20 Reasons to Create Custom Gobos

by Allan Reiss, CHAUVET DJ Product Manager

Gobos add a personal touch to events. Brides are willing to pay extra to see their new initials projected on the dance floor, graduating classes love seeing their year displayed brightly on the wall and corporations are proud to see their logo. Ordering gobos, especially custom gobos, can be a time consuming and expensive process. Have you considered creating custom gobos? They are inexpensive to make (print your own on transparency film at home), easy to work with and reusable at other events. Need more reasons? How about 20. Read on.

20. Significantly cheaper than glass or metal gobos.
19. Don’t have to wait for it to arrive.
18. Create a gobo with anything you desire.
17. LEDs won’t melt your transparency film.
16. Reuse gobos you create.
15. Easy upsell item for a wedding.
14. Personalize any event.
13. Create and use in the same day.
12. Don’t need special software — any art-based program will work.
11. Cost of supplies is significantly less than the cost of ordering one.
10. All supplies can be bought locally.
9. Create a gobo with your logo to tastefully market yourself before and after events.
8. Use the same gobo for multiple applications.
7. Create any size gobo your fixture requires.
6. Gobos made from transparency film are less fragile than glass gobos.
5. Can easily create patterns to match the theme of the event.
4. Flexibility to project what you want, where you want when you want.
3. Quickly and easily correct design errors or last minute changes.
2. Design and print multiple designs on the same sheet of transparency film.
1. Your client wants one.

Click here to watch the “How to Create Custom Gobos” video.

BBE Maximizes Your Ipod!

BBE SOUND LAUNCHES THE WORLD’S FIRST HD-QUALITY MUSIC PLAYER APP FEATURING PATENTED SONIC MAXIMIZER® TECHNOLOGY.

SONICMAX™ PRO restores the warmth, clarity and definition that musicians and audio professionals have been craving from their iPhones and iPads.

Huntington Beach, CA, November 22, 2012 — BBE Sound, Inc., a leading developer of advanced soun

d technologies today announced their first app release for the iOS—SonicMax™ Pro, an extension of their critically acclaimed Sonic Maximizer® professional audio gear. Designed to be a musician’s preferred music player, SonicMax Pro delivers a superior HD-quality audio experience from any earbuds, headphones, dock or speaker.

“We’ve taken our detailed, impactful concert sound technology that musicians have come to rely on and engineered it to fit in the palm of the hand.” Explains David McLaren, Executive Vice President, “With SonicMax Pro, BBE isn’t going to change how people listen to music. We’re going to change their expectations of how great music can sound—with the simple tap of a button.”

The mobile phone has become the most common way to listen to music, yet it is the least sophisticated in terms of music quality. BBE’s Sonic Maximizer technology has been adapted to rack systems, stomp boxes and studio recording software. The iPhone was the next logical step.

“For 25 years, BBE has been helping musicians sound their best in the studio and on stage. With SonicMax Pro, we can make their music sound its best on-the-go, too.”

SonicMax Pro includes several features from BBE’s HD-audio technology suite: Lo Contour, BBE Process, iSet, Sound Field Expansion, and Mach3Bass. The app comes preprogrammed with audio presets optimized for today’s most common listening devices — earbuds, headphones, docks, and external speakers. These presets can be fine-tuned by the listener to suit his/her personal taste. SonicMax Pro also provides three additional presets for users to customize.

The app is perfect for musicians who care about their craft and want to share their finely tuned mixes with their fans. Because every note and instrument is clear and defined, SonicMax Pro also makes learning songs by ear easier, too. SonicMax Pro is the only music player app capable of delivering that level of nuance and subtlety.

Pricing and Availability

SonicMax Pro is available at the iPhone App Store for $4.99. For additional information and to receive a copy of the app to review, please contact David McLaren, dmclaren@bbesound.com

About BBE Sound, Inc.

BBE Sound, Inc. develops advances audio enhancement technologies for the professional audio and consumer electronics markets. Music and sound experts depend on BBE Sound’s advanced hardware products and High Definition audio technology to ensure that their full creative and musical expression reaches the ears of their audiences. The BBE brand is synonymous with the finest in sonic accuracy. Headquartered in California, BBE Sound has offices around the world. BBE Sound can be contacted at 714-897-6766 or visit www.BBEsound.com

Mobile Beat Las Vegas 16 Announcement – DJ Casper – Cha Cha Slide

The latest announcement from Mobile Beat about MBLV16 – http://www.mobilebeat.com/las-vegas-dj-show……

DJ Casper (aka Mr. C) will be at MBLV16 – a seminar on creating and teaching line dances, plus a full DJ performance and the release of his new CD and tracks.

