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First real gig

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  • January 8, 2015 at 8:02 pm #2118151
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Amen to that, Alex!

    Lights is a bit of a tricky subject. You can go ape with light or you can do it without. With today’s LED-powered lights option have become bigger (the old lighting rigs were not only heavy and awkward and cumbersome to transport and setup, not to mention running so hot you had to switch them off half hour before takin them down LOL, but also took huge amounts of power, that were usually certain circuit-breaker breakers in non-commercial venues).

    You can pick up a few lights for a couple of hundred bucks that will do wonders for a small room with 50-100 people in it. Lots even come with batteries and/or wireless DMX (lighting control). Many DJ’s I know just toss them somewhere and set them to music mode and done.

    When in doubt though, rent! You get good quality gear, well serviced and if like it, you can then go and buy something like it. Don’t like it, you rent something else next time around until you find what you like best.

    January 8, 2015 at 8:14 pm #2118181
    Alexandre Laffond
    Participant

    In fact I already have some lightings, I have 1 laser (cheap one, only making dots) a “gobo” effect, and a litle projector that changes his color with the sound, also I have a very cheap smoke machine. do you think this could be enough ?

    January 8, 2015 at 10:06 pm #2118191
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Probably, although (but this is highly personal) I have had very bad results with smoke machines the last couple of years. When mine broke down a year ago I decided never to get a new one. Too many complaints, especially when used in relatively small spaces. People don’t like the smell, smoke detectors are an issue (even if they don’t get set off, there is someone alsways worrying about them going off all night, which means nagging you), real or imagined breathing problems. Everything seems to pass. It was once the mainstay of any serious mobile disco show, but I think we need to but smokers to bed forever If you are gonna use anything, use a non-oil hazer. Those are pretty expensive though, so only viable if you have a serious light show that will fully benefit from it’s effect (800 USD and up).

    January 9, 2015 at 1:24 am #2118241
    ScottoRobotto
    Participant

    I love lighting effects so I think you could use a little more. To my mind there are four areas that need to be filled with lighting:
    1)The back/side walls
    2)The dance floor
    3)The air/ceiling
    4)The area behind the DJ

    Back/Side Wall
    Depending on the venue the walls can be very boring, lights and color can be used to break this up and create texture on an otherwise plain wall. You can use uplighting or a projected lighting effect like your laser. I this case I think you should set up your laser about 10 feet high and aim it over your crowds head to hit the back wall.

    Dance Floor
    The dance floor is another area that tends to be relatively plain, you can use a projected effect like a moonflower, a gobo, or moving dots. Depending on the rest of the setup you may be able to use the reflect or diffused lights from other effects to light up the floor without adding anything for the floor specifically. This might be a good spot to use your gobo.

    Air/Ceiling
    If you have fog going, it’s pretty easy to fill the air with beam type lighting effects. If not you can use projected effects to light up the ceiling instead. You can use the fog machine and the laser you already have for the back wall for this.

    Behind the DJ
    You want to create interest behind you or on your both as well. You can use uplighting or effects on the wall behind you or on your booth scrim. If you have fog going the beams from your lighting can create interest on their own. If not you can use chases on your lighting or strobes. This is the area where I think you need lighting.

    You have a projector that changes color, I assume a static gobo, and a laser. The laser has some movement but it sounds like it’s probably slow and won’t really show up unless there is fog. Some kind of chase and strobe effect would probably work well.

    The Chauvet 4Play CL is four moonflower effects linked on a rail with clear casing. They project dynamic effects on surfaces, they put beams in the air with fog, and the clear casing lights up which works well when it runs a chase or strobes. They run about $230 new on Amazon.

    The American DJ Jelly Dome is a rotating mirror ball effect with a translucent casing. It projects dots in a wide area, throws off beams with fog, the casing rotates, and it changes color and strobes. I want to pick up one of these as a centerpiece and for slow songs, you could shut off the other effects, change it to a static blue/purple/pink, and put it on a slow rotation. They run about $170 on Amazon.

    Part of the reason I’m recommending strobes is because too many effects will add too much ambient light which tends to kill the mood and reduces the impact from effects because there is less contrast.

