What others things do you use your laptop for at an event besides playing music?

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MIXMASTERMACHOM

DJ Extraordinaire
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Oct 16, 2011
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I'm asking this question because I have taken a beating on the old laptop that I love to use at events. It works great for me using it for events I do. Some have told me to get a up-to-date laptop. That laptop is still working well. I used it on Friday.

What's the old saying. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
 
What's the old saying. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
I'm all in favor of using the lowest level of tech required to get something done.

The trouble with old PCs is that automatic updates have a way of fixing things that were not broke such that they become broken as a matter of design.
It is up to the user to shut off the connections and updates that might cause an older PC to be rendered problematic.

You also need to keep old copies of your original program files or discs so you can restore an olc computer that has been corrupted.
 
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It all depends on who you work for and what level you are at. Various clients can be at different levels as far as what they expect and what they pay. For certain clients, I had specific equipment I had to have both for the clients and other DJs. I remember when I had to give up my Technics D1s and Numark mixer for 1200s and a Rane MP 24 Mixer. It freakin took me months to learn how to spin on them. Laptops are one of our main pieces of equipment, you can walk in with just that and a powered speaker and rock a party. That being said I want the best reasonable machine which far exceeds anything I need currently and new enough that it will be less likely to fail. Now laptops are downright cheap so getting a good one doesn’t cost an arm & leg. Not like it's the 90s where you have to spend 2K to 3K for a decent laptop. If you are happy with what you have continue to use it, just remember someone who don’t know may be evaluating you for more work or to sub out. Stepping up your game in both performance and what you use and the way you look is one of the first keys to better-paying events. Later I’ll you the story about when I handed a cheap microphone to the head of a large music chain at his family event, it wasn’t pretty but I was young so they had some pity. Luckily the music I was playing was on point and they figured out I had no cue of the big mistake I had made.
 
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Let me say first that the laptop I'm talking about has never been online. I only use it to play Monopoly, use at events or to make a CD or flash drive. What I learned at times it pays to spend the extra money to get something worth having. Especially considering the type of business we're in. That doesn't mean sometimes we will have to make an emergency purchase to use for now.

My experience is you learn different things as you move forward with your business and if you stay with it long enough you should look at what mistakes you made in the beginning and see what you did to correct those mistakes.

I don't know anybody just starting out in this business didn't make some mistakes. I have people on here who don't like me buying the Shure BLX dual H11 wireless mics I bought. They say I need to upgrade. For me they do just fine for the type of events we do.
 
I have people on here who don't like me buying the Shure BLX dual H11 wireless mics I bought. They say I need to upgrade. For me they do just fine for the type of events we do.
It's just ego. Shure BLX is ideal for a mobile DJ. That, along with small amateur and school theater groups is what it was built for.

Is it the mic to use if you want to run 8-20 mics simultaneously? No, it's not. But It's rare that a DJ would be using more than 2 mics at the same time, or be more than 60ft away from the receiver while doing so.
 
So the original question - "What do you use your laptop for at an event besides playing music?"

At an event? I only use to play music.
Not at an event? I use it to download new music, work in my event planner, and anything else related to my DJ business.

I bought my laptop as a tool for my business, so that's all it is used for.

Now, you ask, what can you use it for? You can use it for anything. You use yours for Monopoly? Great for you. If that works for you, great. I've been working with computers on a large scale (the company I currently work for has over 20k pc's). I start there as a Help Desk associate and have worked my way up through the past 25 years into an IT Leadership role, so I say I have a little experience with computers.

You can add and play games and apps, and maybe they don't affect your dj or lighting software. However, there are usually processes running in the background that are consuming resources that could be used by your dj software. Some folks know and understand this and know how to resolve, but a lot don't. The more you use your laptop or pc (or tablet) for things other than DJ'ing, the more chance you have of introducing lower performance and/or issues. The last thing I'd want is to be playing "here comes the bride" at a ceremony and my laptop reboot because Candy Crush had a random security update and forced a reboot. :D Yes, that's a little far-fetched, but that's how it works. Trust me, the updates and reboots always come when you think they won't. If you use maintenance windows, even better... but if you're doing that, you know this entire thread makes you chuckle and pull your hair out anyways. ;-)

I know Dj's running $3k laptops, and I know some running $300 laptops. They both get the job done. I will always say that the more things you add to a device, the greater risk you run. That's not to scare anyone, just to be aware. I'd say this day in age, if you're starting out, as cheap as some things are, I'd recommend you just buy a $300 Walmart pc for DJ'ing and a $50 tablet for your games and be done with it.
 
