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Latest from Jonathan in Wales, ellaskins

More on Uplighting for your event...

I have been providing wedding uplighting with my Mobile Disco for a few years now and have put together a few tips to help brides to understand some important points when hiring their uplighting.

 Uplighting has been transformed over the last few years with the introduction of LED technology. Traditional high powered lamps use to get very hot and were a fire hazard if placed close to anything flammable and would also burn anybody touching them.
The introduction of cool to the touch LED lamps opened up the possibilities of using uplighting in a way that it has never been used before and very quickly started to be used as an effective way of transforming venues with lighting.

This has been particularly popular at weddings as it gave the ability to match the colour of the venues walls to the bride’s colour scheme.
If you are going to hire uplighting for your wedding there are 3 things that you should know. There are 3 ways that uplighting can be set up for your wedding, all of which have a different effect and greatly vary in setting up time (which should be reflected in the cost).
1)
Static Stand Alone – This is where the lights are plugged into the wall, set to a static colour and left on that colour for the whole duration of the party. This is fine for some situations but is limiting as they cannot be dimmed or controlled very easily.
2)
Master/Slave Mode – This is where each light is joined together with either a dmx lead (or wirelessly) and pre-programmed colours and chases are operated by using the controls on the back of the master light (the first light in the chain) to control all of the lights. This is a lot more effective than the first option and takes a lot longer to set up.
3)
Full DMX Control With Light Controller – This is by far the most effective way of operating uplights. It is set up similar to master/slave mode where all of the lights are connected together but the final connection is to a light controller.
The advantage of this is that you are not restricted to the 10 or so pre- programmed colours in the lights but can programme any shade of colour you like from a choice of 64,000 colours. You can also easily dim the lights down, fade them from one colour to another at the touch of a button or set up light chases and have light chasing around the room in different sequences and colours to music.
So next time somebody says they provide uplighting, ask how it is set up and controlled to make sure they provide the effect and colours that you are looking for.

For your Wedding Uplighting package call Atlantic Sound 

on 07979 846933 or 01243 268781.

Looking for a good quality Disco, or just the cheapest??

Are you looking for a good quality Mobile Disco in the Bognor Regis area, are you interested in hiring someone with experience, fantastic music selection, decent microphone skills and superb light-show.....or are you only looking for the cheapest you can find.....?

The difference between a quality Mobile Disco and a Cheap one is enormous, are you planning a Wedding, Civil ceremony or important family event, if your looking to impress your guests and get great feedback on your event call us today at Atlantic Sound Entertainments, we offer a little more then the rest, and always at a fair price, there are many DJ services around, but we like to think we have the edge on many of them, find out why today by calling me on,

 Bognor Regis 01243 268781 or Mobile: 07979 846933.

When you are looking for a Mobile Disco and someone offers you a very low quote, are you getting value for money, or a load of rubbish....if your planning your special day why let a cheap Disco ruin it, call Atlantic Sound today and deal with professionals.    www.AtlanticSound.co.uk

Uplighters, LED's and the evoloution of the Disco light over time....

Now with the recent LED revolution of the last few years, its really nice to be able to get cool running lighting and effects lights without burning yourself on the extremely hot bulbs, and of course also saving on the expense of constantly replacing the old halogen style bulbs, most if not all modern Disco's will now be employing some if not all LED lighting into their rig,but what is it and how does it benefit you...?

In the good old days, I'm talking about the early 1970's here, Disco lighting was at best basic, however still effective most Disco's used some kind of light sequencer, a few light screens and some spot boxes, if it was a slightly better Disco maybe some early motorized effects lighting such as helicopters and scanners, for years right through the 80's and most of the 90's Disco lighting was basically analog and extremely heavy, and hot, some of the bulbs burnt at over 600 watts and this could of been just on one fixture, when you consider the average DJ would take a rig out of maybe four or more effects lights the wattage soon added up, as did the heat...

