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These are pieces combined from articles about how to
throw a Rave. We thought some of the ideas will be useful even to
promoters of rap shows....
Quick Guide to
Throwing Smaller Parties
By Mike
Here are some things that I found useful when I threw my parties. I was
throwing regular house parties, at my house that I lived in college, but I
had crowds of about 90-130 at varying times at the two parties I will talk
about. While my observations are limited to these rather small events, I
am sure they can be applied to any situation.
First off, you must be honest with yourself. Can you throw this party? Do
you have the financial means? You must WANT this party. You should want to
go to a party like the one your are throwing. You must give yourself
plenty of time to plan and stage this event.
A good amount of time (to let it stew, think about DJs, etc) is about 1-2
months in advance. 1 month is sufficient, I think, to get all of the
essentials down.
First off: the space. Is there adequate ventilation? How about ventilation
without too much noise leakage. What kind of neighborhood. Is it safe to
park your car there? Is it safe to park 100 cars there? Is there space? Is
there enough light? If this is underground, will the cops get suspicious?
Be HONEST with yourself. If you think there could be a problem, work it
out, or don't throw the party. Having your event busted is a very bad bad
thing, as we all know.
You nailed down the space. It has enough room to dance, and there are
places to relax that are not bombarded with sound. Good. Sounds like fun.
Now, the sound. Sound and tables. Find a friend or a dj andsee if you can
use their equipment if you don'tt have your own. It's a good idea to have
an extra needle and some spare wires, just in case. Look at your space.
How loud do you want it? Are there neightbors to worry about? Make a
groundplan of your space and play around with different setups. Make sure
there are places to hide wires from tripping folks (pun intended) and
enough room for records and djs to travel around the turntables.
Speakers. You need good speakers, sure, but don't skimp on the monitors. A
good loud E/V speaker will do nicely, two will be better. You want the djs
to want to play at your party, and you want them to have the best
equipment possible. If they feel like your are tyring to do your best for
them, they will make your party fantastic.
Djs. Look around. Find some club/weekly djs you like. talk to them. Ask
them what they like to play. Mention you are throwing a party. If you are
good friends with them, and you are throwing a small party in a house or
something, they might offer. If it's bigger than 100-120, offer them some
money for their troubles. DJs need to eat.
If you are lucky are in a fairly close knit scene (San Jose is good),
being around and going to weeklies for a couple of months will get you in
touch with a lot of people, and make your party a lot more family-style.
These are the best parties.
You have sound. you have music. You have a space. done? Well, if you have
time, go for it and make an amibient room. Get a friend to serve smart
drinks.
The key to organizing a party is exactly that: organization. Make up a
chart of what needs to be done. Plot it out and get an equipment check
list. Be honest about expenses. Make TEAMS. Have an ambient room team,
some poeple you trust, and let them create the room for you--they will
love the responsibility and work to make it really good. For sound, work
with people you know are good, and let them set it up. They want and will
like that control. Listen to their suggestions, but let the final decision
be yours. Work with your friends here. Make a team for admissions, and be
sure to have a rotating schedule so everyone can have a good time. Have 4
or 5 groups and have one reresentative from each goroup report to you for
official business, but make sure you know each and every person who is
helping you out. And THANK them. Thank people for coming to your event. It
will improve everyone's evening.
The whole key to throwing an event is to give yourself enough time to make
it RIGHT. Do not RUSH ANYTHING. Make a checklist and stick to it. Don't
slack off in anything, throw the perfect party everytime. If some thing is
goes wrong, fix it and move on, don't dwell in the past.
And make sure you have enough people to help clean up.
Most important? During your glorious event, take a deep breath, let
everyone do their job, stop worrying, relax and DANCE. ENJOY YOUR PARTY.
IF YOU HAVE FUN, EVERYONE WILL HAVE FUN. This is what it is all about,
after all.
________________
Quick Tip Sheet on Throwing a Mid-Scale Rave.
By Brian Sassone.
This article is brought to you courtesy of Hyperreal.com
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Well, as long as we throw them (DIY: Do It Yourself), there will always be
raves. Here is a brief description of the how I threw a rave.
