OT: DJ ing 20th renunion

[dlsbobby]

A long lost buddy of mine emailed me the other day and among other things asked me if I wanted to help him DJ the reunion He used to be in a band and has some PA stuff. With both of our equipment it looks like we will be able to put out some serious sound. While my setup is far from mid fi it's going to sound great at midnight. I can't wait for someone to say "can you turn it up"? One bass horn, four peavey low rider 18's subs, two 1x15 tops, four 1x double tens tops, two qsc rmx 2450's, one qsc rmx 850, three Ep-2500's, two alto eq's, CD player, mixer, mic and ear plugs. My buddy is bringing all the music. I just hope he brings good music. We are doing this for nothing but I'm sure someone will complain about "the DJ". This will be the first time that I'll have everything hooked up so wish me luck. Is there anything I might have missed? Robert. OH I have to get speaker grills for sure.

[bogie]

You need two CD players, and someway to definitely queue the disks that you can hear before you punch 'em to the system.

Make sure people can't play with the back of the system.

Make sure people can't set drinks on the stuff.

Make sure people can't pour drinks in the stuff.

> A long lost buddy of mine emailed me the
> other day and among other things asked me if
> I wanted to help him DJ the reunion He used
> to be in a band and has some PA stuff. With
> both of our equipment it looks like we will
> be able to put out some serious sound. While
> my setup is far from mid fi it's going to
> sound great at midnight. I can't wait for
> someone to say "can you turn it
> up"? One bass horn, four peavey low
> rider 18's subs, two 1x15 tops, four 1x
> double tens tops, two qsc rmx 2450's, one
> qsc rmx 850, three Ep-2500's, two alto eq's,
> CD player, mixer, mic and ear plugs. My
> buddy is bringing all the music. I just hope
> he brings good music. We are doing this for
> nothing but I'm sure someone will complain
> about "the DJ". This will be the
> first time that I'll have everything hooked
> up so wish me luck. Is there anything I
> might have missed? Robert. OH I have to get
> speaker grills for sure.

[quietstorm]

If possible, set the system up beforehand so you can troubleshoot. If you don't have a mixer you can buy a cheap, simple DJ mixer off ebay or, worse case scenario, get one from radio shack - but you need to be able to cue thru headphones. I think PE has some cheaper 2 channel Behringers, but I don't know if you can cue thru headphones with them.

AND to reiterate:

Make sure people can't play with the back or ANY part of the system. People have no qualms about coming around and readjusting your entire set.

Make sure people can't set drinks on or near ANY of the stuff, especially the electronics (yourself included). Unfortunatley, your speakers are viewed as a drink table. If you place them off stage, have someone go round every so often and take bottles and glasses off.

Make sure people can't pour drinks in the
stuff.

Good luck, and remember, have fun.

> You need two CD players, and someway to
> definitely queue the disks that you can hear
> before you punch 'em to the system.

> Make sure people can't play with the back of
> the system.

> Make sure people can't set drinks on the
> stuff.

> Make sure people can't pour drinks in the
> stuff.

[shawn_a]

Better talk to the lawyer and have a waiver drawn up to cover any structural damage. Are we talking THE HORN here? Is there any way Wolf and I could crash this shindig?

shawn

[bogie]

And another thing... Is this YOUR reunion?

1) Rent Bentley, Ferarri or Porsche.

2) Rent blonde.

3) Buy pimp suit.

4) Buy albino ferret, and teach him to ride on the hat.

> Better talk to the lawyer and have a waiver
> drawn up to cover any structural damage. Are
> we talking THE HORN here? Is there any way
> Wolf and I could crash this shindig?

> shawn

[shawn_a]

There is a certain purple velvet hat with leopard print fur trim that is yours for the asking. The ultimate in pimp daddy-ness for sure. The ferret wrangling is up to you tho.

shawn

[dlsbobby]

> You need two CD players, and someway to
> definitely queue the disks that you can hear
> before you punch 'em to the system.

> Make sure people can't play with the back of
> the system.

> Make sure people can't set drinks on the
> stuff.

> Make sure people can't pour drinks in the
> stuff.

Bogie, good tips, I have a dual drive CD player so I think we should be good there. Thanks Robert.

