New front board - what do you think?

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rickryan.com

rickryan.com

DJ Extraordinaire
ODJT Supporter
Dec 9, 2009
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Hendersonville, TN
www.rickryan.com
I've been using my new front board the past couple of weeks. Interested to get some feedback on it. The unit is 2' high with a 2" center hinge piece (so it folds flat). The middle 2 sections are 2' wide with 15" width on the outer panels. I covered it in a fake alligator covering. On a standard table it brings the top of the unit to chest height (I'm short). You can sit down and hide behind it or stand and see everything. It also covers my gear completely.

By the way, for lighting this week (we were in a 4k sq ft barn) I used a Martin Acrobat, mounted under each K10 top and I put up a separate tripod with a Chauvet Intimidator 255 mover. In this facility, the tops/lights were about 20 feet spread, on either side of a huge fireplace. This setup was not DMX but it was very effective. The beams from the movers punched all the way to the back wall (80-100 feet) and the Acrobats gave a really nice splatter, all around the dance floor. This coming week for my Sweet16 I'm planning to use the same thing but will be adding 4 flat mirror scanners, which are DMXed. I'm intending to hang these from a 15ft mini-truss section with a projector filling the space in between the uprights.

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Maybe it's just me, but the speakers look too weird that high up on a stand. The frontboard looks OK .. hard to see the detail in the picture.
 
steve149 said:
Maybe it's just me, but the speakers look too weird that high up on a stand. The frontboard looks OK .. hard to see the detail in the picture.
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I actually had the speakers lower down than usual. Those are 11 ft stands and I've been cranking them around 9-10 feet and am loving the coverage. I do have to be careful that they're very well protected. If I have to put them in harm's way, they'll be a lot lower and likely tucked up against my table. As for the front board, I'm looking for some kind of strip fixture that I can hang over the top, maybe a strong purple or blue color. It should still be sub-dued but I'm just wanting a little more punch to it. At least it beats plain black.
 
steve149 said:
You can use some UV tape lights ... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075ZQZDB...t=&hvlocphy=9003394&hvtargid=pla-379512359200
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I bought 2 of these Blacklight (purple actually) strips. They're 16" long. Am thinking to just bend the mounting bracket and hook it over the top of each of the center boards. It might be too much light but I figured it should go well with this week's party. If it works, I'll start using it as standard. I thought about tape lights but I'm still going to have to build out some kind of tray to have them shooting down across the front boards.

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Are those dimmable at all?
 
I built a new one for smaller events and used it yesterday. The venue had tight parking, with no room for our trailer. So this folds up to 2'x4' and is about 8" thick. So it fits nicely in the back of a SUV. I prefer floor length over a table top one. I also bring my own table.


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awalker19 said:
I built a new one for smaller events and used it yesterday. The venue had tight parking, with no room for our trailer. So this folds up to 2'x2' and is about 8" thick. So it fits nicely in the back of a SUV. I prefer floor length over a table top one. I also bring my own table.


View attachment 33371 View attachment 33372
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That's a great looking presentation. How heavy/bulky is that facade?
 
Being honest...I do not like the look of that table topper facade. Too tall. Too bulky looking. It looks like you cut up a box into 4 sides, and covered it in black thick felt.

I personally believe a table topper facade should not be more than 20 inches above the table.

Also, I'm not a fan of the inverted look on the table topper ends. I feel they should go straight back, and look parallel to the table. Now does that matter at all to customer and guests? Nope.
 
DJ Ricky B said:
Being honest...I do not like the look of that table topper facade. Too tall. Too bulky looking. It looks like you cut up a box into 4 sides, and covered it in black thick felt.

I personally believe a table topper facade should not be more than 20 inches above the table.

Also, I'm not a fan of the inverted look on the table topper ends. I feel they should go straight back, and look parallel to the table. Now does that matter at all to customer and guests? Nope.
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I can respect that. I do like the height but agree, it needs some more pizazz (not too much, but some). The way it's jointed, I can bring the wings straight back but on a 6-8 ft table, I'd rather angle them, like I had. Thanks for the opinion.
 
DJ Ricky B said:
Being honest...I do not like the look of that table topper facade. Too tall. Too bulky looking. It looks like you cut up a box into 4 sides, and covered it in black thick felt. I personally believe a table topper facade should not be more than 20 inches above the table.
Click to expand...

I'm not a fan, either...for the same reason.
It doesn't look the least bit inviting, it looks like a barrier.
And since it's all black, it kinda screams "STAY AWAY!"
 
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Ausumm said:
I'm not a fan, either...for the same reason.
It doesn't look the least bit inviting, it looks like a barrier. And since it's all black, it kinda screams "STAY AWAY!"
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I agree. I never used one. I had a very compact and INVITING set up.

I encouraged guests to come up and chat. When they did, I'd motion them to come around to my side of the table so we could talk easier without the music drowning us out.

Made many new clients that way.
 
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rickryan.com said:
I've been using my new front board the past couple of weeks. Interested to get some feedback on it. The unit is 2' high with a 2" center hinge piece (so it folds flat). The middle 2 sections are 2' wide with 15" width on the outer panels. I covered it in a fake alligator covering. On a standard table it brings the top of the unit to chest height (I'm short). You can sit down and hide behind it or stand and see everything. It also covers my gear completely.


24177074_10154899135352307_4060979337903604738_n.jpg
Click to expand...
It looks too high to me too but I thought that might be because it isn't the same length as the table. I'm hoping it looks better than it does in this photo too. It looks home made to me. The alligator covering doesn't look good in this photo. At first look I thought it was a poor spray paint job.
 
Definitely too high - the height should be about half of what it is now. You don't want it hiding you or the gear on your table... it should be there to hide your wiring, drink or whatever else you don't need people to see, but short enough that people can see the top of your laptop and you from the waist up. For all we know, you've got nothing but an iPod back there.
 
rickryan.com said:
That's a great looking presentation. How heavy/bulky is that facade?
Click to expand...
Its not too heavy. I built each 2X4 panel using 1/8 MDF with 1x3 MDF framing them. 2 panels are hinged together. I would say 2 together is about 15 pounds.
 
azdeejay said:
I am not a fan of the table topping topper either , If you gonna go, might as well go big and use one that covers the entire front of the table.
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I can't say that I'm 100% a table top fan either but I do like this front board for portability. I'm still on the fence about the height. Yes, it hides the DJ to chest high but it doesn't seem quite as un-inviting as some here have chimed in. I've only used it on 2 events so far so I think the jury is still out on that aspect of it but it seems to be well received so far. I'm going to downlight it with a pair of BL strip lights this week for my Sweet16. BTW, I also ordered another 5 of those cheap (but bright) blacklight cans. For BL, I'll have 9 cans, 2 strip downlights and 3, 400-watt UV cannons in a room for 50 kids. Probably gross overkill but I've just never been able to pull off a blacklight party to my satisfaction. I'm making a real effort to up my game and hopefully get some good promotional footage on this week's event. Taso's really inspiring me to think that there's a market to be created for higher-end Sweet16s in this town.
 
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