I'm all in favor of using the lowest level of tech required to get something done.
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.
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. ;-)
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.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.
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 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.
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 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 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.)
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.
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.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.
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?
MIXMASTERMACHOM said:
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.
