Q: Please state your name, location and occupation?
A: My name is Alton “Ton” Saechua from Orange County, California. I’m one of the co-founders of Orbit Concepts, the makers of JetPack bags.
Q: How long have you been a DJ and how did you get started?
A:I’ve been a DJ since 1996, but I’ve always been around music since my dad was a drummer when he was younger. I would hear him “finger-drum” and tap to the songs he’d hear. My uncle was another musical influence to me as he was a vinyl collector in the 80s. He ended up giving me all his and his friends vinyl collections, which was a great starting collection to have as a beginner DJ. One of my friends was a DJ at a local dance spot in Orange County back in 1995, and I brought out some of my uncle’s records to get them played by my friend. I saw him work the records and mix, and I immediately got hooked. I immediately tried to find all things related to DJing. This was very different before YouTube was invented. I would listen to the radio to hear DJs mix, check out DJs at parties, and even going to a music/DJ store to check out the equipment. I would even use the computer to mix music just to get a feel of what it would sound like to be on beat. Keep in mind that in my situation, I didn’t have fancy DJ software back then. It was just the music playing from my CD-ROM and music I’d rip to the computer to WAV and mix those songs together. This was before MP3s were created in the mid-90s. All these things fueled my love for this art form. In the summer of 1996, I had attended a party and won a $500 raffle. That was a lot of money for an 18 year-old at the time. With the money, I got together with a few of my close friends and decided to throw an underground party, which resulted in an attendance of 800 people. We had DJs and all, lighting and sold non-alcoholic beverages. We didn’t make a lot of money, basically broke even but had our first entrepreneurship experience. I took the money and bought some used turntables for $500, which I still own this day.
Q: What is Orbit Concepts?
A: Orbit Concepts is a group of forward-thinkers who create game-changing innovations for DJs.
Q: Who is the other co-founder and how did JetPack Bags begin?
A: We have 2 other co-founders, Wil and Yen. JetPack bags got started simply by necessity. As working DJs, we couldn’t find a bag that would accommodate open-format DJs like us. There were other bags out there, but they didn’t have some of the things we’d like to see in a DJ bag.
Q: Where are you based and do you have a storefront?
A: Our office/warehouse is located in Orange, California. We don’t have a storefront as we are a manufacturer.
Q: Why should people buy your DJ bags?
A: The JetPack DJ bags have size-specific compartments that are meant to hold gear that DJs bring to their gigs. The advantages of having specific compartments for certain gear are that you know exactly where each item belongs, and at the end of the night, if the DJ had some drinks or is just tired from being out late, they’ll know where to pack everything back to where they belong. Packing everything back to where they belong is a great habit to develop as a DJ as it is the best way to prepare for setting up and being ready for the next gig. All the features are well thought out in DJ specific compartments. All our bags are water-resistant and made of high-quality materials inside and out for optimal protection of their DJ gear. Features such as custom logo add-on, TSA approved laptop compartment, trolly pass-through, built-in vinyl sleeves and elevated headphone compartments are just some of the features that set us apart from other bags. We feel we have an edge as we are DJs ourselves, hence our slogan “Made by DJs for DJs.”
Q: Who rocks your bags in the DJ industry?
A: We have DJs such as DJ Jazzy Jeff, The Beat Junkies, Qbert, Craze, 4 Color Zack, The Chainsmokers, Steve Aoki, Afrojack and so many more. We are blessed to have some of the industry legends who use, vouch for our product and believe in our vision.
Q: Can you have them custom made?
A: You can have your DJ logo added to the bag by purchasing it directly from us on our website, or you can take the bag to your local embroidery shop to get it done. We’ve made it pretty easy to understand how to embroider on it so any embroidery shop would be able to do it.
Q: Do they come in different sizes and what can they carry?
A: We have different size bags to accommodate all kinds of DJs from mobile to club DJs, Hip-Hop to EDM DJs. The JetPack Slim is the smallest bag that can fit a laptop, headphones, some hard drives, maybe even a sound card interface, small cables, and vinyl inside the built-in sleeves. Next size up is the JetPack Remix which can carry all the things the Slim bag can but a little more. A laptop stand would be able to fit in this one, along with even more miscellaneous items. Next size up is the JetPack Prime, which can fit a 10 inch mixer inside such as the Pioneer DJM-S9, along with exterior pocket on each side of the bag. Next up is the JetPack Prime XL, which can fit the Rane-72, or some smaller controllers and mixing sound boards. These bags can fit a lot of things, and that’s why it’s important to have the bags help you stay organized and keep the items inside protected at the same time. We also have a bag for the Portablists who’d like to take their portable turntables out to the beach to scratch, we have a bag for that too.
Q: How much does a fully loaded bag weigh and cost?
A: Fully loaded bag will be different for all DJs, so the range would probably be 10 pounds to about 25 pounds. To accommodate the weight of these bags, we’ve made them with an ergonomic design to evenly distribute the weight on your back. You’re not gonna feel the 25 pounds on your back, it’s going to feel a lot lighter.
Q: Do you have any other concepts or ideas in the making?
A: We do have many other concepts which are in the works. So please stay tuned to our social media outlets for more things to come.
Q: What do you foresee in the DJ industry?
A: I think for the past few years, you’ve seen the idea of minimalism enter the DJ world, which resulted in smaller setups such as controllers that are very small like the DJ2Go2 which is a solid DJ controller. We’ve even built the first ever Slim DJ bag as DJ bags had always been linked to being comparable in size to a hiking bag. I can see the DJ industry going to fine-turning those controllers to pack in more features and more solid construction.
Q: How can people find you and buy a bag?
A: You can find us online at www.JetPackBags.com or your local DJ shop and all social media handles are @JetPackBags.