Good Gig, Bad Gig.

I had a good one myself. I was at a venue that I used to do regularly twice a month promoting and DJing my Alternative nights and Retro nights.

I was booked for a 30th birthday party by a girl who used to go regularly to both of the nights. She actually does a bit of DJing herself and claims that I am an influence on her which is nice I guess. Anyway, I knew the majority of the 100 guests and the list of requests that I was provided with (around 300!) looked pretty much what I'd been playing over the past few years. There was Indie/New Wave/Electronic/Punk/Ska/Grunge. It was great. Lots of dancing.

I thought I'd struggle doing a 2.00am finish as it's been a while but it was really easy because everyone was dancing and the time flew by.
Bit of a nightmare getting in. It used to be easy as you could park directly outside the door but there is a lot of building and road works going on so I couldn't get near the venue.

What I also found interesting (to me anyway) was that back in the day I used my JBL's and Subs and I now realise that it was far too much for a pretty small venue. My Mackies on their own last night was plenty.

Got to bed in the end at about 5.45am but luckily I have tonight off. It's my last Saturday off now until the new year so I am going to make the most of it.

There seems to be a pattern developing for me recently. Guests turn up early, drink, chat, and eat buffet, while steadfastly ignoring me. Two hours later, with an early finish looming, due to venue restrictions, they go barmy, and fill the floor just as I'm on the last three records. Pretty much exactly what happened last night. Client and boyfriend were delighted with me, but I couldn't help feeling a little less than ecstatic.

Also, two nights running, I've rolled up with a grand's wort of lights strapped to the overhead, and the venue have insisted on firing up their installed cluster lasers, dotty LED lights, and the like. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm wasting my time taking my lights. :confused::confused:

Roll on next week, a big crowd of Young Farmers till late, big system, lots of my lights, lots of noise, lots of fun. ( Hopefully )

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Originally Posted by Excalibur

Also, two nights running, I've rolled up with a grand's wort of lights strapped to the overhead, and the venue have insisted on firing up their installed cluster lasers, dotty LED lights, and the like. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm wasting my time taking my lights. :confused::confused:

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I've actually told venues to turn their lighting off in the past. I didn't spend hours DMXing my lights to have the effect ruined by a mess of uncontrollable dots doing their own thing.

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Originally Posted by Corabar Steve

I didn't spend hours DMXing my lights to have the effect ruined by a mess of uncontrollable dots doing their own thing.

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Morning CJ. :whistle:

I've been reading the posts here for long enough so thought I would post one of my own !

A charity night at a local club with a live singer (own PA) and a massive raffle !

Set up equipment on the stage ready to go with the soundcheck and although I knew there was a sound limiter I couldn't believe how sensitive it was. Disconnected the subwoofers completely and was able to get an acceptable level of volume although it was a bit of a pain.

Spent the entire evening with one eye on the limiter and it didn't trip out once despite the BIG red light coming on a few times. Felt very strange not being able to gradually increase the volume as people started to dance etc and it actually became a source of entertainment for a few of the guests watching the lights leap into the red!

One of those nights where you feel a bit on edge and I must admit I wasn't putting into the great night category.

At the end the organizers were really grateful and want to book for next year and the venue manager even came over for some cards so it just goes to show how perceptions can differ. Thinking about it the day after its actually not a bad venue if you can handle the stress of the sound limiter and sound equipment required is minimal so setup/packup is quicker.

Looking back my night was pretty painless, it was the Olly Murrs tribute who had to remove all the base from his mix and ended up like he was singing through a transistor radio !

Saturday night was a 65th birthday/retirement bash (surprise party with about 100 guests, and a buffet for 400)

Took the new DXR15's, lighter and quicker to set up than my usual passive set up, way easier to put on my gas lift stands.

Setup initially with the d-contour on, had to turn that off, too much bass.
Even with the d-contour off, I still had to eq down the bass below 0db. (When the room filled up, I adjusted back to 0db which worked a treat)

Only issue I had was during the setup, I purchased a small flexible LED light to allow me to see my mixer/laptop better. Everything worked well, until I did my wireless microphone test with it switch on. Yup RF interference :(. The light is not filtered. Looks like that's going in the bin.


Onto the gig, first hour was quite slow (playing current music), just the usual kids running around playing with balloons etc, then after that the floor filled when I started to play the older music, and a great time had by all.

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Originally Posted by Corabar Steve

I've actually told venues to turn their lighting off in the past. I didn't spend hours DMXing my lights to have the effect ruined by a mess of uncontrollable dots doing their own thing.

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^^This.

I've upset a few venues by asking them not to use their lighting. I have specific sequences. For the first dance, for example, I wash the room out in an electric blue with pink hearts on the floor (dancing on hearts, as it were). How crap would that look with some random STL lighting doing what they want?

