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Tópico: The Importance Of Your Back Up System?

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So this weekend i was booked at a club and they had booked some younger DJ to play from 9:30 to 11 then i would take over.
I got to the venue around 9:30 because if i havent been at that venue before i like to talk to the staff and get a feel for the kind of clientele they attract.
So as im setting up this young DJ looks at me with a smirk on his face and says to me... "if you would buy a Mac you wouldn't need two computers, they are the standard for DJs" to which i replied... "you never know".

Now ive been in this industry long enough to brush that off and do my thing, after all i was the main entertainment for the night.
One thing i quickly learned was to have a backup system on hand, ive had a computer motherboard completely burn out on me and no machine is immune to these mishaps.

Some DJs i know only carry around an ipod as a back up, this may work if your computer only crashes, how about if your screen goes blank or anything else that renders your main setup useless for the night?

I use a Hercules RMX and this laptop as my back up system;
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01489953&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&product=3756326

This has been great for me even though i use it mostly to look up requests i dont have or edit graphics/logos at gigs...

What are your experiences? What are you using as your back up? I think your back up system is just as important as your main system...
 
Mensajes Sun 18 Mar 12 @ 11:22 pm
I have a second laptop (Exact copy of the main one) as well as back up drives. In case that fails I go back to CD's if necessary. That's the main reason for keeping the DN-D4500 control unit instead of using the HC4500. I have a second rack which is almost an exact copy of the other one except one uses an A&H S2R and the other a RANE MP44. You never know when bad stuff will happen so it's better to be prepared.
 
DJ_SVO wrote :
You never know when bad stuff will happen so it's better to be prepared.

Thats my concern, how do you explain to a bride and groom that you cant play anything because your system dies on you? or a club owner who has 100, 200 people coming and all of a sudden there is no music?

At that point no excuse is acceptable from any professional DJ IMO
 
I have a basic netbook and a Mixtrack Pro that will get me out of trouble if the worst happened. Failing that, still carry a wallet of CDs just in case! As for Mac reliability, don't believe the hype. Did a gig alongside a DJ friend of mine last year, going back to back on one of those headphone parties, silent disco kinda thing. His macbook crashed twice, my slightly dated homebuilt PC system never skipped a beat. Doesn't matter what components you use, who built it or what operating system you use. It can, and sooner or later, WILL fail. The mark of the professional is not that cockups don't happen, it's that we're prepared for them.
 
i think i would have looked at the younger dj and asked if he carried car insurance and why as a reply.

i've been asked the same question as to why we have a wall full of CDs and still have 3 computers in the booth, 2 cd decks and controllers, a rane mixer and 3 microphones.

and why? because before my other dj started bringing in just a hard drive with his extra stuff on it he used to bring in laptop and use timecode cd's with his serato setup. first few times was okay until he started having crashes and had to jump to the clubs computer with VDJ to keep music going. now its just him walking in with drive and plugging in.

"The Show Must Go On, otherwise we'll have to give them their money back"

and out job is to make sure it does. no matter what.
 
I have 2 comlete mobile setups, plus one extra Mackie speaker and a 3rd laptop.

I've had a customer ask, at the last minute, if I could provide music and audio for the reception because the keyboard wouldn't work that day. My extra equipment saved a wedding because someone else did not have extra equipment.

I've had an older laptop glitch out and need a reboot when the video driver caused the whole screen to go a soldi color. I faded the audio to the backup, rebooted the main, and back to it. No one but me new.

Always have a backup plan. I even have another DJ available to call if I need a backup.
 
I always have a backup plan ready just in case. Thats why to make my backup system less bulky I purchased the Dj2go which I use with the Numark USB headphones for cueing, a backup laptop, cloned external drive & internal soundcard for master out. You always have to be prepared..
 
Can't fault those little DJ2Go units, great value for money! I use one alongside my trusty old DAC-2 controller, for 4 deck control...
 
2 rack mount units. 2 laptop units. spare flat screen. spare mice n keyb. thunderbolt w/ 2600 tracks (my emergency go).

redundant, but what is the alternative? reputation?
 
Controllers / Audio - Numark DMC-2 - Numark Total Control - NS6, 2 Technics SL-1200s.
Audio - 2 DJ IO -
Laptops - 2 Dell Inspiron Laptops with Max memory and no toys on a Windows XP Computer OS.
Running Game Booster. 1st Laptop still has yet to crash!

Knock on wood!
 
I do mainly clubs, so my back up consist of CDs and a thumb drive. If the Laptop crashes, I go CD/USB. If the CDJs crash, I mix internally. If all crashes then I am in a world of hurt. I guess I start singing until the sound guy can fix it.

I actually had the pleasure of Traktor Freezing on my MacBook at a NYE gig 2010/2011. I did not even bother fixing it. I just switched the CDJ from MIDI to CD mode popped in the CD and kept going.
 


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