[dlsbobby]

> If possible, set the system up beforehand so
> you can troubleshoot. If you don't have a
> mixer you can buy a cheap, simple DJ mixer
> off ebay or, worse case scenario, get one
> from radio shack - but you need to be able
> to cue thru headphones. I think PE has some
> cheaper 2 channel Behringers, but I don't
> know if you can cue thru headphones with
> them.

> AND to reiterate:

> Make sure people can't play with the back or
> ANY part of the system. People have no
> qualms about coming around and readjusting
> your entire set.

> Make sure people can't set drinks on or near
> ANY of the stuff, especially the electronics
> (yourself included). Unfortunatley, your
> speakers are viewed as a drink table. If you
> place them off stage, have someone go round
> every so often and take bottles and glasses
> off.

> Make sure people can't pour drinks in the
> stuff.

> Good luck, and remember, have fun.

Quiet Storm, thanks for the help. I told my buddy that we have to get there two or three hours early to set up. Nothing worse than blowing somethings because you were in a hurry. I wonder how much feedback we are going to have from our mic. I hope I can eq that out. Thanks, Robert.

[dlsbobby]

> Better talk to the lawyer and have a waiver
> drawn up to cover any structural damage. Are
> we talking THE HORN here? Is there any way
> Wolf and I could crash this shindig?

> shawn

Yea, the horn, you know it really isn't that loud but you're right it's louder than a bass reflex. I really don't know how loud we are going to be able play. But you know before the night is over the master volume might accidently get bumped up. Do you guys really want to come? It's friday 25 nov. The day after turkey day. I can say you are our loading guys. I'll have to ask. Let me know if you are serious. Robert.

[dlsbobby]

> And another thing... Is this YOUR reunion?

> 1) Rent Bentley, Ferarri or Porsche.

> 2) Rent blonde.

> 3) Buy pimp suit.

> 4) Buy albino ferret, and teach him to ride
> on the hat.

Don't have enough guts to wear the pimp suit and too poor to rent anything. Pimp suit, isn't that from the 70's? Bogie, I'm not that old. LOL Robert.

[dlsbobby]

> There is a certain purple velvet hat with
> leopard print fur trim that is yours for the
> asking. The ultimate in pimp daddy-ness for
> sure. The ferret wrangling is up to you tho.

> shawn
Too much of a P*ss to wear anything that cool. Robert.

[wg_ski]

> A long lost buddy of mine emailed me the
> other day and among other things asked me if
> I wanted to help him DJ the reunion He used
> to be in a band and has some PA stuff. With
> both of our equipment it looks like we will
> be able to put out some serious sound. While
> my setup is far from mid fi it's going to
> sound great at midnight. I can't wait for
> someone to say "can you turn it
> up"? One bass horn, four peavey low
> rider 18's subs, two 1x15 tops, four 1x
> double tens tops, two qsc rmx 2450's, one
> qsc rmx 850, three Ep-2500's, two alto eq's,
> CD player, mixer, mic and ear plugs. My
> buddy is bringing all the music. I just hope
> he brings good music. We are doing this for
> nothing but I'm sure someone will complain
> about "the DJ". This will be the
> first time that I'll have everything hooked
> up so wish me luck. Is there anything I
> might have missed? Robert. OH I have to get
> speaker grills for sure.

You at least have the original "The Roof is on Fire", right? Oxide of hydrogen not required, allow combustion to continue.....

You run an impedance sweep on that horn yet? If you managed to push it up to the 10 ohm range, you may be able to get away with driving it with one of the 2500's bridged :-).

The system you've got there is about what's expected from real pro DJs. For the money (and even a lot more) they could be stuck with a couple of 12" w/piezo PA on a stick, and a mass-market powered sub (ie, Mackie). Does your friend know how to beat mix from CD? Most all of my 80's music is on 12" - for that reason.

[dlsbobby]

> You at least have the original "The
> Roof is on Fire", right? Oxide of
> hydrogen not required, allow combustion to
> continue.....

> You run an impedance sweep on that horn yet?
> If you managed to push it up to the 10 ohm
> range, you may be able to get away with
> driving it with one of the 2500's bridged
> :-).

> The system you've got there is about what's
> expected from real pro DJs. For the money
> (and even a lot more) they could be stuck
> with a couple of 12" w/piezo PA on a
> stick, and a mass-market powered sub (ie,
> Mackie). Does your friend know how to beat
> mix from CD? Most all of my 80's music is on
> 12" - for that reason.

