Beyond the DJ Booth
Brian B and Joe Bunn tackle questions about the private event DJ industry, share music, gear/gadgets, and stories from their gigs.
Beyond the DJ Booth
From Goats to Gadgets to Unpacking DJ Riders
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever asked for on your tour rider? In our latest episode of Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast, we uncover the quirkiest and most practical items artists demand on their riders, from Van Halen's green M&Ms to the peculiar charm of a baby goat requested by Blink-182. We share our own rider requests, revealing the odd but essential comforts we'd love on the road, including fresh ankle-high socks, the finest Alani energy drinks and VOSS water (premium) to name a few. Whether it’s ensuring free Wi-Fi or a full-size mirror in the green room, we explore the art of making the travel DJ life feel just a little bit like home with a humorous twist.
But that’s not the only backstage pass we’re offering. We’re thrilled to open the curtains and introduce an innovative mentoring program set for 2025. This program promises 24 live zoom calls, exclusive resources, and perspectives from us and special guests to elevate your DJ game. With sign-ups already rolling and the programming already a month in, we’re gearing up to support DJs looking to boost their skills and knowledge. Don't miss this chance to hear how we’re reshaping the future of DJ mentorship and delivering a unique, enriching experience.
RESOURCES & LINKS
Our website. Please leave a review! - https://www.beyondthedjbooth.com/
To book Joe Bunn: https://bunndjcompany.com/
To book Brian B: https://djbrianbofficial.com/
Joe’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djjoebunn
Brian’s Gear Finds on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/djbrianbofficial
DJ Event Planner free demo: https://www.djeventplanner.com/signup.php
Brian B's Coaching Options: Https://www.thdjscreativeedge.com
what is up everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. I'm Joe Bunn. That right, there is my man, brian B. What's up dude, what's up man? We're ready for Season 2, episode 7. Sponsored by.
Speaker 1:Sponsored by DJ Event Planner, our collectively favorite CRM for keeping up with your leads and your sales and your customers information that they fill out before their big day. Good people over there. Good people over there. Thanks for sponsoring us. By the way, if you want to sponsor this podcast, we're all ears. What would you allow? Would you allow boxers like a boxers company?
Speaker 2:I would love an energy drink.
Speaker 1:Okay, I like that one.
Speaker 2:I would love.
Speaker 1:DJ gear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, travel, travel accessories.
Speaker 1:I'll do any kind of what would you not allow to be like a sponsor?
Speaker 2:how about squatty potty?
Speaker 1:yeah, that's a, that's a pass darn, it advertises the squatty potty, does he? Yeah, he shits in it that's uh.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I can go that well, what else is enough for you?
Speaker 1:sex toys probably not.
Speaker 2:No what are you using these days?
Speaker 1:I didn't know, yeah, you were so up on the. I'm just trying to think of some other stuff that you would say no to.
Speaker 2:What if like?
Speaker 1:somebody random like a HelloFresh. I would consider it Absolutely.
Speaker 2:What about like Squarespace or somebody like that yeah, hey, I'm all about getting money, but I also feel like I want to be able to say I actually use the product.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But I also feel like I want to be able to say I actually use the product.
Speaker 1:Okay, you know what I mean Solid, I would have to review it.
Speaker 2:I'd want to make sure it's something I don't want to come off like one of those people who hawks gear and you don't even use it. Unless the paycheck was extremely well in there.
Speaker 1:I did go through that phase. I wasn't getting paid but I was getting stuff from just these incredibly random companies for the YouTube channel and I would review them and check them out, but I wasn't using them. I would use them in here, make a video on it and then just scrap it. It was the very bottom of the barrel type gear.
Speaker 2:So then when this drops, we'll have just finished the DJ Collective Recharge in Arizona, phoenix. Yep, some people are always like, hey, when are you guys doing the next one? And we've kind of pivoted with our collective experiences and not done them live for the last year or two.
Speaker 1:We did nothing. Live in 2024.
Speaker 2:But what did we do in 2024 for that community? We did what we are now calling collective mentoring right.
