Tag Archives: Intimidator Spot

DJ Profile: Dr. Byrd

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Joe Banko, aka Dr. Byrd, owns Stone Age Lighting & Sound in Arizona and is one of the newest members to the CHAUVET® DJ VIP Rewards program. He spent 12 years on the road as a lighting designer and roadie, then went on to work in the IT industry. After a few decades, Banko grew tired of the IT sub culture and went back to the entertainment industry. He specializes in parties, proms, weddings, corporate events and any other type of event where people want to have a great time. Read on and get to know a little more about your fellow DJ.

1. How and when did you get started as a DJ?
I spent 12 years on the road as a lighting designer and roadie. Traveling the country in a Winnebago or 12-seat plane can be fun, but it can also physically burn you out. You do learn to cook and that ended up getting me married. I got sidetracked for a couple of decades in the IT industry, ended up getting tired of the IT sub-culture, and went back to entertainment a couple of years ago. I have much more fun throwing photons and sound waves around in creative ways.

2. Is this a full-time job or something you do on the side?
Both — it depends how busy I want to be. I use about four software packages and have written an iPad application to run all of them from a single device. I also run and program my DMX/MIDI sequences from the same application using my iPhone to send live video to my video switching software. This allows me to interact with the audience and run the show at the same time — people love to be involved. For side jobs, I’m also a data analyst, database developer and software developer.

3. What fixtures are included in your setup?
My setup includes: Scorpion™ RGY and Scorpion™ GBC 2.0 lasers, LED Mushroom™ and 6SPOT™ effect lights, a MotionFacade™ LED drape and a Bubble King™ bubble machine.  I’m looking to add a bigger truss system, a Nimbus™ dry-ice machine, Intimidator™ Spot moving heads, more uplighting and Xpress™ 512 Plus.

4. What is your favorite fixture and why?
My Scorpion™ lasers. I have loved laser technology since I was a teenager and you can program the heck out of these using DMX.

5. Best advice you can give someone just getting started in the DJ industry?
Watch: what’s hot in video, what gets people dancing and what the competition is doing. Listen: what’s hot in music, how to hook tunes together and what your clients want.

6. What are your top three most requested songs?
“Gangnam Style” by Psy, “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO, “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey.

Cleveland Production Puts Faith in CHAUVET® DJ

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Photo Credit: Rachel AndersonBrecksville Theatre on the Square’s production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” uses CHAUVET® DJ fixtures to light the stage, highlight actors and create effects during each performance. The musical features four Intimidator™ Spot LED 350 moving heads to highlight actors, four SlimPAR™ 56 wash lights to warm the truss, two COLORstrip™ linear wash lights to light the scrim and a Hurricane™ haze machine.

Directed by Geoff Short, with musical direction by Jason Falkofsky and choreography by Jen Justice, “Jesus Christ Superstar” is playing through March 24. Click here for more information.
Photo Credit: Rachel Anderson

Team CHAUVET® Builds Epic Booth at DJ Expo

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The CHAUVET® DJ team built an epic booth for the 2012 DJ Expo. The entire booth was constructed using TRUSST®, the rugged and economical trussing system backed by CHAUVET®, and featured more than 150 fixtures in action. In addition to sponsoring and lighting the main stage, we hosted a seminar delivered by DJ Mikey Mikey with upselling tips to increase your bottom line and another on ShowXpress™ — the software that turns any computer or smartphone into a lighting console.

Attendees witnessed the debut of hot new fixtures. Two new fixtures joined the Freedom™ series of 100% TRUE wireless fixtures, while amped up SlimPAR™ Quad-6 IRC and SlimPAR™ Quad-12 IRC wash lights joined the SlimPAR™ series. Nimbus™ flooded the show floor with low-lying clouds and Geyser™ RGB produced intense explosions of color, fog and light. Other big hits included the easy-to-use TRUSST® trussing system, as well as the ultra-bright and fast-moving Intimidator™ Spot series.

