Sunday, August 28, 2011

Back that thang up

If something has an on/off switch, it will fail.  It's just a fact of life.  Murphy's law can rear its head in the most unpredictable times.   Plan for it by keeping two of everything that you can think of...including a few you haven't...like:

Power supplies for mixers and laptops
Speaker Cables
Interconnect cables to laptop
Extra batteries for wireless mikes
Wired microphone (when wireless fails)
Power strips and cords
3 to 2 prong AC adapter (for old homes that don't have a grounding outlet)

Having a second laptop/netbook is a great idea...but if that's not feasible, there are other ways to keep music going should something bad happen.   I have a few soft rock/instrumental songs on my phone that can be called up should I need them for an emergency (Riviera Paradise by Stevie Ray Vaughn is a great choice...its nine minutes long - perfect for troubleshooting your problem).

Keeping a backup (and a backup of the backup) of your entire music library is a must as well.  Hard drives are cheap and fast...you can't afford to be without one.

Keeping an extra mixer is a great idea too...but if you invest in a good powered speaker, most have a mixer built in which comes in handy as a spare (the QSC K-Series is a good suggestion).

Be prepared!

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