DJ Help - Equipment Back-Up Plans

It'll happen one day, mark my words. Something will break in your mobile DJ system at a gig. You need some kind of plan to get you thru the night. Here's mine. Enjoy!
http://www.djtutor.com/briansredd/basics

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[groovindj]

An interesting possibility for a backup device is the Cortex HDC-500. It's a 1U MP3 playing unit, that can also play audio CDs from a connected USB CD-ROM drive!

[briansredd]

They had thoes on sale at "Guitar Center" (your new favorite word.. HA!) for $199 this weekend.

[DjLuisDigital]

good job Bri.

a good a idea for those kids that no have a dual cd player or not pc ,is a Ipod ,i got two one 20 g the other one 4 g ,still a lot music for a in the mean time you fiend oout waht going on? ,or you can finish the gig with the two ipod or just one.

another good solution for speaker/amp is have a set of amplafied speaker,I saw some peavey for $319. each or some Behringer for $179.0 each. thay are small,cheap and dependable.

[briansredd]

Not a bad plan at all! It's very important to have some kind of plan so the show can go on :)

[noodlecake71240]

My plan is similar to that. That's why if im running top cabs and a set of subs i would get to amps instead of bridging one amp to power them all like many people do. If one amp goes you still have another one. Here's a worst case senario. What if there is a power surge and all your equipment fries? obviously that wouldn't be your fault but it would suck b/c the party would go to shit basically.

[briansredd]

Well DJs should be running power conditioners which protect you from spikes

[quinnraymondnyc]

The most likely thing to fail is always the laptop. Some DJ's may not be able to take a lot of spare gear with them. Here's a good, cheap, back-up system that takes up almost 0 space and is affordable:

Qty 2 SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 2 GB MP3 Players

Qty 2 32GB SDHC Cards to upgrade memory

QTY 2 1/8" - RCA Cables

Total Back-up cost = $130

You lose pitch control, but can still mix between two different players.

[Zlatis23]

Actually, I DO love the dodgy Dj Tutorstyle diagrams! It's a very effective way to make me understand ;)

[jihaad]

EAR PHONES !!! THEY DOUBLE UP AS A MIC WHEN PLUGGED INTO THE MIC INPUT AND SAVE YOUR ASS !!! :)

[spinmoney101]

good work on this... some dj's forget the plan B, c, d... it might not be great.. but atleast we have things working.. and the job gets finished. thanks for sharing

[djfritzentertainment]

Quality gear with shock proof cases, mogami .10% oxi cables and of course two laptops. Well taken care of gear usually will not fail BUT in case of a freak occurrence I have a small separate case with a Yamaha amplifier, small 10" satellite style speakers and extra speaker and xlr cables.

[zajacmp3]

Heh man! I need to have also a back up generator, back up beer and back up brain :D

You made my day man! You really did :D

Go to the club sometimes... And watch if any dj is bringing with him a truck to take all this...

[dhonchosa]

The Back-up Plan - what a awesome movie, watch this for free on - moviesnewrelease . c o m

[DjR3aper]

@stevencroce

i agree i know personally from experience

[Boydy141287]

Can I just add a recommendation? Buy CD players that play CD and MP3. I use my timecoded CD's with my DJ software but if the laptop goes have music on a CD in MP3 format. You can get a lot more music on especially if they are back ups!