1) get the word out to "helpful" people.
You can't do it all yourself you need dj's, organizers, people to work the
door, everyone to help with security and cleaning up. But delegate well.
Make sure everyone knows their task.
2) rent lights.
I spent $160 Can. on lighting equipment for 2 days. Fog machine, bubble
machine, 4 100 watt spots, 2 strobes, one MIG, chasers, 4 3 ft black
lights, a comet, etc.
3) rent DJ equipment.
I spent approx. $120 on 2 sl1200's, one Denon DJ cd player and one 5
channel mixing board (which sucked). I borrowed a 600 watt PA system from
a friend's band.
4) try to get a live band.
We had a live techno/trance/ambient band. They were great and we paid them
$100.
5) buy beer and/or organize a smart bar.
We had both a smart bar (organized by a local guy who does a lot of them
in the area) and an alcohol bar. Our crowd is not into smart drinks enough
to support just a smart bar.
6) location
I already live in a 2500 sq. ft loft, so this was easier for me. Check out
local bars which aren't doing very well. For a $100-$200 they would rent
you the place for the night. Or for all the alcohol sales. When the
weather is good, do it outside. Use an old garage. Check the warehouse
district of your area.
7) decorate.
We painted walls, hung tie dies (with strobes), used flourecent paint
(fish), etc. We had couches/chairs to sit on.
8) cover all windows so no one can see in.
You don't want Mr. Police bugging you ... raves are getting a bad rep.
with all the idiotic press.
9) charge at the door to cover costs and so you can pay people.
We charged $5 Can. at the door and had few complaints.
10) invite poeple
The people in (1) will help. A rave-line is recommended, we also had a bbs.
11) have it by-invitation-only.
We had a list of people and their guests who were allowed in. People who
showed up and were not on the list left their name and number at the door.
We did turn some people away we thought would cause trouble ("I'm sorry,
this is a private party and you are not on the list. We are also at
capacity and people won't be leaving for a long time. If you leave your
name and number we will try to get you on for the next event".
12) drugs:
you are on your own. I will not recommend anything for that.
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Things I didn't do, but will next time:
1) alphabetize the guest list.
2) make sure that everyone knows the schedules (which dj's perform when
and for how long, what time the band goes on, etc.)
3) rent a better mixing board and rent a p.a. system. I didn't want to
blow my friends pa, so I ensured the volume was kept down. Next time I'll
rent one and not worry so much.
4) Everyone pays at the door. Not guests/elitism. Some people got pissed
off when they found out that others got in for free.
5) ensure that no one else in the building/area is having another party.
6) have only 1 person in-charge of the door. Only 1 person handles the
cash.
7) get more people to help do decorating ... borrow tv's, video cameras,
computers, etc. Do "installation" art. Make the place even more visually
impaired.
8) have a chill out area, with pre-recorded chill-out music (no dj).
9) think about where people will put their coat's/boots. Have coat check
or hang huge metal rod from chains from the ceiling with lots of hangers.
We still made a bit of money and everyone thought it was great. The most
important things are inviting the right people and keeping the vibe good.
I feel it is ok to make some money, but don't do it for that. Many of the
people are your friends, and you will make many more after it is over. For
the people who didn't know much about rave i said "well come as you are
and have a good time. If you want, try to dress a bit psychedelic, but
don't worry about it, people are cool and nice. Even if they look wierd.
Oh and don't expect to hear any guitar music all night".
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Putting On A University Rave
By Arnold Baker
This article is brought to you courtesy of Hyperreal.com
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I set up raves at Duke University, North Carolina. We have held two events
so far, and plan putting on at least four more. They are rather small
events (500-600 people) but have been enjoyable. Here are the key aspects
of putting on a university rave:
(1) Friends to Help
The most essential aspect of putting on a rave is having friends to help
you. You need people to monitor the doors, put up flyers, design the
flyer, spread the word, make the smart drinks, clean up after the event;
you need friends with cars to move things; you need friends for support,
ideas and encouragement.
In my experience, some will help out for free, others will need the
incentive of pay. Whatever way, you need a small army of people to put on
an event. The best way to garner this support in my opinion is to make the
event non-profit (or minisculely profitable).
