dealing with software failure

[dry_bones]

So I was DJing this college rave party the other night that was going really great. I stepped off my booth and went out in the crowd for a few seconds of dancing and to check the sound, but when I walked back up this completely trashed girl was standing at my table and started pressing things on my computer.

She said she was looking for Tik-Tok by Kesha... yep, kill me now.

I was trying to get her down, but she pushed me and lost her balance and then spilled her beer right next to my hardware. I started freaking out at this point and then BAM! All of the treble and mids were gone in my left deck on traktor. Some guy grabbed her and got her down, but I could not for the life of my figure out what was wrong. For about 10 minutes I had to mix with one deck and since everyone at this place was wasted no one really noticed, but of course I was quite stressed.

I ended up doing a quick switch into my Ipod and reset tracktor. Things worked fine after that and the party continued.

I had a dream last night that I was in a big club and had some terrible software/hardware malfunction that I couldn't figure out, despite being pretty experienced with live sound. The crowd started booing and the club owner threw me out and replaced me with a DJ with awesome golden turntables... What a nightmare.

Has shit like this ever happened to you guys? And how do you generally deal with/ resolve the issue?

[Zac Kyoti]

omg. Terrible. and your dream too.
We should have a crazy djing dream/nightmare thread, loL! That would be a trip.
My dj nightmare is always that things keep happening and getting the sound up and running keeps getting put off and put off, until before I know it, there's light creeping through the window and I still haven't set up my gear... and everyone is tired and like WTF?

The best thing I can say about disaster preparation is to elevate your gear, have ipod/cd at the ready, and not to take any sH*t from someone who shouldn't be in the booth. And never go anywhere without your towel.

[photojojo]

My Dj dreams are always of me pulling off these incredible mixes/controllerism routines. The nightmare happens when I wake up and try to recreate them!

[Shane Says]

A possible solution would be to bring a friend to keep an eye on your gear when you leave the booth for a minute.

[Nicky H]

I always have a 15 - 20 mix on cd, cued up and ready to go - that gives you time to sort most things out.

As for people near your gear the security shouldn't let that happen so just have a word before you set up.

As it was a college party don't know if you had security so just ask the biggest meanest guy you know