With rumours abound that the legendary Technics 1210 turntable is to be fazed out as of February 2010 it is apparent to even the most passionate of “oldskool” DJ’s and enthusiasts that the digital revolution is taking a firm hold on the music industry.
It has also become ever more apparent that the reputation of any DJ worth his/her salt is more than just a “two turntables, microphone and flashing light merchant.” Today’s successful DJ is a highly organized, portable image conscious and ultimately professional entertainment package and nothing epitomises “professional” better than something that brings all of those defining qualities together in one well rounded package:
Enter UDG, or to give them their full title – Ultimate DJ Gear, in many peoples eyes, the industry leader in DJ-related storage, organization and transportation products.
Backed by endorsements of basically every major international DJ, UDG have firmly established themselves as industry leaders in delivering durable, practical and innovative gear for every facet of the DJ/Music business, whilst at the same time retaining a fashionable some might say trend setting brand that of course increases their demand and prestige.
The Need to Heed
In our numerous years as both resident nightclub and mobile DJ’s, we’ve had the good fortune of working with a few top DJ’s in the industry and have always marvelled at how “condensed” they travel locally and worldwide. One or two gear bags and a laptop, the simplest of setups packaged neatly in what appeared to be custom-made cases.
What is the right bag for you?
Before you chose a product to invest in you should definitely weigh in on what your needs are; as a part-time, full time or bedroom hobby DJ. For us, we wanted something that was roomy enough to handle an ever-changing/growing collection of CD promos and freshly burnt discs full of the finest internet offerings of the week.
We wanted something that could safely house a laptop therefore eliminating the need to carry a separate laptop bag. Something that would be compact, yet with a large enough capacity that allowed it to be our sole bag for numerous gigs.
A quick browse through the UDG catalogue highlights just how many products that would meet those needs; some to an excess, but I found a comfortable fit with their highly popular CD Slingbag 258.
What exactly is a Slingbag?
The Slingbag design bring us a trademark removable shoulder strap that allows it to be carried by a strong riveted nylon and leather-like handle, but to be fair, the strap is in fact so comfortable, I wouldn’t dream of discarding it. With a sculptured padded shoulder for extra comfort, it can either be worn on one shoulder or carried across to the other shoulder and worn like a “messenger” design bag resting on the opposite hip, depending on which way you position the curve of the strap; I nearly always carry my bags in this way, as my neck provides more security of the bag not falling off of my shoulder especially when wearing nylon type jackets and climbing stairs and sometimes ladders to get into DJ booth’s.
The laptop space to the rear of the bag easily accommodates a laptop up to 15.4 inches, which would include most laptops not in the Power book or big/wide screen families (the UDG Producer Bag is designed for thbe needs of this size), and offers about a ½ inch of heavy-duty impact resistant foam padding on the outer face to protect your laptop.
Internally……
When you open the main compartment of the bag you will find a gorgeous 31 pages of CD storage, 8 to a page, lined with a sexy, super-soft backing material designed to prevent scratches and damage to your CDs, combined with durable vinyl pockets with V-shaped disc access that allows you to remove and insert discs without ever touching the surface.
The front cover offers an further 10 slots for discs of “high” importance or just ones you want to have easy access to, encapsulated by a long zippered pocket that’s perfect for pens etc. The pages themselves are fixed in place by 2″ plastic straps, providing a reduced likelihood of ever tearing out like a three-ring binder style often do. The pages glide smoothly across them even when the book is filled to capacity, you can really see the durable construction of the bag at this point as well, with the two clips to which the detachable strap is connected to being riveted to the underside of the handle on the inside of the bag as opposed to the side or top, thus giving it added strength and less probability of slumping, slipping, or ripping out over time.
To the front of the bag there is the large multipurpose pocket veiled under a flexible Velcro flap. Underneath the flap is a front-view mesh pocket and inside is a bundle of inner nylon pockets providing more than ample fits for a wallet, i-Pod, PDA device, FX unit, or stash of sweets and enough extra space to house a medium-sized pair of headphones or supplementary accessories like cables, power cords or mouse for your laptop.
The total inner portion of the bag comes lined in a bright orange nylon for added visibility in low light environments, with the outer covering offered in a selection of flashy alternatives such as basic black, metallic silver/grey and a number of camouflage designs for the ever trendy DJ that really wants to stand out from the masses.
Usability:
From a fashion perspective, this bag really ticks all the boxes; we have had compliments and closer looks of our Slingbag 258’s from bar staff & door staff, (whom know very little indeed about DJing and the associated gear) along with punters and even fellow DJ’s asking where we got them from.
From a practical perspective we LOVE THE Slingbag 258 – we can now stroll into a venue with a new sense of organisation with no more numerous trips back to the car to get everything inside.
The UDG Slingbag 258 has solved all of our issues as former unorganized DJ’s.
Summary
Having people who do not necessarily understand the required function or logistics behind our choice of the Slingbag 258 but commenting that it is “really stylish” and “extremely trendy” only compounded our decision of choosing a UDG bag.
Not only did our UDG Slingbag 258 purchase serve us well in getting us organized and at the same time efficient and well compact, but it didn’t break the budget either which for many in today’s economy is more important than buying a bag purely as a fashion accessory; UDG have met and exceeded our expectations with the Slingbag 258 and we look forward to seeing how they “better” and improve on this design in the months and years to come.
Products sheet
cd slingbag 258.pdf
PDF File
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Aug 18 2010
