(Part 2) Best products from r/aves

Update: I got a pair from here and used them at Electric Zoo this past weekend!!


They were super clear and not overwhelming at all! I kept them on for most of my night and didn't have a headache but loved the hearts. Definitely not the most intense hearts when you try them before sunset though, but great for a night set with lights!

My only complaint was that the design of the frames are pretty dorky/boxy but who cares, the hearts were beautiful :)

Interesting note: They did have the website "plurvision.com" printed on the bag when they arrived, even though the Amazon seller is listed as iHeartRaves/EmazingLights. The frames are black and unmarked though :)

Well my situation is rather unique. I have a good friend who was a very prominent rave promoter in the mid 2000s in Baltimore. The first rave I went to was one of his back in 2009. He wrote a memoir about his time as a promoter and I was one of his test readers.

After reading it I was convinced that he should get back into the game and I wanted to help him. We decided the first party should be a release party for his book.

I have a really dope job and I was able to fund it all out of my own pocket. I also found the venue after asking on r/Baltimore for suggestions.

He has a huge social media following and is a legend in the scene so he was able to gather a bunch of really great local DJs to do the show for free. He was also instrumental in promoting online by using his platform and getting the DJs to also promote.

We designed a flyer and printed it out and handed them out at other shows in the weeks leading up to the party.

On the day of the party we went to venue and helped the owners get it set up for the party and building the stage. We then had the sound techs we hired set up the sound systems.

This process took about 3 months start to finish and cost around 3k.

Here is his book.

I was in this position last month before Escape and ended up getting help from other redditors! In my thread, it was brought up that I should get a generic pack, but an actual bladder. In the end, I saved probably 20-30 bucks since Camelbaks are hella expensive.

I actually bought this pack: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006JYHFJA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and placed a 100 oz camelbak bladder in it. It wasn't a perfect fit, so some of the bladder was hanging over the top, but it was pretty secure that it wasn't even a big deal. Was able to jump and groove to trance all night because of the waiststrap! I would suggest the 100 oz because you would already be carrying 70 oz to begin with. Those 30 oz (around 2ish pounds) would probably be gone within the hour! Less fill ups right? Dunno if it was just me, but I didn't even really feel the water weight on my back. Ended up forgetting about it until I needed water. Only had to refill the bladder once a night, and that's so we have water for the walk and ride back home. All in all, best investment for festivals!

Funny story: The person who filled my bag was like "damn this bitch drinks!" lol.

I'm a person with average build, definitely not buff or cut. Fairly bulky/chubs. Lemme know if you need more help!

In my experience it's been at least as many guys asking for water, I don't see a reason to call one group out specifically. I don't always like sharing my water and having to get back in line earlier but I definitely prefer a minor inconvenience to having someone else be uncomfortable or get hurt.

I'd guess the problem is more about people just not knowing how useful it can be and not knowing where to get one / how much / etc. Even if it really is about "looking super dope and stylish" I think the solution is the same: educate them. Show them where you or your friend got yours and how much it was and how many cool options are available.

I don't know anything about the quality but these look super cool and certainly seem small enough to still show off your assets if that's what you're worried about.
https://vibedration.com/collections/hydration-packs/ga - $38-$45

This is the pack I use. I love it and tell people about it whenever it comes up. It's just a little bit bigger than a regular slim pack when it's all strapped down and has a pressurized side to the bladder that inflates with a small hand bulb so the water can shoot out. It's great to cool down with or to share water because they don't have to touch your mouth piece. Really easy to fill and wash.
http://www.geigerrig.com/hydration-packs/rig-500-ballistic.html - $130

If cost is an issue here's a bunch on Amazon prime for under $20:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M7U9XAK/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015GONGTG/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CS8H2ZM/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EGEGJU/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ECCEAR0/

This is always a great conversation. My buddy has the Classic and stands by it for holding plenty of water and all of his crew's phones/wallets/keys for two Ultras now. I, being both a cyclist and habitually over-prepared, am adamant about the perfection that is my Consigliere. The most recent event that I've used it at was Life in Color about two months ago. I was able to carry all my pocket contents, security credentials, poncho & umbrella, and poi easily. My helmet was securely held on by the dedicated straps all night, and even with all that weight, the bag maintained a slim profile on my back and didn't fly about from movement. As an added bonus to some of the smaller designs like the Classic or Hydrobak, my Consigliere has a 3L bladder.

