Keep It Clean:

First of all, let's talk cleanliness. Cleanliness is the first step toward getting your decks sounding good. Dust ruins vinyl. Dust makes needles sound bad. So if your cartridge came with a brush, use it to clean your needles regularly. And if you don't have a vinyl brush, buy one. You should also check out a variety of vinyl cleaning products on the market, like UltraSound or Gruv-Glide, which can really make a difference.

The Needle:

Needles and cartridges are mostly a matter of preference. DJs usually try out a few different types and settle in to something they like. Some cartridges and needles are designed for heavy backcueing and scratching, while others are designed for smooth precision mixing and higher fidelity in the studio. Be sure to read the instructions that came with the cartridge so you can set up the proper tracking weight (covered later). And don't use the extra weights that came with your cartridge unless you really need to in order to achieve the suggested tracking weight; using too much weight can wear out your records faster. And once you start to hear your bass response and overall fidelity drop, replace those needles fast!

The Tone Arm:

This is the arm that connects the cartridge and needle to the suspension system on the body of your turntable. Some turntables have straight tone arms, like the Vestax PDX-2000, while others, like the classic Technics SL-1200, have an S-shaped tone arm. The straight tone arm is great for scratching since it doesn't skip as much. According to some, the S-shaped tone arm has a better audio quality. Those arguments aside, you?re going to need to adjust tracking weight, height, and (with S-shaped arms) the Anti-Skating control. See our article on Adjusting the Tone Arm

Tracking Weight:

This important setting is done using the circular weight on the back of your turntable's tone arm Moving it counterclockwise gets it closer to the pivot point, increasing the tone arm weight and reducing the tendency to skip. (Don't put this weight on backwards as some DJs do, since most manufacturers agree that this really isn't necessary.) Generally, you want to put it on normally and increase it to the recommended settings that came with your cartridges/needles, but not much more. At greater settings, you're going to wear out your records faster. So try to track with as little weight as possible without skipping. And remember, the best scratchers are actually applying very light hand pressure. So work on the finesse and light touch to become a real scratch-master.

Tone Arm Height:

This adjusts how high the needle sits on the record. Again, you should adjust this setting to what your cartridge directions suggest. After doing this, your tone arm should pretty much sit parallel on the record. That's the ideal height anyway.

Anti-Skating Control:

This control, found on turntables with S-Shaped tone arms, adjusts the tendency for the needle to pull toward the middle as the record plays. If you're not doing much scratching, it's fine to adjust the Anti-Skate control like your cartridge directions recommend. But if you scratch, go ahead and leave the Anti-Skate control to zero (0). This actually will help to keep your needle from skipping during scratching and backcueing.

Conclusions:

OK, so there it is in 500 words: turntable setup. Of course, there's things like slipmats and a dozen other factors that come into play, but this should at least get you started. And you can always call ProSound for more help!

Equipment

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