What up these days
rr
OT (somewhat), I know so if it offends you, drop out here.
My thing these days is mostly DJ. I use the live portion (OMB) to
separate myself from the rest of the DJ crowd and to get my musical
jollies. I know some of you may despise this but for me, it's been
quite liberating and much more profitable. I do mostly one-offs,
weddings and am boning up hard on tapping into the higher-end events.
Most lately are 150-200 guests and I just signed my first 13-bill
contract last week. I'm doing the full package and adding up-lighting,
gobo and a spotlight. I sometimes take along my son as a helper and
it's making for some very, very cool father-son times.
On the OMB stuff, I find it's a completely new and fresh level of
acceptance, from the guests in this format. When I pickup the guitar
and those synced vids popup onscreen, everyone takes notice, as there
aren't any other DJs around here doing it. I do the stuff I feel fits
the situation, then I move right back to DJing. It takes a lot of the
pressure off from constantly having to sing and keeps things fresh, at
least that's the feedback I keep getting. BTW, my guitar rig is Boss
ME-70, straight to Bose. It's incredibly easy to get the tone you want
out of this little beast and highly recommended.
I'm still using the Bose rig but have added a 2nd rig; sub and 2 tops
(Peavey PR10s), powered by a QSC GX5 amp. Between the 2 rigs, I can
cover fairly large events. I use a pull-down screen and do video at
every event. Here lately, I've added live event pics (pop pics, then
copy them into the slideshow). IMHO, it's miles better than a video
camera, especially when guests get to see themselves over and over
again, having fun. I've also integrated text-message requests and
shout-outs to the B&G. Boys, these 2 little features aren't a pain to
keep up and they are BIG deals with the clients. The venue operators
love it and are passing out cards left and right. I still have my 10ft
crank truss rig and usually load it with 7-10 LED fixtures. I can run
everything off a single circuit and usually pull about 3 amps, total.
BTW, everything fits in a 4X6 trailer that can be pulled behind a
Toyota Camry.....although I've been grabbing the wife's Durango
occasionally.
Here lately, I'm pitching an up-lighting package as add-on. Have a
dozen par64 led cans, spotlight and gobo. It'll add about an hour for
setup/teardown (I normally take 45 minutes without it) but will fetch
$500-$700 extra. Hey, if you're there anyways, why not make the extra
cash. In addition, I'm also starting to pitch motivational dancers a
live drummer, and guest appearances by an opry artist, although I
haven't sold any of these yet. Since March, I've worked 40-45 dates.
Most everything at this point is in town but I still have a few 3-4 hr
drive dates on the books for next year. This year I've turned down
more work than I ever have (thankfully). I can't wait until the
recession is over. It's going to get real interesting at that point.
BTW, I still do work an occasional opry spot with Wall, usually when
he gets a Friday. I'm almost always booked on Saturdays.
Not crowing and certainly not intending to offend anyone. We all do
what we do and that's cool. Just thought I'd share how I've been re-
inventing myself. I've gotten to sit-in on some DJ conferences lately
that have me thinking much bigger. Had one last month with a guy from
NY who's doing $12k-$15k gigs. Wow, what an eye-opener. Now if I can
just get that opry package working and crack a few corp. nuts. BTW, if
you'd care to see some pics, vids or blogs, I'd be honored; www.RickRyan.com.
So, what's new and different in your world these days?
Jim
>
> So, what's new and different in your world these days?
Hi Rick.
Still hanging ing there, are ya. Nice.
In my mind as long as I'm waking up still breathing, I'm good.
My oldies gigs are slow just now. Still steady, but not growing. So, I'm
entertaining myself working on originals and making stupid videos. All a
clever plan to take over the world via YouTube :-)
jim d