nigelwright7557

I use a very old package called Visual Page. You just type in the words you want and add pictures accordingly. If you start getting into the things like Dreamweaver or Visual Web Developer it becomes much more difficult unless you understand HTML etc

Its probably worth recording which venues have sound level checks and warn the bridal couples accordingly. A wedding is a very important event for most people and it seems a shame to spoil it. This is yet another reason why I wont do wedding parties. Simply too much hassle. I tend to just play pubs and clubs where they arent so bothered about sound levels.

I just wont take on gigs unless they have easy loading/unloading. I work alone so stairs and long carries are out. If I had to take on a roadie for the evening I would have to charge quite a bit more.

I would expect that of a high powered amp. Most lower power rating amps have to work into standard speakers of 4 or 8 ohm hence a spec into that impedance. My own home build amp works into 1ohm or less but I wouldnt get the full power out of it. It is best matched to 4 ohms due to the tarnsformer I used.

I have 6 hard dome tweeters in my system and the amp barely seems them as they are high impedance. Not sure i would mix 8R and 4R speakers in a system. One set is likely to be half as loud. 8R and 4R are nominal valuesas the imp-edance of a speaker can vary wildly over its frequency range. Some have massive peaks at the resonant frequency.

It is interesting how some people spend a fortune on equipment and carry on doing so, and others make do with what they have. The first disco I worked for was a home build with a few bits and pieces bought in I dont recall them ever buying new equipment, just patching up the old gear. Dont get me wrong, the lights looked great and the disco sounded good too. They certainly got loads of gigs and in the end expanded to having upto 5 discos out on the same night.

But a DJ is behind the speakers. I couldnt work with the speakers behind me coz the mic would feedback. Status Quo had their ears checked after 30 years of playing in front of speakers and they were fine. I find that amazing as I went to one of their gigs in 1977 and couldnt hear for 3 days afterwards ! If must be all that hair they have over their ears protecting them.

After you have spent a lot of money on records it seems a waste not to use them. I did a chairty gig for the first disco I worked on a couple of years back and they still had their vinyl record collection. I sold all my vinyl may years ago and when I started again bought CD's. I found the CD's harder to work with as I had bought mostly compilations. Trying to remember where a certain track was became difficult. Playlists on laptops and MP3 players do take a bit of the fun out of DJing but make the job much easier. The panic as one track ends and you still havent found t

Its worthwhile reinstalling XP every few months just to get rid of rubbish according to many computer mags. I have done this a couple of times and it made a big difference. I just reinstalled Vista after 6 months and that was a nightmare. Blue screens of death and a "operating system missing" message half way through ! Having a hard disc that is working well within its capacity is advised. Having plenty of memory too. I use 2GB with Vista and it is much faster than 1GB

Its asking for trouble if you black out or cover the windows on the back of the van. If people can see there is no gear inside they wont break in. Any one leaving gear in a van over night is asking for trouble. Mine always gets put in the house regardless of what time I get home.

Thanks for the memory, thats an old one !

A few pubs and clubs have closed near me. Its not just smoking but the price of a night out now. Drink is expensive so a lot of people tank up before going out. This means people hit the pubs/clubs later. Perhaps another argument for keeping disco prices down to make them more attractive ?

I think if I was starting off I would be looking more at what experience I could get rather than how much I should take off people ! I would try and get as many gigs in as possible to get the experience. Even if you are just breaking even to start with.

It depends if you play what people want or not !! I have accidentally cleared the floor befere by putting on the wrong CD ! I usually make a joke about it and tell the roadie to get the van running !

A PC is porbably the best way to go now. You can set up a few playlists and work from there. I use CD and MP3 at the moment. But a PC is the way to go next for me. A DJ gets a lot of attention and that upsets some people so they have to try and run the DJ down. Surely making the job easier using a PC is the way to go ? Its got to be better than skipping cd's !