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Like almost everything else in the DJ world, the category of products labeled “accessories” has grown by leaps in bound in the recent past. Historically, some products have become industry standards by out performing competing brands, but many others were granted their title because they were the only show in town. DJs didn’t have 10 headphones makers and 20 cartridge manufacturers to choose from; there were a few in each category (if we were lucky) and even if they were quality pieces, they were always mass produced, with little room for personality and individuality.

These days, DJs have a mind numbing amount of choices that can be customized to their genre, spinning style and fashion sense. Record bags come in glove soft leather and a rainbow of colors, cartridges are designed for house, techno, hip hop, scratching, recording and any activity in between. There are cases for every possible model in the ever growing digital turntable lines, bags for headphones, custom designed slip mats and every kind of clip on light, turntable shock absorber and other accessory your heart could desire. The shear number of manufacturers and models is nearing mind numbing proportions and your friendly neighborhood gear hounds at DJ Times thought it was about time to do another round up. I have personal experience with a great number of the products mentioned in this article, but in the name of keeping things as comprehensive as possible, I will venture to mention as many manufactures as possible in each sub category.

Record, CD and Gear Bags

While the line of products still referred to as “record bags” has expanded to include CD bags, headphone bags, mixer bags, laptop bags and bags to store just about everything but the kitchen sink, I still must begin with bags that transport vinyl. Being an unabashed lover of black gold and a jock that still uses vinyl 90% of the time, these are the bags I get the most use out of and have the greatest affinity for.

Let me commence by mentioning UDG, aka Ultimate DJ Gear (http://www.ultimate-dj-gear.com/) From their exceptional trolley/ sling bag pair that fits perfectly in the overhead on any plane (save for that puddle jumper I few from Charlotte to Florence, South Carolina) to their slant tops, 50/50 and flip front bags, they are the top of the heap without question. My first UDG is 6 years old and still looks like a champ and performs like one each and every weekend. New additions to the product line include bags for CDs, headphones and specially designed bags for the Pioneer 1000, Denon 3000 and Denon 5000 CD players. The list of UDG users reads like a who’s who of dance music and they are the leaders in innovation and quality as well. An impressive company from owner Michael Schmeitz, to head of US distribution Ralphie Dee on down, they are the top of the food chain in this category.

Another company making superior record and gear bags is Odyssey (http://www.odysseygear.com/) Based in Azusa, California; this family owned business has been making a wide range of bags, cases, racks and lighting for many years. As with any responsive manufacturer, Odyssey is constantly fine tuning their designs to better meet the needs of their customers and their latest line is well conceived, expertly constructed and puts them in the upper echelon of this segment of the industry.

The one of the hottest new companies to hit this segment is a company called, Gig Skinz (http://www.gigskinz.com/) While they are a recent entrant into the gear and record bag market, Gig Skinz is a subsidiary of Road Ready, one of the most respected names in the pro audio case market and this experience shines through. Their line of accessories range from DJ record and mixer bags, to bags for lap top performers, keyboards and studio bags. Each piece is extremely durable, with tons of handles, padded straps and an aggressive design that not only looks good, but reassuring and sturdy. I never felt comfortable transporting my Allen and Heath mixer in anything but the original box. But with it securely locked in the plush confines of a Gig Skinz bag; it is on the road almost every week with my full confidence.

In spite of the popularity of CD-Rs in the DJ world, there is still no real “industry standard” media storage medium. Some DJs prefer binders, some like CD cases (with each CD in a soft sleeve), while others still swear by jewel cases. One of the companies that has you covered on all of these accounts (and many more) is Univenture (www.univenture.com). From ways to protect CDs on the way to and from gigs, to ingenious methods for storing CDs and plastic “c-shells” that add an “eye catching” look to your demos, they are the industry leader and have a long and well respected history to back them up.

Other notable manufacturers in this category include: Case Logic (www.caselogic.com) and Omnisistem (www.omnisistem.com).

Gear Cases

For those who are a bit rougher with their gear, or people who want to take their gear on tour or on an airplane as checked baggage, gear cases are the more logical solution. From old school coffins, to single turntable cases, battle style solutions with built in mixer bridges and cases for digital turntables with removable fronts to facilitate operation of slot loaded units; cases have also come a long way from their early black carpet over plywood designs.

At the forefront of this segment, Road Ready (www.roadreadycases.com) has a list of rock solid solutions for every application. I have personal experience with their cases for the Technics DZ-1200, and their 12” mixer case and have found nothing that even comes close. Their construction is rock solid, with smooth hinges, comfortable handles and a rugged feel that conveys a feeling of security. Most of their cases are ATA certified and they are the leader in custom cases as well. If you have a piece of equipment that needs protection or a gear configuration you want designed, Road Ready has you covered.

Other standout producers of gear cases include: Calzone (www.calzonecase.com), Gator (www.gatorcases.com), Gemini (www.geminidj.com), Grundorf (www.grundorf.com), Odyssey (www.odysseygear.com), OmniSistem (www.omnisistem.com), SKB Cases (www.skbcases.com) and MBT (www.mbtlighting.com).

Cables

One adage of both Club and Mobile based DJing is that you can never have too many cables. I can’t believe how many times I have seen a performance delayed because of a missing RCA or XLR cable, or gone to a show to find the effectiveness of a $2000 dollar mixer rendered mute, by the use of $2 dollar bargain store wires. If a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, then cables are often the link the breaks the chain and causes undue headaches. For a modest investment, DJs can bring a variety of quality cables with them and be ready to face any eventual problem with a wink and a smile.

