Parts of a Phono Cartridge

Series Summary

Have you ever found yourself in the club—moving to the music, making eye contact with other young, hip people around you—and wondered how the DJ does it night after night? Entertaining a crowd of music-conscious party animals is not an easy thing to do; just a few false moves and you’re out of favor…and out of a job. A DJ’s job is to keep that beat seamless and uninterrupted all night long. You can tell a master turntable artist not by his highly technical scratching skills, but rather by how well he mixes beats and songs together, creating the perfect playlist for a night out on the town. In order to keep the party going, you have to keep the music flowing. And you can't do that with a damaged or worn-out phonograph cartridge. In this free DJ lesson video, you will learn how to change a phono cartridge. Our expert points out all of the parts of a cartridge, then demonstrates each step in switching out the cartridge as well as replacing the stylus. He will also tell you what type of cartridges are best for scratching.

Video Transcript

"Alright, today we're going to talk about how to change your cartridge. Now, your cartridge is what, of course, you use for your DJing. Your cartridge is in your head. You got your head. Hold your cartridge, hold your styli, which is your needle, which is what reads the record. In order to change it, which you will need to do often as a DJ because they're really only going to last you probably, I mean, three or four months is good. Depending on how much you use it. To change it, you're going you're going to need these tools, these different parts and I'm going to show how to screw everything in, make sure everything is hooked up correctly, and it's a little bit of work each time you do it, but you have to do it; comes with the territory. So, it's not difficult to understand after watching this a few times, you'll be perfect."