So the original question - "What do you use your laptop for at an event besides playing music?"

At an event? I only use to play music.
Not at an event? I use it to download new music, work in my event planner, and anything else related to my DJ business.

I bought my laptop as a tool for my business, so that's all it is used for.

Now, you ask, what can you use it for? You can use it for anything. You use yours for Monopoly? Great for you. If that works for you, great. I've been working with computers on a large scale (the company I currently work for has over 20k pc's). I start there as a Help Desk associate and have worked my way up through the past 25 years into an IT Leadership role, so I say I have a little experience with computers.

You can add and play games and apps, and maybe they don't affect your dj or lighting software. However, there are usually processes running in the background that are consuming resources that could be used by your dj software. Some folks know and understand this and know how to resolve, but a lot don't. The more you use your laptop or pc (or tablet) for things other than DJ'ing, the more chance you have of introducing lower performance and/or issues. The last thing I'd want is to be playing "here comes the bride" at a ceremony and my laptop reboot because Candy Crush had a random security update and forced a reboot. :D Yes, that's a little far-fetched, but that's how it works. Trust me, the updates and reboots always come when you think they won't. If you use maintenance windows, even better... but if you're doing that, you know this entire thread makes you chuckle and pull your hair out anyways. ;-)

I know Dj's running $3k laptops, and I know some running $300 laptops. They both get the job done. I will always say that the more things you add to a device, the greater risk you run. That's not to scare anyone, just to be aware. I'd say this day in age, if you're starting out, as cheap as some things are, I'd recommend you just buy a $300 Walmart pc for DJ'ing and a $50 tablet for your games and be done with it.
Thanks for the advice. Myself I don't worry about that with my laptop. That I have never put it online. So no worries about it rebooting. I forget exactly what it says when I start it up but no worries about it rebooting. Never happened since I had it.
 
It's just ego. Shure BLX is ideal for a mobile DJ. That, along with small amateur and school theater groups is what it was built for.

Is it the mic to use if you want to run 8-20 mics simultaneously? No, it's not. But It's rare that a DJ would be using more than 2 mics at the same time, or be more than 60ft away from the receiver while doing so.
Thanks Bob. I said it. The H11's do a good job. Better than the H10's. I see plenty of people selling them online all the time.

For those who don't know the H10 model has issues with finding a frequency in certain areas so the mics will work. Never an issue with the H11 model or at least I have never had an issue.
 
Thanks Bob. I said it. The H11's do a good job. Better than the H10's. I see plenty of people selling them online all the time.

For those who don't know the H10 model has issues with finding a frequency in certain areas so the mics will work. Never an issue with the H11 model or at least I have never had an issue.
There's no functional difference between BLX (H11) and BLX (H10) - the equipment is identical, and the quality/price is well suited to DJs. New Jersey on the other hand is not a great place to be using ANY of the BLX radio bands.

The number of predictably clear channels for any BLX system used in NJ is always less than 10 of all available group/channel presets, which is significant because that only represents known (public records) sources of broad interference.
 
There's no functional difference between BLX (H11) and BLX (H10) - the equipment is identical, and the quality/price is well suited to DJs. New Jersey on the other hand is not a great place to be using ANY of the BLX radio bands.

The number of predictably clear channels for any BLX system used in NJ is always less than 10 of all available group/channel presets, which is significant because that only represents known (public records) sources of broad interference.
The beauty of using those dual wireless mics is there's a group button that you push to find a channel that will work for each mic.

I have a friend who has a Phynex system that doesn't allow you to find a channel that will work. He told me that's there lower end model. So far he says it's working.
 
I forgot to say the H10 has issues with not always being able to find the proper channels for the area the event is in. That's why I switched to the H11.
 
I forgot to say the H10 has issues with not always being able to find the proper channels for the area the event is in. That's why I switched to the H11.
I don't know exactly where in NJ you tend to work, but the H10 band has ZERO recommended frequencies for a statewide deployment. What that looks like in real life - is that the scan function of an H10 band BLX receiver will be unable to find a group/channel combination that falls below the preset threshold for the RF noise floor. (Perhaps that would vary at the street address level.)

We can probably get a limited number of H10 mics to work in your location, but the scan function isn't going to be useful in that circumstance. It's necessary to select the groups and frequencies manually for each specific gig location. (This is time consuming and often outside the knowledge base of most mobile DJs.)

