Thinking again of adding rentals

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rickryan.com

rickryan.com

DJ Extraordinaire
ODJT Supporter
Dec 9, 2009
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Hendersonville, TN
www.rickryan.com
How many of you guys are renting sound systems? I'm back to thinking about it. I have a 17 year old son and a wife who don't want to DJ but could be setup/delivery. I'm thinking to offer a small rig of a powered mixer, speakers and stands for $300-ish (little less or a little more). When I was thinking about this before I was worried about mics/feedback and how to supply the music (jukebox software). Now I'm thinking that if they want a mic, it's $100 extra (to pay a technician to be on-site) and leave the music to their own ipod. If it'll fly it'd be a nice way to get that extra gear to earning some income and give my son something a little more hands-on to do. Anyone trying this?
 
We're getting ready to set up a rental system in conjunction with one of our local venues. We've already priced it out and figured out the rates, it's just a matter of getting all the gear in, building the storage container and renting it.

Here's the gear we're looking at though:

2x Behringer Eurolive B112D powered speakers
2x JamStand speaker stands
1x boom stand for the mic
1x Shure SM48 wired mic
2x 50' xlr cables (from Ben) (one will be used to daisy chain speakers together, the other for the mic)
1x custom cable: mini to 1/4" TRS (or xlr, not totally sure yet) for the mp3 player
2x 10' extension cords for the speakers
1x Furman powerstip
1x 50' or 100' extension cord

The big thing is everything will be color coded for hookup and a setup manual with pictures.
 
The mic, without someone to stop it from feeding back, scares the crap out of me. Of the weddings I've run into where they were considering renting a sound system, they were all small weddings and I can't remember them questioning whether there was a mic. All they wanted was something to play their music on. Are you planning to tape down the mic, to keep it in place? Do you really think a mic is going to be a deal-breaker? I'm also wondering if you'd need to do a sound-check and signoff of acceptance that it's working properly?
 
I'd go with powered speakers and a regular mixer .. gives more flexibility and redundancy. I would probably skip on providing the music, but make it easy to connect things up.

As for feedback, lot's of ways to control .. just saw that the "new" Mackie SRM450 has feedback control built in .. 4 notch filters ..
 
rickryan.com said:
The mic, without someone to stop it from feeding back, scares the crap out of me. Of the weddings I've run into where they were considering renting a sound system, they were all small weddings and I can't remember them questioning whether there was a mic. All they wanted was something to play their music on. Are you planning to tape down the mic, to keep it in place? Do you really think a mic is going to be a deal-breaker? I'm also wondering if you'd need to do a sound-check and signoff of acceptance that it's working properly?
Click to expand...

As for the mic placement and feedback, there is no support included with our rental system, so look through the manual very carefully, it will be giving tips on how to setup and ensure proper placement. We won't be taping anything down...we won't be setting it up. But beyond that, this system will be used outdoors and in a barn where tape wouldn't stick anyhow.

In the selling of our ceremony add-on, we've actually found that people are more concerned about hearing the bride and groom than the music. So yeah, the mic is definitely a deal-maker or breaker.

Sound checking would be done the Thursday before it goes out to make sure everything is in working order and then when we get it back, another check to make sure it all works.

rickryan.com said:
One more item, I'm wondering if it wouldn't make sense to lock off the controls, to prevent un-trained hands from fritzing with it. Just preset a level, give them an 1/8" plug, and that's it.
Click to expand...

That's one reason for the powered speakers. With the amps already matched to the speakers, the possibility of damage is reduced. Also being outdoors, adjustments might need to be made depending on wind, tractors in the fields behind, etc.

Our system is being designed to counter and help remove the local rental place's rig from ever setting foot at this venue again.
 
Okay, I've added it to my website and will do a few craigslist ads to see if it scares up any takers. I started to pitch it at $275 but decided to up it a bit.

$325 - Sound System Rental Professional-grade sound system complete with two speakers, speaker stands, amplifier and mixer, with an 1/8" connector, ready for your ipod, iphone, droid, tablet, or laptop. We take care of delivery, setup and tear-down. Need a wireless mic and sound person to run it for you? Just $95 extra.
Click to expand...
 
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Rick, that ad kind of makes it sound like for an extra $95 I can have a wireless mic and some one to run it. aka "DJ"
 
tunes4046 said:
Rick, that ad kind of makes it sound like for an extra $95 I can have a wireless mic and some one to run it. aka "DJ"
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Good point. I need to convey that this is just for renting the mic and someone to run it, not to run their music for them. I am not supplying a DJ for that amount. If you want a DJ, then we start at $750. Any suggestions on how to re-word it? BTW, here's the initial ad I just put up.

http://nashville.craigslist.org/evs/4568563630.html

Keep in mind, this is just an experiment for me, trying to find a service that my son or wife could handle. Might end up a bust but worth a try.
 
maybe just leave the part about the microphone off and upsell it later in the process, how big of a damage deposit are you thinking about requiring, you you could expand this dance floor lighting, how easy would it be to rent out a 4-bar and just let it run in auto mode.
 
rickryan.com said:
Good point. I need to convey that this is just for renting the mic and someone to run it, not to run their music for them. I am not supplying a DJ for that amount. If you want a DJ, then we start at $750. Any suggestions on how to re-word it? BTW, here's the initial ad I just put up.

http://nashville.craigslist.org/evs/4568563630.html

Keep in mind, this is just an experiment for me, trying to find a service that my son or wife could handle. Might end up a bust but worth a try.
Click to expand...

