Monthly Archives: June 2012

Starting from Scratch

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-written by Brett Allen

Get it? It’s a pun because I used to be a DJ — never mind. Actually, over the last 20 years, I have been a club, wedding and event DJ, a radio personality and as of lately, a member of a band. When I first started out, we played at the largest club in the area. The dance floor had about 40 PARs covered with five different-colored gels and a — wait for it — mirror ball with a minimum of two spots illuminating it. I eventually relocated to a different venue where the owner operated a high energy, Vegas-style nightclub. In addition to the basic fixtures, we bought intelligent lighting, fog machines, confetti canons and a laser that didn’t do anything except shoot a beam across the bar and presumably blind people, but it sure looked cool. We were something new and exciting, and it worked for us.

When I started the band, I applied the basic principles of DJ formatting. We knew our target demographic, practiced until we were tight and had a front man with
personality. Even though we attracted a decent-size crowd, it was nothing like we envisioned.  We decided to go out and see what other bands had going for them. One was musically better than us, but had a minuscule crowd. (Maybe it had something to do with their boring performance — they just stood there and didn’t move.) The next group was awful but had a huge crowd. Their singing was bad and they were out of tune.  The difference was their band had energy and ambiance, and we didn’t.

I stepped back and realized our band needed to be run the same way as my wedding business. Let’s face it, well-placed lights create energy and complement the mood of a song. I built light monitors, linked them together and attached four PARs and a strobe light. The monitors form an arc around the front of the band and bathe the singer and guitarists in light while a bar system featuring sound-activated lights is located at the rear of the stage.

I’ve decided to ditch everything and move to LED and DMX controlled lights. I’m trying to decide what will work best for me in terms of programming. My goal is to build up my show, light by light, and create scenes. So if you are in a band or starting out as a DJ, it seems you can build a system that won’t cost an arm and a leg but will create huge energy on the dance floor. Just by starting from scratch.

Rotosphere™ LED Romances the UK

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MixDisco, located in the UK, shared this photo with us on Facebook. Here is their new RotoSphere™ LED in action during a wedding at Dunchurch Park Hotel and Conference Center.

CHAUVET® DJ Attends ArmDJs 5.0

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CHAUVET® DJ traveled to Tennessee for the ArmDJs 5.0 conference. Nearly 200 DJs participated in industry-related seminars and tested out the latest CHAUVET® DJ lighting gear, including the Nimbus™ professional dry-ice machine, ultra-bright Gobo Zoom™ LED 2.0 and 100% TRUE wireless Freedom™ series.  Check out some photos we took while we were there.

One-on-one with Max Morgan

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Max Morgan is the technical manager at Chauvet and has been with the company for almost three years. Read on and get to know a little bit about him.

1. Where are you from?
Spanish Town, Jamaica

2. Why CHAUVET®?
I didn’t know very much about Chauvet prior to working here. One of my friends working for the company informed me of an open position, so I applied and the rest is history.

3. Where did you work prior to joining Chauvet team?
I was a technician for Martin Professional.

4. Favorite food?
My all-time favorite food is fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp.

5. Favorite type of music?
I have two — I love listening to Classical and Reggae music.

6. Favorite thing to do outside of work?
I enjoy going out to dinner. My favorite restaurant is Joe’s Stone Crab.

7. What is one thing about you that people would be surprised to learn?
I’m a tailor. I enjoy sewing and can make clothes, hem just about anything, you name it.

8. A show without lights is like…
A show without lights is like a dark, dark world. It would be a disaster.

CHAUVET® lights Catwalk for Charity

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Lit entirely by CHAUVET® fixtures and sponsored by Neiman Marcus, the second annual Catwalk for Charity, held at Miami’s Mandarin Oriental hotel, raised funds for Breakfast with Santa (BWS), a non-profit organization serving underprivileged children in Miami and Haiti.

Thirty CHAUVET® DJ COLORtube™ 3.0 EQ  fixtures and four CHAUVET® Professional COLORdash™ Batten Tri wash lights lit up the show’s translucent, 40-foot long runway.

Additionally, four CHAUVET® Professional Legend™ 412 VW variable white wash lights illuminated the models on the catwalk. To provide ambient lighting within the venue, 15 CHAUVET® Professional COLORdash™ Battens wash lights lined the walls and created a soft glow. CHAUVET® DJ ShowXpress™ and CHAUVET® DJ Xpress™ 512 Plus controlled the fixtures.

3 Steps to Create a Beginner’s Rig

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Become a professional DJ and have a setup like Jay Fitzgerald of The D’Jay Company. He uses SlimPAR™ 56 wash lights to illuminate this wedding at The Mission Inn in Riverside, Calif.

As a DJ who is just starting out, you should know that your lighting rig is as
important as your sound system. Including lighting in your DJ setup makes you
look more professional and can significantly increase your profit potential. To
upsell a client on a lighting package, every rig should include a variety of wash
and effect lights.