CASPER (B.K.A.) MR. C THE SLIDE MAN spawned a regional dance craze with his infamous “Cha-Cha Slide,” a recognized dance anthem such as the “Macarena” and “Electric Slide.” As a personal trainer at Bally’s, Casper developed a popular aerobic dance exercise based largely on his background as a Stepper (Nine time winner of the annual Chicago’s World’s Largest Stepper’s Contest).

Chicago radio station WGCI joined forces with Casper to record a song for his dance as well as promotions, advertising and the financing of an instructional dance. The Chicago-based M.O.B. label joined the party and released the “Cha-Cha Slide” album. After the song/dance became a major phenomenon in Chicago, Universal Records joined the ranks for national distribution. The “Cha Cha Slide” made it to the Billboard charts. Both Casper and the “Cha Cha Slide” have become synonymous with everything that has to do with Chicago.

He began his illustrious career at the tender age of six, performing at school dances. As he got older, he began impersonating musical and comedic artists as: James Brown, Teddy Pendergrass, Muddy Waters and Eddie Murphy. He also embarked upon a film career in the following movies: “Monkey Hustle” and “Love Jones” starring Nia Long & Larenz Tate. Casper was instrumental in creating videos for both Musiq Soulchild entitled “Just Friends” and Gerald Levert’s “Step On.” Casper is still a recognized household name within the music, dance and radio genres and looks forward to a lifelong career in these industries as well as challenging other avenues and opportunities. He spends every Second Sunday of the month at The Club on 76th and Cicero as either a Host or DJ. You can also check Casper out in the stage play “A Stepper’s Story” and every Saturday evening from 10:p to 2:a on V103 – 102.7 FM in Chicago.

Simple Tips for Cleaning Effect Lights

by Allan Reiss, CHAUVET Club/DJ Product Manager

You have to tend to your lighting gear the same way you care for your vinyl records, slipmats and turntable platters. The effect lights you use all the time collect dust and residue from the environment, so remember to include them in your cleaning session. A quick suggestion is to clean everything a couple of days before a gig. Don’t wait until the day of your event. Not only will you look more professional with squeaky-clean fixtures, you also lower the chances of a light breaking during your show.

For the beginner DJ who just purchased a bunch of effect lights and is unsure which fixtures require cleaning, keep this in mind: if it has fans, glass or vents it requires cleaning.

1. Fans. The first thing you should look for is balls of dust, pieces of fabric, confetti, human hair (or animal, maybe you had a gig at the zoo…) and any other unpleasant accumulation within the fans. It sounds somewhat repulsive, but you need to take care of the dirty part of the job too. Use an air compressor to blow out all the gunk, but make sure to stick a pen or pencil to stop the fan blades from spinning. The forced air can actually generate a small blast and damage the fixture; and you might blow the aforementioned residue right on your face.

2. Glass: lenses, mirrors, prisms, color wheels and gobo wheels. We recommend using a nonalcoholic cleaning solution, but if unavailable, a basic glass cleaner will work. A lint-free cloth keeps the glass surfaces smooth and free of any residue or tiny particles. Also, wear gloves when touching the glass. Even though it may produce a cool gobo projection, you don’t want fingerprints left on the gobo wheel.

3. Vents. The air pushed inside a fixture when cleaning fans needs to exit through vents. So, keep them clear. A simple way to clean these is to use compressed air.

For exterior dusting, use microfiber or fiber cloth. They are lint free, cheap and reusable. Use only warm water; don’t add soap or detergents.

Quick warning!
If lasers are part of your rig, don’t open them to try to clean them. You are not legally allowed to open the housing. The laser diode inside has the potential to expose your eyes to class B laser radiation.

If you really want to do your homework on cleaning, click here to read how to clean moving heads and here for tips on how to clean scanners.

Going to MBLV16? – Can’t catch all of the action?

Check out the video linked here for more information on how you can be in many places at one time

Attending Mobile Beat Las Vegas 16 in February? With all the seminars, networking events, parties and concerts taking place,unless you have a clone, you just can’t be in 3 to 5 places at one time.  Get the video version of it!  Order yours with your pass at https://members.mobilebeat.com

Requests at Events

This is a common line DJs give to guests when they make a request. Anyone who’s heard this line knows that it really means “there’s no way in Hell I’m playing it.” Why? Why lie to guests? Why give them the glimmer of hope that you’re going to play their awful song, when you know you’d rather stick yourself with a hot fork than play “Please Pass the Biscuits” at a wedding with a club theme. (Oh how I wish I was making this up..)