Speaker 1:We did. Do you want to talk about that for a second? Yeah, man we did 52 live calls once a week with me Jason Janheim and Brian Bonacici, group coaching.
Speaker 2:What was your intent with it? How did you think this was going to help people?
Speaker 1:I looked at it more as a. You're basically not required to be there, but it gives you something to be accountable every week, right. So it was a standing call at 8.30 every Monday night. I think I maybe missed two. I think you missed two.
Speaker 1:I think, Jason missed two. I think Jason missed two. The other two of us were on. I mean, we did all 52 weeks. We had resources that were exclusive to those people. We had special guests that came on and talked about stuff that we weren't good at. So we decided we were going to circle back and do it again for 2025. If you want to sign up it as djcmentoringcom, we're still taking people now. We really just are getting started. Even when you're hearing this, we've only been in it for a month. We restructured the plan.
Speaker 1:Tell them a little bit about how we restructured it and again it can be monthly, or if you want to pay for the whole year, you can do that.
Speaker 2:Well, let me say this first I think it's nice when you have a resource of people who do things a little bit differently than you do and also do them the same. And I feel like the three of us come at it differently. In a lot of cases. The format of this is people can submit questions similar to our podcast. That's right, and you get three answers for that. One question of how that would be, and these aren't like hey, let me give you a quick one line We've actually spent time thinking about this.
Speaker 1:It's not like what DJ controller do you use?
Speaker 2:People go in, some people write a damn paragraph, but from that, I just feel like you know, if you're ever going through something or dealing with something, you have expert, quote unquote advice from people who've gone through it or have tried it. If it's not in our bag, we brought in some people who do and had them speak. Right From that standpoint, I just feel like the cost, which is $150 a month, you can't beat it. I mean, like you, literally just to have the access to be able to ask questions and get bond, completely unique perspectives we don't even see what each other wrote, so I'm not even painted by their answers, and vice versa I don't like that word painted not a go-to for me.
Speaker 2:Anyway, the format of the group is we do two calls a month, yep, and then the other weeks where you've come up with what we're calling the drop, which is like an e-newsletter, but they're more than a, just like a hello. It's got resources, marketing tips, all kinds of things that I think over the course of a year they're going to be resources and things that you'll be glad that you have, that we're not sharing out to the ether necessarily.
Speaker 1:DJCmentoringcom.
Speaker 2:I know we're going out of order here.
Speaker 1:One last thing yes.
Speaker 2:This is kind of an icebreaker opener. If you were an artist or a DJ who's on tour and you could put together your writer, what would be some of the more ridiculous things that you would want added to it? Is there anything like green M&Ms? Would you want an alpaca backstage? What would be on the Joe bun Green M&Ms? Would you want an alpaca backstage?
Speaker 1:What would be on the Joe bun man. I really not really Like. I've thought about this before I've seen real riders, before I've heard stories of the Van Halen like making people pick all the green M&Ms out. I don't know if that was true.
Speaker 2:Blink-182 used to do a goat, a baby goat, a goat. They'd want a goat just to see if people are reading it. It didn't do anything for them creatively, they just wanted you to find a baby goat, wow.
Speaker 1:Was that true? I actually don't know.
Speaker 2:But it might be an urban legend, but that's what I remember reading in some.
Speaker 1:I don't really have anything, man, because the things that I love like I'm trying to quit the Twizzlers and the Skittles and the Red Dive Did you see they're banning the red die number nine.
Speaker 2:I did see that somebody went through a store and like highlighted all the things. I was like surprised how many things had that in there.
Speaker 1:They get there. It's like two, three years from now, though like oh okay, so it's not coming up like this year not coming up soon like how about you?
Speaker 2:okay, because I you're an actual touring dj to an extent like yes, I wouldn't say I do it every weekend but like any of the corporate shows, they asked me for my writer in a lot of cases, okay, like it's not like epic games, where you know it's local but we could have gotten a rider there yeah, probably one of my go-tos, which is kind of a bougie thing, I mean, but not really, but just I just want to see if they're reading it too is fresh energy socks ankle high size 10 black socks.
