always have aback up or 5..

iphone in an aux input, cds if u have cdjs, extra computer if you have the cash,

i keep my iphone plugged in and running a mix at all times, if i crash i put up aux volume and boom no sound lost

also have 16gb memory stick with some basic songs i know will work anywhere

i keep sveeral burned cds in bag = when using my cdjs

and if i am at a real important gig (wedding) i bring my backup macbook pro

i want to hear from all ohter djs what backup systems do you have and what happens if you laptop crashes during a gig

cd's , thumbdrive,ipod,iphone,audio 2 soundcard and last but not least my blackberry

That's great until you get a phone call, text, tweet, facebook notification or anything that makes noise on ur phone....

But to answer ur question... I carry a Denon DN-HD2500. It's a dual player with built in 20 gig hard drive. It has all the classic dance stuff, from club music to line dances and even slow dance songs.. It's enough to get me thru any night, anywhere....wedding, school dance, nightclub and so on

I would never rely on an iPhone or iPod or any single song player...that's what separates professionals from amateurs. Amateurs think it's okay to have a 1-2 sec pause in the music on their iPod as they changes songs...smh. Invest the money and carry a serious backup system. There are plenty of options out there and they don't cost that much. What are you gonna do when your computer crashes at a wedding during the bride and groom's first dance?? That's how you gotta look at it. Worst case scenario. Better to be prepared than sorry

mixes ...... and network off,were lazy , not dumb asses

And how many different mixes you got on ur iPhone? What do you do when you want to play a request or a current hit that's not on the pre-recorded mix that's been on ur phone for months? Cause you know you aren't going to have current mixes on ur mp3 player unless ur making them every couple weeks...in which case ur wasting ur time and need to find a better solution

i never played request ,ever not once

LOL.

My 64gb iPhone has more than 3 times the space of your CD player's 20gb hard drive...which, judging from that size alone, is probably old enough you should have legitimate concerns about it crashing at some inconvenient time...it's got to be at least 10 years old to be that small.

...and have you heard about iPhone apps that *gasp* allow playback/mixing of two songs at once? And "airplane mode"?? :-) (you just teleported in from 2002?)

Anyway my backup solutions are: a few CD's and records for "immediate" use in case of trouble, and both backup hard drives and a backup MacBook Pro (with music/videos mirrored from my primary machine).

And rather detail-oriented maintenance practices to help avoid any trouble from happening in the first place.

Airplane mode...

just remember i do have the touch dj apps on my ipod and iphone,thank god i never have to use it LOL

It's 4 years old and accepts usb flash and external drives of unlimited size so your point is moot


Yeah, bet it sounds great..and looks like you're DJ'n too lol..please go on and tell me how you cue a track...or do any real mixing lol

i have a dj tech u slolo usb media player if my laptop crashes

theres a ton of dj apps for the iphone, where you can cue, mix, even scratch

so much hate for no reason,

im sure it looks just as dj like as the denon dual player you use that DJ arnie the 80 year old party master uses to dj his gigs regularly

its back up for a reason, so you have the denon plugged in at all times then huh?

The Denon is a good idea. It does allow you to play a proper night if your computer fails. But I assume you already had the unit. It's kind of expensive to go out and buy just for a backup system.

And then there is having to plug it in and have it ready to go at all times.... After how many 100s of gigs with no laptops failures does it take before you stop setting this thing up?


This is a great idea. Having a mix just playing, instantly bring up the aux volume. Keeps you covered while you reboot, troubleshoot the real problem.

For mobiles, it's in my road case with lighting controllers and such, and yes, connected. At the club, I have promo DVD's in the players in case I need em and the Denon nearby. I've used the Denon in the club many times. It's a great player. Wish it did video!

Exactly. I don't want to sacrifice quality

Yeah, bought it used for this purpose and as a midi controller..I think I paid around $4-500. Worth every penny. I had to fire it up at a wedding cause the screen went out on my MBP

Just offering advice from my experience and what I've seen other DJs fail at..I'm just very blunt about it. No need to beat around the bush

The best backup solution really would be another MBP. Maybe Santa will bring me one lol

Drama drama drama. I carry two laptops that are exactly the same and have two laptop stands and have them both on and loaded at every show. If (for the first time ever) one crashes I can talk nonsense for 15 seconds, move the USB wire from one to the other and go. Easy.

i have a rane mixer hooked up 2 Denon S3700's- each denon loaded with a disc of a dozen songs and each with a 32GB USB stick of a handful of music and a extra laptop with both Serato and Virtual DJ Pro -7 loaded-. That way if laptop crashes i can either play of CD or USB until my laptop recovers, if it doesn't i have the backup laptop...

