Seismic Audio – Slider4 PA Mixer or Yamaha MG06? Newbie Here

Are you making money off of these parties?

The universal answer you will almost always get here is – rent, don’t buy, until you are making enough money from your gigs that they are paying for their own gear. Plus, this way, you will probably have access to some expertise from the folks who are renting you the gear to be able to answer questions like this for you.

There are folks here who really grok the math behind a sound system, but they’re going to start by telling you what I just did, so I’ve at least saved them a bit of typing.

Not familiar with the Seismic Audio but I have the Yamaha MG06x (version with FX) and its a great piece of kit…I don’t think you could go wrong with that option and you can definitely grow into it. If there is an XLR or TRS out on your controller then you’ll need at least two. Otherwise I’d go RCA out on your controller and then RCA to 3.5mm to your speaker. You could go XLR out from the PA mixer but you wouldn’t get any benefit sound wise I think other then a more secure connection but I’m not 100% sure on that so don’t quote me.

I started off with one speaker as well but that’s because I didn’t want the hassle of renting. My thought was when I buy two more mains I’ll use my first as my booth monitor. Now I’m thinking about getting another pair for sound reinforcement at larger gigs. As for actual recommendations I have a pair of EV ZLX 12P and they will definitely do the job. Sound fantastic, look great, and very reliable. The low end Altos sound nicer then Mackie Thumps to my ears but definitely have a listen and if you can find something used or on clearance thats a great option too.

If your playing at college parties the only thing I’d probably do is rent a sub because it will make all the difference in your sound. Finally unless you don’t mind blowing up someone’s home speakers then don’t play out with those…bad idea all around.

Try to find a local rental company where you can build a relationship. Tell them you are a dj that wants to rent pa for client events and what discount they will give you. Clearly you want to make some money from organising the PA. I typically get between 15-25% discount from my rental suppliers.

Powered speaker = active speaker = amp built-in. And since it beats a passive setup hands-down (for DJs! not saying this is true for bands or larger venues/festivals!) I’d never suggest getting separate amps and speakers anymore.

Typically the “rule of thumb” for DJ PA is 5-10 Watt RMS power per person in the room. So if you have to aim to please a 200 person crowd at high (dance) volume, you are looking at 2,000 Watt (again RMS, not the hyped music power) setup, most likely involving 1 or 2 sub woofers to boost the low end.

The difference between 100-200 is actually a pretty big leap. Anything from 30- to 80 people is considered small room and you should use matching gear. While bigger gear will certainly deliver the desired sound levels, it will be relatively bulky for a small room, take up (lots) of valuable space and generally be overkill.

By the same token, a setup for small rooms will be under-powered and look “lost” in a medium sized room that will hold 200 people.

This is actually one of the reasons I suggest renting. You’ll be playing from 20 to 200 people as you say. With rental gear you can scale up/down to fit the venue and number of people. I don’t know your local situation, but I’d suggest talking to your music store and figuring out what, if anything, they can do for you.

As for buying your own gear, I’d get something highly portable that you can bring to smaller events (say up to 50-60) people, easily transportable and small footprint. Since a few years there are sets that bring that, you’ll get one (sub)woofer and two satellites with built-in amps (sometimes even a small mixer) in a size that belies the volume it produces.

Examples are LD Systems Dave and HK Audio Lucas Nano series. But newer models have been released last year as well. They truly do sound a lot bigger than they look, yet are highly compact and fit in a regular car for easy transportation.

Personally I have a setup with 2x 12″ all range and 1x 18″ sub, which will allow me to “do” a room up to about 200 people. For small parties it really is already too bulky (they seriously do look out of place at a house party for example, even if I leave the sub at home). But 50-60 people up it will do.
Putting out maximum of 2K RMS they provide excellent sound quality at high volumes. Budget (new) was 3.5K+ though.

It always seems that owning is the best option (I was that way too long ago!), but the economics don’t flip in your favor unless you can earn back your investment in 14-16 months when you charge 3-4% of the value in rent. This means you have to rent out your gear a whopping 25-33 times in 14-16 months. If you play out paid that often, you will have no problem saving up in a year to get that 3.5K sound setup and earn it back in the next year. Until then, save your money for other things a DJ needs.

Just my two cents, as usual.