There are a lot of lessons in business that we are able to learn from books, videos, and articles. Others we learn from trusted friends and mentors. Some lessons, however, must be learned from the harsh hand of experience. This weekend provided me with such an opportunity, and today I'd like to share the lesson I learned about asking enough to questions to be properly prepared for an event. When the client (a 15-year-old girl) first reached out to me about using my services at her sweet 16, I thought to myself "Sweet! A birthday party will be an easy event and a needed break from the hectic wedding season." We had a quick conversation ab... [read more]

I'm not the biggest fan of effect lights; all too often they are seen as the tacky, cliche DJ light that flashes and spins throughout an entire party. However, there are just some effects that can't be recreated with wash lighting or even moving heads. A few months back I was on the hunt for a mirror ball-type effect, but I knew I didn't want to haul and set up an actual mirror ball. Enter the ADJ Mini Dekker. At only $79 a pop, you could grab 4 of these lights and still be out less than the price of a decent entry-level moving head. Like all my ADJ products, it's well made and (to my surprise and happiness) super compact. Inside you'l... [read more]

When packing our vehicles for events, there are certain things that always end up being loaded for every event: our music source (usually a laptop), speakers, controller or mixer, cabling, and maybe a table. We can consider these our "DJ Essentials." A lot of us, however, also keep our DJ bags loaded with other things that we know might come in handy or save our butts should things go south (extra batteries for our microphones or a spare hard drive with music, for example). With time and experience, our list of essentials grows to include some things that may not be as obvious to newer DJs, and today I present to you my personal "not-so-obvi... [read more]

A little over a year ago, I set out to do something I had never done before. I decided to write a book. The topic I chose to write this book about was one I am extremely passionate about; lighting for the Mobile DJ. Always a hot topic in the forums and facebook groups, lighting is a subject that few DJs can resist chatting about. For someone new to the DJ or lighting game, the sheer amount of information available on the internet can be overwhelming. Hundreds of articles and thousands of videos are available to read and view, but where does the DJ who has never done more than plug in an effect light start? Which fixtures should they add to their inventory? How do they choose a DMX controller? What are the best lighting upsells for weddings? Over the years of obsessively learning about lighting myself, I... [read more]

So recently I've done a couple of videos on mirror balls and some people have asked me this question. Where do you put the lights? And I thought it was kind of an odd question at first until I realized that there's a whole generation of DJs out there who never used one of these. These have kind of fallen out of fashion, but they're back in a big way. They're cool again. So this is a little more tricky than if you have the ball in the middle of a room like you would in a ballroom or a skating rink or something like that. You can have lights coming in from several different directions hitting the mirror ball and illuminating the entire space, but as a mobile DJ, you're kind of stuck against a wall. You don't have a lot of room to put lights. So this is how we used to do it back in the old days with three ... [read more]

Just like that, summer is winding down and it’s back to school time. In our society we focus so much on “getting a good education” which got me thinking. Why do we expect our children and youth to learn about so many different facts, formulas, and equations, but how often do adults take the opportunity to further their education? How often do we, as DJ’s and event professionals, seek more knowledge to better our service and abilities. In our line of work, we have a wide range of areas which we can learn about i.e. sales, performance, business skills, networking, and more. We live in a time where we have so many sources of educatio... [read more]

This article is part three in the author's mini series on building your first light show. Week one covered using wash lighting and week two covered effect lighting. Make sure to give those a read! Alright, so by now you've started to build up an effective and professional looking light show. You began by creating your rig around a solid base of wash/flood lighting and followed that up with an effect light or two to add some movement and excitement. For many DJs, this is the extent of the lighting they need or want. But what if you want more? Where do you go after  you've added wash and effect lighting to your light show? One way to greatly expand the capabilities and options available to you and your clients is to add moving head lights. Moving heads are, as their name implies, made up of some type of ... [read more]

DJ lights; a seemingly never-ending stream of new technology that can both help to fill (and empty) your wallet. With the hundreds and thousands of choices available across dozens of websites, it's easy for anyone (let alone a new DJ) to get confused about where to start. Lux? Watts? Power Linking? LASERS?!? Never fear my friend, because in this series of posts on building an effective light show I plan to (briefly) break down some of the many types of DJ lights, their uses, and how to incorporate them together for maximum impact. Wash Lighting Today's topic of discussion is wash lighting. Whenever a new DJ asks me for a recommendation for their first DJ light, I always steer them in the direction of wash lighting. A wash light serves to literally "wash" an area (be it a wall, ceiling, or dance floor) with ... [read more]

All right. DJ tips in under a minute. It's sort of a statement video. I got into a discussion with a DJ the other day about this song, because I've seen it in a bunch of middle school videos, sweet 16s and all that and this is the part I have a problem with. And I've got a thing about having 16-year-olds, 12-year-olds, 14-year-olds that are yelling when the DJ plays the track that says, "Where are my alcoholics, let me see your hands up." I know it's fun, I know it's a party song, I just personally think it's a bit inappropriate. Now, after everything that's gone on in the world, this one I don't know that I'll ever play this one again when it comes to doing an event. This is "Pumped Up Kicks." It might be a great song, the kids might like it, the kids might know it, but talking about somebody with a gun and... [read more]

Jordan Neuhauser, Chief Experience Officer, and Founder of BOOM Entertainment, myBOOMtour,WinterFest, and Photobooths.com, is a proud leader in the high school event industry. An avid loud music lover, festival goer, and creative brain, Jordan finds inspiration in the world around him. Thriving when confronted with an empty space, Jordan has been able to convert over […]To access this post, you must purchase Digital Plus.... [read more]