Whether I’m discussing previous DJs with vendors, schools, brides, or corporations, the number one complaint about DJs is their music selection. I’ve come to an epiphany: people complain when they don’t expect it. For an obvious example: I sell you a CD player and tell you the PLAY button is failing. When it DOES fail, you won’t complain because you knew about it. If I lied about it, you’d be very vocal on my rep as a seller.

The same goes for requests: BE HONEST… or you’re just a liar.

At school events, where I have a packed dance floor dancing to club/hip-hop, Latin and throwbacks, I’ll have one student come up and ask me for some terrible rock song, and I don’t mean Nickelback. I mean worse, a lot worse. Names you’ve never heard of because the group has only played in their garage as they pour cow blood over themselves. I look at them and tell them, “Bro, I’m sure it’s a great song, but what do you think would happen if I play that?” They understand this is my way of saying “no” but I offer them an alternative: “Tell me a song you like that will get this crowd crazy.” They’ll give me something fun now, such as Blink 182′s “All The Small Things.” GREAT CHOICE! I play the song, and they’re happy because I played a song they requested.

The example doesn’t have to be that extreme, maybe they’re asking for a slow song after we just played one. I tell them “look, I already played it but I might be able to slip it as the next slow song.. meanwhile, tell me a fast song you like.”

I also remind them that I am slammed with requests and if I don’t play their song, it was simply a matter of timing. They understand- I’ve never had a rude student when I use this method. OK, I did once, but she was severely drunk.

The dances that I personally do have NO complaints about music. This isn’t a bragging point or exaggeration– I go through hell and back to make sure EVERYONE knows that they can request music. They also know that they are requests and not demands, but I will let them know from the get go wether or not I will play that song.

Expectations are met from the beginning. They know that I am there to make EVERYONE happy, but just as I need to be reasonable with their music choices, they need to be reasonable with what will work for the overall crowd. “Let me see what I can do” should be a phrase that is REMOVED from your vocabulary. Be honest and watch your dance floor response grow dramatically.

The “Science” and “Art” of Communication Part 1

The “Science” and “Art” of Communication

Think of a bottle of wine. Sometimes you can have good wine in a bad bottle. You look at the bottle and it is not that impressive but it tastes wonderful. Sometimes you have a bottle that looks terrific but the wine inside is not so good. The goal in effective communication should be to have both substance and style.

Science is built on practices, rules and procedures while art is more of an inherent creative process. The best communicators will learn to combine the two. They will take the best of each and create an effective outcome. Science without art can make communication seem sterile while art without science can make communication very chaotic. Your goal should be to combine creativity with discipline to create the most favorable outcome.

Let’s look at some examples…

The perfect “right down the middle” would be the late Steve Jobs. People would hang on his every word. That was because he would always couple the good science of technology and products and talk about them in an informative, factual way with his own passion and enthusiasm about the design and end user effectiveness.

A good example of the Science right but the art wrong would be the prototypical college professor that goes on and on, for example the character that Ben Stein played in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. A great example of someone who disseminates the information and then strives for involvement, “Anyone, anyone, anyone?” This individual has the information down but has diminished the impact because of poor delivery and lack of creativity.

A good example of getting the Art right but the science wrong, are those who tend to be very passionate. You find yourself connecting with their enthusiasm but in the find yourself asking, “What was that all about?” You knew they felt strongly about something, you are just not sure what about.

So what is “Winning Communication”?

George Bernard Shaw said, “The problem with communication is the illusion it has been accomplished.” The potential for bad communication is of great. Especially in the fast paced word of the Internet, mobile devices and busy lives we lead. I remember some years ago my son, as we walked into a restaurant, read a sign on a chalkboard the read “Fish – All You Can Eat”. He looked at me and said, “Oh No! All you can eat is fish???” This is a perfect example of how, even just subtlety, misinterpreting communication one can come to the wrong conclusion.

Therefore, “Winning Communication” can be defined as being heard and understood. For “Winning Communication” to take place your message needs to not only be heard (or read) but the intended effect of that communication also needs to be achieved.

Keep in mind communication is in fact “response you get”. How effective you are communicating is more about what is “heard” than what is “said”. Often times we find ourselves saying, “But this is what I said” but if the person who responded didn’t “get it” then the responsibility of poor communication falls onto the person who said it.

