Connect with us

DJ Pools

Heavy Hits Review

Published

on

Heavy Hits Review - Best DJ Record Pool?

Our Heavy Hits review explores the latest version of Heavy Hits record pool.

We’ll unpack everything Heavy Hits offers, from Spotify Charts and Dropbox Mode to harmonically-mixable tracks.

Read on to discover all you need to know about Heavy Hits, including its most recent updates and features.

Let’s get into it!

 

Heavy Hits Review

Heavy Hits is a top-tier DJ pool that excels when it comes to Hip-Hop and R&B.

Overall we’re more than impressed with the range of features on offer, which is why we give Heavy Hits a solid thumbs up.

Here are some key points about Heavy Hits:

 

Key Points

  • Record Pool: Heavy Hits
  • Best For: Hip-Hop / R&B
  • File Type: 320kbps MP3
  • Price: $4.99 1st Month / $24.99 Per Month Thereafter / $250 Annually
  • Unique Features: Spotify Charts, Harmonically-Mixable Tracks, Dropbox Mode
  • Audio Captain Rank: #3 Best DJ Record Pool

 

Now you’re a little more familiar with the record pool, let’s take a look at Heavy Hits in more detail.

 

First Impressions

Heavy Hits Review - Home Page

The homepage for Heavy Hits kicks off the user experience with a vibrant visual style, including cool splashes of neon blues and purples.

It’s a great look, which makes navigating the page a pleasure, whether you’re browsing the new releases or checking out the sidebar of Heaviest Hits and Heavy Picks.

There’s also a selection of Heavy Hits playlists accessed via attractive thumbnails so that you can jump straight to curated lists in a range of categories.

Site navigation is managed by a selection of links listed down the left side of the screen, and if you need to access your account, there’s a Dashboard link in the top right corner to take you there.

The main categories you can access are:

  • Playlists
  • Remixers
  • Blog
  • New Releases
  • Charts
  • Exclusives
  • My Crate

Navigating around these various categories is smooth and intuitive, making the experience of the record pool feel tight and professional.

 

Heavy Hits Record Pool Walkthrough

 

Search & Filter

Heavy Hits Review - Search & Filter

Heavy Hits’ search and filter options are located at the top of the page and are displayed regardless of where you are on the website for ease of access.

Searches can be done for artists, track titles, and tags, with results, promptly and accurately served.

Bringing up the various available filters is easy: tap the icon to the right of the search box, which is displayed.

There’s a great selection of filters here that lets users dig into more specific content.

You can choose from:

  • Genre
  • Versions
  • Key
  • BPM
  • Decade

There’s also the option to filter by “soft” metrics, with adjustable sliding bars representing the following track attributes:

  • Danceability
  • Energy
  • Valence
  • Popularity

Finally, the filter system allows you to add or remove certain tags, ranging from exclusive and battle tracks to house, EDM, and moombahton.

It’s an impressive array of filter options that sets Heavy Hits pool apart from a lot of the competition.

 

Music Library

Heavy Hits Review - Music Library

While Heavy Hits doesn’t disclose the total number of tracks available through its service, it’s clear from browsing that there are thousands of tracks listed.

Hip hop is the dominating genre, so if you’re a DJ who specializes in this style of music, you’ll find plenty of material to add to your sets.

Some of the big-name hip hop artists featured on Heavy Hits include:

  • Anderson.Paak
  • Young Thug
  • Drake
  • Travis Scott
  • Bruno Mars

Heavy Hits doesn’t just cater to the hip-hop crowd; there’s also a great selection of other genres you can browse, including:

  • Electronic/Dance
  • International
  • Latin
  • Pop/Top 40
  • Reggae/dancehall

Library listings are served up promptly, and each track comes with additional information which can help you decide if it’s the right one for you.

The track’s title is listed along with the relevant remix information and the artists involved in the production.

The year of release, BPM, and a link to download the tune (and choose the version desired) are also listed for each entry.

Each track features an information icon that you can hover over to reveal the genre and its score for danceability, mood/valence, and energy.

 

Harmonically-Mixable Tracks

Heavy Hits Review - Harmonically Mixable Tracks

The latest Heavy Hits pool update also includes details for harmonically-mixable tracks.

Listings include the track’s key (running from 1A/B up to 12/A/B representing minor and major keys), which can be matched with other keys using the Camelot Wheel.

This is excellent for DJs who play a lot of melody-driven music, letting them know which track complements another in a harmonically pleasing way.

The ability to see which tracks match others in terms of harmony makes building smooth-sounding sets much easier and is one of the best DJ record pool features we’ve come across.

 

Spotify Charts

Heavy Hits Review - Spotify Charts

Perhaps the most outstanding feature of Heavy Hits is the inclusion of Spotify music in the Charts selection.

Simply change the chart selection from Heavy Hits to Spotify in the Chart Source dropdown menu, and you’ll be presented with a brand new list of music.

This grants users access to a nice selection of tracks from mainstream acts, including Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish, and Coldplay.

You can further filter results from Spotify by using the dropdown menu for playlists to access a variety of charts.

These include the Billboard Hot 100, Global Top 50, Shazam Top 200, and the US Top 50.

If you want to include more mainstream tracks in your DJ sets, these lists are a welcome addition to Heavy Hits’ overall library of music.

 

Remixers

Heavy Hits Review - Remixers

The Heavy Hits Remixers feature isn’t commonly found in many of the best DJ pools, so it’s a welcome addition for DJs who enjoy a particular remixer’s style.

