Is Symmetry and Taking Loads of Kit Important for a Mobile DJ?

0:00 Is having all of your kit symmetrical important?

Is having all of your kit symmetrical important? In other words, is having on the right hand side of you having a speaker, two speakers and one flashy light, does it have to be exactly the same? The other side, one or two speakers and another flashy light. Do the flashy lights have to be exactly the same? Do the speakers have to be the same? Do you have to have a mirror image on one side and the other? Well, the answer is definitely yes and no. If you're doing a wedding event and you're on the stage, there you are, slap bang on the stage, it's a very good idea to have symmetry because it looks pleasing to the eye. If you've got two speakers, one side, one the other, you've got a bass cab here, you've got a couple of flashy lights there and you've got a...

Pinspot down here. It's going to look a little bit out of place because if you look at probably the decor of the room for a wedding, people have spent time in placing the items on the table. Everything looks immaculate but if you turn up and your kit is all over the place then you're going to look very unprofessional. It's going to look a little bit messy. But, let's imagine you turn up to a venue and the management say you set up in that corner and there isn't enough room to get your kit in some form of symmetry so the right side looks like the left. Then you're going to have to do your best and your utmost to make sure that the items, your kit is placed in the right place. Now this is the problem.

2:11 Symmetry is very important

Especially in small venues, you don't have enough room or you might not have enough room to put your kit out as you normally do. So what you have to have in your mind is to expect the unexpected when you turn up to a new venue because you may not be able to set up your kit in a symmetrical fashion as you normally do. Now of course there are ways and means around this because today there are images all over the web of practically every single venue. So if you're going to a new venue, you've never been there before, there is no excuse. Just Google it, go online, check out the room that you're playing and you'll get an idea of the room where you're playing and how to set up the kit. So really about symmetry. Symmetry is very important.

Especially for the likes of weddings. But if you're going to be doing festivals or you're going to be turning up and doing sort of house parties or maybe 18th's or 21st's, it's probably not so important even though it's always pleasing to the eye to walk in and see a nice setup that looks tidy. Now I... Don't take much kit out with me at the moment for small events or medium-sized events. Now, there's a reason for that as well. Digressing slightly here is because less is more. Now, unless you've been specifically asked to bring a whole bunch of lighting and they want a big PA... Fair enough. If they've requested that, then of course you should bring the items. On the other hand, if someone wants a birthday party for 100 people, you're an absolute idiot if you turn up with a 10 kilowatt sound system and a gantry full of lighting because A, you're probably wasting your time, B, you will look stupid, and C, you will look stupid because no one wants to see a mass of lighting.

3:55 Remember to price correctly

For 100 people, unless of course they have requested it and also if you have said and stipulated in the contract that if they want a big PA in lighting they're going to have to pay for it. If you're still getting the same amount of money and you're taking all that kit then you're a muppet because you have to remember that if that kit's being used for five or six hours all of it that's wear and tear on your items and if you're only taking a couple of hundred pounds, euros or dollars That's not much because some lights can cost double, triple that amount. So remember to price correctly. So what I generally take is I'll take a couple of party bars. I'll take maybe some kind of moving light that I'll put underneath the console and maybe some uplights. And that's pretty much it because I've got enough lighting to fill an entire room. And also here's the key.

Is time. Time is important. What you don't want to do is turn up to the venue and spend four or five hours setting up, only to find that you've got to spend another two or three hours dismantling and the gig's only on for three hours. So if you think about it, you have, you possibly, quite possibly, have spent more time setting up and dismantling than you have Now, I will pretty much take maybe anything from 20 minutes to 35 minutes dismantling all my kit and this is a full show for up to 250 people. It probably takes a lot longer to set up because you have to make sure everything's plugged in correctly, position things, but I do not take long to set up and dismantle. Just remember these points, it may help you. Symmetry is definitely the key for a lot of gigs and just think about items you take. Do you really need to take all that kit to a small event? Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.