Stay tuned for Part Two when I will share some of the wrong ways to avoid when communicating and the “C”s of communication.

Learning to shoot pictures as a DJ

How are your photos? You could have the sharpest looking rigs, but unless your photography can properly display such arrangements then your marketing will suffer. Networking with the photographer is always a good idea that can lead to win-win networking, but their ultimate goal is to take photos that the bride wants and not photos to boost your marketing.

What does this mean? You may not get any photos of JUST the uplighting, or a before and after of a flood fill. You also may have to wait a while to get those photos, and your copyright use may be limited.

Heading to your local electronics store and buying a point-and-shoot is a bad idea. Actually, any point-and-shoot is a bad idea. For photos that will take your marketing to the next level, you’ll want a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera, such as the Canon T2i. What do these cameras offer that point and shoots don’t?

* Exceptional low-light performance

* A wide array of lenses that give you many options

* HD Video recording with unsurpassed quality at an affordable price.

* Outstanding image quality.

You’ll notice a little wheel or menu on top of most DSLRs with MANY options. Ignore all of them, except for M (Manual), AV (Aperture Priority) and sometimes Tv (Shutter Priority)… but this one can yield many blurry photos. Anything else is like buying a sports car and choosing the automatic 3 speed transmission.

You won’t learn photography overnight, but there are MANY great books that will teach you to shoot with a DSLR in Manual Mode (yours truly has a video designed for DJs!); but once you get the hang of it, your photos will WOW your prospects. We get MANY calls from people who saw our photos on our blog and were so impressed by the lighting they knew we’d be a great fit.

Will you clash with photographers? Yes and no. If you subscribe to Mobile Beat, you’ll soon see my upcoming article where I discuss how to avoid any awkwardness with the photographer as you pull a camera out.

So what will you need? This list can get expensive QUICKLY, but this IS your marketing. The lenses (AKA Glass) can cost more than the camera itself, but when the body is upgraded, your lenses are still there. Here’s some items you’ll need, other than the obvious such as batteries, memory cards, etc.:

* A body, The best one for DJs, in my opinion, is the Canon T2i. It offers an unmatched bang for the buck.

* Glass. You’ll want a “fast” lens. This means it shoots at a wide aperture, which allows more light in a short amount of time. The Canon 50mm 1.8 is often called the Plastic Fantastic or Nifty Fifty; it’s a VERY fast lens at a dirt-cheap price: $99 in most stores!

* Flash. Don’t use the Pop Up Flash. Once in a while you’ll want to fill in some light, get a flash that will allow you to aim the light somewhere besides the person’s gace.

* A book (or video) on photography.

* Lots of practice!

Once you get the hang of it, your marketing will look stellar and grab attention of your prospective clients better than ever before. Plus, photography is a fun hobby that yields many rewards. Try it out today!

 

“Thankful” for Safe Songs for schools

This will be the last chart until after the Thanksgiving Holiday.

This weeks scoop:    J. Cole’s “Workout” has been around for a few weeks.  I didn’t have confidence that it would gain traction among teens at dances, but now seems to be a contender, and debuts at #29.  If it continues to sell, get airplay and danced to, it could stick around.

Another add this week to the Safe Songs List…Rihanna.  Finally she releases a song that our review panel gives the green light in terms of lyrics.  ” You da One”  is good to go and seems to be hot right out of the box.  Top 5 sales in I-Tunes this week and debuts on Top 40 Radio stations around the country at #22. for a while.

If you are interested in joining the ever growing list of “Responsible DJ’s”  dedicated to improving the school dance envrionment please check it out at the School Dance Network…..

Here are the hottest of the “Safe Songs” this week.

