Geoff Short of Jerry Bruno Productions is proud to be a new contributing blogger for Mobile Beat Magazine online. Mobile Beat is a leading DJ industry publication and Geoff will be writing various articles relating to the DJ business periodically. Here is a Geoff’s latest Mobile Beat Blog entry:
Like many DJs, I have a varied entertainment background. Being a well-rounded performer can only help a DJ be a more effective entertainer. In addition to being a DJ, I’m a singer and currently the Band Leader of a 10-piece wedding band, but I have also spent a lifetime performing in live musical theatre productions and have directed them as well. So it’s not surprising that I often look at the profession – and, indeed, the art – of DJing through the lens of other performing art forms, especially theatre which naturally has a lot in common with DJing – rehearsal, public speaking, interaction with a live audience and technical elements including live sound reinforcement and of course, creative lighting.
Typical DJ gigs don’t involve curtain calls, but a look at some of the basic ways lighting is used in live theatre productions might get us closer to a standing ovation at the end of the night.
I was just reading a thread on one of the seemingly infinite online DJ forums. This particular discussion caught my attention because it posed a question I’ve thought a lot about lately. Whether or not modern DJs actually need tons of state-of-the-art gear many of us seem obsessed with to be truly great entertainers. I am still fairly new to the mobile DJ scene so it feels like I still have an objective point of view about the DJ profession. I’ve been amazed at how much focus there has been in the mobile DJ community on gear that doesn’t actually make any music – specifically lighting.
I have a theory. We dig toys.
Click to read the whole article: All the (DJ’s) World is a Stage: Why DJs could learn Lighting Lessons from the Theatre