Dr. Suzuki Big Donuts Slipmats

Dr. Suzuki Big Donuts
12" Slipmats for 7" rekkids
From Stokyo - Japan
 

With everyone spinning 45s these days, the peripherals available to us are becoming ever more varied and excellent in aiding a smoother practice of one's art. Think game-changers like the Syd Def Jam 45s adapters, and indeed the Dr Suzuki Donuts and Kuttin' Donuts slip mats. Both of these developments tackle the inherent difficulties of the format for DJing...45s are little and light and can be slightly dished and DJing with them is certainly a struggle, especially for those not used to it. You needed a deft touch to cope with 7's before Dr Suzuki and Syd Def Jam came along, of course, it was totally possible, but for the more turntablist based DJ that gets busy on the decks, then these aides took away the failings of the 45 and attuned them more to the stability of playing 12" records. In the case of the Kuttin Donuts 7" slipmats, the game-changer is the raised bed for the vinyl where the label area is recessed, what does that do? It eliminates any dishing of the record so it lays flat, obviously a major bonus and essential component in the art of DJing. Combined with some Syd Def Jam adapters they are pretty much perfect to be able to cut, mix, scratch and beat juggle to your heart's content without any problems. But as with anything, are the Kuttin Donuts 100% perfect? Yes, and no. But the 'no' is a minimal 'no', the only issue I find with them is having a 7" sized slip mat meant the turntable platter is exposed. Of course, the platter is hard metal and there are holes in it, so there was always a little bit of fear that one may knock the tonearm off the record sending your stylus into one of those holes thereby wrecking it (and if you're using your last Shure's, that's scary!). Thankfully it's not happened to me, but the risk is there.

So, here we have the Dr Suzuki Big Donuts, and in one fell swoop eliminates the tiny failing of the Kuttin' Donuts. Exactly like their 7" younger brothers, these feature the same raised bed for the vinyl so your records are going to lie flat as a pancake, the bed itself is a nice soft but dense material that cushions your movements nicely, and is weirdly sticky, the vinyl won't move on it when you're in the mix, which means you can either manipulate the record via direct contact with it or indeed using the outer edge of the slipmat itself and keeping your grubby fingers off the grooves, either way, you'll be able to cue up and cut up your wax with confidence and stability. We tested them out for the first time this past weekend at an all-night show with 4 DJs all using them and no-one complained about any aspect, on the contrary, they all want a pair! The mats are compatible with dinked and small hole 45s, but you can't play 12" records on them, so that may be an issue if you spin mixed-format sets, you'd just have to take a 2nd pair of traditional mats along as well.

So are the Dr Suzuki Big Donuts 100% perfect? Yes, and no! The one small problem with these is the simple fact that they are too big to fit inside your 45s bag/case, you'll just have to bring a tote bag or similar to carry them around to your shows. Apart from that though, they are fantastic, work an absolute treat and give you the confidence behind the decks to be as physical with your records as you want to be. They are a little pricy at £40 for a pair, but if you can stretch to that, you wouldn't be disappointed. Recommended.

Buy: Juno