Picture Flood!! (LONG POST)My Last Prom Of 08'

Here's a bunch of pix from my last prom this year. It was at the Gwinnett Civic Center, and there were about 1200 tickets sold this year This school is friggin' massive. It is a combined junior / senior prom.

we were set up on a stage about 50' from the cube, so the lights and dancing naturally spilled out 20 feet in every direction... everyone wanted to be in the cube... next year, we're gonna' probably extend it 10' to 15' more.

I have better pix from the professional photogs coming, but I figured I'd post these up for a few folks who asked..

We had a great time after the principal left.. he kept asking us to "please not play any more of that jungle rhythm, because the kids can't control themselves when we play it" Play that funky music by wild cherry fell into the "jungle rhythm" category... go figure...

One of the things I'm most proud of is that I set the cube up all by myself with no help. I used a scissor lift, and lifted the cross members to the exact height, jumped out, got on a ladder, and secured the pins... it was so easy... I'm either going to buy a scissor lift, or rent one for every gig now... what a god sent device! I hung all the lights and wired in no time at all with the lift, because you can just drive it along and hit the next fixture... Awesome!

You'll also see that we used it for video shots.. we had the text live and wireless camera kickin' and My buddy DJ Bally (Balvinder Bhandari) was up on the lift making the video magic happen. There's a couple pix of him up there. (I was too afraid to extend it 20' I felt like I would tip over) :)

DJ chad was also there doing his incredible roadie thing, as well as doing his fair share of spinnin' as always... the kid's good! (thanks chad!)

we played techno, latin, urban, and even some rock! It was one of those magical nights where you're just spinning to a sea of kids that will dance to anything you play.

I had the big JBL SRX setup, and strategically placed bose with delay for surround sound.. it sounded so sweet in the middle of the floor. Completely immersive..

we used 11 20 amp circuits, and still managed to blow one prior to the kids arrival. (Damn Sub Amps!)

it took about 8 hours to set up (very leisurely) and 2 1/2 to take down with the help of Chad and Bally.

I learned a lot this year from a lot of you.. Next year, I'm going even bigger with more new toys!



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Steve awesome job. Great set up

Steve,

Great looking setup. How did "text live" for you that night.

Do you keep the play list?

Awesome set up steve. Question what camera did you use to take these pics and was the flash off?

Wow. That's fantastic. HOW did you run electric and DMX cables to the cube in the middle of the dancefloor? I think I see one cable. But, there would be tons od kids dancing and walking over it.

One word:
Amazing!!!

Steve- OUTSTANDING!!!!!

Now this is a professional DJ Entertainer!

Holy Cow !!!

I'm impressed. Very nice indeed.

How long does it take to set all that up?

I ran two 10 guage extension cords along the edge of the dance floor with 4" gaffer's tape... One for each leg. The lights ran off two 30 amp breakers, so they weren's going to have any problems. I ran the extra L-1's off of the power outlets in the floor, and ran them wireless. Oh, and one DMX cable next to one of the extension cords also..

It was taped down so good that I had a basketball sized wad of tape in my hands when I pulled it up later that night.

Text live was actually non-stop that night. Every other prom this year had minimal participation.. the kids either didn't bring phones, or just weren't interested, or what they did text was foul.

Text live has turned out to be one of the most disappointing purchases I've ever made.. No one wants it, you can't up-sell it, it costs so much to keep a account active with t-mobile, and it just gets old... I figured when I bought this 3 years ago that I'd be using it non-stop.... nope!

That took from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., but like I said, I did most of it myself, and I was dragging my butt..

I use a nikon d-80 camera with no flash.. I just shoot a million pix on auto fire.. some come out good, most do not.. Most of these pix are beautiful in their original form.. the re-sizer program made them kind of grainy and blocky.. the originals are crystal clear.

Problem is, I'm usually working the controls, so someone else takes the camera and roams.. I never know what I'll get...

This is what a prom should look like in my mind.

Everytime I try to sell a prom your pictures are what I envision the outcome would be. I don't have a cube but if I could sell a prom for a real price I would buy one.

If you don't mind can I ask what you charge for a setup like this?

I haven't done a prom in 3 years cause I cant get anyone to pay more than $500.

I charge between $3200, and $3700 for a prom that utilizes the trussing... depends on what they'll pay....

for a corporate client, it would be more though...

You're welcome to use any of my pics you'd like If it will help you sell a prom..