(2) Advertising
Start advertising even before you've planned the event. Let people you
know you're putting on an event. Tell everyone and anyone. Friends bring
friends. Its the best form of advertising. Word-of-mouth takes a long time
to spread so start early. It was a real buzz meeting people for the first
time who'd say: "Oh...you're the one putting on the rave." It got me
pumped up to put on the best event I could.
For the advertisement we tried to be as creative as possible. We ordered
3D-hologram stickers from Fantasma, Il. and got an artist friend to design
the flyer. Advertising only cost about $200, but it was the creativity
caught people's attention. We advertised for about a week before the
event, but that was because it was on-campus, so not much more time was
needed.
Advertising will get people's curiousity sparked, but to keep them coming
back you've gotta provide a good event. Make the first event awesome, and
don't false advertise (though this is often impossible due to
circumstances beyond your control).
(3) Money
Where do you get the money from? I would advise putting in as little of
your private funds as possilbe: a rave can flop very easily so there is no
guarantee you'll get your money back.
My experience has probably been different to others. College campus's (at
least Duke's) have slush funds of money to tap into for funding
alternative events. But you need to know what the people controlling the
funds are looking for. The great thing about raves is that they have
something in them for everyone. Looking for an alternative to alcohol,
raves are the answer. Or if you want to foster cultural diversity and
integration; raves are the way the go. From tolerance of alternative
lifestyles to promoting drug awareness, raves encompass a wide range of
noble goals. Raves are in every way in line with what an administrator an
organization wants to foster in a university. This simple fact has helped
me enormously in garnering funds for raves.
For my first rave, the funders were looking for an alternative to the
fraternity keg scene. They wanted something without alcohol as its central
focus; and a more friendly and safe environment for women. We received
several hundred dollars from the Women's Coalition; a few hundred from Men
Acting for Change, a group of men who discuss and promote awareness of
sensitive issues like rape, anorexia, and pornography - problems which are
normally relegated as "women's issues", but are really of concern to men
as well; and several hundred dollars from the Duke University Union, a
huge campus organization that funds alternative events. They funded the
rave because they believed it would help promote the ideals they believe
in, and also because they received publicity for their organization on our
flyers, in the form of "Sponsored by Women's Coalition...". Many of the
people in these organizations also felt an obligation to show up at the
event, which was a double bonus.
The rest of my raves are being funded by the biggest slush fund at the
university: the Student Affairs Office. After a 10 minute meeting with the
Dean of Student Affairs, I had secured several thousands dollars for
raves. It was that easy! (at least at Duke). I simply pointed out the
common goals. Student Affairs is very much anti-alcohol, anti-fraternity,
pro-diversity, pro-women.....everything a rave is...so the Dean very soon
became pro-rave. The only sticky point was drugs. Here I must admit I
sacrificed all my values about what I believe about drugs. A University
cannot be seen to promote a drug-related event. I spoke against drugs, but
noted that even Duke's best efforts has not stopped its students from
taking drugs, so it was impossible for me, as a mere student, to ensure no
drug-taking.
My suggestion to others is this: every campus organization gets funding
from somewhere (often from many sources)...find those sources, find their
ideals, and if the rave's ideals are in sync with their ideals you should
point out the benefits they get from sponsoring the rave. Money should no
longer be a problem. A rave shouldn't cost more than about $1500...$2000
tops. You can put a good one on in NC for $1200. We charged $2 at the
door. We could have charged nothing, but I think it actually helps the
rave to charge a little. $2 is not enough to be a price deterrant; but its
enough to ensure that if someone comes to the rave, they aren't going to
just walk in and then walk out. It keeps people there for the event. And
it makes the event actually more respectable. And I used the money to pay
back my funders, thus making it likely they would fund the events again.
(4) Lights and Sound
In NC, the light and sound equipment for me was $800. For this we got a
laser, 4 trackspots, a gyro, a bunch of spotlights, plenty of watts of
sound, a turntable, fog machine, video projector and screen, ufo's... and
a whole bunch of other stuff. In my experience there are alot of con
artists out there who either don't bring all the equipment they promise,
or just plain lie about their equipment. To find light and sound people
call a lighting/sound company in town, and ask for mobile djs/production
companies. Or if you see a good set-up at a rave ask the lighting
engineer. You have to be a tough business person with these light/sound
people - they know exactly what you want to hear.