Users are presented with a list of available remixers, each with their own thumbnail image and country of origin listed.

Some of the remixers featured are:

  • DJ AndOne
  • DJ Chemics
  • DJ John Lee
  • DJ Mighty
  • DJ Noise

Simply click on the remixer of your choice, and Heavy Hits will pull up a complete list of their remixes, ready for you to preview and download.

 

Exclusives

Heavy Hits Review - Exclusives

If you’re after some great tracks for your sets that aren’t available anywhere else, head over to the Heavy Hits Exclusives tab.

This features music from a broad selection of big-name artists and remixers, including Gorillaz and DJ Chemic.

It’s updated with new releases daily, so keeping a close eye on this section is a sure-fire way to build a unique digital record collection and stand out from the competition.

 

File Types & Sizes

When clicking on the download option for a track, Heavy Hits presents users with the opportunity to choose various versions of the song.

Clean, dirty, and radio edits of a given track can be selected, then downloaded in 320kbps MP3 format.

While the addition of higher quality files such as WAVs would have been welcomed, the quality here is more than sufficient for most DJing requirements.

 

Preview Player

Heavy Hits Review - Preview Player

Bringing up the preview player in Heavy Hits couldn’t be simpler: hit play on the desired track from a playlist, and the preview player will automatically display.

Positioned at the bottom of the page, the preview player allows users to play and pause tracks, as well as skip forwards and backward through lined-up tracks.

There’s a small dropdown menu to the right of the play button, which showcases the various available mixes you can select for a given track (for instance, clean and dirty mixes).

Positioned in the center of the preview player are icons for either downloading the current track or adding it to your Crates for future download.

There can be a slight delay between selecting a track and the preview player activating, but once it’s playing, everything runs smoothly.

 

Performance & Downloading

Heavy Hits Review - Downloading

The performance of Heavy Hits is smooth and engaging, whether you’re using it on their website or on mobile.

Curated lists and search results sometimes take a few seconds to load, but it’s a minor detail given the thoroughness of the information listed.

Music downloads quickly to your hard drive, and if you’re using the preview player, you can add tracks to your crate to download later.

It would be nice to see the Crates link included in the results listings, so you can add tracks here without bringing up the preview player.

That said, this is a minor quibble and doesn’t ruin the overall experience.

 

Dropbox Mode

The latest version of Heavy Hits introduces “Dropbox Mode,” which allows you to add tracks to Dropbox on the go.

If you’ve signed up to Denon Prime, you can also get direct access to Heavy Hits content via your Prime device without the need for a laptop.

It’s a great touch that makes managing your downloads easier and more versatile.

 

Heavy Hits Mobile Experience

An essential feature of a great record pool is the ability to browse the library on the go.

This allows users to build up their music collection by adding tunes to their Crates, ready for download when they’re back at their desktop PC or laptop.

Heavy Hits offers subscribers a simple yet effective mobile experience to do just that, allowing users to browse new releases and charts with ease.

Although a stand-alone app is in the pipeline, the current mobile experience matches the website’s, with the main navigation icons shifted to the bottom of the page to better present the listed results.

Overall, the site performs well on mobile, delivering search results promptly and letting you build up content in Crates while on the move.

 

Pricing

At the time of writing, there’s only one subscription tier for Heavy Hits, so if you sign up, you’ll get everything the service has to offer.

However, you can choose to pay for this subscription on an annual or monthly basis, making a significant saving if you opt for the former.

So how much is Heavy Hits? Well, if you pay monthly, a Heavy Hits subscription costs $24.99, with your first month being just $4.99 using the Heavy Hits promo code.

An annual subscription is $250, giving you a saving of $50 overall compared to the monthly option.

 

Support

Support for Heavy Hits is simple but intuitive and can be accessed by heading to the user profile via the dashboard.

Simply click on the Dashboard link in the top right corner of the page, select profile, and from here, you can access the Helpdesk link.

From there, you can submit a new ticket and add a subject header to make it clear what you’re contacting their support team about.

There’s also an option to include attachments, which is handy if you have any screenshots or other material to help explain your problem.

The support team for Heavy Hits aims to respond to all inquiries within 24 hours, and in our experience, they are true to their word, responding promptly with helpful feedback and assistance.

There’s also an FAQ section, although this can only be accessed from the bottom of the homepage when you’re logged out.

 

Things To Consider

When choosing a record pool, DJs should consider a few things before taking the plunge and signing up.

Does the record pool offer the range of genres you’re primarily looking for? Is it updated regularly with new material?

This Heavy Hits review should help you answer these and other questions about what to expect from a subscription.

If you still have any questions about Heavy Hits, read through this review once again, and hopefully, it will bring you up to speed.

 

Summary

We hope you’ve found this Heavy Hits review a helpful insight into this top-of-the-line digital record pool.

From its slick aesthetic and eclectic music catalog to unique features that make downloading tracks even easier, Heavy Hits earns its place among the best DJ record pools available.

In our opinion, information on harmonically-mixable tracks makes this one of the best hip hop record pools for hip hop DJs looking to create melodically consistent sets.

Overall, Heavy Hits performs well compared to the other record pool heavy hitters, and we strongly recommend giving it a try.

Is Heavy Hits the best DJ record pool? Leave a comment below. 

Andy has been producing music since the early days of Cubase and spent much of the 2000s mixing house and techno with his trusty Technics 1200s. Fast forward two decades, you'll find him in his home studio experimenting with the latest music production software, tinkering with Ableton plug-ins, and occasionally trying (and failing) to complete Cuphead for the hundredth time.