair it. After two months, that motherboard failed, and I was unwilling to keep repairing it. I found out later that thousands of other people had the same problem, and the class action lawsuit was successful, but I will not use an HP laptop ever again.
it depends , one of my laptops is HP with and i use it for live gigs with traktor , now with windows 8.1 works great without any tweaks ,i use it for 3 years , sometimes with timecode , sometimes only with X1`s ,it`s not pc vs mac , with pc is more that you dont know what you`ll get because there is much brands, but i seen macs crashing in clubs in midle of sets , so there is no rule what will work for you . i think OS is important and now 8.1 is best for traktor so far from windows .when this laptop of mine dies i will think twice will i take mac or some good pc laptop because mine experience with hp laptop is fine , but plastic and look of hp is cheap and can`t be compared to mac off course but you can get great i5 or i7 proccesor and more ram and maybe ssd for much less money. i had toshiba , it had audio drop outs , not so good for traktor , dell also had some latency problems. i would consider maybe asus , mac air with ssd or stay with hp in future .
My ire comes from not just the fact that the laptop failed, but that the company representatives would not stand by their products to repair/replace them, they had to be sued to drive them into action (I think I saw a check for $800 which is about fair for a year old machine). That was a $2000 top-of-their-line laptop and they simply would not repair or replace it. This type of behavior gets a big ol’ “no thank you” for any products from that company, AND it gets me running their name in the mud (until they make good with me) because they earned that negative review. When you buy something, consider the Service you’ll get with that item, because it makes a big difference down the road.
yeah , cool i understand , i`m not defending them , if i had experience like you i would be pissed for sure and will not consider any of their products in the future for sure .in the end of the story i admit if when i wouldn`t had to think about money i would buy the top of the line macbook pro and the end of the story , but just saying when on budget you have to rethink where yor money go .. that`s it.
I typically buy a 2-3 year old MacBook Pro for DJing. I get all the “Mac-ness” of the new OS, but the price is quite affordable.
Or a Toshiba Satellite. Mine is a tank. No issues whatsoever.
If he is implementing live elements, I can see him in a year rocking another X1 or perhaps something that allows him to trigger more loops. With all his stems could sexify any kind of genre with some live mashups! 😀
RICKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
2i4 not 2i2 😉
Interesting how he states that his sol republic headphones are mandatory for his performance, while he is wearing TMAs to DJ in the first picture.
Yeah, let’s stop pretending these artists have “tried everything, and this is their chosen gear” when we know it’s not true. Good catch on the “these are mandatory”, while there’s a picture showing they’re not.
I know for a fact (specs, and consumer reports) that Alienware makes a better audio recording laptop for the PC market, and Ricky is trying to convince us that the lead-free solder, HP laptop is superior… not buying it.
The X1 mark 1 is cool, but not as capable as the X1 mark 2, nor the Kontrol D2.
What he has works for him, but let’s stop trying to convince people to buy specific gear.
it all comes down to what works for you at the end , for example DJ s that are on top of their games like luciano , richie hawtin, danny tenaglia and even Ean golden still use old version of kontrol x1 , i have new and old but still using old for clubs becuse of workflow
I’m right there with you @Masta Blasta. I have both however the Mk1 is easier to map and just works flawlessly in my work flow. I don’t regret buying the Mk2 however it is not as good as I thought it would be when it comes to mapping it to do what my Mk1 does. It’s actually kind of a pain. I still love it though and plan to keep it and use it in a different setup with Turntables and DVS.
boxx blows alienware out of the water.
I’m sure both companies use top-of-the-line equipment, but any high quality laptop will perform better than that HP.
He’s saying they are mandatoring for mastering on the road, no for performance….
“My Sol Republic headphones are mandatory for me when I’m mixing/mastering or DJing out on the road. “
How about also showing the bag they carry it in cause i am looking for a good dj trolley bag wich is accepted as a carry on by every airline
thanks for the support guys!
x1, laptop…zzzzzzzzzzzz
Ayyy. Ricky is one of the producers who got me interested in making electronic music in the first place, and was an inspiration for me when I first started out. It’s cool to see the way he works on the road!