With the London Olympics and a jam packed festival season, its going to be a very hectic schedule for most London DJ equipment  hire companies but one that we are more than ready for. For dance music fans there will be so much more for them to choose from over the 4 weeks the Olympics are in town with events happening literally everywhere! Tiesto performed at the Athens games, lets hope that London can compete with that kind of standard!

With the winter well and truly setting in at the moment so its refreshing to be taking bookings for the year ahead.  One of my favorites is Outlook Festival in Croatia. A week in the sun and some amazing dance music DJs. This year just got better with the addition of Hideout festival the weekend after, a smaller more underground festival that will be held on the same grounds as Outlook.

Hopefully we will see you at one of the many festivals we will be attending this year!

Firstly you really need to think of the mood people will be in at the time. Choose upbeat positive songs to match the mood of yourself as well as your guests. Remember that there is a long way to go and you don’t want to be playing too many hits too early as there should be no repeats throughout the whole night.

Secondly make sure you don’t get caught short with songs in the playlist. Weddings rarely run on time so add at least an extra hour of songs to the playlist to make sure you have enough. With this in mind, leave your itunes on repeat so if you do come to the end of the playlist the software will go back to the start rather than leaving you in silence.

Pick songs that you both like. The day is supposed to be about you so don’t be shy about expressing your personalities. The worst thing you could do is miss a song because certain guests won’t appreciate it. Make the playlist represent who you are.

Lastly, try and keep the laptop or ipod hidden away. You never know who might decide they want to become the DJ.

If you have any questions or want to add a few suggestions then please just comment or use the contact form!

We’ve worked in bombed out churches, cathedrals & car parks as well as festivals both in the UK and abroad. The summer in Leeds always throws up some challenges but seeing the smiles on clients faces when we make things happen for them makes it all worth it. Next year Onion Audio has some big things planned for Leeds PA hire clients so we are looking forward to moving onwards and providing the best possible service to our clients new and old.

Leeds PA hire clients can expect us to be be busy over the winter months with christmas parties as well as the big one on new years eve. Traditionally Leeds PA hire companies have always been busy over the christmas party season due to a large civic quarter and big office population & over new year a large student population leads to a large amount of parties requiring a sound system!

I my eyes, a sound system is the most important thing at a party or event, so I really enjoy talking to prospective clients who understand the need for one. Allocating a decent amount of budget to your sound system is one of the most important things you will do when organising a party. Without good a sound system, with subwoofers and a crystal clear sound, you create a completely different vibe. And not in a good way!

Whatever you decide to do this winter, we wish you the best and hope to speak soon!

For more information on the PA hire we can provide in the Sheffield area, please visit the PA hire page for packages available, or alternatively contact us for a chat and advice on the event you are hosting.

With the diverse selection of events and cultures in the Sheffield area, Onion Audio have found themselves providing PA for many different events in the city. From Reggae DJ nights to indie band nights as well as wedding events and corporate conference events the events in Sheffield are alive and abundant.

When hiring star cloth, its advised to cover the entire wall with star cloth. If you require star cloth but don’t have the budget to cover a large area, Onion Audio can provide simple blackout cloth when required. This gives a great effect in the place you need it and makes the rest of the area work with the star cloth.

We regularly provide star cloth to large events such as weddings and corporate events along with led uplighting and table center spots. Onion Audio can provide lighting for events of any scale and are happy to talk about your option. Please contact us for a no obligation chat, visit the wedding ideas blog or the wedding sound hire page.

One of the main benefits to a winter wedding is that when evening guests arrive you can light your venue to give it an amazing magical sparkle you could never have during the summer. White fairy lights look great when used to guide guests down a path or entrance way. You could also use them to highlight an arch way or the entrance to the venue itself. In a marquee fairy lights look great with ceiling drapes to add sparkle to the venue itself.

Sky trackers, a big spot light that is aimed at the sky looks great. Shooting light through trees or simply in to the sky can really dazzle guests as they arrive or socialise outside.

Inside, uplighters around the room work really well on white walls to create a warm atmosphere when dusk settles. You can have uplighers that fit or compliment the colour theme of your wedding. Wedding uplighters are affordable and scaleable so they can fit in with any budget.

Lighting trees and features outside is another way to add atmosphere to any area. Read our post on uplighting trees for more information and advise on what we could do for you.

At Onion Audio we can provide any lighting you require to make your venue look and feel amazing. Contact us to see what we can do for you.

One trick Onion Audio like to use is uplighting. We use floodlights strategically placed on the ground to light features in the area. This works particularly well with trees and woodland but also statues and water features.

The real benefit of uplighters is that just as your guests think they have seen everything your event has to offer, the sun sets and they are amazed by the beauty of their surroundings once again.

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Different colours help create depth to features like large trees. Lighting the tree with green from a distance and then lighting the tree in white directly underneath looks great.

Lighting the tree from the front gives a good effect but lighting it from behind illuminates the whole tree and gives a great effect.

Lighting Statues with different colours can also give a great effect. If your event has a colour theme think about spotlighting white features with the theme for the evening.

The great thing about uplighting trees is that no one venue is the same. Every event will be lit differently and you choose how you want it to look. Uplighting is a very affordable way to make your event look great. Get in touch with Onion Audio and see what we could do for you!

Gain structure is one of the most important things you need to get right if you want a good sound from a DJ sound system. Its really not that hard. Play a track and keep the gain (sometimes called the ‘trim’) pot low. Move the fader up to the place marked zero (or all the way to the top. If your like me then you have it at the top so you can turn it up and down quickly) . Then turn the gain pot up slowly so that the meter on that channel is hitting ‘zero dB’. Once you have done this then you can  turn the master fader up slowly until you get to the level you want from the system. If you find that the meter on the master section is too low and is not usable then I suggest turning the gain on the channel down a little & turning the master up to help balance these two out. Remember if you do this the master section should rarly go over 0dB. If you do then you jeopardise the sound quality of your sound system.

This isn’t the text book way of setting up gain structure but I find it a good balance between sound and usability. If you run the mixer in the red and then hear complaints about the sound quality, think about changing your gain structure.

I think the reason for this is that the major benefits of the 2000 are its ability to play songs from a flash drive and its sampling abilities. Its easy to see why a top DJ making tunes on a  flight to a gig might much prefer to put his song on a USB stick as he lands rather than try to burn a CD at 30,000 ft.

The sampling abilities seem to be appealing to the most creative DJs. Thats not to say only the ammeter  DJs aren’t creative but when you look at the price point its easy to see why the turntablists have yet to really get a hold of the cdj2000 and really experiment with it.

The CDJ2000 as a turntablists unit really only works well with the DJM2000. Which brings us on to if the DJM2000 will ever make it on to the pro club circuit riders. Im really not sure if Pioneer ever intended it to. If they did then more fool them. I said it when the DJM2000 came out and Im sticking to it. Im sure the DJM800 will stay a staple of the club DJ rider for quite some time yet.

The main reason is usually price but the other reason is you get to choose exactly what you want to here. There is no need to risk getting a DJ who may not play exactly what you want. Simply hire a sound and lighting system from us and plug your iPod, laptop or any other device in and press play!

There are some down sides though. You need to spend time planning your play lists. To fill an entire night you need a substantial amount of music to play. We would suggest splitting different sections of the day in to different playlist and playing that playlist when the time is right. After organising your playlists its also a good idea to leave a friend or family member in charge of the running of the system. Its a simple job but you don’t want any more distractions on your wedding day.

Another option may be to hire one of your friends to become the DJ for the evening. Look out for our next post on this soon.