The H11 on a statewide basis isn't a whole lot better in NJ. H11 identifies only a single group with 6 known channels that can be predicted as "best choice." (Again, that can vary with exact location.) That group/frequency set will work - until it doesn't. :) For example, the scan function of the H11 model would likley fail at an event site adjacent to some other room(s) where that same RF segment is in use, or overlapping. It won't matter what brand or function the other devices serve - the scanner will simply appear to fail just as it does with H10.
 
I use my lappy for EVERYTHING.
It's my home computer, my gig computer, and my source for email and internet.

Unlike many of you, at a gig, my laptop is NOT my main source for playing music.
I have the automatic updates turned off....
and it's a Windows 7, so it's not bogged down with extra crap I don't need.
 
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I don't know exactly where in NJ you tend to work, but the H10 band has ZERO recommended frequencies for a statewide deployment. What that looks like in real life - is that the scan function of an H10 band BLX receiver will be unable to find a group/channel combination that falls below the preset threshold for the RF noise floor. (Perhaps that would vary at the street address level.)

We can probably get a limited number of H10 mics to work in your location, but the scan function isn't going to be useful in that circumstance. It's necessary to select the groups and frequencies manually for each specific gig location. (This is time consuming and often outside the knowledge base of most mobile DJs.)

The H11 on a statewide basis isn't a whole lot better in NJ. H11 identifies only a single group with 6 known channels that can be predicted as "best choice." (Again, that can vary with exact location.) That group/frequency set will work - until it doesn't. :) For example, the scan function of the H11 model would likley fail at an event site adjacent to some other room(s) where that same RF segment is in use, or overlapping. It won't matter what brand or function the other devices serve - the scanner will simply appear to fail just as it does with H10.

I don't know exactly where in NJ you tend to work, but the H10 band has ZERO recommended frequencies for a statewide deployment. What that looks like in real life - is that the scan function of an H10 band BLX receiver will be unable to find a group/channel combination that falls below the preset threshold for the RF noise floor. (Perhaps that would vary at the street address level.)

We can probably get a limited number of H10 mics to work in your location, but the scan function isn't going to be useful in that circumstance. It's necessary to select the groups and frequencies manually for each specific gig location. (This is time consuming and often outside the knowledge base of most mobile DJs.)

The H11 on a statewide basis isn't a whole lot better in NJ. H11 identifies only a single group with 6 known channels that can be predicted as "best choice." (Again, that can vary with exact location.) That group/frequency set will work - until it doesn't. :) For example, the scan function of the H11 model would likley fail at an event site adjacent to some other room(s) where that same RF segment is in use, or overlapping. It won't matter what brand or function the other devices serve - the scanner will simply appear to fail just as it does with H10.
Bob so far I haven't had an issue with the H11 unit not finding a channel for the mics to work. I know they are the best but so far so good.
 
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Let me say first that the laptop I'm talking about has never been online. I only use it to play Monopoly, use at events or to make a CD or flash drive. What I learned at times it pays to spend the extra money to get something worth having. Especially considering the type of business we're in. That doesn't mean sometimes we will have to make an emergency purchase to use for now.

My experience is you learn different things as you move forward with your business and if you stay with it long enough you should look at what mistakes you made in the beginning and see what you did to correct those mistakes.

I don't know anybody just starting out in this business didn't make some mistakes. I have people on here who don't like me buying the Shure BLX dual H11 wireless mics I bought. They say I need to upgrade. For me they do just fine for the type of events we do.
If it has never been online, then how do you put music on it to use at events? How did you get Monopoly on it?
 
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If it has never been online, then how do you put music on it to use at events? How did you get Monopoly on it?
I use a 2 TB portable HD for my music and 2 more for backup. I don't store music on any laptop. I used to use a regular HD but found for one thing they were too big to carry around and they could easily break. That's why I choose to switch to a portable HD. They easily fit in my laptop bag.
 
I have a few laptops throughout the house in addition to my 2 main dj computers. But all are functional and can be a dj computer if needed.
All can be used for some things I can’t or don’t want to do on an iPad….like spreadsheets.
 
I have two laptops set up at my events.

Both have VDJ open. 1 will also have Spotify, AND Tidal/DJAY Pro Open and available.

I have Google Chrome Open. Sometimes I will open up DJ song lists to get song ideas to play.


I will sometimes log into ODJT from my events! lol usually during dinner.