Man, Warren, I forgot all about that song. Thanks for the reminder. I don't think he has any 12" man you are taking me back. I used to have some of those. We won't be doing and "cutting and scratching" or beat mixing. What do you think we're pros? My buddy doesn't think we are going to need all that bass. I disagree. He is a rocker and I'm more of a club music, dance music guy. I'll convince him that all the subs will have to be set up. I'll take your statement about my system as a compliment. I know if I really wanted to do this right I would need some more equipment. About the horn, no I haven't done any sweeps but I have already run the horn bridged. (1100 or so watts/8ohms). I probably was over driving it but it still sounded pretty good. I doubt I'll have to drive it that loud with the four other subs. The only clue I have about impedance is what the horn response program says. It looks close to 10ohms maybe just a little shy. You have to remember I'm a newbie at this and all I can say is I like the sound. You know I've been saying this for the last year. One of these days I'm going to build some Labs. Have you fired all of yours up yet? I just can't imaging six labs with six thousand watts. Talk about some serious spl! I hope the people don't mind orange extention cords for speaker cable. I know you can relate to that. LOL. Robert.

[Paul O]

> My buddy doesn't think we are going to
> need all that bass. I disagree. He is a
> rocker and I'm more of a club music, dance
> music guy. I'll convince him that all the
> subs will have to be set up. I'll take your
> statement about my system as a compliment. I
> know if I really wanted to do this right I
> would need some more equipment.

Just how big a space is this anyway? You may think you need more equipment, but honestly unless you're in an airplane hangar you don't really. What you have listed is way overkill for your average event. The biggest problem I see with your plan is finding enough electrical power for all those amps. You're lucky to find 2 seperate circuits at many of the places I have worked over the years. If you have a big hall and enough 115v circuits, center cluster the Lowriders and power a pair off a 2450 bridged. The horn could be another problem. By rights you need to delay the rest of your PA to the horn, because of the distance the horn driver is from the mouth. If you don't have DSP crossover with adjustable delay, just put the horn out in front of the rest of the PA a distance equal to the horn length. If you don't do this you will get some bass cancellation.

[dlsbobby]

> Just how big a space is this anyway? You may
> think you need more equipment, but honestly
> unless you're in an airplane hangar you
> don't really. What you have listed is way
> overkill for your average event. The biggest
> problem I see with your plan is finding
> enough electrical power for all those amps.
> You're lucky to find 2 seperate circuits at
> many of the places I have worked over the
> years. If you have a big hall and enough
> 115v circuits, center cluster the Lowriders
> and power a pair off a 2450 bridged. The
> horn could be another problem. By rights you
> need to delay the rest of your PA to the
> horn, because of the distance the horn
> driver is from the mouth. If you don't have
> DSP crossover with adjustable delay, just
> put the horn out in front of the rest of the
> PA a distance equal to the horn length. If
> you don't do this you will get some bass
> cancellation.

Thanks for you help Paul. You brought up some good points. My buddy has seen the place and thinks we have enough speakers to cover. However there was no talk of power outlets. I have access to 100' quad boxes that I hope will work. But you are right, it could be a big problem. That's why I told my buddy that we need to get set up 3-4hrs before the event. I've worked up the speaker arrangement in my head and I don't think I'm going to use the horn. It would be kind of a bastard set up with three bass channels. I guess I could just mono the bass. But I think four 18's should be enough. I'm just wondering if I should set up speakers on the other side of the room. I know I don't have enough speaker cable for that. I was thinking of just having the speakers along one wall, none in back. I guess I would be a little more concerned if I was being paid. Thanks again for your time. Robert.

[Paul O]

Another thing is people will want to be able to carry on conversations, so you don't necessarily want high volume sound everywhere. I typically use speakers on sticks for parties like this, and if the system will be used for anouncements during a meal then I aim the speakers for best audience coverage. Multiple speakers spread out can be good for this. However, when the lights go down, remove any satelite speakers and aim the mains in on the dance floor area. People can then talk at thier tables without loosing thier voice.. everybody has a better time. BTW.. you will have loads of bottom end.. 4 Lowriders!! OH baby!!!

[dlsbobby]