During the early part of the 2000's LED (see above image) technology had evolved to the point that some Disco lighting manufacturers started to implement the use of LED's into their lights, at first they where not that bright or effective, but by the time we got to about 2005/6 LED lighting started to really take off, by the time we had bought our first LED effects in around 2007 they where bright enough to be used in place of some of the lower powered halogen style projectors, the issues that where still apparent though was the lack of patterns and mostly the output from the earlier units is simply dots and matrix's, however on the latest units the lighting output is easily as bright as the old 250 watt halogen fixtures and a fraction of the power drain, of course there is also little to no heat, although this is an advantage in many ways, it means the DJ booth isn't as cosy as it used to be, maybe some will disagree, but I actually liked the warmth in a cold hall or marquee...

The big word of the last couple of years for most DJ's is Uplighting!!, so what is it and what can it do for your event. Uplighting is basically what it says, using a light usually LED now in an upright position to illuminate walls and fixtures in the venue, as you can see in this picture the effect for a Wedding venue can be dramatic, with Uplighting placed in the right position the whole dynamics of the room can change, many people who now plan weddings look for entertainment packages which contain Uplighting, we invested heavily over the last two years in some of the best Uplighting we could get, and to that end can offer it for any event we provide Disco's for, although it can also be hired out on its own to compliment a band or other type of entertainment. When I looked around at what others where offering I decided to take some of the best angles and buy several different type of Uplighting, the standard type is the PAR64 style can, this is the type maybe used to illuminate the corners of rooms, or say a cake table, the next type is the flat beam type, this agian is ideal for the same uses, but has a wider flatter beam spread, maybe more suitable for bands and backdrops, the third type is the flat can, which like the standard PAR64 is totally flat and small

The possibility's are nearly endless now with digital colour mixing, chasing, and fading available all at the touch of a button, you can have the room set as one colour as in the photo to the left, or constantly changing to one colour then another with a slow fade.

Many Brides choose the standard pink, or blue and have it set, but you can really choose what you like for your event. Well I hope this has given you a small incite to another of our services, we currently have available up to 24 PAR64 Uplighters, and 8 Flat beam type, without doubt in the future many more will become available, if you would like to know more about our Uplighting services, or anything else please feel free to call me on, Bognor Regis 01243 268781 or Mobile: 07979846933, Demo's always available.

Fake testimonials on other DJ websites.....what they won't tell you!!

OK, so if there is one thing that really grinds my gears its other DJ's who insist on placing a testimonials page on their website, beleive me once the party's over the guests go home and usually unless you gain a re-booking that's the last you hear of the night, oh sure yes of course people will go home and say that Disco was great or that was a rubbish DJ etc....but who really go's home logs into their email and sits there writing a personal email to the DJ....trust me it rarely happens, I think in 20 years now I have had maybe two letters and a handfull of emails, re-bookings are always welcome, but usually once the party is over, and the guests and client have gone home, the only thing they are worrying about is the hangover the next day.

Recently I was browsing the internet for other local Disco companies and it was interesting to stumble across the website of www.jsmobilediscos.co.uk/, now as we don't know this group I was skeptical to their claims and also to their pictures, a few clicks later and it was soon discovered the website was indeed a generic site produced by the Wix website maker, not only that but it was full of fake pictures and false testimonials, most of these seem to have been generated by the template the guy had used, I had to ask myself what kind of Professional DJ uses a template with pictures that are not only not theirs but stock photos used on thousands of other websites, I found exactly the same layout on at least ten other sites and Google revealed the pictures where all stock photo's from an American website called Wix http://www.wix.com/ .

I had to ask myself as a potential client would I be taken in by this obvious deception, or is this just a guy trying to market his services but obviously decided for whatever reason to use someone else's pictures and stock shots, a little more digging discovered that the testimonials where also all fake....tut tut, personally i don't feel lying to your potential client and putting on this false front is a good business plan at all.

So what is my point here....mainly the fact that with Atlantic Sound Disco's your be getting exactly what it says on the tin, we are a real locally based DJ and Disco service, we don't use stock photo's of our shows, what you see is really us, we have several different setups from a full retro roadshow to the latest digital setup with thousands of top tracks and the weekly chart download, we are the real deal and will be for many years to come.