Remember this: its easy to bargain them down, especially if you tell them
you have a small budget (which you do), and if there is promise of future,
steady employment at your future raves.
The hard part is to make sure what they promise you is what you get on the
night. Ask to see a video of their show: most will have them. And promise
to pay before the show, but only after they've set up. And firmly tell
them that if they don't bring all they've promised, they will not get the
full pay you promised them..
(5) Insurance
Many promoters don't bother with insurance when putting on an event. If
you are willing to take the risk (and it is a small one) don't bother with
insurance. Chances are nothing disastrous will happen. However, if you are
concerned, I'll outline here the aspects of a rave that the
promoter/organizer is responsible for.
Firstly there is damage liability: damage to the building, if a window is
broken, or the place burns down, etc. All this must be covered by you. If
you can catch the perpetrator of the damage that person is responsible for
reimbursing the owner. Also, You are not responsible for the damage to
light/sound equipment.
Secondly, there is personal liability. If someone goes to your rave drunk,
then slips and falls and breaks their arm, you as organizer can be sued
for it. If someone gets hurt at the rave because of the actions of
another, you can be sued for it. In America, people can and will sue for
anything, no matter how responsible you are for it. Whether they will win
the suit is another matter; but I for one am not willing to carry the
costs of a law suit.
To avoid these liabilities you should be covered by some sort of
insurance. That is the reason why I prefer to keep my raves on campus. At
Duke, damage liability is covered by the university for everything above
$100; for personal liability the university protects its students. That
is, as long as the event is in some way affiliated with a recognized
student organization you are safe. Also, with regards to damage liability,
on hiring most buildings the owner will force you to take out damage
insurance (but not personal liability insurance). If you are worried about
insurance risk, you should ask your university what its policy is with
regards to these issues. But I stress the likelihood of distrastrous
consequences is very small.
(6) DJs
Once I spread the word that I was putting on a rave, DJs were easy to
find. And in my experience there are more DJs willing to play than time
available. I found my DJs from Duke and from the net and both DJs have
been excellent. There are plenty of people out there who spin just for
fun, and some even offer to spin for free. I try to pay something if at
all possible. Most DJs I've met don't use the money to buy a new porsche:
they buy more records. And that's better for the whole scene.
(6) The Location
Just use your imagination: any place can be good for a rave. Its what you
do with it that counts. Just make sure its big enough to hold the expected
number of people.
I try to get a location which is far enough away from apartments that it
won't bother early sleepers.
If you are going to use a fog machine, make sure you can get the fire
alarm turned off.
Also, it is helpful to have a good ventilation system; it gets very hot
inside the building without one.
And, at the end of the rave, clean-up the place. It helps to stay on side
of those whose building you might wish to use again.
(7) Problems
These are some of the persistent problems I've had with the raves:
Noise Policy
At our school we are only allowed to stay open until 2am. Though I've had
recent encouragement that this might be extended, the case at a number of
schools I've seen is that parties close down way earlier than desired. I'm
trying to put on after-parties to compensate for this, but the first one
fell through, and besides, an after-party ain't anything like a rave.
Worst of all, you realize that all your time and effort is being wasted to
a certain extent when your rave lasts for such a short period. This has
deterred me somewhat from putting on better events each time.
Time & Effort
This leads me to the second problem. It takes alot of personal dedication
and effort to organize people, to deal with the many problems, to gather
support, etc. This is extremely trying on one's soul, especially when I'm
doing these things not for profita, but for the love of the rave (or maybe
just the desperation for something other than fraternity kegs).
Furthermore, its alot to harder to keep your friend's support and
dedication to the event. You cannot put on a rave without the help of
friends.
Drugs/Alcohol
I try to avoid correlating drugs with rave. It is especially important to
avoid this "image" because, at least my raves are nurtured in some way by
the university. It obviously will not continue to support the event if it
is drug-related. On the "reality" side, I try to discourage dealers from
being at the rave. But drug usage per se, before the event, is not a
problem; if anything the people on drugs add to the carefree atmosphere.
