Hi everyone

well i have now decided to get more experience until i start djing myself by becoming an apprentice (if anyone needs an aprentice in the fylde coast PM me)

My plan is to buy lights now and buy sound in december when i have experience. i am leaving sound till last due to the ever changing specs of cd players etc...

I was wondering which one would be better for me

K300 80mW Red Dpss Laser Show

or

K200 30mW Dpss Green Laser Show

Please email me back with info on this or if you can suggest lighting for under £250

Thanks everyone

A thought for you Ryan, you can do a gig with just sound but you cant do a gig with just lights!, get your sound sorted first and certainly your cd players,headphones and mixer so you can practice. I bought pioneer cddj 100 players 5 years back and still havent had any trouble, most cd players are reliable be it denon or pioneer so no need to wait if you have the money.

Agree with Chris's post above. Concentrate on getting a sound system together first then some basic lighting.

Later, when the bookings come in, and the business is becoming successful, then you can justify spending a lot of money on more lights.

Start on the ground floor, and work your way up.

Yup and if you are gonna buy lighting then I'd steer clear of lasers, get a cheap chauvet system or something. MAybe even look on ebay for some of the secondhand systems.

If you do insist on lighting then try getting some datamoons or maybe EVL spins. Lasers by themselves are pretty boring and don't make for a decent disco. Whilst they may look cool and it be cool to have one. You may soon regret it !!

check out the pa systems at DJ Kit there cheap

Have to agree sound first lights last.

Its a topic often mentioned and its always sound first, I do a quiz nite/disco every week and never ever use lights, I dont need em.

So do the sound first you cant play music on a lighting rig.

in the summer here there is 24 hour daylight ,black outs i hear you say ? not when the winter is 24 hour darkness ! we need all the daylight we can get ! who needs lights !

yep sound then light not light then sound

As mentioned above, forget lasers, for the meantime at least. They need smoke or haze to have any good effect, and fewer and fewer venues are permitting either now. Also over the last few months, lasers seem to be dropping in price and getting brighter and more versatile (text, graphics and multi-colour etc) and dont seem to be bottoming out yet. Once you've got everything else, good audio, nice lights for every type of function; everything you need, then...think about whether a laser will do anything for the show.

I'd also suggest that you consider not mentioning your age. Some people will be unduly warey and in some cases, concerned at the professionalism and ability of a minor to provide entertainment at their function. Should they be? NO! age is a number on a bit of paper, you might have been DJ'ing for 5 years by now, whereas a 30 year old in your area might only have been DJing for a year - experience can be considered more of an indicator of success, rather than mere age - but keeping the age very quite in the future can only help.

Equipment wise again, whilst some new or second-hand lighting is obviously required - buying cheap audio and upgrading, and upgrading again, and upgrading again etc can work out pricey and can often mean ditching (or selling for a fraction of its purchase price) the previous gear eg: What use for a 100+100watt amp, once you get your 400+400watt amp. Whereas, buying an extra light every 5th/10th gig can be more easily intergrated into an existing set-up eg: another box on the bar.

So perhaps you might want to spend what you can on good clean audio first, and make do with minimal, or even hired lighting. Dont forget that basic "fill a room with light" projects such as a 4 channel colour wash effect using 4 x 500watt halogen light fittings (about £5 each) and high temp filter sheets, have been covered on DJU before and can offer a great wash effect, for use on a 3 or 4 channel controller.

The other thing that you need to major on at this stage, is to build up your CD collection, make sure that when the kit arrives, you have the right songs available to play. No-ones gonna be impressed with anything else if you don't have the tunes!