    Another reason to use a lot of effects is so you can cycle them, if you have the same effects playing for all the songs they may not match well and eventually it gets boring. Change it up the same way you change up music.

    January 9, 2015 at 7:42 pm #2118691
    Alexandre Laffond
    Participant

    My smoke hasn’t made any problems yet, and I don’t use it a lot
    Thanks for these advices scott ! I checked then 4 play and I think i’ll buy it later, I saw the boomtoneDJ Evoquattro and octabeam led effects, what do you think of them ?
    Also I thnk I’ll buy an American DJ’s Atomic ball, it could be a very cool effect wth smoke for that very cheap price !

    January 10, 2015 at 1:57 am #2118751
    ScottoRobotto
    Participant

    I’m not really familiar with those lights, I couldn’t even find the ADJ Atomic Ball. If you think it will work with your other equipment and for the type of music you play, then try it out. The main reason I like the Jelly Dome is because is has DMX and a lot of capabilities which makes it flexible for different types of music.

    January 10, 2015 at 1:53 pm #2118821
    Alexandre Laffond
    Participant

    I don’t think we live in the same country that’s why we don’t see the same products I think.
    The atomic ball is just the same than the jelly dome but wthout DMX and less powerful bulbs in it I suppose, seems working although
    I’m going to my friend’s music store, he’s making sales today

    January 12, 2015 at 4:55 am #2119181
    ScottoRobotto
    Participant

    Personally I would want DMX to get a slow 3 rpm rotation for slow songs or R&B. Right now I have a ADJ halogen Vertigo in that spot which isn’t ideal, no strobing, no DMX fixed rotation speed, and multi-color dots only. For slower songs I switch over to a cheap LED effect light from Spencers which puts out red green and blue dots cycling through two at a time. The dots slowly rock back and forth or they can do sound reactive or strobe but I have to manually push buttons on the unit. I got them cheap and they work adequately but if I spend a bit more in the first place I could have had more capabilities, it would have been easier to use, and I would have more flexibility for different genres. Just food for thought.

    January 12, 2015 at 8:32 am #2119251
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Good lighting has gone down seriously in price. Manufacturers like ADJ and Chauvet do make pretty decent budget-friendly lighting these days, a vast improvement over early day gear. But I do suggest you think long and hard about your light PLAN before committing to anything. It’s not the amount of lights, but the effectiveness. Sometimes it’s better to spend slightly more on slightly less gear, than it is to try to get as much gear for as little money as possible, as Scott commented.

    My recommended basic setup would be something like this:
    1) A set of stand mounted flood lights/pars (like the ADJ DOTZ TPar system, works with an easy to operate footpedal and even an RF remote control! until you are ready to move to DMX). They can hold two extra fixture per bar, so nice and compact setup.
    2) One or two Revo’s (3 or 4 are both nice).
    3) Finally I’d be looking at 2 compact LED moving heads, like the ADJ Inno Pocket Beam Q4 (or Chauvet equivalent) which give a professional appearance imho or scanners (although I don’t like them much because of the moving mirrors being much more vulnerable).
    4) couple of battery-operated (either with or without wireless DMX) LED bars for uplighting walls and behind the DJ
    5) budget allowing, a hazer would complement this setup and really bring out the beams without all the drawbacks of a smoke machine.

    This will give you a still rather compact setup, but with a pretty high light output, easy setup and quite some variation in lighting possibilities without breaking the bank completely. Also, it allows you to build your light system in blocks. Start with the bars, add a couple of uplighting fixtures, then some Revo’s and then some moving heads. That way you can expand in a pace that you are financially happy with it, while still having decent lighting to begin with.

    I use ADJ as examples, but Chauvet is about the same in quality and product offering, although I don’t know if they have a DOTZ equivalant. It’s just that Chauvet is not a big name brand here in Holland (yet?).

    January 13, 2015 at 3:21 am #2120301
    Michael Risola
    Participant

    You should check out the new Chauvet DJ Gig Bar. I’ve seen it for about $449. Perfect for Mobile DJ work.http://youtu.be/sXDAtutWPFE

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