 

An Examination of Intimidator™ Spot LED 150

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Kenneth Merenda, aka DJ K-Rock, of Houston, Texas considers himself a DJ hobbyist. Though DJing is not his primary source of income, he frequently DJs for promotional events like in-store fashion shows for clothing boutiques, the Simon Fashion Show held at the Houston Galleria and an annual winter hair fashion show for Visible Changes salon. Merenda just added an Intimidator™ Spot LED 150 to his setup — read on as he reviews his latest addition.

1. Why did you select a CHAUVET® DJ fixture?
I did quite a bit of product research for fixtures in my price range, and CHAUVET® was always the most popular. That information, coupled with my past experience with CHAUVET® fixtures, made it an easy call.

2. Why did you decide to purchase the Intimidator™ Spot LED 150?
I knew I wanted a moving yoke, but I wasn’t going to commit to anything until I saw it in action. When I arrived at Guitar Center and saw all of the display fixtures they had running, there was one that stood out brighter than the rest – Intimidator™ Spot LED 150. I had to get a sales representative to verify that the fixture I saw really was the one I was thinking of. I couldn’t believe the output. I bought this fixture the same day I bought the new iPad, and I had a lot more fun playing with the fixture than I did with the iPad.

3. What specific features were you looking for?
Fixture quality and brightness were the most important. Whatever I decided on had to be very bright and I didn’t want an ugly or cheap looking fixture because most of my events are done at fashion shows where house lighting stays on.

4. What do you like best about the Intimidator™ Spot LED 150?
The output is, by far, the best.  It exceeds the brightness I expected from an LED fixture and creates nice crisp edges with the gobos. For the price of this fixture, there isn’t too much not to like. A prism or rotating gobos would have knocked it out of the park, but I’m still happy.

5. Do you feel it’s easy to operate?
Incredibly easy. Setting up DMX is just as simple as switching to sound-active mode or using fast/slow macros.

6. Would you recommend this fixture, why or why not?
I would absolutely recommend it.  I plan to get at least one more myself. I DJ for two reasons:  the music and the toys.  I hate cheap DJ light shows where you can tell they bought the “party lighting package” box.” Intimidator™ Spot LED 150 lets me put on a nightclub-quality light show without spending thousands of dollars.

DJ Profile: DJ Audissey

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DJ Audissey is originally from Hawaii (Hana, Maui & Makakilo, Oahu) and currently resides in Las Vegas, Nev. While he primarily DJs at nightclubs and festivals, he has DJ’d at every kind of private event you can imagine. DJ Audissey is also a reggae singer/musician and goes by the stage name “Joseph Soul.”

1. How and when did you get started as a DJ?
I became interested in DJing when I was in fifth grade. I went to my best friend’s house to work on a science project and heard a stream of endless music coming from his brother’s room. Long story short, his brother taught us both how to DJ and I began working with the family business. Today, I mainly do nightclubs and festivals. I specialize in MUSIC — period. Music is more than just a job to me. Growing up, I told myself to never stick to or hate one specific type of music. I continue to live by that today in all the clubs and festivals I perform at.

 2. Is this a full-time job or something you do on the side?
This is more than a full-time job, it is my career and more importantly my life. It has always been my destiny to work in the music industry because I come from a rich lineage of music professionals.

3. What fixtures are included in your setup? What are you looking to add?
 I don’t normally work in the mobile DJ circuit but I really have a thing for moving heads and the Intimidator™ Spot LED series really impresses me.

 4. What is your favorite fixture and why?
I’d have to go with the above mentioned Intimidator™ Spot LED 350. I might be doing a small club install in the near future and will probably go with a few of these.

5. Best advice you can give someone just getting started in the DJ industry?
Stay in school and go to college! You can make a career out of DJ’ing but it is very tough. I would suggest getting a degree in business because that is the hardest thing for me to manage. The talent and the “fun” come easy and naturally, but making sure your books are kept (and out of the red) is crucial.

6. What are your top three most requested songs?
Nowadays I get more “artist” requests. In other words, people come up to me shouting a specific artist as opposed to a song. The top three, in no particular order, are Pitbull, Rihanna, & Flo-Rida.

Stars shine on Intimidator™

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Stars Rental Company, an entertainment supply company located in France, uses a combination of 10 Intimidator™ Spot LED 150 moving heads and 12 MAC Aura™ to illuminate smaller-sized gigs.