Hi

I have been on this forum before but it was years ago so thought id resign up as couldnt remember any details. Also things are changing.....

Ive ran my own part time mobile disco for about 5 years by myself. Ive never really advertised and just done the odd one or two gigs per year for family,friends,friends of friends etc.Ive probably earned up to pay off my original equipment which i am now in the process of updating.
The other week i done a disco for a inlaw of an inlaw if that makes sense. It went really well and eneded up playing for over 2 hours more.i really enjoyed it and so did my mate who helped me. He was so impressed that he wants to go into the disco buisness with me.Ive had a long talk with him a few times and he is definitely interested and said "he hasnt been more serious about anything!!"
Due to my equipment now getting older and used ive decided it needs updating so we`ve decided to put some money together and go into the buisness together.
We want to do it all properly and above board with contracts,own buisness account etc but dont really know where to start.
Also due to money situation, we should both have our halfs of money by mid july.

We will be using some of my old stuff but ive decided that my sound system just isnt loud enough anymore (500w amp, 300w speakers)so decide to sell them and upgrade.Ive also decided to use mp3s instead of cd`s so some of this type of equipemt will be needed.I also want to look at better lights and basically get the buisness looking and acting a bit more professional.

Where do we start???

What spec are the amp & speakers? Some amps are specced as "500WRMS into 4Ohm", and if your speakers are 8Ohm, the output of the amp will be lower (250W ish)

Look at replacing anything that is damaged or unreliable first. If you're starting out in pub gigs, the lighting may not be too important as you both having a laugh with the crowd.

Can you do a few gigs with CDs? If your existing CD system is fine (if you've done a few recent gigs I assume there is no problems with it), use it.

Depending on the rates you think you'll be charging, it may be better to spend money on presentation (suits/tuxedos), decent business cards etc, than new kit that some punters may not notice.

If you can get £200/gig, then after a few gigs you may have enough to get a decent playback system without digging deep, or you may simply decide to spend it on something else.

If you are going halves in funding, make sure you have a plan if one of you loses interest, or you fall out. This does happen- and you don't want to let clients down.

heres a good place if your looking for second hand gear usually from other djs who have spare or upgraded and it would be cheaper than brand new.
http://www.dj-forum.co.uk/index.php?showforum=49
"ive got a 1000w amp for sale" for instance.


Reason for edit: Clarifiying "sales and wants area".

yeah a plan will be in place if one of us drops out.
However i may not have explained myself properly.

I have done quite a few gigs now over the years so know how i want to look etc.
My speakers sound awful (300w Skytec 15`s) but as i was uprating them thought id get a bigger amp (current one is soundlab sf500 250w into 4ohms and speakers 300w into 8ohm). I cant have the amp any louder than about half before the speakers distort. I definitely want new speakers but amp is like new - just thought id get a new one to power the newer louder speakers.
As the ohms are differnt is that why im having a prob?

cant pm as new and havent got 15 posts yet!

Also im looking into what sort of contract/agreement to make for us both, ie, how do i word it etc.

Yep -just realised, you're not at 15 posts... Lots of things to chat about and discuss- so dive in :-)

You'll need a partnership agreement.
This will cover most occurrences (sickness, disagreements etc). Many companies are Partnerships, and you may be able to find an "off the shelf" document that is close to what you need.

If you own most of the gear, then it may be easier to pay your friend as a roadie/sidekick. If there was a falling out, you could continue.

Assuming a 50:50 split, you'll each be paying Tax and possibly NI on earnings. Keeping good records of expenses and income will be required.
If you have the Van/Car, then you can claim 40p/mile from each gig (so £40 for a gig 50 miles away).

There are other costs- possible PLI and/or Equipment Cover, any advertising, music and any spares.

I used the SkyTec 15", and used them last year. They are not that bad, but a big difference between them and a modern system.
It sounds like your amp may be clipping, so try to get an amp that can provide at least 350W RMS into their 8Ohm load.
I have a W-Audio 800, which gave 400W into 4Ohms, but only 250W into 8Ohms. It was fine for smallish parties of about 100 people, and many parties are still that size.