Had a couple of decent gigs over the weekend. Only gripe was this so-and-so of a photographer. Soon as I set up and was playing background, he came up to me and said "Make sure you turn the laser off when the first dance kicks off." My reply was simple: "What laser?" He just assumed I had one, and went on to gripe about how the cluster lasers look awful in the pictures (still don't know his name by this point), by which point I just replied with "Look at my rig. Do I look like someone who has a :Censored: £60 laser?" I refrained from mentioning that if he was any good at his job, it wouldn't matter. :p

The couple wanted to cut the cake before the first dance so I, like I always do, put a spotlight on the cake. No photographer has ever complained about it before, but this guy shouts across the room "Oi! Turn that :Censored: light off!" I have no problem with turning it off if that's what the photographer wants, but that was no way to tell me. Especially since I was nice enough to let him store his bags behind my booth.

Needless to say, when he came to collect his gear, I had a few choice words for him and reminded him about how he should act a lot more professional. By which point, the groom came over and voiced his disapproval about the way the photographer has been acting all day.

Fair play to you too!

A few months ago I had a weekend where the photographers on each night were like chalk and cheese.
The one on the Friday was totally professional and very nice. As soon as I turned up he came over to me and introduced himself, asked if I had confirmation of the first dance and we got on fine. I asked him (like I always do with the photographers) if he wanted all of the lighting on or just the white starball lighting. He said it didn't matter and it was totally up to me.

The one the following night didn't say one word to me until it came to the first dance. She came over and asked what was happening as it was delayed because everything was running about 20 minutes late. "I've been here all day and I want to get home" was the first line, no introduction or anything. With reference to the lighting I asked the question again and the reply was "What do you usually do?" My reply was "I ask the photographer want they prefer"
She came across as not really having a clue to be honest. There was pink uplighting on that night and I just put the white lighting on again. I did actually advise her (because I'd seen it done before) that a good shot might be from the opposite side of the room so she could get a kind of silhouette when the B&G were in front of the Disco set up and equinox screens. She turned her nose up at that idea as if she was a bit narked that I had told her how to do her job when that wasn't the case at all.
Mind you, when the B&G sent me a couple of photos from the night, one of them was exactly what I had advised and it was great.

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Originally Posted by Shakermaker Promotions

Fair play to you too!

A few months ago I had a weekend where the photographers on each night were like chalk and cheese.
The one on the Friday was totally professional and very nice. As soon as I turned up he came over to me and introduced himself, asked if I had confirmation of the first dance and we got on fine. I asked him (like I always do with the photographers) if he wanted all of the lighting on or just the white starball lighting. He said it didn't matter and it was totally up to me.

The one the following night didn't say one word to me until it came to the first dance. She came over and asked what was happening as it was delayed because everything was running about 20 minutes late. "I've been here all day and I want to get home" was the first line, no introduction or anything. With reference to the lighting I asked the question again and the reply was "What do you usually do?" My reply was "I ask the photographer want they prefer"
She came across as not really having a clue to be honest. There was pink uplighting on that night and I just put the white lighting on again. I did actually advise her (because I'd seen it done before) that a good shot might be from the opposite side of the room so she could get a kind of silhouette when the B&G were in front of the Disco set up and equinox screens. She turned her nose up at that idea as if she was a bit narked that I had told her how to do her job when that wasn't the case at all.
Mind you, when the B&G sent me a couple of photos from the night, one of them was exactly what I had advised and it was great.

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About four years ago, I did a gig in Albrighton and the videographer said those exact words. The wedding was running 3 hours behind, so I obviously did a fair bit of waiting around. I put some music on and was getting hassled relentlessly by this guy to do the first dance. I just had sound up by this point - no lighting (which I was still working on). Had a chat with the B&G and I told them "Since timings have gone out the window, just give me the nod when you're ready for the first dance."

Videographer is back and starts hassling me again. I said that I sympathise that he's been there all day, but then told him they'll do it when they're ready to. He starts whinging, and I reply with "Fine. I'll go ask them to hurry up on their wedding day so it would suit you." He then grabbed my shirt and called me some rather unpleasant names. I just told him that I was about half his age and twice his weight and unless he wants to feel my knee in his throat, it might be a good time to wind your neck in.

Bless him, he came back to me before he left and apologised. Came out with that he's tired/stressed/been there all day/dog died/moons not aligned/other excuses. I didn't say a word back - just gave him a nod. My subtle way of saying "You better thank your lucky stars that I'm working."

Ah togs.

Those poor, overfed, charge a fortune to carry a couple of cameras about and do some photo shopping really do have it rough :)

I've never really had any problems with them though last month I was doing a wedding and had DMX'd everything to be purple and white to match the bride and grooms colour scheme. Looked amazing when you walked into the room and would have been great for photos.

Unfortunately this dynamic photography duo were using cheap bridge cameras with toilet tissue over the inbuilt flash :rolleyes: so had to have the house lights turned up for the cake cutting and the first dance or else it would have been too dark!!!