No, don’t run from the speaker! RUN a test to troubleshoot the issue!
So you have your DJ equipment set up and ready to play. You do a sound check and realize your speaker is buzzing! Yikes! What do you do? Why/how does this happen?
In this video for beginner DJs (Or any DJ) Paul and I bring you a quick tip on trouble shooting DJ equipment. What’s the quick tip? If you hear a buzzing noise coming from your speakers check your cables first.
Well, there’s a few reasons why your speakers could be buzzing. However, when this happens to me, I always troubleshoot my cables first – starting with my wireless mics and then speaker cables. In most cases, it’s a cable issue.
This happened to me a few weeks ago. I was DJing a wedding in Rehoboth Beach and my assistant (and beginner DJ), Nathan Barta, noticed one of our JBL speakers buzzing during the sound check. Oh no! You know how I feel about my JBLs. If they’re not happy, neither am I! So what’s a DJ to do?
The best thing to do when this happens it to isolate the issue. Meaning, start disconnecting different pieces of equipment and/or cables to figure out where it’s coming from. The most important thing to remember – TURN YOUR AMP OFF – before you start unplugging/plugging things. Trust me you don’t want to hear that awful noise your AMP will make when it’s not happy – and either will anyone in the room!
First, we turned our amp off and disconnected one microphone from the Numark Mix Deck Controller – turned the AMP back on. Still buzzing. Ok, it’s not that mic. So we turned the AMP off again. Unplugged the second mic from the mixdeck. No buzzing. Ok, so now we know where it’s coming from. It’s either the mic receiver or the cable. I went back to the truck and grabbed a different mic cable. Plugged it in – everything’s good! Except when we went to our next job the following weekend. UGH! Buzzing again. Since I actually used an older cable as my backup I decided time to take it to Pat’s and see what Paul thinks. I figured I’d fill you in on what Paul thinks so I took the video of our conversation.
Paul agreed. In most cases it is a bad cable. However, it could also be the mic receiver, or even the connection to the controller. If you know for a fact it’s a bad cable the fix is easy. You replace the cable. Yet if you’re not 100% sure the best thing to do is to take it to Pat’s! Or, your local music store.
While I was with Paul, I also asked him the scoop on cables. Are brand name cables better quality than generic? Cables can go bad easily and without warning. So, I wanted to get Paul’s thoughts on what’s best to buy. He said it’s not necessarily the brand name. You can buy a quality cable by looking at the thickness of the cable and the end. Usually if you have a decent thickness to the cable and the end looks good you’re ok!
(It’s a BEST PRACTICE to always have 2 mics set up and ready to go. In the event one decides to stop working for whatever reason and you’re in the middle of introducing the bride and groom, you can easily grab the second mic. Years ago this happened to me. As a rule of thumb I ALWAYS have two mics set up for every event. In addition, you should always carry back up equipment – this includes cables!)
Hey guys hope you enjoyed our video today! If there’s a topic you’d like me to cover, or something you want to learn about DJ equipment let me know! If I don’t know the answer I’ll find it out for you! Thanks! DeeJay Shelly. (Thank you to Christine Angeline for being a great sport and taking this video for me on my iPhone! Love her!)