I try to avoid alcohol as well. In my experience, it is not a problem to
let semi-drunk people into the rave. They have not caused a problem yet.
The only instance was of one girl who drank too much before the event,
then danced too much - she had to be taken to the infirmary. So in my
opinion people on alcohol are not really a problem. That is, unless you
decide to sell alcohol at the rave. This promotes abuse of the substance,
and violence might well ensue. Basically, I accept the reality that I
cannot and should not control what people do with their bodies before the
event; but I can try to ensure that excessive usage of any drug does not
occur but not providing any drugs/alcoholic beverages at the rave..
Drugs/Alcohol at non-university raves are a completely different issue,
and an issue which I have little knowledge about from an organizer's
standpoint. I would say however that by having drugs/alcohol at a rave,
you can be held responsible if you don't take adequate measures to try to
prevent it. It is gives the cops an excuse to close you down (if they even
need one).
(8) Security
Duke requires that "pubilc safety officers" be present at all university
functions. This is not such a drag as it first may seem. The Public Safety
Officers at Duke aren't interested in busting people for drinking or
dosing. They just want to keep the event safe and non-violent. Their
presence is enough to keep people from going wild, which is a good thing.
They also protect the rave from the outside environment. I'm sure that
most of you have heard of the rave where the door monitor was shot by
someone when he was refused entrance into the rave. Having a public safety
officer at the front door deters any unwanted guests. Security shouldn't
be a constraint on your rave if you have pretty cool security officers.
(9) The Vibe
This is the hardest part of putting on the rave. The vibe is the
atmosphere of the rave. A friendly, happy, creative vibe is key. My
personal definition is this: a rave that rocks is both immersive and
interactive. It must be immersive in that the experience is outer worldly,
transcending, and utterly absorbing. This means people should be dancing.
A rave should be interactive in that it is conducive to meeting others, in
that the atmosphere is one of tolerance. There should be interactive toys
to facilitate this (like a moon-bounce, or bubble blowers) and a quieter
area to chill-out and communicate.
In my experience it is very difficult to achieve immersion and
interactivity in a rave. But trying to create immersion and interactivity
provides the most innovative and challenging part of putting on a rave.
Creativity is absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, it is also the area
which is usually least attended to. I think that this is the area which a
small rave has a much greater advantage than some of the more commercial
raves. Many commercial raves can assemble equipment and DJs into one
environment, but they completely ignore the vibe. If a good vibe occurs,
it is more by luck than their conscious planning.
______________________________
Review of our second rave, "Dose",
or how to throw a really good
party for about $500.
by Anonymous
This article is brought to you courtesy of Hyperreal.com
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After being turned down at about 20 other locations, I read an article
about a local gallery buying a small (1300 sq ft) warehouse for artist
use. I approached the owner, and to my surprise, she was very enthusiastic
about what I wanted to do. So I scheduled the place for the first weekend
after school got out, June 13th.
I made and distributed about 2000 flyers. Unlike the first rave we threw,
where we had about three days to advertise, this time we had two weeks, so
we blew it out as hard as we could. Flyers in every club, every night,
plus plastering them all over the university.
The week before, I used my work's slide printer to make 180 slides of
fractals and computer graphics from the net. Who said effects had to be
expensive? Approximate cost for film and developing was $80.
The night before the rave, I was up to 2:00AM trying to get my laser setup
to work. I'd purchased a mirror kit that was supposed to do wacky
spirograph patterns. It wasn't functioning very well. At 2:00, I
discovered that I had two wires reversed. My apartment was then bathed in
a red glow as I sat and played with the thing for an additional hour
before collapsing in bed. I'd managed to piece together a decent laser
show for $150.
What a completely screwed up day. The first even to happen was a car
accident that took place while we were waiting in an intersection. One of
the cars involved did a couple of fast 360's a foot in front of my truck.
This was before we had picked up our sound and lights. If we had been hit,
the whole event would have been screwed. Luck shined on us.
