This is the second half of the feature. You can read the first half in our second issue.

Flyer

The flyer is one of those things that if it’s designed right it could catapult your success. Remember, the flyer is the first visual message sent to your possible attendees so if it looks good you can win them over.

What did your flyer look like?

Ditto: For Rave-a-Palooza we didn’t have a flyer. We always know our demographic when we promote for shows, so if you are marketing to high school and younger college kids then they probably aren’t going to be attentive to or even see a flyer posted on a bulletin board or on the street. For other events though, like when we played with Rob Swift or Lazer Disk Party Sex or marketed to older crowds we just made sure we hooked up with the dopest graphic design dudes possible to make the posters. Make sure that all the information is on the poster nice and big, but that you also have something interesting as a center piece that is relevant to the show or your group.

Music

Pretty much the foundation of everything. From here comes your audience, decision of location etc. In this case Ditto are the DJs so they brought the music but that might not always be the case. Let’s face it, most of us can’t spin anything beyond the iPod wheel. With that said, music is the heart of the event, after all the trouble and effort you’ve been through you don’t what a wack party. You could always hire Ditto

Give us a small background on you guys and your taste on music, etc.

Hugh Cosby of Ditto: When I was four I started playing the conga drums and when I turned six I started playing the piano. I was classically trained for seven years and have been learning jazz for five. When I started DJing it opened me up to new worlds and genres I hadn’t listened to before. I was already interested in Latin, classical, and jazz music, but I was mainly a mainstream hip-hop dude before I started to DJ. When I picked it up I started to listen to more underground hip-hop and moved into rock, pop, indie, and electronic music overtime. There’s really no genre I don’t like. I always take into account the musicianship to what is said and what is played on any song.
In Ditto we play electronic music at our major shows, but will always switch genres up to keep the crowd excited and not knowing what to expect. Our goal at shows is to play music to make people meet, hook up, have sex, and maybe get married and have a few babies. We are the circle of life and we love our groupies.

DJ D-Cutz of Ditto: My history with music is pretty unique. When I was young, like in pampers, I loved all music I heard. My parents would put on Michael Jackson and I would groove butt naked in our living room for hours. I had lots of percussion instruments in the house, so I loved drums a lot and actually took 3 drumming lessons a week until I was 14. I even had a Fisher Price turntable which I would “scratch” on. I took piano lessons too, although the teacher was kind of boring and always yelled at me for hitting the keys too hard so I quit, but ended up teaching myself how to play a couple years ago. I was always a fan of Hip-Hop. The first album I bought was Erik B and Rakim, which is pretty unheard of for a white kid from Vermont. I loved the drums in that music though, how they were so prominent. It took me away from the classic rock scene that people around me listened to. When I started taking DJing lessons I fell in love with turntablism. I was stoked to be in tune to this whole new world of scratching and juggling and mixing, and I loved that I was able to perform for people live which was new to me in regards to music. I became really passionate and kept working and practicing and performing everywhere I could. Today when I DJ I like to keep the crowd on their toes. I will drop some Lou Rawls in the middle of a rave at 60 bpms (Hugh Cosby hates that shit by the way) for like thirty seconds while everyone looks around like what the hell? Then I will just hit them upside the head with raw ass 130 bpm beats pumpin’ like Jesus. Doing stuff like that makes people have an experience while they are on the dance floor, it diversifies our set, and it makes it more interesting and fun to be a DJ. If you are lucky, you might even cause some orgasms. It’s happened before. Other than that, everytime I hop on the turntables I just try to express myself. That’s what music is all about, besides free sex.

ReCap

Budget:
We don’t ball out on a budget, but we make sure we get enough investment through sponsorship and promoters to make the show swagged out. We probably had $4000-$5000 riding on our shows, and because we were able to get businesses and promoters involved none of it came from our pockets.

Location cost:
The Higher Ground ballroom takes a percentage of ticket cost. We recommend doing this is you can, unless you are confident.

Flyer design and printing
Try to use your connections, we didn’t make or pay for any of that. But if you end up paying for it, be prepared to dish out up to two or three hundred bucks.

Music
Pretty much everything. We play Electronic, House, Reggaeton, and Hip-Hop the most.

Security
They came with the venue so we don’t know. Rave-a-Palooza was so big that a bunch of cops showed up though.

Door price:
$15 in advance, $18 day of show

How many people attended?
1,000+ people in attendance.

How many events had you done before?
Two major events. The Burton US Open and our graduation show from our DJing school. But we had probably 20+ significant other shows that got our feet wet.

Any other Expenses?
Condoms, but we’re working on a sponsorship.