EDIT: Traveling light, I could totally load out for a festival with my Consigliere and be perfectly satisfied. That being said, the only festival I think I could get away with that with would be EF, and only if there's a guarantee of no rain that weekend.

EDIT: I tried it, check it out.

Hey bro. I also yoyo at EDM shows and have been doing so for about 3 years. I also spin poi and double staff. I go with the beat and people really like watching me. I've tried everything, from LED kits to glowstick kits. I've looked for fiber optic string, and unfortunately, there isn't really anything you can use for string at this time, except for blacklight string which looks awesome in a blacklight venue. I've even been asked to perform on stage a few times. I've been on the search for a perfect dark club yoyo for years.

Honestly, I got a little excited when I saw your post haha.

So yeah, I've tried it all, and here is the best setup I've found so far:


Dark Magic 2 Yellow Neon Color (I'm actually going to get the special edition clear white one soon and try that, but I have 3x DM2 yellow neons.)

+

Shinwoo LED kit

+

Blacklight string

+

Cheap LED fingerlights from Amazon


Learn 5A counterweight yoyo, and use cheap LED fingerlights from amazon. They are lighter than the dice people normally use, but you will get used to them. The LED counterweights add a new dimension, and blow peoples minds. Plus the fingerlights are very cheap and replaceable, and they use the same batteries as the shinwoo light kit. So out of a 40-pack of LED lights from amazon, ytou will have many that are defective and you can crack them open and save the batteries for your shinwoo light kit.

I know you are probably more focused on making the string stand out, but unfortunately, I hate to say this, but to the average observer, all string tricks look the same and they can't tell the difference. You will get much more positive feedback in a crowd learning 5A and using an LED counterweight. One thing I especially enjoy doing is yoyoing for a brief time normally, and then all of a sudden turning on my counterweight LED and doing 5A moves. I love the reaction people have never seen anything like it before.

I am still searching for different throws that fit the shinwoo light kit, but it is made perfectly for the dark magic 2. I use 3 dabs of hot glue to keep it on there, and no sidecaps. I get all my stuff from www.yoyoexpert.com. Buy several shinwoo light kits because they are only 5.00 for a pair and kinda disposable. You will lose one.

Here's a pic of my setup.

This might sound crazy, but I actually bought a portable battery powered wearable black light to have to make my string show up better, but that's just trying too hard and I don't bring it anywhere. I've been on this journey for awhile.

Ranted about this in the discord but some thoughts.

The history lesson is simple but decent. Matos also wrote "The Underground is Massive" which is a great historical review of electronic dance music in America. Highly recommend this one

However I think there are a few things off about his analysis on the current state of things. "Big room house" might have fallen off the map and the Billboard charts compared to 2012 but American-style dubstep (which also was popularized in the post-2011 era, noted by Matos as he mentions Skrillex) is just as big as ever in terms of popularity. It's weird for him to cherry pick CRSSD as a festival that caters to Yaeji/Amelie Lens (conveniently forgetting to mention Kaskade was on that lineup), and completely ignoring Lost Lands and its 36,000+ attendance. Electric Forest anyone? Bass Canyon?

Dubstep (and other slower or downtempo styles like trap/future bass/midtempo bass/etc. - the "bass music" family if you will) is huge in terms of representation on festival lineups. If Matos wants to talk about EDM as being separate from traditional rave circles because of its drop-heavy hype culture, then he should point out that bass music DJs/artists/festivals carry on that banner into 2019 and likely beyond. And why link an article about ResidentAdvisor as having anything to do with the pop EDM scene? RA has been writing shit like that for a decade+ now. And namedropping Discwoman - who are awesome, but also hardly relevant to the big EDM scene in general. 99% of people on the Illenium rail are not going to know that Frankie had a Twitter spat with Nina Kraviz about racism and white privilege. Anyways I think he's cherry picking a bit about what's going on nowadays, to make it seem like "smaller festivals" are the modern landscape - but often they are only "the move" after people have been pushed through the massives initially.

> Going big, in fact, is increasingly frowned upon in dance music.