After picking up the sound, then nearly losing one of the speakers over
the side of the truck, we setup the scaffolding that would be the center
structure in the warehouse. I'd received it for free, and once it was up,
it looked rather cool. Two sections in the center of the room, with one
section for the DJ booth. Then I spent a good two hours with the video guy
trying to get the composite output from my Amiga with Mindlight to work
with his equipment. We finally threw our hands up in the air and bagged
the video. He left and I went and picked up the lights.
Being the complete sound idiot that I am, I couldn't get the top range
speakers to function. I called the sound shop and they gave me a few tips,
but nothing really helpful. I was packing everything up to take it back to
exchange, when I decided to try again. Ahh! It helps if you have the top
range amplifier actually PLUGGED IN. Things were starting to come
together.
We had the laser and the fog machine on top of the scaffolding. Two
projectors on the next level, two strobes on the lowest level, about the
height of your head. Then a derby-star hanging from the warehouse's
I-beam, and a flowerscan off the side of the scaffolding. When everything
was running, it looked incredible.
Then the breaker went off. After investigating the electrical system, we
discovered another circuit ON THE CEILING. So we strung an extension cord
up a wall and tied it to the socket, then ran all the sound into that
circuit. The lights alone threw the breaker again later that night, but
nobody noticed on the floor. They just thought it was another effect.
When we finally opened, I discovered that one of my mixing channels wasn't
working. After a bit of swearing and shaking, I moved my two disc players
to channels 3&4.
The initial 9:00 attendance were all under 21. They looked rather dazed
and confused at the whole situation. They would dance for one track, go
outside, then dance again. I was wondering if this was the way it was
going to be all night. It wasn't. The older crowd started to flow in.
Incredible as it was, it seemed like a completely different set of people
from the first rave we threw. I don't know if this was a good or a bad
sign, but people who didn't come told us it was because it wasn't 21 and
over.
Things were going good until I discovered the second CD player was
skipping on selected discs. It was really a toss-up on whether it would do
it or not, so I had to have the other player ready to go immediately after
the second one started. What pissed me off was the seamless beat matching
I was doing all night to the second player, then it would start skipping
and people would look at me like I was a complete buffoon. Oh well, live
and learn.
Then there was the constant request for "hardcore". It seemed that if I
started to play anything remotely housey or ambient, someone would drift
over and ask when I was going to play something fast. The worst comment
all night came while I was playing "Digeridoo". This clown walks over and
asks, "When are you going to play some techno/rave?" I asked him what the
hell he thought I was playing. The answer came back, "This is industrial."
So I asked him what group he thought I should play. Funny enough, but he
couldn't name any. Instead he just asked me if I had certain compilations.
There were bozos like this all night. "I'm from LA, and I wish you'd play
some hardcore." "Hardcore is what they're playing at raves in California."
People who acted like they had been transplanted for the night, but who
probably hadn't been there in the past year. As usual, the cool people
made up for it. Someone quietly approaching the booth and asking for Moby,
a girl asking me to play that "Injected With Poison song" again after I
had played it ten minutes earlier, and this completely hot female asking
me to play "Rough Sex" (grin).
However, I felt it was my worst night of DJing ever. People danced, but
combined with the skipping CD player and the constant requests for
"hardcore", I would have given the old thumbs down if I had been on the
floor.
We could only rent the space until 2:00. Even though cops had driven by,
they didn't give us any problems all night. I thought that people would
give us problems about stopping at 2:00, but around that time there were
only about 20 people left on the floor. I desperately want to do a 12 hour
rave, but will this town catch on? Maybe with a chill room and a smart-bar
things will be extendable, but right now, Salt Lake seems to be having a
hard time with the rave concept. At 2:30, everyone had left quietly.
There's still a lot of momentum to ride from this. My partner John said
that he got nothing but good comments all night long. The biggest problem
with the first rave we threw is that we weren't able to ride the momentum
at all. With it being summer, we're going to do the next one out in the
desert, for free. There's this huge ridiculous piece of art, known as the
"Tree of Utah" that is a large cement cartoon-like tree out on the salt
flats. We're just going to rent the sound and use the projectors and
lasers for the rest. The only question now is, will people drive 50 miles
to get there?
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