The speakers are starting to show signs of wear etc, one of the piezos dont work now (blown) and the grills are dented etc so thought it look more impressive by getting some.

Equipment wise we are not really gonna be using much of the equipment apart from by cdmixii numark decks as these were only serviced a year ago,and pc. As he wants to put money into it too we were looking at the follwing:
New stand
new sound system (speakers and amp)
Couple of good sync`d lights (Im currently using 2x vastos,1xtango,1 acme moonflower thing.I believe these look a bit dated now).
USB Controller for virtual dj
Gigaport for better sound outputs (Currently using a 5.1 soundblaster card)

The plan is to get one rack mount to house the cdmix2,usb controller,pc and amp.Then just sit the flat monitor on top.

We have the use of a escort van but hopefully we will progress to getting our own transport. I also have an astra estate if need be.

Does anyone have a link to some "off the shelf "docs for our purpose?

With something as important as a partnership agreement, I wouldn't trust arm chair solicitors and I don't think many here are qualified in law and in writing binding legal documents and I wouldn't trust securing your interests with something which you may read or find on the web. Some of the disputes when things go wrong in a partnership in relation to who gets what, and how much you put financially into a company (which you naturally want to get back) can be worse than a divorce!.

Entities such as the Musicians Union and DJ Associates offer documents and ongoing advice in relation to forming partnerships and running a business etc. Membership to them costs a subscription but you get other benefits too such as pli.

Failing that, I think WHSMITH, MAKRO and even some of the online retailers have various 'law packs' for sale. These are ready made and properly written legal contract templates which cover a whole range of diverse legal subjects like business contracts, will writing and more importantly Partnership Contracts. They used to cost around £10 - £20

Failing that, use a local solicitor, cost is about £40 - £80 depending on where you live and unlike legal costs often the price is fixed for the job they are engaged to do and probably won't cost as much as you may think. Put it this way if you are serious about going into business, its probably cheaper to get a solicitor to draw up a watertight agreement, signed by all parties than to have to engage one at a later date in order to fight for what is rightfully yours in the event of a partner dispute or the business being wound up.



Your amp is seriously underpowered if you are doing medium - large venues. Into 8 ohms this amp will be only delivering about 175W per channel which isn't a lot, which explains why you are having to drive it hard to make any headway and of course hard running creates unwanted and potentially damaging distortion and clipping

Good point. Was thinking of going down that avenue.

My advice to you on the equipment front would be to concentrate on your sound first and look seriously at buying good quality s/h kit.

You say you are not happy with how loud your current system is,how big are your jobs likely to be?

For an example, i did a pub gig, about 80 people in there and a very small area and yet they struggled and was distorted.I turned them down and they sounded better. The way they are running i havent got a chance playing any medium sized gigs!!
I think the prob is that ive run them in the past at near full and its buggered them up!
I am going to concentrate 1st on the sound system as to me that is the most important. I have some cheap lights to play with for the time being (2x vastos,1xtango,1 acme moonflower that i rarely use).

A good sentiment. Its the most important to your clients too as they are the ones who pay the bill. Lots of pretty lights may be a great atmosphere generator, but its not solely the reason why you are being booked - ie to play music and entertain. If they wanted lights they could hire them or buy and install them and cut you out of the equation.

Definetely work on bettering your sound system, as people (and pub managers!) will usually notice and bring to your attention the crappy sound before the quality / number of your lights.

Get the BEST that you can AFFORD. Andy's advice above is very valid in this case, because buying looked after quality kit second hand from Ebay or the private ads will reap much better rewards and will inevitably sound better than brand new budget equipment. Its sometimes worth travelling to a demo at a retailer or to see the equipment first before buying it, because sound is a very personal thing, and what is good to one DJ is considered crap to another. But also bear in mind that you are working for clients and not other Dj's and so its important to maintain some opinion of your future sound system for yourself and the venues you cover

Once you have sorted your sound system out, you can then build up your lighting.

Couple of other points,
1. Bear in mind when buying the equipment's size and your transport.
2. No point in spending money on better gear and not minding it. Get the best quality cables/leads you can afford and covers/cases for the equipment.
3. Would active speakers be worth considering?

John

So what did you go for in the end?