If you’ve ever been to an EDM event, the art of performance DJing is something that you have bear witness to first-hand, but only in the sense that you’ve heard the end product of whatever the DJ is spinning and mixing together. Although many EDM lovers have already frequented a decent amount of electronic shows in their lifetime, not many actually know what their favorite DJs are performing on, nor do most DJs make these facts readily available to the public. Thankfully, TechTools took the initiative upon themselves to investigate and answer the burning question that many EDM fans have had on their mind during live DJ performances…”what are my favorite DJs mixing on?”
The guys over at TechTools personally sought out and compiled together various YouTube videos, interviews and gig photos of some of the world’s most famous DJs and then cross referenced those findings with various sources to create their comprehensive list of the gear used by some of the world’s favorite DJs and live producers. From their impressive and thorough investigation, they managed to get what they would call a “pretty confident idea of what most folks are using on stage.”
From their findings, TechTools discovered that nearly 70% of the “Top 100 DJs” use identical sets of gear, with only significant variation between headphones. Professionals like Hardwell, Avicii, Tiësto, David Guetta, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Nicky Romero, Skrillex, Afrojack, Dash Berlin, Alesso, Calvin Harris, Nervo, Above & Beyond, Sebastian Ingrosso, Eats Everything, Claude Vonstroke, as well as many others use a Pioneer DJM-900 Nexus mixer with CDJ-2000 Nexus decks and play using USB flash drives. The reason for the lack of alteration in equipment is due to convenience’s sake. The standardization of equipment makes it easy for artists to both play on gear at festivals that is extremely familiar and comfortable with and the fact that it simplifies the changeover logistics in DJ booths by turning almost any dj booth into a “walk up and play” scenario.
The varied preferences of equipment between some of the world’s top DJs comes mostly into play when it comes to their headphones. This seems to be the area in a DJ’s performance equipment that shows glimmers of an artist’s individual preferences, interests, and perhaps even an artist’s relational efforts as well. TechTools took the top 20 DJs from both the DJ Mag and Resident Advisor’s lists in terms of headphones preference and combined them. Artists like Afrojack, Hardwell, Above & Beyond and Calvin Harris prefer rocking Sennheiser HD 25-1 IIs while Avicii and Dash Berlin choose V-Moda Crossfade M-100s. Steve Aoki is often seen sporting Sol Republic Tracks HD and, to a similar extent, Skrillex is always captured sporting his Beats by Dre Mixr headphones when he performs. For readers looking for Digital Analog Converters, check out these DAC reviews.
Read the full TechTools article here to get in-depth descriptions of the specific DJ gear used by artists like Zedd, Armin Van Buuren, Flosstradamus, Deadmau5, Flying Lotus, Pretty Lights, Porter Robinson and Bassnectar.
