Where to set up?

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"I will have to abide by the clients decision of where they want me"

This is what I would do.....Let the client and venue choose your location and make the best of it. A small party of only a 100 with a long and narrow room with all hard surface walls, any place will work perfectly. I don't see any benefit of being in any one spot or another.

Secondly, when you start trying to tell the venue operators how to prepare their floor plan your input may not be appreciated.
 
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"I will have to abide by the clients decision of where they want me"

This is what I would do.....Let the client and venue choose your location and make the best of it. A small party of only a 100 with a long and narrow room with all hard surface walls, any place will work perfectly. I don't see any benefit of being in any one spot or another.

Secondly, when you start trying to tell the venue operators how to prepare their floor plan your input may not be appreciated.

There is a balance here. You will get put in a lot of bad spots just because people don't know anything about sound and logistics of DJing.

I'm always polite about the ask, but I will ask at least once if they put me in an undesirable spot.

This was an actual e-mail I sent to a planner after looking at her floor plan:

You have my arrival time as 2:00, which is right in the range I'm shooting for.

My only concern is placement in the tent. I normally try to get speakers as close to the dance floor as possible, without tables in between. If I'm in the back right corner, I can pull the speakers along the back wall of the tent to achieve this (left and right of the head table). But in the current placement, next to the entrance, I can't really do that. The effect being that it will be too loud for those tables right in front of me during dancing - or too quiet on the dance floor.

Totally your call, but I'd shift to the back corner if given the option.

She could have said, "We don't care, deal with it." And I would have set up in a stupid spot. And it would have negatively affected the event.

But she didn't. They moved me right where I asked, which was still out of the way (which I know is all they cared about).
 
I'd go middle of long window wall to minimize sound reflections. Those floor receptacles look dangerously high .. I envision a few trips during the event.
 
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There is a balance here. You will get put in a lot of bad spots just because people don't know anything about sound and logistics of DJing.

I'm always polite about the ask, but I will ask at least once if they put me in an undesirable spot.

This was an actual e-mail I sent to a planner after looking at her floor plan:



She could have said, "We don't care, deal with it." And I would have set up in a stupid spot. And it would have negatively affected the event.

But she didn't. They moved me right where I asked, which was still out of the way (which I know is all they cared about).

yeah... i always approach these conversations humbly and with an heir of flexibility... subtly molding the conversation into a sort of pow wow or "worshopping" session...in which we are a team deciding what is the best option... and unless they are hell bent on some specific spot...9 times out of 10 they take my input as an experienced professional and run with it...

cc
 
Those floor receptacles look dangerously high .. I envision a few trips during the event.

hmmmmm that one in the corner spot looks super high... but the rest seem pretty standard....maybe an inch or two above code... i will gaff nicely tho

....or should i say....Whisper will...lol *whip crack

cc
 
Setting the sound system and speakers next to or on the edge of the dance floor area is always my objective too. I have had a few instances where the venue will want to place tables between me and the dance floor area.

And oh yes, I will address this as well when needed. But crazychris hasn't indicated this to be an apparent issue. So, I still say take the spot they give you, this room won't require any thing special to achieve good sound.

Had the exact situation this past Saturday. The attached image was taken from my sound booth, BUT the speakers were placed close to the open dance area in the middle of the room. The venue owners, said, well that's just they we do it here when I brought up the sound situation. Agreed, some people don't know what's best for our purpose. 37343
 
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Well,

At a resort today on vacation. They had a pool party from Noon to 4 p.m. today. The DJ they had doing the event mentioned he has been coming to the resort to do these pool parties for 13 years now. ...He used a pair of JBL EON 615 Speakers. There must have been AT LEAST 350 or more guests between the two Pools he was pointing his speakers at. The volume was fine. People were having fun. He did some hula hoop games.

350+ people, and 2 15 inch speakers with no subs had plenty of coverage for the event. ...Granted it is outside with my current example, but surely a indoor event with 90 guests in a room with less than 2,500 sq feet won't need a Sub.
 
The volume was fine.

That's always the argument that "no sub" guys use. The argument has never been about volume.

You are simply not reproducing the whole spectrum without a sub except for at very low volume.

You're right... you can get by without a sub at almost any gig. Does it mean people won't appreciate when it's done right? They may not know why it's different, but people know when it sounds really good.
 
That's always the argument that "no sub" guys use. The argument has never been about volume.

You are simply not reproducing the whole spectrum without a sub except for at very low volume.

You're right... you can get by without a sub at almost any gig. Does it mean people won't appreciate when it's done right? They may not know why it's different, but people know when it sounds really good.

