In It for the Long Haul
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#214 JAN MOBILEBEAT.COM 2020 IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL It’s the final stretch on the road to Vegas! MBLV24 : Tropicana LV, Mar 16-19, 2020 Get your pass and room now at MobileBeatLasVegas.com ColorKey www.colorkeyled.com Innovative LED www.innovativeledsales.com P.19 IN IT FOR THE LONG HAUL PLAYLIST A DIFFERENT BEAT ��������������������������������������������������� 8 In It for the Long Haul: Protecting Your Tech By Stu Chisholm PRO PERSPECTIVE �������������������������������������������������� 10 Sustainable Success By Troy Adams FEATURE����������������������������������������������������������������� 12 Everlasting Love By Kevin Freese DJ SHOPPER ����������������������������������������������������������� 16 Music Tech Extravaganza: NAMM 2020 By Staci Nichols FEATURE�����������������������������������������������������������������20 NAMM 2020: Back to the Future? By Mike Buonaccorso ADVERTISERS THIS IS HOW WE DO IT �������������������������������������������� 21 Staying in the Game ColorKey www.colorkeyled.com 2 By Joe Bunn DJ Event Planner www.djeventplanner.com 15 INSIDE THE INDUSTRY �������������������������������������������� 22 Frankenstand www.frankenstand.com 27 AROCK and BPM Supreme By Mike Cordeiro Innovative LED www.innovativeledsales.com 3 THE SPIN DOCTOR ��������������������������������������������������26 Mobile Beat Las Vegas www.mobilebeatlasvegas.com 28 Reflecting on a Decade QSC www.qsc.com 9 By Mike “Dr. Frankenstand” Ryan Roland www.roland.com/global/products/dj-707m 5 P.10 Publisher Editor-in-Chief Events Director Emeritus Ryan Burger Dan Walsh Michael Buonaccorso Mobile Beat Editorial Assistant / Events Director Writer Jake Feldman Rebecca Burger TO ADVERTISE IN MOBILE BEAT OR EXHIBIT AT A MOBILE BEAT EVENT, CALL 515-986-3344 x300 OR EMAIL [email protected] 4 MOBILEBEAT.COM ▷ JANUARY 2020 Roland www.roland.com/global/products/dj-707m A DIFFERENT BEAT In It for the Long Haul: Protecting Your Tech By Stu Chisholm A DIFFERENT BEAT tion! So digital is here to stay. Yet it comes You may end up actually having to use it, with a whole bag of trouble that we need to and you need to assure that it is not only In It for the be aware of. functional, but won’t compromise your per- #1 is corruption. Files, for whatever formance. Also be sure to keep your back-up reason (or seemingly none at all) can become library as up-to-date as your primary! Have Long Haul: corrupted. I’ve noted that extensively using spares for every cable, power supply, amp/ Serato and Virtual DJ seems to impact files speaker and anything else you might use. that aren’t used that often. Then, one day ARMOR FOR HARDWARE Protecting you’ll punch-up that obscure song, all proud that you have it, and hear...gobbledy- I’m always amazed by how often a DJ will gook! Or it won’t load at all. For this reason, spend top dollar on a new piece of gear, my #1 face-saver is to keep a permanent yet try to skimp when it comes to proper Your Tech REFERENCE FILE at home on the desktop. It’s road cases or bags. The fact is that most not to be used with any playback program; gear is damaged in transit. If you’re buying By Stu Chisholm it is simply a safety copy, just in case files get premium equipment, then go the extra corrupted. (And they will.) This will save you mile to buy premium protection for it. Make valuable re-rip time, or having to re-buy a sure that said gear is mounted properly and magine this: You’ve fired-up your track you didn’t back up. securely. On the upside, a lot of road cases I audience and the dance floor double as performance consoles, so they SAFETY IN NUMBERS solve two problems at once. is packed. Everyone is fed, happy As for gear, I will first recommend that you Don’t overlook speaker cabinets. After and ready to party! You’re in the carry 100% backup to every job. These days all, we only sound as good as our speakers. groove, responding to the vibe, that’s not such a tall order, as our gear has They are also probably the biggest ticket throwing down just the right tune items in our arsenal, so extra care here at the right time…and then—poof! means more bang for your speaker buck. Nearly every manufacturer offers bags or No sound. Or, even worse, a horrible road cases for their speakers, as do third- noise. No matter how great you’ve party companies. Word to the wise: In been up to that point, everyone’s winter months and climates, once you’ve attention is now riveted on you, for removed the speaker from its case or cover, makes sure you let it