Speaker 1:Interesting. Does it have to be brand specific? No, it just has to be brand new. No Bombas, no, I don't know. No, andos.
Speaker 2:No, it's got to be breathable, the material. But I've had it happen where I've come from a plane and had to jump right down there and I'm tired or whatever. But fresh socks Bring you back to life, bring me back to life, bro, bro, and I never have to worry about shopping for socks. Usually people don't give me like one pair, they give me a whole pack, right. So I'm taking that home refreshing the canister no, some fresh, no beverages beverages.
Speaker 2:Now I do have some. So like I used to be the red bull guy, now I've kind of moved to the alani's. So that's on the rider, and then I get bougie with the water too, so I'm um, what is it? The fiji water that's my go-to? Yeah, that's bougie as hell and so it's got to be the fiji water there and those are my.
Speaker 1:I don't drink. Yeah, I'm not much of a drinker, I know you are. How about the snacks?
Speaker 2:goldfish cheez-its no, I just dots pretzels. No, the other thing I'll say on the rider is like I gotta have family size I gotta have uh free wi-fi yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:I have free wifi. You mean like at the hotel? Tries to hit that. Well, if I'm in a room.
Speaker 2:I'm like if I have a green room, yeah, so the things in the green room, I gotta be. Free wifi, yeah, all those drinks, yes, fruits, ooh, a full size mirror. How often does this happen, where you a year damn, that's pretty dope. Sometimes they'll go all out and they'll give me, you know, a couch in there. You know different things, that just no baby goat, no baby.
Speaker 1:I haven't gotten that, I haven't gotten the socks always throws people off that are like why don't you need?
Speaker 2:socks. I'm like I just want to be fresh man. I do ask for um towels, like hand towels. Okay, fresh, white. Yeah, I haven't put the thread count on there yet, but you know, just to again just have a couple of things there this dude's a star bro no I got none of this.
Speaker 1:I got none of this. I think it's time to explore, man, it might be, you know, it might be. I mean, we do a couple shows a year where I feel like we could probably throw it out there on some red bulls, right, some bulls. What would you? What would you ask for saquon? Like he's up and coming producer, he's got group like y'all are out on tour.
Speaker 2:I need unlimited Topos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, topo Chico. Shout out, Topo Chico.
Speaker 2:I need a fountain of Red Bull.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:A fountain. You said, fiji, I'm gonna go Evian.
Speaker 1:Evian. Yeah, that's Fiji.
Speaker 2:Actually the one I really like. Fiji is like kind of easy. If I want to go really bougie, I go boss, boss, boss, that round bottle all glass.
Speaker 1:I don't want the plastic stuff, I want the glass. Swedish ice yeah, melted swedish ice.
Speaker 2:Well, you got a little toy here? Yeah, I do have a little toy.
Speaker 1:We've been talking about gadgets on the last few episodes. This little eulansi, I think is the brand is basically the battery extender for the 360 camera that we use all the time. Battery extender, right. So the camera goes up here, got the USB a old school to USB-C into the side of the camera. But once the battery dies up here, this stick, which I've charged up with the USB-C with a battery indicator on it, goes there and then it's got a quarter inch male top and then a quarter inch female on the bottom. I'll screw my little tripod, got it Bottom of here and boom, just set it up on the booth and then we've got power for the three 60 all night, because normally if we run it hard it'll shut down.
Speaker 2:This gives you about how much more.
Speaker 1:I don't know, we've never really taken it to the limit, but I mean long enough to have a three-hour dance party. Wow.
Speaker 2:Because I feel like the 360 battery is not long. It's not long.
Speaker 1:The only thing that could happen before you run out of battery is the camera could overheat sometimes, depending on the temperature of the room. Cost. I knew you were going to ask me that I have to get back to you. I think it was probably 30 bucks.
Speaker 2:Oh really.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That seems like a no-brainer. Yeah, substantial.
Speaker 1:I saw somebody recently that had one of these and they actually used it with the Bungear Command Center down into the same hole. We're looking at the booth right across.
Speaker 2:See where the laptop stand is.