One of the companies that I have gone to time and again in this regard is California based Hosa Technology (www.hosatech.com). Nearly any task you face can be addressed, from standard XLR, RCA, ¼” to more specialized snakes, interconnects and leads like spekon, phoenix and even old school banana plugs. Hosa has a product for your application and always instills a confidence in me that at least that part of the set up will be reliable.

For those that are looking for more budget priced cables, NY based Gem Sound (www.gemsound.com) offers over 70 types of cables and adaptors to provide solutions to virtually any situation. These cables are well constructed and competitively priced.

Some other cable companies of note include: Monster Cable (www.monstercable.com) and Planet Waves (a division of D’Addario) (www.planet-waves.com)

Headphones

All night long, at every gig DJs abuse their headphones. They are incessantly removed, dropped on the floor, stretched to the breaking point, pumped full of bass and treble and eventually folded up and stuffed into a small bag. Certainly the most ill-treated piece of kit in a DJ set up yet vitally important to the quality of our performances. It is clear, having said all that why headphones elicit such emotion and why if you speak to 10 top DJs, it is likely you would find 7 or 8 different names on their list of favorites headphones. Over the years I have tried nearly every pair of headphones on the market and come to the conclusion that no two pairs are alike and what sounds best, isn’t always the most comfortable or the most durable.

In spite of their notorious propensity to crack at the swivel joint above the ear cup, my preferred can is the Sony MDRV700 (www.sony.com/professional). They are clean and loud and their bass reproduction is unlike anything else I have used. It still amazes me after all this time that Sony has not corrected the obvious design flaw in these headphones, but I guess it insures a built in “renewal” of sorts, where DJs who like these headphones have just resigned themselves that they will need to be replaced every 2 years or so.

Pioneer (http://www.pioneerprodj.com/) is making a strong case to replace Sony at the top of popularity world with their HDJ 1000 headphones. They are fantastically sexy, with equally impressive sound quality. Stanton has also recently unveiled a new headphone design, the DJ Pro 3000. Looking and sounding a lot like the Sony’s, with the addition of a hi/ lo pass filter and some very cool blue led lights that flash to the beat, they are poised to make a run at the established leaders.

Sennheiser (www.sennheiser.com) is another company with a long history of quality products and many DJs (especially in Europe), swear by their line. Their celebrated lightweight HD 25 phone are truly extraordinary in their ability to faithfully reproduce sound and reduce ear fatigue, and the recently redesigned HD 280 Pro with user replaceable parts and remarkable sonic capabilities, are the flag ship to their DJ line and one of the hottest pieces of gear in the accessory world at the minute.

Other companies in the headphone category include: AKG (www.akgusa.com), American Audio (www.americanaudio.us), Audio-Technica (www.audio-technica.com), Behringer (www.behringer.com), Denon (www.denondj.com), Numark (www.numark.com), Samson (www.samsontech.com), Technics (www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/technics_dj/flash.asp) and Ultrasone (www.earsaudio.com)

Cartridges

One more area that has exploded in the past 10 years is the DJ Cartridge market. Many gear manufacturers have added cartridges to their product lines, many of which have notable performance and a reasonable price point. However, the view from the top is clearly dominated by two companies, Shure and Ortofon.

While Shure (http://www.needlz.com/default.asp) covers all the bases and certainly makes some quality club oriented carts (M35 S and X and Whitelabel) it is their scratch carts that they are best known for. Any turtablist or hip-hop DJ worth his salt is intimately acquainted with the M44-7 and M44-7H, the clear leader of the pack in tracking and skip resistance. Shure also makes some truly amazing audiophile cartridges, including the V15VxMR, the undisputed industry leader in critical listening and often recommended as an ideal unit for use in recording vinyl to hard disc/ digital domains.

Personally, I am all about Ortofon cartridges and have been for many years. As with Shure, they also have a full product line including some very capable scratch carts that are endorsed by people like A-Trak, Q Bert and Grandmaster Flash, but it is in the reproduction of house/ trance/ techno where Orts have truly made their mark. The sound quality and durability of the Ortofon Nighclub cartridges is legendary, and their newly released Ortofon Elektro is my cartridge of choice for smooth highs, crisp mids and mind blowing bass.

Other companies doing great work in the cartridge category include: American Audio (www.americanaudio.us), Numark (www.numark.com), Stanton Magnetics (www.stantonmagnetics.com) and Technics (www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics/technics_dj/flash.asp)

This, that and the other

Some other accessories that I consider essential to my performances include the PVDJ Grabber (http://pvdj.com/processors/grabber/), Freefloat turntable stabilizers (http://www.freefloat.net), a good effector like the Korg Kaos Pad 2 (http://www.korg.com) or the soon to be released Pioneer EFX 1000 (http://www.pioneerprodj.com/) and some first-rate slipmats like the Aero 2 from ESDJCO (http://www.esdjco.com/)

The bottom line with accessories is to find what works for you and what you are most comfortable with from an individual preference, personal style and aesthetic standpoint. Surely most things in this round up should be purchased with function and reliability as the main criteria, but the market has expanded to the point that you can get a quality bag, case or other related accessory and still take your favorite color, material or design into account when making your final decision.