Budget DJ Lighting - Spencers Light Review - DIY Speaker Stand Lighting - Creativity and Copyrighting

   More often than not, a mobile DJ will be on a budget. At least when first starting out. So it is important to be creative and think outside the box. When it comes to lighting, you DO NOT have to buy DJ specific lighting or lights sold by DJ distributors. For example, I found a light at Spencers (spencersonline.com) that has a bunch of bright colorful LEDs and is sound sensitive. It's perfect. And the best part, only $20 each. I bought two. Another example is my Do-it-yourself speaker stand scrim (or fabric cover). These are pieces of fabric that go over a speaker stand to expand your lighting and cover up speaker stands. A place called scrim-king.com sells these for $50-$100 each. Now that material and such may be better, but I made my own scrim for less that $3 using a sheet from Wal-mart, some scissors and some patience. So as you can see, if you are a DJ on a budget, if you  think outside the box and be creative you will have no problem finding the equipment you need.



   Another thing I wanted to cover and I think is important is creativity and plagiarism. I recently was checking other mobile DJ ads and websites for research and to stay competitive. I came across a DJ who it looks like basically copy and pasted my DJ website and put it on his website. So every word of service, rates, and so on were essentially now his words on his website. I was obviously frustrated at first but I remained professional and sent him an email simply stating that he should change the wording on his website, or I will be forced to get a lawyer. About a week later his website was changed and the words on the pages looked to be his own (or so I hope.) Bottom line is that I know it can be hard to be creative and come up with exciting wordage and unique ways of up-selling your service. But as legitimate DJs it is important to remember to stay professional and be yourself. Sell YOUR service, YOUR marketing, and YOUR words. As DJs, you have to stay creative.

How to Pick Your DJ Lighting and Effects

   Any DJ will tell you, being a good DJ is way more than just music, or how you play your music. If you are going to perform as a DJ, you will need lighting and effects. There are many different kinds of DJ effects, including sound sensitive, LEDs, uplighting, bars, strobes, linkables, lasers, fog, and more.

   For begginers, you are going to want a basic sound sensitive light. Such as an American DJ Aggressor Tri LED or the American DJ Vertigo Tri LED. Most lights by American DJ are quality built, and nowadays you are going to want to use LED lighting. LED lasts much longer, is less hot, is safer, and is just a better value overall. Sound sensitive light have built in microphones that pick up audio from your speakers. So basically they dance to the music. This is good because it requires no extra wires except for power. Just set it up, adjust your sound sensitivity and let it run. These lights are inexpensive and work very well for any gig. Expect to pay $100-$300 for these types of lights.

   There are more forms of DJ lighting, such as light bars, which are just that. Bars with many LED bulbs in them with many colors which most the time can be sound activated and have many effects. There are also lasers. Lasers produce many pinpoints of light that sometimes have a moving effect. I prefer to point lasers at the ceiling where they can create a neat effect, while not blind the dancers. Another effect is the use of fog. The use of fog is mainly to see the rays of light that passes through it. It is especially good to use for lasers and very bright moving lights. Fog can be relatively inexpensive, but be sure with your guest and venue that it is okay to use.

   For the more experienced DJ, or the DJ who has a larger budget, there is more expensive lighting. Such as intelligent lighting or DMX controlled Lighting. These lights are much more expensive and have many, many options. You can precisely control almost every aspect of these lights, and these lights can be linked together to produce identical light sequences. Intelligent lighting includes computer controlled and programed lighting effects.In addition to these lights, there is a use for lights called uplighting. Uplighting is the use of lighting to project against a wall or vertical service to create a nice colorful addition. These lights can be one solid color or fancy lights that change colors.

   Lights to Avoid: It is a rookie mistake, but it still happens. There are some lights that are just not flattering at all. For example, strobes. These are just a terrible idea. Some DJ lights have strobing as an effect, but it only last for a few seconds. I am talking about the bright white light strobes. They are distracting, annoying, blinding and don't do much to add excitement to the dance floor. Strobes have their place, such as haunted houses, but not at dancing venues. Also, there are the spinning siren lights. You should almost never use these. On a very rare occasion, I may place a couple of these at the entrance to a venue or hallway to draw people in. But never on the dance floor, they are distracting and childish. Additionally, there are mirror balls, or disco lights. You know the large silver spinning ball you see at skating rinks. While I think there is nothing wrong with this lighting effect, I think it should be used in moderation. I believe these lights mellow out the mood in a room, so I personally use it only for slow or soft dances. The mirror ball should be romantic, ya know?