Could have fooled me. Business techno memes are rampant in 2019 lol

I just bought mine from Amazon. The main one you see is American DJ's Micro Galaxian (it seems cheap but it's actually really amazing; comes with a wireless remote control and can easily fill a small-medium sized room. I also have an American DJ Agressor, which is more of a moonflower light, so it's not as dazzling as the lazer; it's much bigger and more powerful though. I would highly recommend getting a fog machine (I use this one), it changes the awesomeness factor from "that's pretty cool" to "OH MY GAWD"

honestly its super easy...

u need

• 6 square feet of clear acrylic ($60 at home depot)
  
• 12 feet of plastic cornering ($5)
  
• good mounting tape ($5)
  
• 15 feet of LED strips ($28)
  
• One way mirror film ($10)
  
  
  how to assemble:
  
  

1. Use a utility knife and a straight edge to score and cut the acrylic sheets. U don’t need to cut all the way through just enough to snap it over the edge of a table. Should be left with six 12” squares of clear acrylic.
   
   
2. Dry build the box (i just used masking tape to hold it together) and just cut the corner guard to the needed length for each side.
   
   
3. Apply the mirror film to acrylic
   
   
4. Dry build the corner guard into a box (ur trying to achieve a frame) and place the mirrored acrylic into place, EXCEPT the top piece. That u just set on top of the frame.
   
   
5. Lay in the LED strips (just tape them in place for now). Theres a way to do it where u only need to over lap 3 times, its impossible to cover every edge without overlapping.
   
   
6. Ur practically done! Just go back and use the mounting tape to set everything in place. For the top piece, use velcro on the corners and just stick it in place. This will save u a lot of frustration and time (trust me).
   
   Thats pretty much it. I kinda just started making it and winged it the whole way. Longest and hardest part is cutting the acrylic but its not that bad. Whole thing took me abt 2 trips to home depot and 3 hours over 2 two days (mirror film take 12 hrs to set). All and all, it was really easy. It helps to have someone help build, but theres nothing u really can’t do by urself. Hope u guys enjoy! reply w questions abt stuff n ill try to answer
   
   ill edit this post later to include the amazon links to the LED strips and include pictures
   
   Edit: Added links
   

I bought a pair of Dubs ear plugs, and got a pair of silicone ones from Lost Lands. Dubs are good, but the silicone ones fit better and I never had a problem with them falling out when headbanging or dancing, so I prefer those. Here’s a link to an example of the ones I’m talking about! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G0PPTAK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_RlJKBbAXSCFXD

"Has anybody used these before and know of a similar brand I could get?"

If you want to find some similar to blox you should compare
Frequency reduction values table. This are the tables for blox and similar ~$20 earplugs:

This is for blox :

(Hz) | Average reduction Value (DB)

63 | 14.4
125 | 15.1
250 | 15.4
500 | 17.1
1000 | 19.9
2000 | 26.9
4000 | 17.7
8000 | 29.9



This is for ER20XS Earplugs :

(Hz) | Average reduction Value (DB)

125 | 14.5
250 | 14.2
500 | 17.1
1000 | 21.1
2000 | 25.3
4000 | 20.5
8000 | 23.3

I guess they are similar.
You can find some other comparison for earplugs for gigs

I bought these about a few months ago and have been very satisfied:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015IQ6HI4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1

Was a bit weary about sticking something directly into my ear canal, but it's nowhere near as discomforting as it sounds.

That feeling when you take them out at the end of the event and your hearing comes back to normal without the ringing.. mmm.

I bring em to raves, festivals, night clubs, whatever.

I would use a flip belt to keep your stuff secure. It's nice cause it's multipurpose. I use it for running, travel, raves, etc. You could also buy a flip belt bottle container for water, any drink so it fits inside the belt too!

​

https://www.amazon.com/FlipBelt-Original-Designed-Shipped-Warranty/dp/B00JF9E5QC?th=1

https://www.amazon.com/Smuggle-Your-Booze-Sunscreen-Lotion/dp/B00CKCQGY0


Worked great at Nocturnal. Just gotta fill it 100%, anything less will make ti feel all "sloshy"

I have a cheaper version of the Etymotics that I've been using for the past 5 years and they are excellent.

etymoticsssssss

https://www.amazon.com/Underground-Massive-Electronic-Conquered-America/dp/0062271792/ref=nodl_

I haven’t finished it yet but I’m loving it so far. There’s so many old school track names that he drops and are a blast to listen to. Shit got real crazy in the 90s