You maybe interested to know how to find out if the website your looking at is using real pictures of the actual show, DJ or entertainer that may turn up (or not) so here go's, firstly find a picture on the website in question, right click on it and select view image, in the case I talked of above it took me directly to the image on the Wix web builder site, which obviously told me that these are not this guys photo's, see here then right click again on the photo and select inspect element, this will give you the raw data about the picture, where the image is stored and its upload times etc..., next drag the image into a new window and drop it in the Google images tab, this will then determine who else is using the same images, and often show who the original owner is, simple as that.

Its worth noting that although theeir is obviously nothing illegal about using stock photos I feel really its just deceiving the client into thinking they are getting a setup that they never will, it also usually means the DJ in question has either pretty bad equipment or is subbing out the jobs as a front man and isn't even a DJ at all, with Atlantic Sound Discos your getting Atlantic Sound Discos.....I look forward to hearing from you soon..

Call Atlantic Sound on Bognor Regis: 01243 268781

 or Mobile: 07979 846933 to get a real DJ...;-)

Here is Some of our real pictures..;-)

We also have Marquee and Dance-floors available to hire , here you can see the chequered style dance-floor which is sectional and can be easily setup in most areas.

This setup was in aid of raising funds for the local football team, although not a large setup the sound was awesome, we used uplighters along the presentation table and of course supplied radio microphones for the announcer...

Most modern Disco systems are computer driven now days, we use the system developed by OTSAV in Australia, its served us well and is very reliable, some DJ's use Virtual DJ which is also an excellent system for the remixing DJ.

And as you can see the Dance Floor was jamming all night, events like this make me happy to be a DJ and entertainer as you can feed off the atmosphere, it certainly was a great night...

www.AtlanticSound.co.uk Bognor Regis DJ

Equipment in tip top condition, here is our secret.....;-)

Some time ago someone came up to me at one of our shows and said, "Excuse me, but why do you have that at a Disco..." of course what he was referring too was the toolbox and can of oil sitting on top of it behind the Disco setup.....does this sound strange? not really, you see to me a Disco Roadshow is just like any other apparatus and needs to be maintained to run to optimal efficiency,  that and should run as smoothly as a well oiled machine, carrying spare bulbs, fuses and a selection of tools is a must for a professional DJ, the last thing you want is a piece of equipment breaking down and you being in a position of having to end the show over something as simple as a fuse....

But back to the oil story, the can he was pointing at was a can of 3 in1, a pretty standard graphite based oil which is very suitable for a variety of uses, especially nuts and bolts, and of course what is a Mobile Disco held together with, yes lots of those, so to drop a drip of oil on the stands and wing nuts at the end of each show is a sensible precaution especially for equipment which maybe kept in vans or garages, the last thing I need is a stand seizing up or a wing nut stuck when I am setting up, ok so it may seem a little strange, but ive found the 3in1 oil which is now made by the WD40 company really excellent for all those silly bits and bobs that hold the whole show together, our overhead gantry contains no fewer then 42 nuts bolts, washers and sections, so dropping a bit of oil on them now and again is a good investment in ourselves.

 This good all purpose oil has been around for donkeys years and has a million uses, however when going to buy a new tin the other day I found that a new tin is exactly what I could not buy!! what I could buy was a new plastic bottle of the stuff, shock horror even the famous 3in1 brand as succumbed to modern plastics in production, so I will miss the lovely little tin that I have been carrying around for years along with my tools and spare bulbs and fuses, but for now I have just refilled our old can, for nostalgia you understand.

UPDATE: I wrote a short email to the WD40 company just to confirm that no longer could I buy the famous little can, they probably thought why all the fuss, but like any loyal user of a product we don't like change, anyway, in their reply they confirmed the small metal cans are no longer being produced, but as a gesture of goodwill they would send me one for my toolbox from old stock, result!! I wrote a very thank filled email back to them and will no doubt receive my original tin can of 3 in 1 in the mail shortly, so if you are at one of our shows and you peek over to see a toolbox and a can of good old 3 in 1 on top now you know why we carry it, very useful stuff, its even bailed me out when one of the mixer faders started making a crackling noise one night, although I would really advise a proper fader cleaner like Servisol for such jobs.

Well as always I look forward to receiving your emails and enquiry's, we are looking forward to this summer as I have lots of exciting new projects on the go.

Atlantic Sound Disco's Bognor Regis Call: 01243 268781 or Mobile: 07979 846933.