I’ve worked in clubs as both a guest and residential DJ, on cruise liners, as a radio DJ and these days I make my living as a moble DJ. Each week I get to visit new locations and meet a whole new crowd of people. I’ve played in some fantastic locations including castles, stately homes, tents, gardens, onboard ships and yachts and even one night in a well known London museum. It’s this variety that I most enjoy about my work, but back to the challenges.
One of the main problems we must manage as mobile DJs is carrying all the equipment we need to each gig. The club DJ only has to turn up with his selection of records and CDs whereas I need a medium sized van to carry all of my DJ gear.
These days I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic assistant who helps setup and break down my sound and lighting rig at each gig. But only a few short years ago, before I started to charge a decent fee, I had to carry all of this equipment myself. One key factor to consider when choosing DJ equipment for mobile use is how compact it is. It must be small and ideally lightweight.
The DJ speakers that I use are the powered variety. This means that I don’t need power amplifiers and my system setup is much simpler. There are far fewer cables to worry about and less that can go wrong. For the past two years I’ve been using an excellent pair of active JBL PA speakers and they have proved to be a fantastic choice.
Another key consideration for mobile DJs is lighting and effects. Club DJs don’t usually need to concern themselves with club lighting systems as these are generally already in place, often with their own dedicated operators. For us mobile DJs we’ve got to do it all ourselves. But luckily these days there are some compact DJ lights that use LEDs making them relatively lightweight, low power and cool.
But probably the most essential piece of mobile DJ gear is the music. That’s not equipment I hear you say, and you’re right. But I’m really referring to the medium which might be vinyl records, CDs, DVDs and increasingly MP3 files. This varied media means that I need turntables, CD players, a DVD player and some form of MP3 player. These days I carry one DJ CD player, a pair of reliable Technics 1210s and my laptop full of MP3 files. I route all of these through my excellent DJ mixer and I’m just about ready for any requests, from Mantovani to the Wombles.
You must log in to post a comment.