SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN YOU SHOULD NEVER USE FULL
SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN YOU SHOULD NEVER USE PLUS
SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN YOU SHOULD NEVER USE PROFESSIONAL

OK, we’ve covered sound quality (gonna sound terrible), damage (your amps will probably trip, you may even blow the speakers) and safety (they may topple onto someone, or just get a bottle through one of the cones by accident or something similar).

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN YOU SHOULD NEVER USE PROFESSIONAL

Putting your speakers on the floor is ridiculous, but on chairs and tables is also not cool, yet these are your alternatives without professional stands. Yet it doesn’t, so often!Īlso, if you want to position your speakers correctly, proper PA speakers have mounting holes underneath them so they can be put on decent stands that are safe to use on or near to dancefloors. In public they so need them that it hurts! All PA speakers have grills – this is for a very good reason and this point alone should be enough to convince any sane person that their expensive studio monitors are an AWFUL choice for party DJing. Why on earth would anyone consider DJing in public, where people are getting typically more and more animated and/or intoxicated, with speakers that have no protection on the front of them at all? The reason home speakers don’t have grills on the front is that they don’t need them. I’m talking about the physical design here. Home speakers aren’t designed for public use Blown home speakers at parties, or smoking amps, are so common you’d be shocked. Actually, in my experience, at any decent party that goes on for any decent length of time, this last outcome is the most common. Permanent damage is the worst scenario, but this makes it sound like it’s not common. Sue, the sound goes off – but actually, this is the best case scenario. But there’s terrible sound quality, and next – hopefully – just blown fuses. Then someone turns off Traktor’s limiter, or Serato’s dB ceiling. Then the bass, mid, treble all creep until they’re on full, all the time.

And you’re not the only person DJing, right? Do you think anyone else is going to employ your restraint? No way José! As the party picks up, it’s blatantly clear your music ain’t going to cut it with “best practice”. You try and position the speakers in better places (probably balancing them dangerously at head height – see the next point – which by the way also ruins the bass further), but it’s like trying to stop the tide with your hands. So you try and keep everything out of the red. So what’s a self-respecting DJ to do? Well, you personally will probably resist the inevitable.

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN YOU SHOULD NEVER USE FULL

Your puny speakers aren’t loud enough, and there’s no bass as the room is full of people making their own noise, and letting their bodies absorb all the bass frequencies (how dare they?). You will turn everything into the red, and if you don’t, someone else will Because if they don’t, you’re going to fall into the next big trap… 3.

Do your puny little speakers really have the ability to cope with delivering sufficient bass for a public space or a group of more than six people? Be honest. The one area you need a LOT of power is in the bass frequencies. Here’s the ugly truth: People absorb bass. You’ve not got one, right? If you have you can skip this point (but none of the others). Trust me, your speakers simply won’t sound good enough – it’s the truth and you’ll find out the first time you try it – if you’re silly enough to try it, that is. It’s incredible how much noise a roomful of people actually makes, and how much volume you really need to fill that room to party levels. Sure you may have KRK Rokit 10-3s and only be playing to a party of 10 people, in which case you may be OK (only on this point though), but for most people, it’s a different story. …and by “speakers”, I mean your amp/speakers, or your powered speakers, or whatever you use. But please read this first to find out why it’s such a big mistake… Why you should never use home speakers at parties… 1. Wanna play Russian Roulette with your expensive sound system? Then go ahead. It’s never a question of “if” – just “when”. It doesn’t matter if it’s a decently loud boombox, an all-in-one stereo system, separates, a proper “hi fi”, or even professional studio monitors or DJ monitors – read it slowly and out loud: It’s going to go horribly wrong. What am I talking about? DJing at a party using your home music system, that’s what.

SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN YOU SHOULD NEVER USE PLUS

Saves hassling about a PA system, right? Plus it’d be great to show off your new monitors.īut however it happens, it is almost always a huge mistake. Or it could be more premeditated, kidding yourself that all will be fine if you just take your music system from home to the party venue. It could just happen because you’ve got a few people back at yours and it sort of… you know… takes off. We’ve all done it, or at least been tempted.

Home speakers blowing up at house parties isn’t the exception – it’s the rule! Time after time new DJs fall into this expensive trap.

Sounds like a plan you should never use