Speaker 1:See how the diameter of this is very close to the laptop stand he had it on the other side makes sense. Yeah, into where that clamp is and clamped it down.
Speaker 2:Oh, he clamped it, got it he clamped it.
Speaker 1:Shout out you, lansley, we'll put it uh in joe's amazon.
Speaker 2:Finds uh underneath the video we have a question, we do okay straight out of the netherlands oh, bart is he back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bart is back is it van holder or van helder?
Speaker 2:I think you may have spelled it wrong, probably.
Speaker 1:Bart shout out. Bart in the Netherlands, Go ahead and you read this.
Speaker 2:Why do most US-based DJs that I follow use a DJ controller instead of a standalone one with a USB? I use an RX3 from Pioneer with a USB. I always have my laptop hooked up so that I can download requests and play them via link mode. I don't know if I understand the question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's basically saying like you know how, like festival DJs, just walk in with a USB stick. Usb stick instead of okay and they just stick it in the CDJs, or there's controllers like the one he has, where you just stick it Okay. So what's your idea?
Speaker 2:The controllers I use don't have a USB area for me to do it. I think the ones that I've seen and maybe I'm wrong, I don't know if I'm familiar with the RX3, mobile DJs don't want to be carrying massive controllers that have that extra little screen in there. To me it's like one more thing that could break on transport potentially. I think the other thing and this is just me being naive to the USB sticks, I feel like my sorting is so much quicker on a computer than it would be turning knobs, typing things into a controller Right Same. That's probably my primary reason.
Speaker 1:All of those are definitely my reasons and I think, more than anything and he does justify this by saying he does have a laptop available if he needed to download something. But for me, you know, Father of the Bride comes up, throws some sideball requests at me. I can simply boom, boom, boom, pull it from the cloud and literally be playing it on the next song.
Speaker 1:The laptop right there. I don't have to turn around, walk behind some facade or go pull it out of my bag. I guess probably about five years ago I moved it out of the center of the booth over to the right, just so I had better eye contact with the crowd, but forever.
Speaker 1:it was hard for me to not have it right there in my face right in the middle of the booth, or the middle of the table, or the middle of the road case or whatever. And finally I moved it over to the right a few years ago.
Speaker 2:I think the other thing for me with the USB side of things and again I don't know how other wedding DJs are doing- it in my head. I think it's for somebody who's like a headliner who has a pre-figured out yes right, at least the way I approach weddings currently, like I don't come in there with that kind of mindset.
Speaker 1:No, even if I knew, like this wedding we talked about earlier where it's like you know somebody, the only yeah I still would feel naked without all my stuff and searching it the way I need to and no matter how well you prep for that, I mean, I'm sure that somebody's going to come up and be like right yeah, I heard you play play MGMT earlier but like, do you have this B cut off this record? We wouldn't have that. So I can either stream it off that laptop or download it.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to think of. I mean, the advantage to going USB is obviously more connection with the crowd. You don't look like you've got Serato face or something along those lines right, right, right, shout out Cray Hackers.
Speaker 1:I don't know man For me. I don't see me going away from the laptop anytime soon. I really don't. I mean, I prep my music on it. I only use my laptop for DJing only. I have a completely separate laptop when I'm doing work like even on a plane, the big, whatever 17-inch that they came out with M1, from several years ago, is strictly for DJing.
Speaker 1:I don't have any mail on it. I'm not going to tell you I don't get on the internet on it I do, but I mean it is very music heavy. That's all that's on that Dropbox that's synced to that.
Speaker 2:There we go.
Speaker 1:All right folks. Good episode man. Yeah, I hope that helps Bart. Yeah, thanks, bart. Shout out to the Netherlands. Let's put a bow on this. Always leave us a review. We appreciate you guys. If you want to sponsor the podcast, let us know. Shout out to dj event planner for being our first sponsor. We appreciate them and we're on to the next one. New episodes every single wednesday morning at 8 am eastern standard time. They usually populate all the streaming sites about 15 20 minutes after that, so be standing by and ready on wednesdays. Thank y'all, see ya.