True. I have concluded that most people do not like it to be too loud, or for there to be too much bass.

Most events that Mobile DJs book and perform at have no real need for a Sub. DJs use Subs out of preference, OR because their sound system requires subs to be used to have adequate bass (Bose L1, other line array systems for example). Many DJs, Audio Phyles, and perhaps EDM Club Ravers are the only people who believe that a Sub needs to be in use.

I have seen plenty of performances by bands and DJs alike, and I appreciated the performance without a sub being used.

In Fact, most traveling bands did not use Subs until the 90s, and even then and up through now, many still do not.

Looking back at my DJ career thus far, Subs have not produced more income for me by me using them, and I have had 1 single client ask for one to be used out of 1,000+. Of all of my events outside of that 1, I only used Subs out of my personal preference. It is because I wanted to use a Sub or multiple Subs. No one cared wether I brought them or not. I would have earned the same pay if I had just set up 2 12 or 15 inch speakers, and the event would have had the same results.

Now, I would certainly prefer to use Subs if I were doing a club style event, OR High School Prom or Homecoming. ...But I don't do those, and those events are not typically big money makers either.

With Weddings and typical parties, The result is just as good wether I use subs or not. ...Only difference is I have less equipment to set up and tear down if I don't bring in a Sub or 2. I guess there is a 2nd difference. There is less of a chance of Grandma or the Mother of the Bride asking for a reduction in bass and/or volume if I leave the Sub at home.
 
In Fact, most traveling bands did not use Subs until the 90s, and even then and up through now, many still do not.

Name me a single band that is playing on systems without subs...

Ultimately, I'm not trying to change your mind on this. It doesn't make a tiny bit of difference to me whether you agree with my position. You've consistently shown a preference for doing as little work as possible. And then in the same, non-ironic set of thoughts, you'll talk about how this is a shrinking industry and how it's all getting worse.

DJs that aren't doing the bare minimum are still growing.
 
Name me a single band that is playing on systems without subs...

A whole lot of them do right around the DC/MD area I have seen in person:

Dean Crawford
Edjacated Phools
Foggy May
Sara and the Igniters (Seen them use subs, and not use subs - They use Mackie Subs and Speakers)
Escapade (When they were together - Big Wedding Band)
Doctor's Orders (Popular Wedding and Mitzvah band over the last 15+ years)
Crooked Creek
StarCrush (They used GIANT old Speaker Cabs though)
Joint Operation
Cage N6
Night Life (Popular Wedding Band )
Amaretto (High energy wedding and party band)
The Great Train Robbery (They have been around forever. They were using a pair of Yamaha DXR 12)
8 ohms (Funk band out of Annapolis)

I can think of others, those are just the ones that come to mind. Also, I don't think I have ever seen a Jazz band using subs. I guess they feel the natural sound of the drums and bass is enough.



I would say I have seen more bands not using Subs than I have seen bands using subs in person.
 
A whole lot of them do right around the DC/MD area I have seen in person:

Dean Crawford
Edjacated Phools
Foggy May
Sara and the Igniters (Seen them use subs, and not use subs - They use Mackie Subs and Speakers)
Escapade (When they were together - Big Wedding Band)
Doctor's Orders (Popular Wedding and Mitzvah band over the last 15+ years)
Crooked Creek
StarCrush (They used GIANT old Speaker Cabs though)
Joint Operation
Cage N6
Night Life (Popular Wedding Band )
Amaretto (High energy wedding and party band)
The Great Train Robbery (They have been around forever. They were using a pair of Yamaha DXR 12)
8 ohms (Funk band out of Annapolis)

I can think of others, those are just the ones that come to mind. Also, I don't think I have ever seen a Jazz band using subs. I guess they feel the natural sound of the drums and bass is enough.



I would say I have seen more bands not using Subs than I have seen bands using subs in person.

Lol... I thought you were talking about touring acts.
 
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Lol... I thought you were talking about touring acts.

Comparing a main stream touring act who does concerts in large pavillions or arenas for 10,000+ in attendance to a mobile DJ who does events for 300 or less, and often 50 to 125 guests is irrelevant.

Also, While Subs are probably used for concerts (I am no sound guru with a high level of knowledge on the standards on this) ...I have often not seen any subs in plain sight when I attended a large concert. What I saw were large array systems suspended in air. I could not make out any subs being used in plain sight.

Going back afew years to the old DJ Expo days where the Promo Only Concert series was taking place at the House of Blues...The sound was output through a large array speaker system to maybe 400 to 500 DJs in the crowd, and it sounded abolutely terrible, and overbearing, LOL. I figured sound quality would be horrible at a DJ Expo, LOL.