I just wanted to talk about my background in working with speakers. After graduating from tech school, I landed a job with Mr. Dog Music as a recording engineer. Working in a studio environment, I worked at the local civic center as a stagehand. I did everything from unloading trucks, setting up stagging, setting up sound systems, Lighting and running, and being a part of the production.
After returning to Minneapolis, I worked at a local radio station KMOJ, a community-owned and operated FM station in the Twin Cities. I hosted and produced an afternoon radio program on Saturdays. During this time, I started working as a mobile DJ part-time. I did this for four years while working at IBM as a Customer Engineer. As time went on, I moved away from doing those things when I started working with High Praise Productions (14 Years), Doing “Front of House Engineer,” Lighting, and stagecraft. Why do I tell you this if there is one thing I learned as FOH Engineer Is that “Coverage before Volume” means more speakers are better than more powerful speakers.
What kind of speaker do I need to DJ?
DJ speakers need to have a full range of frequencies to reproduce all the sounds in your track. Thus, your speakers should have a low-range woofer for the low frequencies and tweeters for the high frequencies. There are three types of speakers, Tweeters, Mid Range, and Subs.
When talking about speakers, you’ll hear full-range speakers, which means that the speaker will cover a range of 20 Hz to 20K Hz. As a result, these speakers will sound the best at playing any music.
Most Tweeters operate at a Frequency between
Powered VS Unpowered
You will most likely use powered speakers unless you do a mega venue. A powered speaker is a speaker that has an amplifier inside the cabinet. The advantage is that the only thing you have to run is the signal cables for audio.
How much power in watts is enough?
Having the correct wattage will depend on the gig, size of the venue, the shape of the room, expectations of the client, whether it’s inside or outside, positioning of speakers, speaker types, and style of music you will be playing, and so on.
As a rough guide, if it is an indoor gig, you should aim to have a minimum of around five watts per person. However, if you are playing outside or want “rave volume,” you will probably want to double that and have 10 watts per person. Naturally, this is a loose guide, and if you are going to be playing bass-heavy music, you might want to have extra subwoofers. In this case, a 2:1 ratio between subs and tops is standard.
Most importantly, and often overlooked, is to ensure to amplify your speakers for top efficiency correctly. More power doesn’t necessarily mean better (or louder). Make sure the amps are rated at least a third more power output than the speakers built for – half as much again or even more is also acceptable. Contrary to popular belief, speakers who use underpowered amps tend to overload and fry them. Entirely avoid this by using modern active speakers.
If we use this formula, we can determine the power and the number of speakers we will need. For example, we are doing an indoor wedding with fifty people; what would be the minimum power required? Five watts times fifty people equal two hundred and fifty watts. Two hundred and fifty watts to 300 watts is a sweet spot for most mobile DJs; what type of music you are playing. So, starting, I would purchase a pair of 200 to 300-watt speakers.
How much power do I need?
My paid GIG was in a duplex on the second floor in December of New Year’s Eve. 10 degrees outside, and I had to carry everything up by hand (no charts) through a windy stairwell. Then, with everything running at total capacity, I had to go down to the people on the first floor and run an extension cord up to the second-floor window.
Most of you will never face that type of challenge in your DJ career but bear in mind that you will need to ensure you have enough power for your GIG. Two twenty amp access points on their circuit with nothing else plugged in should be enough—one circuit for your speakers and controller and the other for your lights and effects.
I carry two fifty-foot-four gang extension cords and two twenty-five-foot extension cords. And enough gaffers tape to secure everything to the floor.
Understanding your venue
Here is where scouting the location pays off. There are tons of venues here in Las Vegas from hotels, convention centers, clubs, pools, lounges, bars, schools, concert halls, libraries, corporations, and countless high-end homes. But unfortunately, it is almost impossible for every venue in every configuration.
I approach the venue staff and state that I have a GIG coming, and I want to take a quick look to make sure I bring the right equipment for my clients (here is where you use their name and the event they are having) the day—knowing the who, what and when helps to eliminate a lot of objections. 95% of the time, it pays off, and the staff lets me preview the venue.
Here are questions you need to understand about the venue; there are no hanging anything from the ceiling, no holes in the walls, fog machines, pyrotechnics, and spark machines. Knowing where the power outlets are, exits, the location of service elevators in the building, and if you can use them, you run into union members here in Las Vegas, so make it necessary, you have all your ducks in a row. If necessary, there are any restrictions on volume levels.
Make sure you have adequate time to set up and when. Some have no problem, and others have restricted entry and exit times.
Conclusion
Remember that it’s up to you to get people dancing and not break any eardrums.