Denon dj
Denon DJ
Many of you have noticed I’ve switched to Denon players from recent gig pics and stream with Beatport/Denon. It’s probably more the case that I’m switching back to Denon as they were one of the first to embrace technology with CD players at a time when vinyl ruled and CD’s were frowned upon, back then it was their forward thinking that got my attention as I was one of the few in the 90’s that saw this change and needed the equipment to enable this transition from vinyl to CD..
Having always been a self confessed tech freak, I fully embrace the future and the changes that come along with it, my label JOOF Recordings was one of the first labels to be available as digital download, I embraced producing music inside a computer and DJing from media files all at times when it was against the grain.
This is where Denon got my attention once again, I guess history is repeating itself, their recent hardware and ideology is perfectly lining up with exactly where I see the future. At this point the price always comes into debates about products/brands vs their competitors. As what I did, let’s put this aside for one moment and delve into the actual product. The past few months away from touring gave me time to research other media players, usually I do this at music conferences, trade shows etc where the manufactures invite me to have look around the products, the past couple of years things changed due to the pandemic and with no trade shows etc manufactures reached out to send their products to DJ’s to demo for a few weeks, this worked perfectly for me and was fortunate to have fun with all manufactures new offerings at home. After weeks of being a child in a candy store surrounded by all this new tech, I kept going back to the Denon SC6000 players. These players suited my workflow perfectly along with allowing me to move forward embracing technology making my touring life easier whilst on the road, organisation etc. Having WIFI built into the players and being connected to multiple platforms including Dropbox (for free!), Ableton link is just one of the many features I needed. After spending more time playing epic extended sets during lockdown at home (to my dogs!) all the functions, features, big screen, ease of use fitted perfectly into my workflow. This is exactly what I needed. Engine DJ software could be seen to some as the weak spot, but the development and updates I’ve seen over my short period of time using it is phenomenal, so can see this gap being closed very soon.
If we revisit the cost, in my honest opinion its priced how a multi media should be, meaning you’re paying a premium for other ‘brands’ (I guess like anything in this world). Is it lesser a machine, build quality, sound quality due to this? Short answer no. These are a premium/professional product and up there with the others I tested, solid construction and history shows they have tank like reliably in club environments, I certainly wouldn’t put my reputation on the line and risk playing equipment that would fail in a club/festival environment.
My old touring world will soon be getting back to normal (at my own pace) and I’m itching to get back on the road to spend more time with the SC6000 players playing out, though its currently unusual to see these players in most clubs/festivals I can see a day very soon where we go back to having multiple branded DJ products as standard in DJ’s booths, especially when you look at the amount of the next generation of DJ’s that are using Denon and other products, they will soon be performing in clubs and equipment will be on their riders.
At the end of the day you must research and choose the right tool for the job and what suits your workflow, artist vision and then you’ll perform much better and importantly be unique and stand out. If you don’t want to be industry standard, then start thinking outside of the box.
Disclaimer these words are completely independent, I’m not paid by Denon at all, though I got their attention after they saw my interest and have been welcoming my support. Oh and I refused to let them take back to players they sent me to test!
