First time for everything, never thought static was a really serious issue...

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jaswrx

DJ Extraordinaire
Feb 15, 2015
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I went to set up this weekend and had to use the venue's house system (crap EV ELXs that overheated--that's for another story).

Anyhow, there was a huge amount of static electricity "floating" around, and during setup, everyone was getting shocked, even when not touching audio equipment. We were set up outside (Hollywood rooftop).

If someone touched a metal picture frame, they would get zapped.

The problem was that when I touched any of my equipment on my table (all meta cases) or even touch the venue's mixing console, not only would one get shocked, but it would cut the sound off. Even when doing my sound check in the middle of the room, I would grab the wireless mic, and my lips would get buzzed. It was awful

The ground was made of astroturf and I think this was the issue, but as time went by it got better. I was beginning to panic as there would have been no way I could have DJd, so of course the venue blames me, and to prove a point, I unplugged all my stuff, no difference.

I finally got PSAV to admit the static thing was something they had dealt with, but they claim it was extra bad today. They said it was the first time that the sound would cut off though...

Anyhow, luckily enough, it stopped doing it completely once more people were there and it got cooler. Not sure if it was related or not, but I tend to think so. This venue has weddings every week, and maybe people just don't notice when doing a quick sound check, and by the time guests arrive, the issue disappears, and thankfully, or there would have been no wedding.

What on earth, could have caused this. It was very stressful for everyone.
 
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... Anyhow, there was a huge amount of static electricity "floating" around, and during setup, everyone was getting shocked, even when not touching audio equipment. We were set up outside (Hollywood rooftop)... What on earth, could have caused this...

Well... I could explain how static electricity is generated, but it would make no difference, because it happens. The reason it is worse sometimes than others is humidity... the lower the humidity, the worse it becomes. The thing to do is to somehow increase the humidity. Perhaps misters or water bottles with sprayers???
 
it was superrr dry, but that is just crazy. What do big corporate and concerts do in this type of situation?

I guess it got more humid as the day went on and the sun went away... To the point, where it stopped completely which is why the venue was so defensive saying they have weddings every weekend here, and no one has complained, but me.

Besides getting shocked every few seconds, sound cutting out was a real thing and it looked like it was my fault.
 
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it was superrr dry, but that is just crazy. What do big corporate and concerts do in this type of situation?

I guess it got more humid as the day went on and the sun went away... To the point, where it stopped completely which is why the venue was so defensive saying they have weddings every weekend here, and no one has complained, but me.

Besides getting shocked every few seconds, sound cutting out was a real thing and it looked like it was my fault.

I suspect the reason you were getting shocked so frequently is because you were poorly grounded. You could have taken off your shoes and gone barefooted, which would have likely stopped the shocks. Not sure how that would have gone over with the guests though.[emoji1]
 
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I suspect you were getting shocked so frequently is because you were poorly grounded. You could have taken off your shoes and gone barefooted, which would have likely stopped the shocks. Not sure how that would have gone over with the guests though.[emoji1]

New Name: DJ Bare Foot

"Hi Ladies and Gentlemen! I am DJ BareFoot (Points to feet). I hope everyone has a Electrifying Evening tonight! ...The electric slide is coming up next! Let's get some SHOCKINGLY awesome dancers out here!"

:)
 
lol, but for real, is this a known thing?

There has to be a real solution. This would never be accepted at a concert, so there must be something that would help.
 
lol, but for real, is this a known thing?

There has to be a real solution. This would never be accepted at a concert, so there must be something that would help.
Yea .. Fake grass is plastic .. rub some rubber shoes over it and it generates static electricity. With humidity, the voltage has somewhere to go (through the water molecules) .. without it it goes through you. Same effect if you rub a rubber comb against a balloon and then through your hair .. it'll stand up (well, maybe not on me) ..

Better places will have the plastic turf grounded underneath and will use filler material to limit the generation. If it's outside, they may actually water it to discharge the plastic fibers.
 
First time I ever heard of such a thing. I heard of static electricity but never being shocked repeatedly while working an event. Hopefully you're doing well.

You said you had to use the venues system and it kept cutting in and out. Why did you have to use the venues system? My guess is the reason the system kept cutting in and out is due to so many DJs using the system and some of them not knowing what to do causing the system to now have issues. Clearly not every DJs what they are doing when using a system. They want to crank things up thinking that's how you impress the crowd. They don't know turning a system way up causes distortion and if being used that way regularly will damage the system. I personally would like to use my own system because I'm used to how it works. It's strengths and weakness. I also don't like using a venues system because if something goes wrong while I'm doing the event , I can be blamed for the system failure, even though it may not be my fault at all. Thus they can hold me responsible for the repairs.
 
to conclude, it doesn't look like there is anything I can do in the future if this happens again which is kind of scary.

If it had not settled down, I simply could not have DJd between getting shocked every minute and the sound cutting out when I touched anything electrical.
 
You also mentioned you had to use the venues system. I was wondering why is that? I think a member here said they weren't allowed to bring in their own gear and was forced to use the venues system.
 
I hate Santa Ana weather conditions. I once worked in an office with carpet that would produce lots of shocks and during Santa Ana conditions (hot & dry) you learned not to grab doorknobs. The trick was to hold a metal object in your hand and use that to touch other metal objects first.

Not sure why the sound dropped out but it could be an internal limiter in the speakers that kicked in when it sensed the shock. The drop out was probably the release time of the limiter. Anyhow, a dropout is better than the speaker cones exceeding their Xmax and tearing.
 
I couldn't see the amps, so I am not sure what was happening. Both my mixing board and PSAV's mixing board still had power and levels were showing when it would happen, but not sure on the amps (there were 100 feet away racked so we couldn't see).

We ended up using my system (lat minute change) when the coordinator insisted and forced the venue even though it's against their rules. Never happened with my system... but to be fair, I think it has almost completely stopped by the time we made that change.
 
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You also mentioned you had to use the venues system. I was wondering why is that? I think a member here said they weren't allowed to bring in their own gear and was forced to use the venues system.

B/c that is the venue's rules and the client signed a contract. Unfortunately, I was told about it the day before, and couldn't just back out of the gig-I wouldn't have agreed to it/taken the job if I would have known that at the time of signing. The reasoning for using their installed sound system is b/c of noise ordinances in the surrounding Hollywood neighborhood. I even received a call the from the head of PSAV and the event manager the day before making sure NOT to use my sound system, and to ONLY use the installed house system.
 
B/c that is the venue's rules and the client signed a contract. Unfortunately, I was told about it the day before, and couldn't just back out of the gig-I wouldn't have agreed to it/taken the job if I would have known that at the time of signing. The reasoning for using their installed sound system is b/c of noise ordinances in the surrounding Hollywood neighborhood. I even received a call the from the head of PSAV and the event manager the day before making sure NOT to use my sound system, and to ONLY use the installed house system.

Did their system have monitors for your booth? or were u able to use those from your own rig?

cc
 
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My speakers were basically light stands going into the venue. I told them I had to bring my speakers b/c they are what the lights mount/sit on, so they agreed to that, so long as they were unplugged.

We finally made the switch to my system right before the doors opened, but to answer your question, NO, I could not use my speakers as monitors.

The sound system at the venue was 10 small 8-inch speakers spread evenly along the wall I was DJing. They had subs on either side too, but the whole system sounded awful when turned up. Really distorted sounding. My Bose Compact could have done a better job. My guess, just not enough power going into the distributed system. Great fo lively background music, and nothing else.

Luckily, we ended up using my sound system, and I was so happy about that- they just kept on telling me to turn it down, but at least it was clear/clean audio.
 
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