Mobile DJ, Lighting , What do you need & Where to put it?

0:00 In other words, what size of venue?

Alright folks, I had a couple of emails about people wanting to know what lighting you need for what sort of venue. In other words, what size of venue? What lighting for what particular size? Big, small, medium. So let's work on the principle of a small hotel. You can get 50 people in there quite happily. Maybe medium size, you know, a big marquee, you can get a couple of hundred or then maybe a rather large event where you've got around about say a thousand people. What lighting will you need? And also in this video I'll try and explain how to actually set up your lighting. Now first of all we've got some dodgy person here behind some rather dodgy turntables and as you can see we've got T-bar or a light trussing rig. Now notice one thing, this is actually behind the DJ.

The reason for that is that if you put it in front of the DJ, there's a good chance people are going to fall over it, fiddle with it and it'll break. So always make sure your lighting rig is behind you out of reach and out of harm's way. Now if you notice here, the lights, well when I say head height, they're actually above the head of the DJ. Now that's quite important. Right, so just bear that in mind. In front of you and maybe on your DJ console. Now I've done it a couple of times but I've always made damn sure that they are totally and utterly secure. For someone who doesn't really know much about DJing, I would highly recommend you don't do it. Two reasons. One is that it's very dangerous. People can fall over them, they can fall off this particular area and...

1:43 This picture

Also, just as important, if you think about it now, if we have a look at this picture here. Now if you imagine you've got a dance floor full of people and they're all happily chugging away, dancing and kissing and goodness knows what. If you've got your lights quite at a low level, those lights are going to hit those people and they're not going to go any further. You're not going to have any effect on the walls etc. But if your lighting is high up then the lights are going to travel a good distance and they're still going to hit the people. And you're going to have a good effect on the floor, but you're also going to have an effect on the walls around the actual venue. So bear that in mind as well. Now again, an idea for you. LED park hands or sometimes known as washes, what they will actually do, they'll just give a nice colour to a certain area. They're not necessarily the sort of things...

3:28 Light, the way it actually moves

The DJ Tutor offers a wide range of features and features that will be able to travel a great distance, but these are the sort of things that you could actually have facing down close to you, close proximity to the actual DJ. So bear that in mind. And always have those high up again because you want people to see the lights and you want the light to get the best effect. Then your twister type effects, the sort of effect you'd have with lots of pins of light and goodness knows what, they can still be on your actual There are a couple of yes's and a couple of no's, but the irony is that any light will be good for any room. If you imagine you've got, say, like I said earlier, two or three of those twister type lights. Well if you look at the light, the way it actually moves outwards in a small room, it's going to hit all the walls if you place them correctly. Maybe have these two set slightly out, one in the middle set forward, or if you've got four of them, have them that sort of effect. Sometimes it's good if the two in the middle are crossing over so you've actually got the light crossing as well. And if you think about it, if you've got the same lights in a medium sized room,

If the light is bright enough, it's still going to hit the walls. It's going to have the same effect. Exactly the same with a big room. And then lastly, what have I put here? Right, LED park hands for small rooms. Again, good for close-up. Now the only thing I wouldn't recommend you have in a small room is a laser. Not because you shouldn't have them in a small room, but lasers do need quite a substantial area to get a good effect. Now we do have that thing from Cam, it's the laser light cluster. Now that's a fantastic thing because it just shoots out in all directions but if you're using a small laser with a pin of light ideally you need that in a big room or even better in a nice long room and I'm not allowed to eat those chocolates. I hope there's been a help, practice and enjoy.

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