		Artist	Title	Notes/info	Prime Cuts #	BPM
2	1	David Guetta	Without You	Usher	201136	128
1	2	Gym Class Heros	Stereo Hearts	Adam Levine	201125	91
4	3	Jason Derulo	It Girl		201133	92
5	4	LMFAO	Sexy and I know it		201133	130
3	5	Cobra Starship	You Make Me Feel		201120	132
6	6	Maroon 5/Aguilera	Moves Like Jagger		201132	128
14	7	Rihanna	We Found Love		201140	128
7	8	Lil Wayne	How to Love		201123	77
9	9	Britney Spears	I Wanna Go		201124	131
8	10	New Boyz	Better with the Lights on		201120	112
17	11	Flo Rida	Good Feelin		201137	128
11	12	LMFAO	Party Rock Anthem	Lauren Bennett	201102	131
12	13	Alexandra Stan	Mr. Saxobeat		201119	127
13	14	Bad Meets Evil	Lighters (squeaky clean)	Bruno Mars	201125	90
10	15	Nicki Minaj-Rihanna	Fly	Must edit Motherf**ker	201132	120
20	16	Bruno Mars	It Will Rain	One reference to morophine	201140	75
24	17	Drake	Headlines	Must be edited! F**K, Sh*t, Nig**	201132	76
15	18	Nicki Minaj	Super Bass		201115	127
16	19	David Guetta	Where them Girls at	FloRida-Nicki Minaj	201119	130
18	20	Sean Paul	Got 2 Luv		201129	92
19	21	Kanye West	All of the lights	Kid Cudi, Rihanna	201050	71
25	22	Enrique Iglesias	I Like How it Feels	FT Pitbull	201139	128
22	23	Breathe Carolina	Black Out	Use Radio Edit	201124	124
28	24	Pitbull/w Chris Brown	International Love	Requires edited version	201140	120
30	25	Beyonce	Countdown		201140	84
27	26	Hot Chelle Rae	I Like it Like That	FT-New Boyz	201139	101
21	27	Pitbulll	Give Me Everything	Ne-Yo & Nayer -	201114	129
23	28	T-Pain	Best Love Song	Chris Brown	201108	81
New	29	J Cole	Workout	Edit N**ga,  S**t	201126	93
New	30	Rihanna	You Da One		201147	127

 Additions to the songs to avoid at schools

New	Wiz Khalifa-Snoop Dog	Young, Wild and Free	The chorus and first two lines:  So what we get drunk ,  So what we smoke weed
New	Britney Spears	Criminal	Glorifying guns and killing.

 

Digital 1 Audio: PCDJ DEX and PCDJ RED Mobile: Setting The Record Straight

Digital 1 Audio: PCDJ DEX and PCDJ RED Mobile: Setting The Record Straight

Digital 1 Audio, Inc (http://www.pcdj.com) is setting the record straight. “The report of my death has been greatly exaggerated!” Mark Twain. Just like in the novel “Tom Sawyer”, other companies are trying to say we paint their fence. The “exaggeration” refers to our PCDJ DEX and PCDJ Red Mobile offerings; well suffice to say our PCDJ DEX and PCDJ Red Mobile titles are in constant development and are performing well.

“Our task is to continually introduce new and improved features requested by our users, while maintaining our user-friendly GUI” Says Ryan Sherr, PCDJ Sales & Marketing Director.

Just to be perfectly clear, and to clear up any possible confusion in the marketplace, PCDJ did not sell any of its titles including PCDJ DEX and PCDJ Red Mobile to any competitor, domestic or Foreign.

This past year PCDJ reached out to its founder for R&D guidance. This is the same man that brought the market the very first DJ software, the PCDJ Digital 1200SL over 11 years ago. PCDJ DEX 2 and RED Mobile 2 were partly built under his guidance and direction, providing PCDJ a new re-designed product more closely aligned with its original purpose “An advanced yet simple to use entertainment control center” for Music, Video and Karaoke: A Mobile DJ’s software. “Our task is to continually introduce new and improved features requested by our users, while maintaining our user-friendly GUI” Says Ryan Sherr, PCDJ Sales & Marketing Director.

“Over the years we’ve allowed our products to become a bit daunting, with too many settings and steps while focusing on features that were simply not all that useful in a live mixing environment.” Sherr continues “What attracted users to PCDJ in the first place over a decade ago was simplicity, and quality features they could trust. DJ’s wanted an easier way than traditional DJ hardware, and we provided that. We’ve made it our goal with the version 2 upgrades for PCDJ RED Mobile and PCDJ DEX, and our PCDJ Karaoki software, to simplify things once again – all while focusing on the features that really matter to the working DJ. We’ve never had an easier to use DJ software product with core features that rival comparable products on the market today.”

Download a free trial of either one of these new and completely redesigned versions of our PCDJ software and see for yourself what the “buzz” is all about, go to http://www.pcdj.com

For marketing or dealer inquiries, Contact:

Digital 1 Audio

611 S. Ft. Harrison Ave., #317

Clearwater, FL 33756

Ryan Sherr

727-799-3828 ext 105

Since 1999, Digital 1 Audio/PCDJ has been recognized as a leading developer and manufacturer of DJ, VJ and Karaoke live performance software. More than 80,000 professional DJs around the world now perform with their computer using one of company’s entertainment products. Unauthorized use of the PCDJ names and brands is subject to appropriate legal action.

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