A full-time DJ for over 30 years, Euan Bass has a wealth of experience to share from DJing in pubs and clubs, to presenting radio shows, as well as running a successful mobile DJ business. Under his stage name, Ian Stewart, Euan now specialises in wedding entertainment but also DJs for a wide variety of other events each year. This is generally a very positive magazine. In it we regularly read messages from our peers urging us to strive for greatness, to reach for the top, to be the very best we can.
So why am I asking you to ‘Prepare To Fail’? Let me explain, a few weeks ago I was booked (quite last minute I will add) for a birthday party. I arrived at the venue in plenty of time, set everything up, connected my laptop and my iPad (this is my backup music system) and then went to connect the power to my laptop. I looked in my bag and to my horror there was no power supply, I had left it at home!
This wasn’t the end of the world, as I always keep my iPad up to date musically so I could use that fulfil the night’s music, including all the client’s requests. However, it meant that I wouldn’t have a backup, which I don’t like. So I got the music playing, looked on Google and found a local PC World where I could buy a replacement power supply. I explained to the client that I would be back before the party start time and went off and bought a new supply at a cost of £79.
Everything was fine, the party went off without a hitch. But it got me thinking, what if I couldn’t get a replacement power supply and didn’t have my iPad? I then started to think of all the other pieces of equipment and related things that I rely on to do my job. Do I have backups in every important area?
How would I handle all of the many different problems that could come up – however unlikely – and prevent me from fulfilling my obligations to my clients? The process of ‘preparing to fail’ proved to be very worthwhile; I now know exactly what I would do in a wide variety of situations if things went wrong. I also have a to-do list of areas where I think my backup plans could be improved. I’d like to encourage you to do the same, and thought that sharing what I do would be helpful to get you thinking.
Obviously, we all work in different ways, so I am not suggesting that what I do is the only or even the best way. But hopefully it will help you to think through your own setup and gigging process and check that you too are ‘prepared to fail’! Below I’ve listed all of the key things that I rely on. Yours may differ slightly, but I’m pretty sure the majority will be the same.
For each area I have listed my current backup plan as well as how I’m planning to improve it. As you read through each section, can I suggest that you do the same for your own situation. Firstly think about what you would do with what you currently carry to bookings, and then consider if there could be a better solution. Speakers I use powered speakers, so if one fails I will use the other speaker to see me through the night.
I always also have a Bose Compact in the van, so can also use that to get me through. If both fail I am really in trouble, so perhaps I need to buy a cheaper pair of speakers to keep in the van just in case. Play-out System I use a Denon DJ MC6000 controller, so if there was an issue there I could connect my laptop and microphone directly into one of my speakers and play the music from there (which is obviously not the most elegant solution). I did have a Pioneer DJ DDJ-WeGO3 controller as a backup, but there is an issue with that and I am waiting for it to be repaired.
If that was working, I would use it if my main controller died, so I need to get it fixed ASAP. I would imagine the most common thing to go wrong with a controller is the power supply breaking (or me forgetting it), so I keep a spare in my glove box. Laptop This is what started the whole thing off, so you already know my backup arrangements. The one thing missing was a spare power supply, which I now have (again, kept in my glovebox).
I also make sure both my laptop and iPad are both fully charged before I leave home for a gig. Music This is pretty essential for any DJ performance, so do you have your hard drive backed up? Assuming the answer is “yes” , then how many times? I have my drive backed up into the cloud, also onto another drive that lives in my glovebox, and my most essential must plays along with the requested playlist for that particular booking are always also on my iPad.
39PREPARE TO FAIL Booth Since it doesn’t have any electronic or mechanical parts, this is unlikely to fail, but you can forget it (or a part of it). If I forgot it, I would go ‘old skool’ and ask the venue for a table and a cloth and use that. Recently a DJ who had forgotten the cloth for his booth posted on Facebook for help. I saw it, tagged a local DJ to the event, and he came to the rescue.
DJ retail legend Clive Houghton also came up with a great solution of going to a local supermarket and buying a large black bedsheet and some bulldog clips to get you out of trouble. So what I could do is buy a spare cloth for my booth, or even just a table cloth, and leave it in the van. Microphone What if you forget this, or it fails? I always have two microphones with me, a radio mic and lead mic, so there should never be a problem for me.
Lighting If there was an issue with my rather limited lighting setup, it would not be a problem as I would just carry on without any lighting. However the chances of all your lighting fixtures failing at the same time is very unlikely, so not a major problem for any of us. Cables This is a common area for failure. So I have a bag packed with spares of all the essential cables and keep it behind the passenger seat of my van.
It has two speaker cables, a microphone with lead, headphones, a spare set of power leads and gaffa tape, along with a 30m extension lead for those times when there isn’t a power point near to where I need to setup. Clothing What if we forget our work clothes or one item, believe me it's an easy thing to do. what if you forget your shirt, work trousers, jacket, shoes etc. I have in the past forgot my shirt, so I went to a local supermarket and bought a shirt.
I also travel in reasonably smart clothes, like chinos instead of jeans or shorts, I will wear a normal pair of shoes instead of trainers and wear a polo shirt so I could DJ if I had too. Vehicle One of the most important aspects of being a mobile DJ is having transport to get us – with all of our equipment – to our bookings. What happens if it Let's us down? It could break down before we leave for our booking; if that happened I would hire a van form a local company or, if it was too late to do that, I would ask local DJs for help.
If all that failed, I would reduce the amount of equipment I took and use my wife’s car. [As a side note, can I suggest that you find out who your local van hire company is and have their contact details saved on your phone]. But what if you break down on the way to a booking? I would call the AA and get them to either repair the fault or tow me to the booking and then worry about getting home later. I know that fellow DJ Harry Kilb has two break down policies on his work vehicle, one to get him to the booking, and the other to get him home again.
I think this is something that I need to purchase. Information We also need to consider where we store all of the information about our bookings (music requests, important people’s names etc.). I use DJ Event Planner, which has never let me down, however I need to consider what would happen if their servers crashed or they somehow lost my data. As a ‘belt and braces’ solution, I print the booking details out and store them in a paper-based filing system, just in case!
Finally, the one thing that most of us don’t give enough consideration to but is really the most important, US. What do we do if we become ill, or have an accident, and simply cannot perform; what precautions do we have in place to make sure that clients are not let down? For me, I have a great network of friends and other DJs to help. I had knee surgery a few years ago which meant I couldn’t drive, so I asked for help and got through all my bookings without having to cancel one.
So, your homework this week is to look at everything you need to work and consider what you would do if it failed. If you don’t have an answer, or aren’t happy with it, make your number one priority. If you come up with something that I have not covered please send it to me or put in on social media using #preparetofail. Please people, PREPARE TO FAIL!
