Atish shares 20 tips for DJing at Burning Man

Based in San Francisco, Atish has cultivated a devoted following around the world. He’s a natural performer who engages crowds with charm, a smile, and possibly a wig and a tutu. An obsessive music collector, Atish pulls from a broad sonic palette, and with these sounds, he creates intimate atmospheres and emotional experiences that linger in your mind long after the music has stopped.

Photo Credit: Atish – Official

“Hi, here are 20 tips for DJing at Burning Man, based on my 10 years of DJing on the playa. You may remember a similar tweet thread from last year, but I’ve evolved my thoughts and added some new points. Here we go!” – Atish

1. Last year I opened with a strong statement about not making Burning Man about your music career. Decommodification (NOT using BM to promote a commercial endeavor) is one of Burning Man’s 10 principles.

If you’re able to separate your real-world DJ presence from your approach to playing on the playa, I admire you. It’s no easy feat since your playa presence can blow open the doors for your career, and I get how tough it is to pay bills through art. That being said… I haven’t seen any *strong* signals from BMorg condemning DJ commodification, so while overt DJ commercialization makes me personally uncomfortable, my updated 2023 opinion is: DJs, do what you want.

Try to soak in non-music-related things at Burning Man, because I think there’s more BM can do for DJ culture than DJs can do for BM.
Outside that, I’ll try to refrain from sitting on my high horse telling you how things should be done.

2. I also advised against playing too many gigs last year. New opinion: do what you want.

Unless you are a 1st-timer. Then, per point #1, I strongly urge you to minimize DJing and maximize other forms of participation, building, and volunteering. It will make you a better burner.

Beyond that, overplaying at Burning Man is lonely. Last year, I saw so many dead dance floors. Your friends have better things to do than hear you play for a pile of dust… and running around with them, making new friends, participating, and enjoying art are important moments you are missing out on.

3. Don’t tell people you are gifting music. A camp is gifting YOU the opportunity to play music, not the other way around. Telling people your DJ sets are your playa gift is like saying “I’m gifting you the opportunity to help me achieve my career goals”…Just say nothing or think of something else.

4. Shit will go wrong. Monitors won’t work, CDJs will be fussy, and power will go out (multiple times). Gigs will get canceled. Happened a bunch in 2022. Just be cool about it all, laugh, and chalk it up to playa chaos.

….Tons of people (sound techs, lighting, stage builders, etc) worked tirelessly, for free, to provide this experience for you under insane conditions, so don’t place real-world expectations on the teams.

This point actually applies to the real world too. People try their best, and we should just adapt, provide polite constructive feedback, and move forward the best we can

5. I don’t care if you are a sync DJ… but I recommend you learn how to beatmatch before Burning Man. You may end up in back-to-back situations with DJs who don’t rekordbox, or the sync button might fry (yes I’ve seen that happen).

Goes for the real world too: you don’t want your thumb up your butt when going back-to-back with a vinyl DJ where you can’t rely on the comforts of the CDJ. Missed opportunity.

6. If you want to play more gigs, ASK (politely). I also ASKED camps for a couple of gigs this year. The big camps will say no as their lineups are locked, but smaller camps might say yes.

At my previous camp, Short Stack…we said yes to a few rando-walk-in-DJs, with the caveat that if we’re not feeling the music, we would nicely ask to transition to just hanging out with us, without music…and a couple of times, we were exposed to some great new talent, and glad we had them play.

Some camps are based on sweat equity (which I love). Offer to work the bar, manage bikes, and assist in the build. Offer real-world help too. Maybe you won’t get a gig this year, but for next year you will be appreciated + held in good graces above the rest of the pack.

7. Don’t be rigid over set times – shit regularly runs late due to the aforementioned playa chaos. When conflict arises with another DJ, ask the host of the camp/art car to arbitrate. If they are incapacitated (which is not uncommon), then just be cool and compromise.

Tho, if some big-name DJ tries to kick you off the decks (not naming names here, but this happened to me), stand your fucking ground. This isn’t a Vegas nightclub. We’re all equals, regardless of how many bottles and tables we can sell in the commercial world.