Of course we have to suggest some of our favorite fixtures. Some of our favorite wash lights include DJ Bank™, any of the SlimPAR™ fixtures and 4BAR™ Flex. Adding a Comet™ LED or any of the MiN™ or Scorpion™ lasers to your rig will create movement and colorful effects. Read on for tips on building a rig.

DJ University is an online resource for the DJ/mobile performer sponsored by CHAUVET® DJ.

TRUSST® line debuts at InfoComm 2012

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TRUSST®, the new line of trussing backed by Chauvet, launched in booth C11301 at InfoComm 2012. TRUSST® is aluminum truss systems built with care for exhibitions, mobile entertainment, small- to medium-sized productions and corporate events and retail applications.

DJ Profile: DJ Dennis J

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DJ Dennis “Dennis J” Jones, owner of The Creative Music DJ, has been entertaining since 1987. Located in San Diego, his full service, turntable-based entertainment company provides entertainment for weddings, corporate events and upscale birthday celebrations.

1. How and when did you get started as a DJ?
I have always been into music, and have a great deal of respect for the art of “turntablism.” When I was old enough, I got a job and saved up enough money to buy my first set of turntables. My neighbors can attest to the nightly sounds coming from the garage as I learned to mix by ear with vinyl. I didn’t have any DJ friends so I taught myself the basics and bought VHS tapes to learn more.

2. Is this a full-time job or something you do on the side?
This is my full-time career. I did the collegiate thing in the past and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Business. Working Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., meeting couples every night to discuss weddings plans and DJing once or twice every weekend got tiring. I was laid off in 2008 and decided to pursue DJing full time. I have been fortunate enough to earn a decent living off of it.

3. What CHAUVET® fixtures are included in your setup?
4BAR™ Tri is my staple lighting fixture. I’m actually thinking about purchasing another one to illuminate the other side of the room. I also have a decent amount of CHAUVET® LED PARS for uplighting.

4. What is your favorite fixture and why?
My favorite fixture is the 4BAR™ Tri — it gives opportunity for great dance floor photos. I see a lot of photos and the dance floor is always so dark — not my events. Here is a photo of a dance floor with just one 4BAR™ Tri:

5. Best advice you can give someone just getting started in the DJ industry?
Practice your craft. There are a lot of people making money who just ‘play music’ who have no respect for the art of DJing. If you want to stand out, don’t be one of those people. Also, embrace working with other professionals. A good, professional vendor makes DJing a lot easier and much more enjoyable.

6. What are your top three most requested songs?
“Party Rock Anthem,” “Cha-Cha Slide” and “Cupid Shuffle” are my most requested songs. I’m guessing those will be replaced by another Top 40 hit in the near future. Nowadays, songs that come out don’t stick around for very long.

Band Profile: MyParasites

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Based in Philadelphia, MyParasites is a band that performs elements of industrial, screamo and aggrotech music under the light of CHAUVET® DJ fixtures. They have traveled all over the country and are gearing up for a full U.S. tour in the fall. Read on and get to know more about the group who coined the genre “ScrEBM.”


1. How did you come up with the name of your band?
MyParasites represents all the things that eat away inside us — like everyday struggles and life. We created the name when we started making music and feel that it really describes what the songs are about.

2. How many members are there?
MyParasites is comprised of four members:  Jaws (vocals), Eddie Threat (bass and
synthesizer), Chloe (drums) and Glitch (lead synthesizer).

3. What type of music do you play?
We’re an electronic act that plays industrial music. It’s a kind of harsh electronic sound that is created using samplers, synthesizers, guitars, electronic drums, angle grinders and a little bit of mayhem.

4. What CHAUVET® fixtures are included in your setup?
For a lot of ultraviolet-reactive fun, we place two LED Shadow™ blacklight panels at both ends of the stage. Four LEDsplash™ 86B wash lights are attached to our electronic drum kit and are activated using Midi and two DMX-4 LED dimmer/relay packs. For added effects and movement, we set up an Eclipse™ RGB laser and a couple Mini Strobe™ LED strobe lights around the stage.

5. Are they permanently installed somewhere or do you set them up for each
performance?
The LEDsplash™ 86B wash lights are attached to our drum kit, which is easily disassembled and folded up. As far as the rest of the fixtures, we pretty much scatter them around the stage and light them up so setting up doesn’t really take that long.

6. Complete this thought: A show without lights is like…
Just boring. Lights and music go hand-in-hand because they complement each other — especially with the way we program our lights. Every time the snare drum and cymbal crash are hit, the whole drum kit lights up. The LED Shadow™ panels make the whole stage ultraviolet reactive during specific parts of the songs, while the strobes flash during certain breakdowns. The fixtures enhance the performance and give the audience a real show instead of just listening to music.