Decks

In the music world, the term "deck’ is often used to refer to the DJ equipment. "Decks" would be a turntable combined with a DJ mixer.

Turntable is another name for "phonograph’, a sound playing mechanism which uses gramophone vinyl records. Decks usually feature some form of vibratory isolation, so as to minimise acoustic feedback, unwanted resonances, wow & flutter and speed errors. This can be in the form of inexpensive rubber discs or expensive ball bearings. The drive system might be belt driven or direct drive.

A DJ mixer is a type of audio mixing console, typically meant for DJs. A DJ mixer, unlike most regular audio mixers, features a crossfader (a mechanism which allows smoother transition between two sources) and is able to redirect (cue) a non-playing source to headphones from the decks. Usually a DJ mixer has between two and six stereo channels, which can be utilised for connecting and mixing audio sources. A DJ mixer also features one phono input, with RIAA equalization for turntables, per channel and also comes with one to two line level inputs for external audio sources such as CD players. Additionally, a DJ mixer also features one or two microphone inputs for MCs.