DJ Terms and What They Mean

There is a lot of terms that come with DJing and it can be hard to learn and remember them. Here are just a few.

• 1/4" - Quarter Inch is a cable for input and output. It is used for such things as speakers, amplifiers, mixers, instruments, and more. The end of this cable looks like a silver, pointed quarter inch plug around 3 inches long.
• Active Speaker - Active speakers are speakers that have amplifiers built into them and are ready to be plugged into a power source and a source of media (laptop, mixer, etc). Active speakers are typically more popular among mobile DJs because of their ease of use.
• Amplifier - Amplifier or Amp is an electronic device for increasing the amplitude of electrical signals, used chiefly in sound reproduction. Passive speakers need an amplifier where as Active speakers have amplifers built in.
• Beatmatching - Beatmatching is a DJ technique of pitch shifting or timestretching a song so that it matches the tempo of a song already being played.
• BPM - BPM stands for Beats Per Minute. BPM or tempo is the the pace of music measured by the number of beats occurring in 60 seconds
• DMX - DMX is an abbreviation for DMX512-A Basically it is a form of intelligent lighting that DMX input and outputs can be used.
• Gig - A performing engagement by a musical group or, any job or role for a musician or performer
• Media - Media for a DJ is anything that you mix or play. Such as a song, sound, effect, etc.
• Mixer - The exact definition of a mixer is a machine or device that mixes things. For a DJ that usually means songs, sounds, clips, audio, etc. Learn more about mixers here.
• PA - P.A. stands for Public Address, which basically means any large speaker used for many people to hear. So a PA system is a speaker system for many people to hear.
• Passive Speaker - Passive speakers are speakers that need to be connected to an amplifier to produce the right sound. Passive speakers require an external amplifier that's connected to the speakers.
• RCA - RCA is a cable for input and output. It is used for such things as speakers, mixers, media players, and more. RCA is often used for home theater set-ups. The ends of these cables is a plastic and has two inputs and two out puts. One red and one white.
• Uplighting - Uplighting is the use of lighting to project against a wall or vertical service to create a nice colorful addition. These lights can be one solid color or fancy lights that change colors.
• USB - Universal serial bus, a connection technology for attaching devices to a computer, providing fast data exchange. In the DJ world this is usually used for recording a song or clip onto a computer or laptop.
• Watts - a unit of power equal to 1 joule per second. Usually used for speakers or amplifiers.
• XLR - XLR is a cable for input and output. It is used for such things as speakers, amplifiers, mixers, instruments, and more. The end of this cable is a plastic and has 3 small prongs on the male end or 3 small holes on the female end.

Numark M6 Mixer Review

This is a fantastic Mixer! I was skeptic at first but it turned out great. It is built with quality and a lot of thought. It exceeded my expectations. Numark thought of every little detail on this mixer. It is less than $200 and gets the job done with all the necessary inputs and outputs. It has XLR, RCA, and 1/4" outputs. If you are looking into mixers, consider the Numark M6

What is a Mixer?

   The exact definition of a mixer is a machine or device that mixes things. And that's what I'm talking about! In this case it is a device that mixes media. Such as songs, sounds, clips, audio, etc. From a DJ mixer, these mixed sounds typically go to a wire that goes to a speaker, or an amplifier than a speaker.In most cases you will be mixing songs together using beat-matching. Mixers have a lot of buttons and options, as well as inputs and outputs. Here is a picture of the mixer i use for my DJing.The Numark M6. Here is my video review of it.

   Crossfader: The crossfader is the slider in the middle that slides left to right, usually towards the bottom of the mixer.The crossfader mixes audio from one source to the other. So if you have a song on side A and you want to mix in another song on side B, you simply move the slider to the right. This sounds a lot better and is easier than stopping one song and starting another.

   Inputs/Outputs: Inputs are sources of audio or media that go into the mixer to be mixed or played. Typically that would be audio wires like RCA, 1/4', or microphone. Output is usually media or audio such as a song or beat after it has been mixed, adjusted, tweeked or had some sort of effect but on it. Outputs will be audio wires like XLR, RCA, 1/4". These wires outputs will go to speakers or amplifiers. Sometimes a mixer has a USB output for recording onto a computer or laptop.

   Buttons and Switches: Some buttons you will find on a mixer are sliders for volume which usually go up or down. Knobs for controlling bass, mid, treble, and gain. Also there are switches for choosing inputs and so forth. Some mixers will have lights for gauging volume and activity.

CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF DJ TERMS