Lots of good "non-iPod" solutions.... again, an iPod, iPhone is not a professional backup system /mypoint

I disagree with mp3 players not being a "pro" backup. It all in how it is used as your back up. I'm not carrying two laptops out, no way no how. I own 2 macbooks (one as my main and the other as my personal) and I see no need to have them both on deck. Proper maintenance as well as prep havent failed me yet. If my computer crashes (which it did one time from a bad Serato update) I have a playlist specific to my gig on my ipod plugged up at all times. Pressed play and once the computer did its reboot I was back in business. At that time I was using serato with my 1200s. Now that I own cdj's my backup has become even easier, two usb sticks 32gb (i keep up to date in relation to the event), cds in my bag and yep the good old ipod is on deck.

As far as carrying an entire secondary rig with me NOT HAPPENING. All these years of DJing & yes ive found myself in a few sticky situations have that taught me...1)The best way to avoid a failure is to maintain your gear and buy quality gear. 2)Work smarter, not harder and find back ups that are realistic and not a enhancement of paranoia & 3)SHIT HAPPENS and no matter how much you prepare when a thunderstorm occurs knocks power out and the lights go black...the only thing all the extra gear is going to do is get you more in debt CAUSE YA MIGHT GET JACKED! lol

Not really a solution for gear failure but as to the laptop issue, I never leave home for a gig without a few 12"s on me. The wax, she never fails me haha

yep even over a cd a good old fashioned record is the most reliable (imo #vinyljunkie)

I have my timecodes burnt as a wav onto a cdr then fill the remaining space with a folder full of mp3's. if my laptop ever crashed I could just pull out the USB so it flicks onto "thru" mode and use the mp3s on the CDJs.

I also have my iPhone / iPad on me at all gigs both loaded with several playlists taken from my serato crates and the DJay app - which is actually really good!

Finally I have several discs full of mp3s in a pocket in my bag.

I posted a similar thread a while back.. and I was shocked at how many "professional" DJs are too lazy/cheap to have a real backup in place. A lot of guys are content with throwing on their ipod/ipad and some prerecorded bs. I wont hire a DJ that doesnt have a real backup plan to continue DJing if something breaks. Do they really think theyre gonna get paid that night.. or worse yet rehired if they ruin an event.

I do a lot of open format gigs and a prerecorded mix just isnt going to cut it if I want to keep the drinks flowing and dance floor packed all night.. sometimes the very same venue can range with music from EDM / Hip Hop... to Disco and Funk to Salsa/Spanish music and Freestyle. ... and the crowd can change several times over throughout the night.

When I'm at a gig.. I have a backup laptop.. backup duplicate hard drive... both come into the gig with me..In my van i carry a cheap Denon DNX 100 as a backup mixer... so even if my 62 blows during a show.. i can still open up Virtual DJ and get through a night with my dicers and nanokontrol. All my serato crates open up in virtual dj so after a few songs im right back in my flow and the dance floor stays packed.

How do you use a phone? On your controller

A mixer failure is a single point of failure. With decks (CDJ/turntables) you still have another one you can run instant doubles. When your mixer burns up during a set, you have very few options for continuity within seconds. An iPod cannot save you from a single point of failure - UNLESS...

A- Bring another mixer and plug it in its place ( figure on 60 seconds to get the mixer connected & powered provided you aren't overcome with panic while everyone is getting restless)
B - The club has their own mixer connected (which again, is a single point of failure which is out of your control). The club may not be smart enough to have a backup plan, or even someone their knowledgeable enough about their system to implement it.

Then there's other single points of failure:
A - The main compressor / limiter / EQs / crossovers (handled often by a single DriveRack)
B - Front of house sound boards
C - The power distribution / surge protector on the system (YES I've been the club's technical manager and literally had a rack mount power distribution burn up with 1000 people in the club). The sound just stopped - DJ was still running but the rack with the DriveRack no longer had power. I had to move all the plugs to outlets - it seemed like it took 5 minutes but everyone else said it was really about 30 seconds.

Those single points of failure are complete - and just as likely to fail as your mixer. And if there's no technically knowledgeable person on hand to fix the club's sound system, you are offline. If there's no spare part, you're offline. It's pretty much game over.

+1

I won't DJ at a club that doesn't have it's own back up system. Back up turntables. Back up mixers. Back up everything.

Back up Manager. Back up Owner. Back up groupies.

Back up bottle service.