Book one, and you can almost pay for the hardware. Book a second, and you can pay for some new lights.. from then on, you own it...

One thing I had to do this year was break the cycle with many of these schools and their current DJ's.. I had to basically buy out contracts to get the schools, because they already had booked someone else... It was an investment.. much like advertising, but on a more direct level...

Kinda' like these banks that do the no closing cost re-finances... Some call it dirty, some call it genius.. either way, I now have their schools as customers, and don't plan to give them back!

The only reason most schools stay with their current DJ is because they already did a deposit. I have about 8 more schools here in Atlanta that will be going with me next year after seeing how much more they could be getting.

You can't be everybody's friend, and dominate the market at the same time... it just doesn't work. You have to make the commitment to go all out.

Those Pics were like DJ PORN.....I need a cig:sqembarrassed: and a tissue

Steve, with that many kids inside the cube, did you experience a problem with the structure being bumped into or being worried that something might cause structure failure?

I ask only because I know nothing about how this works, except that the floor stands/weights that you bolt the truss to weighs a ton.

Those Pics were like DJ PORN.....I need a cig:sqembarrassed: and a tissue

never purchase a used laptop from Berry :sqwink:

I only use 2 weighted bases I made to stand one side up while assembling it..

The others just have little triangle aluminum bases.

two people can slide the structure a little at a time, but bumps and even leaning will not move it.. it's put together with pegs and cotter pins, and I assure you, the structure will not fail.. it's got a 6500 lb. load rating or something like that.. 6 of us hung off of one side of it for a picture, and it didn't even begin to flex.. you can climb up and walk all over it.

It's extremely strong.. once the lights are bolted on, it's as good as stationary until you choose to move it.

cool, thanks

It looks awesome. What a presentation. WOW!

My question is this. If a prom gets THAT involved with sound and lighting, why don't schools just rent out a nightclub (where all that gear is already installed) for the evening?

Steve,
Im without words-Beautifull and werry nice pics too.Thank you for sharing!

Dude, harryg: SHHHHH don't let them get any ideas. School's will start thinking and we'll be out of a job. I can't sell a kickass 20' light show and sound system for $1000 when a club will rent themselves out for $200 a nite and take in profits from sales they could make (non-alcoholic bar, glow, plus exposure).

I am speechless!!! Freakin' amazin'!!!

A couple of questions come to mind;

1) Did you guys do any video mixing onscreen?

2) Can you explain more about buying out contract?

The reason that I asked question 2 is that there is one particular dj in town that has been doing the majority of the proms in town forever and the kids say that he is terrible, but he must have "connections". I know that if I could get in there somehow, I could take over...thx

Nice pictures. That girl in the green dress in picture 18, is she, um, a, nevermind.

You've got a fantastic setup!! It looks better than any club could do. I just saw how much work it must be for you.

NICE JOB!

I am speechless!!! Freakin' amazin'!!!

A couple of questions come to mind;

1) Did you guys do any video mixing onscreen?

2) Can you explain more about buying out contract?

Ok, Video Mixing.... That's all we do now... I'm as close to 100% video as you can get. If I can't buy a video, I'll make it. I Mix the entire time... So I'm bopping from video to video all night.

As for buying out contracts...

What I did was put a big orange ticket in each mailer saying "already book a DJ? Kinda' sorry that you did? We'll refund your deposit, and pay any applicable cancellation fees."

I only had to eat 1 biggie.. $1300.00 on one prom... But I still made $1400 off of it.

Lucky for you, most DJ's have really crappy contracts, and small deposits. I just mark the event up, and deduct the amount they paid as a deposit. If their DJ had a cancellation policy, I'd deduct that also..

you might end up doing a few gigs with a big chunk taken out of them, but next year they're yours.

It ended up costing me $2200.00 to buy out 4 contracts. I spent 6 grand on truss and other lights and various sundries. At the end of prom season this year, I had grossed $29,000.00, so I basically walked with $23,000.00 for the months of april and may. The investment was well worth it.

It got me in, I wowed them, now they'll never go back to what they used to do until the day comes when someone comes along and outdoes me (which inevitably will happen someday... hell, I came out of nowhere and blindsided these guys, someone else could theoretically do the same.)

I do include in my contract that they're booking and paying for reservation of the date, not the DJ services. In Georgia, you can't legally charge for services that were not rendered, so it has to be worded properly to cover you in the event they cancel for some reason. that way you can collect the balance.