Most DJ’s are very happy playing in Marquees if that’s what your themed party calls for. But they do often require a little extra work, and as such, some DJ’s charge a small ‘Marquee’ supplement. A DJ can usually play in almost any outside location as long as he has weather-proof cover (top and sides) in case of rain as almost all DJ kit is not waterproof in any way. Set-up can be done on most surfaces, but the DJ area for setting up needs to be solid and stable. This usually and ideally means NOT on a temporary staging or similar. Most of this type of staging is not designed to have the kind of tripod stands most DJ’s use put up on them.. The set-up area must also be on a level surface and not on a slope of any kind.
Temporary Dancefloors
Temporary Dance-floors are often put down in Marquees to make dancing nice and easy. Please bear in mind that these Dance-floors can be very expensive to hire, and aren’t absolutely necessary. They are however wonderful to Dance on of course! Please note that if a Temporary Dance-floor is put down, your DJ will need to be set -up off of and behind it. This is because Dance-floors are expensive and you won’t want to waste any of it by having the DJ kit set-up on it and using part of it up. They can also be ‘bouncy’, and if a DJ sets up on them, they can make the equipment and particularly the overhead light and speaker stands wobble and be unstable. Even a fairly solid temporary dance-floor can move when a good number of people are dancing on it. Most DJ’s will need at least around 7ft / just over 2m of depth to set-up behind the dance-floor (please remember to allow for a similar 7ft / just over 2m for headroom too (and don’t forget to allow for a sloping roof if you have one. Most DJ’s will normally set-up to fit the dance-floor’s width.
Power in Marquees
As far as power requirements, most DJ’s will request access to 2 normal separate plug socket power points to plug into. Please note that this does not mean “double-plug adapter” on the end of a single cable, which will effectively be going back to one plug in one socket on the wall. This is because the kit most DJ’s will use is typically a little too much for a single standard fuse in a single plug. A good DJ should arrive with plenty of extensions, but I’ll strongly advise that the DJ finds out in advance or is informed if the DJ and his kit is to be set up more than a very short distance, say 15ft / 5m away from 2 power outlets in the wall. If informed in advance, this will allow the DJ to bring some extra extension cables if he needs to.
Noise and Neighbours
When you hold a Party in any outside or semi-outside venue, the noise will travel and the proximity of neighbours may be an issue. We usually don’t use bass bins if we can foresee a noise issue- as it’s the bass that carries and is most likely to cause a problem. We also tend to turn the volume down progressively, and slowly-enough so your guests won’t notice, as the evening goes on, in such cases too. Complaints about noise are rare- and as long as you’re not playing loud music on a regular basis, we tend to find people in general to be fairly easy-going about a one-off celebration….. particularly on a Friday, Saturday or any day preceding a Bank Holiday. It’s always a good idea to forewarn the nearest neighbours regardless. In the unlikely event that a complaint is received- we’ll be happy to turn the volume down as low as is necessary for you. We’re used to providing Disco’s in this type of situation, and you can trust our experience in such matters.
Space for the DJ to set-up in
To get the best out of a DJ and his kit, you will of course need to give him some space. An ideal minimum amount of space is typically around 2meters (6 / 7 Feet) depth (front to back), and around 3.5metres (10 / 12Feet) width (side to side), to allow us to stand behind the decks facing out to the crowd and have room to set up and use a sound and light-show for you. The more room you give us, the more room we’ll use, and can usually ‘spread-out’ to fill a larger space if you have one for us to fill… and we can also ‘condense-down’ into a smaller space if need be. In some cases, the best use of space can be obtained if the disco is set-up across a corner of the room at 45degrees- in this case we’ll ask for a minimum ideal corner giving us 4.5metres (15Feet) of frontage, and extending out around around 3metres (10ft) along each wall from the corner of the room.
If the space you intend for us to set-up in is less than the minimum we’d ideally like (2metres / 6-7ft x 3.5metres / 10-12ft), then simply e-mail me to let us know in advance and to forewarn us. We will also need at least 2.3metres (6 / 7ft) of headroom at what would be the ‘front’ of the DJ set-up area. Please bear this in mind if your venue roofs slope off to the wall. We will, make the best of any space that you have for us! Please bear in mind that dance-floors can be quite expensive to hire, and aren’t absolutely necessary… and that if you’re having a dance-floor put down, we’d need to set up behind (and off of) this- this is because dance-floors are ‘bouncy’, and if we set up on one, it can make the CD’s jump when people are dancing on it. We’ll need at least 2metres (6 / 7ft) of depth to set-up behind (and off of) the dance-floor (if you’re having one), and we’ll normally set-up to fit it’s width.