Back that ass up.

no homo

no misquote

I currently use 2 Denon HS5500s with 16g flash drives attached. Each unit has two outputs so I can do full mixing even if one of those fail. Serato TC on deck A, backup song cued on deck B for each unit. There is a USB sound card in each deck also. Another soundcard (Firewire) in my Korg Zero4. Scratch, Itch, Tracktor, VDJ-Pro loaded on Macbook. Extra HD in laptop briefcase. 1/8" cable plugged in for mixes from IPod/Phone if needed. Backup amp in the truck. Unless the power goes out, I'm covered. I have a backup Windows PC will all software loaded but I rarely bring it out.

you shoud bring out cackup windows pc what if you other pc crashes and ther is no sound dead air meanes death to a dj pepole will be looking at you thinking wats going on why is the no music

It's hard enough to beat your way thru all the $50 a night guys let alone saying "I'm not DJing here unless you have this...."....

As much as you can have backups of backups of backups, how can anyone possibly expect you to have backups for the clubs equipment that I'd say 5% of clubs have a full backup plan in case of failure. And of those 5%, maybe 10% of those have someone on duty who knows how to find the problem, and of those 10%, maybe half of those know how to fix the problem.

Like i said before, shits gonna happen sometimes, it's life... For the rest of those moments, there's always the fire alarm.... (just kidding).

thanks

thanks

dead air is like death it only takes a cupple of seconds before the crowd start thinking wats going on there is no music

My phone is my backup. its even my switch dj backup. An its always with me, no extra gear to carry. 32gig of music.....K.I.S.S.

do the crowd notes if any thin gos wrong waht to say to the crowd

when you hire a moble dj ask if he or she have back up systems just in case in ther laptop crashes

iphone filled with some of the hot new songs & bunch of my recorded show/party mixes. just use 1/8 to rca to the aux in on my 57... never had any crashes though *KNOCKS ON WOOD*

You guys are so proficient in saying who is and isn't professional. Yet most of the time lets be clear these are all opinions. Personally you I hope y'all are all insured as well cause that is too much liability. I'm not lazy as much I am realistic. Btw I'm paid in full before I spin anything. Lawsuit wise my contract covers everything else in case of failure. After all this time if the MP3 player has been sufficient and my equipment hasn't been a factor. So guy the rest of us lazy unprofessional guys better be worried lol

do you tell the crowd if thers something wrong what do you say to them

Depends if you can - a mixer or processing rack failure is going to knock out the PA, meaning you won't be announcing anything.

Laptop crash -well you should have your Ipod/phone backup ready to go so that shouldn't be an issue.

I deal with this ALL THE TIME - we get DJs that just have zero clue about technology, I just keep a CD cued up in the front of house CD deck player. Dead air + DJ's frantically scratching their heads and looking crazy at their equipment = I play my CD within about 5 seconds.

I had a case where the DJ's laptop died in the middle of Plies (the southern US rapper) performing live. I was operating the sound board at the time. I had a crate of popular rap music loaded into my phone at the time, I just played 3 or 4 of his top 40 mainstream songs to finish off the show. The DJ forgot to plug in his laptop, couldn't find his power pack in the heat of the moment. A year later, we had the artist back, turns out the rapper added those top 40 songs to his set. How about that for crazy??

i have a dj tech u slolo usb media player to play my usb flash drive

Hi All, Worst nightmare last night. My SL1 sound card failed and caused the music to cut out at a wedding. First time in 5 years since linking up with serato. Failure occurred 3 songs after the first dance song was played so understandably I'm in backup overdrive

Been thinking if upgrading my decks to cdj 2000 and using the Memory stick feature as the back up in case of sound card or laptop issues. This way they get eliminated from the process and I end up going deck to deck.

Probably overkill but copying files to a memory stick each time and having a continuous up to date library appeals more than carrying two or three of everything and burning off CDs continuously. Granted this may not be ideal for a club environment.

However if the CDJ's, sound card and laptop fail together I will need to locate the nearest bridge and jump off it!!!

Would love to hear your thoughts!!! Thanks

One of the reasons I added the optional CD drives to my now old school Denon HS5500s. I have a 64 gig flash drive plugged into each deck, plus some backup CDs, plus the backup phone/IPod. When doing weddings or special events, I add the important songs that are required to the flash drives and burn a couple of discs. The rest is a mix of Top 40/Party music fill in that can get through almost any situation. Each Denon and my Korg mixer each have a built in sound card. I could use VDJ or Traktor if the SL3 fails, or mix from the flash drives, or CDs. Each Denon also has two playable channels, so I can also still mix if one of those fails too. I like options and hate when crap breaks. I do not want to be the cause of ruining someone's wedding or special event so I feel it is not overkill to be prepared for the worst. Clubs, I don't worry quite as much, still have backup flash drives, phone/IPod.

That's why you would turn your phone on to Airplane Mode. It's what I do at any wedding should the occassion arise.

When I play a wedding, once I get the playlists together I mirror them on my Ipad. I bring an outboard mixer with me and give the Ipad its own separate channel, so if something goes wrong with the computer I can just abandon it if I have to.