Add an on site sound technician for just $95(music and DJ not included)
 
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tunes4046 said:
maybe just leave the part about the microphone off and upsell it later in the process, how big of a damage deposit are you thinking about requiring, you you could expand this dance floor lighting, how easy would it be to rent out a 4-bar and just let it run in auto mode.
Click to expand...

When we rent equipment, we charge a card for the cost of the equipment. When the equipment is brought back, we refund their money, minus the rental fee.
 
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Good thoughts, guys. Thank you. I've taken out the technician/mic from the ad. Will offer that as an add-on. Up-selling dance lights is a good idea also. In the past year, I've noticed a definite up-tick in "you're too expensive" calls. I've usually been telling them, "Ma'am, I can refer you to a number of guys who will DJ your wedding for $300-$500 but in all honesty, they usually hurt your event more than they help. If that is your budget then you're better off with an ipod." Hopefully, this will give me an avenue to salvage some of those leads and put my family to work as well. I just did a lighting-only rental this past Friday. Made $700 for 20 fixtures and spent less than 2 hours in the process.
 
Lots of good info above. I have been toying with renting myself (minus myself as DJ/sound tech), but it just scares me too much. And I already have a bunch of low-cost mikes that people can bounce; I just don't want them too. There are so many scenarios that could go wrong...

I would definitely go with credit card; that's the way it's always been done when I've had to rent anything in the past. I'd also have paperwork that they sign accepting liability for any issues (thus the additional credit card run). If you are not using excess gear that you already have, and are considering getting something specific for these lower end rentals, I'd think about something extremely simple, maybe not even powered speakers (two sets of adjustments, trying to match volumes, etc., etc.). Maybe a simple, 80-100 watt Sunn or Fender or Kustom 4-channel head with very minimal controls (they can actually get quite loud with the right size speakers-- I've done graduatuions in large gyms with some of these smaller amps), some speakers, tripods, mike, mike stand, mike cable, speaker cables... plus the "special" mini-to-RCA adaptor. I wouldn't give them any additional help re: music service, live teching, etc.-- it would seem too much like competing with yourself and your colleagues based on low-ball price. I know you want to catch those gigs that slip through the cracks, but maybe there's a downside to offering a quick-ticket to an iPod wedding on the website?? I don't know...

GJ
 
If you do it, price things right and make the replacement value known as well. Here is where better built equipment tends to work better. Scuffs and dings are tough to charge for, but add up quickly and make equipment unrentable, so the better they are at withstanding abuse, the better for you.

Rentals used to be about 7% of replacement cost per day + setup/transportation. 10% or so for mics and fragile gear like lighting. So a decent pair of speakers (say QSC K12) + stands + simple Mackie Mixer + cords = approx $2200 in replacement and therefore maybe $155 in rental + setup/transport.

For rentals .. it DOES NOT make sense to cheap out with left over gear, as you want it as reliable as possible.
 
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rhythmgj said:
Lots of good info above. I have been toying with renting myself (minus myself as DJ/sound tech), but it just scares me too much. And I already have a bunch of low-cost mikes that people can bounce; I just don't want them too. There are so many scenarios that could go wrong...

I would definitely go with credit card; that's the way it's always been done when I've had to rent anything in the past. I'd also have paperwork that they sign accepting liability for any issues (thus the additional credit card run). If you are not using excess gear that you already have, and are considering getting something specific for these lower end rentals, I'd think about something extremely simple, maybe not even powered speakers (two sets of adjustments, trying to match volumes, etc., etc.). Maybe a simple, 80-100 watt Sunn or Fender or Kustom 4-channel head with very minimal controls (they can actually get quite loud with the right size speakers-- I've done graduatuions in large gyms with some of these smaller amps), some speakers, tripods, mike, mike stand, mike cable, speaker cables... plus the "special" mini-to-RCA adaptor. I wouldn't give them any additional help re: music service, live teching, etc.-- it would seem too much like competing with yourself and your colleagues based on low-ball price. I know you want to catch those gigs that slip through the cracks, but maybe there's a downside to offering a quick-ticket to an iPod wedding on the website?? I don't know...

GJ
Click to expand...

Yea, I'm somewhat skeptical of the pitfalls as well. I'm going back and forth on the mic business but am thinking that it's not much of a deal-breaker for them to not get a mic with their cheap sound system rental, keeping in mind that these are people who don't want to hire an expensive DJ. I'm also thinking that I'd use something like my Behringer PMP550. If you stack 2 speakers, it puts out 500 watts. I'd probably lock off the controls and literally just give them an 1/8" plug for their ipod. For the unit and PR10s, I've got $500 in replacement cost and it's a pretty decent little unit that I'm currently using for ceremony sound. I also have EV Live-x 12s or EV Zxa1s that I could use with a littler Behry mixer.

As for the planning, I'd just set them up as a regular gig in my database. It kicks out automated emails with links to my Online Planning system. It doesn't cost me a dime to give that part away and since I've got to set the rental gig up in my database anyway, it won't cost me a minute of extra time. Frankly, I wouldn't mind steering towards the rental business. I could do with fewer idiots who want to fight because I won't play their stupid "Everyone will dance to it" song.
 
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