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DJ Busking: Why you should…

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  • January 20, 2013 at 8:11 am #35363
    NietzSKY
    Participant

    It’s amazing having promoters/bookers coming up to me, instead of the other way around. I don’t know why I didn’t get serious earlier.

    January 20, 2013 at 9:19 am #35364
    DJ Menno
    Participant

    It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now, you just convinced me to do it… 🙂

    January 20, 2013 at 9:30 am #35365
    NietzSKY
    Participant

    Do it man, it’s amazing. People would stop and MC for me for a little, I met some amazing rappers who asked me to drop instrumentals and just got sick, and people really do feel more than just top40/house, they’re just not getting the exposure they need. People were getting down with Alvero’s Hey Baby remix , No Beef w/ Aoki and Afrojack, Turbulence w/ LBL & Lil John, etc. There was this 8 year old boy who could shuffle and he started getting nasty, I was dancing with him and he totally showed me up XD. I let him spin the jogwheel for a little (just split the channel and put the headphones on him) and the parents gave me a 20 and he just had a blast. Right after I needed to mix again he ran back to his parents and said “I wanna be a DJ like that guy when I get big, that’s so much fun.”

    I’m going out again tomorrow, and will probably start going out 6 days a week (least for 2-3 hours a day).

    January 20, 2013 at 8:49 pm #35378
    Electricbloom
    Member

    Sounds great! I’ve been wanting to do something like that as well. What’s your set up PA wise? where do you get the power for your gear?

    January 20, 2013 at 10:00 pm #35382
    NietzSKY
    Participant

    I’m just out there using a crate guitar amp, for PAs eat too much power for my generator. I need to buy another one, but 2 Schumacher XP-2260 12V X-Line Portable Power Unit will get the job done for about 6 hours.

    January 20, 2013 at 10:48 pm #35386
    Electricbloom
    Member

    great, thanks for the info! they’re pretty cheap as well! sounds like i have a plan now too 🙂 I’m not sure what the regulations are in Helsinki, but hoping to take this kind of setup to the parks and the streets in the summer! 🙂

    January 21, 2013 at 3:01 am #35391
    Arthur Kokanov
    Participant

    hey i wanted to do that last year during the summer but diidnt have a power supply what do you use as your power source and speakers? and do you carry your own table?

    January 21, 2013 at 7:26 am #35395
    NietzSKY
    Participant

    NietzSKY, post: 35538, member: 4553 wrote: I’m just out there using a crate guitar amp, for PAs eat too much power for my generator. I need to buy another one, but 2 Schumacher XP-2260 12V X-Line Portable Power Unit will get the job done for about 6 hours.

    ^ power source. I would suggest having 2-3 of them, they’re 100 each. Most of your super-power generators are going to be gas powered, and they’re just too noisy (you also have to be careful about noise regulations, and you’ll need to be really bumping a PA to drown out a gas generator). As far as the speaker goes, I just use Ion block rockers. While they aren’t audiophile speakers, they get the job done, and people aren’t going to be coming up to you critiquing the sound quality (don’t expect it to be able to compete with your eurolives).

    The block rocker is a chargeable speaker, which will allow you more time for busking. It’s all about showmanship/the visual, as opposed to super-power speakers when you are out there. If I was to stay out all day (8-10 hr period) and dj busk, I could easily see myself making at least 250 a day in cash (117 for 3.5 hours during 2-5, when I’ve went out from 10pm-2:30am it gets crazy and that’s when crowds really feel it).

    Also, if you can scratch (even basically) or maschine, I’d suggest incorporating a little into your set. The dollars start flying at me when I scratch some of the biggie mashups I have, and one of the gigs I was offered happened right after that song. I told him that I mainly do harder techno and he just said “yeah, I’ve been out here listening for about 25 minutes, the diversity is awesome.”

    Also, it has restored my faith in humanity relative to liking more than just synth pop/prog house. When I jam Afrojack, congorock, Organ Donors, trancey-tiesto and bingo players, people eat that shit up. Even Headhunterz was getting people moving; I was unaware normal people actually like hardstyle XD.

    January 21, 2013 at 8:00 am #35398
    NietzSKY
    Participant

    Oh shit…..

    [COLOR=#3b5998]Ernie Smith[/COLOR]

    There is a DJ busking in Dupont Circle. Seriously.

    [COLOR=#999999]=502961619&p[]=319514341′][COLOR=#6d84b4]Share · Saturday via Camera+[/COLOR][/COLOR]

    Skrillex the early years? Was I that bad?!?!?! Fuck, /wrists

    January 21, 2013 at 6:55 pm #35426
    Arthur Kokanov
    Participant

    Lol thats sick! I cant wait to start 🙂 im going to wait for summer though. Do you bring a table?

    January 21, 2013 at 7:59 pm #35430
    DJ Contour
    Participant

    This is an awesome idea. Especially since I’ll be in a college hot spot! Have you had to deal with any problems or assholes?

    January 21, 2013 at 8:16 pm #35431
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    You might need to deal with the police as many cities have strict rules about public playing.

    January 21, 2013 at 11:35 pm #35437
    NietzSKY
    Participant

    1) I bring out an odyssey folding booth, and push a shopping cart through the city ultra-homebum style.
    2) The only problems I’ve had were when I was hooked up to city juice (If I have to foot part of the bill for it, why the hell am I not entitled to use some?) and was on federal property. Other than that, I’ve only gotten good feedback from people. There’s always that “Hey, I’m a DJ, can I spin something” guy, but I tell them without 1000 in collateral there’s no way in hell they are touching my decks

    January 22, 2013 at 1:58 pm #35475
    Daryl Northrop
    Participant

    NietzSKY, post: 35554, member: 4553 wrote: Oh shit…..

    [COLOR=#3b5998]Ernie Smith[/COLOR]

    There is a DJ busking in Dupont Circle. Seriously.

    [COLOR=#999999]=502961619&p[]=319514341′][COLOR=#6d84b4]Share · Saturday via Camera+[/COLOR][/COLOR]

    Skrillex the early years? Was I that bad?!?!?! Fuck, /wrists

    What???? Not from what I heard 🙂

    January 23, 2013 at 6:51 am #35494
    NietzSKY
    Participant

    Damn, I didn’t even play any brostep………I think what did it was when I was fucking around and mashed-up Die Antwoord’s I fink u freeky with Take my Hand by DJ Bl3nd. Damn that girl who had a 10 dollar bill and wanted to hear complextro =*(.

    Oh and Daryl, just you wait…… for the 14th, I’ve got some a nasty blend of classical w/ hardstyle, with some Organ Donors tossed in and ………Dropkick Murphys hardstyle. We’ll see how she turns out, classical seems to serve as a nice intro into-buildup with hardstyle.

    Also, update: Jammed for an hour today, received another gig offer (djing at a fitness club) and 28 bucks. Seriously….. get the juice you need and you can make out like a bandit. No more money updates for me, fuck 1099s…….I eat trash!

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