Posts tagged DJs
Dime a dozen.
DJ Revolution’s Beat Box set for The Cut.
This was made for the comic book crowd, but record diggers feel this one, too!
Why Does the DJ Cost So Much!!??
Mobile DJ
The Mobile DJ is in a very different situation from the Club DJ. The Mobile DJ has the responsibility for purchasing or providing every piece of Sound Equipment needed to make amplified music happen at your event. The type, quality, and dependability of the Sound Equipment can vary greatly from the Novice DJ to the Professional DJ and this difference can make or break your event very easily. The mobile DJ dedicates many more hours of work for an event than what the person hiring the DJ usually understands. Here is an example of the time spent by a Mobile DJ that needs to be understood by both the Client and the DJ:
As you can see, what the Client sees as only a three hour gig, can actually be a full 8 hour day for the DJ.
The author goes on and on, but the point taken here is that while we may make it look easy, we’re in our bedrooms/garage/wherever we practice and prep, putting in long hours just to make your event the shit.
For me, because all my equipment is usually in storage ready to go to the gig, the most hours are spent picking the right cuts and putting them into a playlist. This may take 2-3 hours if i’m being thoughtful. Sometimes spinning for hip hop shows are easier than other gigs because there’s so many bangers in the 95-110bpm range, whether you’re spinning with vinyl or serato.
Oh - and a big shout out to full-time DJs. I hella salute each and every one of you.
Thud Rumble’s Beedle Fitted features a grey underbill with DJ Q-Bert’s tag stitched into it. Available for $30 at Thud Rumble.
Unlimited Creations: Filipino Mobile DJs of the Bay Area
by Oliver Wang
The photo above is of 3 Style Attractions, a mobile DJ crew founded in San Jose, CA back in the 1980s.1 3SA was one of hundreds of similar mobile crews who began to emerge in the early 1980s from across the Bay Area; besides geography, they also shared this in common: they were predominantly, if not exclusively, Filipino American. To be sure, mobile DJing drew folks of all stripes,2 but in the Bay Area, the Filipino American mobile scene was on some whole next level in terms of size, scope and longevity. These Filipino crews have been the subject of my dissertation-now-book research since the early ’00s. In fact, I really should have spent this week revising my manuscript instead of guest-blogging but since I’ve been slowly, painfully working through those revisions, I figured posting about my research was a way to stay on focus (sort of) and still get a post out of it. Mostly, I find that the more I write about it, the more I remind myself what it is I find interesting and engrossing about this work despite the fatigue of working on it for eight years and running. Quick primer: Mobile DJs provide lighting and audio services for events: weddings, parties, dances, etc. The “crew” phenomenon was produced partially by necessity. By the 1970s, when mobile DJs were expected to replicate the sound and light atmosphere of discotheques, they needed people to help move and set-up heavy, bulky audio and lighting gear. Crews evolved to include the DJs, roadies, business managers, security, not to mention all the hanger-ons who wanted to get into the party for free and kick game to the ladies.3 (Click on each of these cards for bigger arrays)