come up to room the wrong reason. Ever been there? temperature before firing it up. A frozen Hopefully not. While gear failure is speaker cone can resist movement, poten- inevitable (I have even had a piece of brand tially causing permanent damage. Make new gear straight out of the box not work), your speakers the first item you uncase and there are many steps a DJ/entertainer can set up so that they have time to warm up. take to assure that his/her gear does not crap out at a vital moment, and if it does, DON’T BE ROCKIN’ WHEN YOU’RE that a quick fix is on hand. Let’s consider ROLLIN’ how we treat our tools of the trade. Lastly, I like to borrow a method used by professional shippers and movers: truck DIGITAL DOES NOT NECESSARILY packing. Try to arrange all of your road MEAN “GOOD” cases in your vehicle so that they are tightly I find it both gratifying and ironic that mil- jammed up against one another, prevent- lennials are discovering the sound and ing movement. If your vehicle is large, then human-scale utility of vinyl records. Going look into cargo control features, such as digital has indeed been a compromise, and gotten smaller and smaller. While your tension straps, D-rings/bungee cords or one doesn’t need to have “golden ears” to budget or space might not allow you to E-track systems. At the very least, moving hear it. In fact, my past career as a drummer, have, say, two Denon DJ Prime 4 systems, it blankets between cases and in voids can DJ (for the past 40 years), firearms instructor most likely will allow you to have a smaller keep your cases in-place and absorb shock. and pyrotechnic tech (amateur) have taken controller, such as the Numark DJ2GO2 If your cases and/or speakers have wheels their toll on my hearing, yet at low bit rates, and a laptop/flash drive just in case disaster on them, be sure to tip them on their back even I can hear the sonic shortcomings of strikes. A word of caution here, though: or side once inside your vehicle. Yes, it an MP3. I can hear the artifacts that exist Check all of your back-up gear periodically! seems like common sense, yet I’ve seen pro- even in .WAV and FLAC files. We fessional road crews forget to do tolerate them because we can Stu Chisholm had been collecting music since he was about this, and insurance companies fit the collections that used to age 8 and began his DJ career in 1979. After a stint at the Specs have no sense of humor when require two trips to the vehicle Howard School of Broadcast Arts, he studied the DJ arts with being asked to pay for a cabinet to retrieve cases and cases of famous Michigan broadcaster Bill Henning, interned at Detroit's (AND the roll-up door of a truck) CDs, into a drive that fits into a rock powerhouse, WRIF, and later added voiceover work and for a wheeled cabinet that got shirt pocket. In fact, I recently club gigs at Detroit's best venues. He has shared his extensive loose. Don’t become a meme! DJ experience through MB columns, as a seminar speaker and acquired thumb drives that each through his book, The Complete Disc Jockey: A Comprehensive As always, thank you for have a 2TB capacity—enough for Manual for the Professional DJ. your eyeball time. Until next all of the audio files in my collec- time, safe travels! 8 MOBILEBEAT.COM ▷ JANUARY 2020 MOBILEBEAT.COM ▷ JANUARY 2020 9 QSC .................... www.qsc.com PRO PERSPECTIVE Sustainable Success By Troy Adams PRO PERSPECTIVE weekend in the spring/fall? Perhaps none of your team was available or you didn't think Sustainable Success it was the best match. If things are not a fit for both you and the client, that’s business IT’S ABOUT “TIME” you should likely walk away from. The more detail the better. Instead of By Troy Adams tracking that leads came from a planner or venue, track exact planners and venues they TIME came from. The same applies when tracking what services people purchased from you. recently spent time talking to Time of course is an obvious answer in Don’t just put “event” package, for example. I the owner of a very successful itself. One must invest considerable time and List what length of time it was. Did they add effort into building a sustainable business. wedding venue and he made a lighting or a photo booth also? comment that hit me in the face. However, the acronym TIME stands for Tracking, Investing, MDBs, and Expectations. For my business, this information To paraphrase him, he basically I know you're reading this saying "what the has made it much more simple to project said, "While I love working with heck are MDBs?!" We’ll get to that; let's take a business and set goals.