8. You’ll have opportunities to meet [BIG DJ], and you may want to get an in with them. Truth: Most busy touring DJs just wanna hang out, get silly, and meet fun people on the playa when they aren’t playing. Say hello, be cool, and save the industry talk for off-playa.

9. Prepare 10x more music that you are slotted to play. You never know what gigs will pop up. And your 2-hour set might become a 5-hour set… this has happened to me. Thanks, Dixon for showing up late to P Diddy’s camp. I had a blast all 5 hours 🙂

10. Label all your USBs with your name and camp address. Good chance you’ll lose one, and a good chance someone will return it. People are generally awesome.

11. Keep a USB stick on you at all times. I keep mine on a necklace (I know some think this looks ridiculous or like some kind of flex, but in my book, practicality wins)..and you never know when a random gig opp will emerge (see #6).

This reminds me of a great spontaneous moment I had with Patrice Baumel years back. Near the end of the week, we just traded USB sticks. Unexpected moment, and I had a huge step function increase in my music collection and knowledge. Be open, and aim for those moments!

12. Bring 2-3 extra copies of your USB stick. Keep at least 1 extra on hand with you (you don’t know if the CDJs will be linked!), and keep the rest packed safely at camp.

13. Write down/print all your gigs with set times + camp locations (+ camp contact phone numbers) on multiple pieces of paper stored in various places. Put it in a waterproof plastic sleeve (or laminate it if you’re an uber-nerd).

Also, there’s a good chance your phone battery will die/overheat, so in general don’t keep any critical information stored in digital form only.

14. Be OK with music gear getting DESTROYED. If you spent your life savings on a vintage synth or an M2 MacBook, leave it at home. Also, as mentioned, laptops may overheat, though current conditions look quite pleasant.

15. PLEASE take some musical risks. Burning Man is an opportunity to push your artistry. Include all those weird oddball tracks that you never get to play at clubs in a special folder. Shit gets wacky out there, people are way more open-minded.

I respect a DJ who takes risks which flopped way more than a DJ who plays flat-line safe music for 2 hours. And there’s gonna be a lot of cookie-cutter music out there, think about how you can stand out.

One year I would ABSOLUTELY LOVE for there to be a year where NO SETS are released from Burning Man. There’s so much buzz and career potential around a Burning Man recording blowing up, DJs often end up playing to the recording rather than the moment. Fight that urge.

16. Play older music. Almost every DJ is buying the same music that came out in the last 1-2 months. Old music tropes and production styles sound fresh against new music. Again, we’re gonna hear a lot of the same shit out there, how can you stand out? H/t @enamourmusic

17. Last year I said publicly posting a flier with all your gigs is lame. I’m revising this to: do what you fucking want. The culture is beyond a point of return, and I need to stop being an old grouch with antiquated views.
^^ If somebody wants to treat Burning Man like a music festival and chase set times, that’s their problem, not mine, not yours.

I’m posting my set times in my discord. That way, I can rationalize feeling good for not technically PUBLICLY posting the set times, but only SEMI-publicly posting them, where anyone from the public is welcome to join. I know, this makes no sense. Whatever, feels right to me

18. Bring your ID and a cup to your gigs. I usually bring a few beers for myself too. It’s best to enter playa situations NOT expecting special treatment. Be as low maintenance as possible. There very well may be more DJs than non-DJs out there, you’re not special 🤣

19. Before you play, take a minute to ask around and find the closest place to pee – as mentioned, your 2-hour set may become a 5-hour set. I have a hilarious story based on personal experience that got quite gross/messy. Ask me in person sometime.

20. Lastly…really….truly…HAVE FUN. Easier said than done in many cases with so much chaos and opportunity abound, but just enjoy the ride, and laugh as much as possible.

Also hey if you wanna talk about some of this stuff or dance music in general, join my discord.

Or hear some of my music, check out my Soundcloud, and here’s a fan-fave Robot Heart set of mine.

You can check out Atish’s complete original X thread below.

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