Wedding Wow-Factor

Antonio Garibay of Gotta-B Sound & Lights in Corpus Christi, TX, believes in the importance of an impressive lightshow for enhancing the events at which he performs as a DJ. Constantly working to add even more wow-factor to his shows, Antonio recently debuted his impressive new floor-standing rig at a wedding reception where the 300-strong crowd were blown away by the way in which the lightshow completely transformed the banquet hall.

Having DJed since the tender age of 11, Antonio is now a twenty-year veteran of the industry. He was introduced to the art of entertaining by singer George Balli who mentored him during his early years, which lead him to become a nightclub DJ by the age of 16, before progressing on to the more-lucrative private-function market. His company now regularly provides DJ and lighting services to a wide variety of events including quinceañeras, graduations, bar mitzvahs, church events and, of course, weddings.

When Antonio first met with the bride and groom for this particular event, all they were looking for was a DJ to play music for their big day. However, when he showed them pictures from previous events of his floor-standing truss system – a simple cube structure – the groom immediately wanted it for his party. Recognizing a customer who saw the value in what he does, Antonio explained that he was working on an even more impressive setup that would involve circular truss above the dancefloor, which the couple went ahead and booked.

Gotta-B Sound & Lights new Global Truss rig measures an impressive 40’ x 40’ x 14’ and consists of a central circle of truss raised up above the dancefloor by four legs with curved corners. In creating this setup Antonio wanted to ‘make a statement’ and we think he’s certainly achieved that goal. Its curves give this rig a feel of class, while its immense size is ideal for large dancefloors in big function suites.

The large amount of truss that creates this structure is illuminated using no less than 20 ADJ Flat Par Tri 7XS fixtures for truss warming. While 10 Inno Beam LED moving heads can either point down to add color and movement on the dancefloor or spin around to project GOBO patterns on the venue’s walls. To add further color to the dancefloor, the lightshow also makes use of 12 Mega Par Profile Plus units, which are arranged around the circular truss. Together with 107 x 10mm LEDs (a mix of red, green and blue) each of these fixtures also incorporates a 3W UV LED adding a blacklight effect into the mix. Finally, a pair of Fog Fury Jetts are mounted to the truss to shoot blasts of fog down onto the dancefloor.

While the rest of the rig utilizes the latest technology, the centerpiece is an original 70’s discoball. This allows for an elegant look for spotlight dances, with the moving heads swinging in to a static position illuminating the ball from all sides in bright white. Then, when the open dancing begins, the moving heads can be set loose to send beams flying around the dancefloor injecting color and movement to get the party started.

While some DJs may feel that setting up a truss structure over the dancefloor at an event sounds like a lot of work, Antonio thinks it’s well worth it. “I feel that it’s important to put lighting up over the dancefloor. With a basic truss bar at the front, it’s like the DJ is having a good time. But when you put the lights over the dancefloor it makes the party about the Bride and Groom and their guests. Especially in bigger rooms where the dancefloor is 10’ or 20’ from the DJ booth, I really find it makes a big different”.

For DMX control of his extensive lightshow, Antonio uses Elation Emulation software running on a MacBook Pro. This he finds to be extremely user-friendly and easy to program. In particular, he values the fact that it is also simple to modify programs when at an event to account for varied fixture positioning in different venues.

You may be surprised to hear that this mammoth system took the Gotta-B Sound & Lights team of five crew just four hours to setup and only 50 minutes to tear down. This was due in part to planning, with every member of the team having specific assigned tasks, but also down to the design of the system and some of the new technology available from ADJ.

First of all ADJ’s WiFLY Transceivers were used to send the DMX control signal from the MacBook at the DJ booth up to the top of the truss structure, eliminating a very lengthy cable run. Then an ADJ D6 Branch was used up on the top of the truss circle to split the incoming DMX signal from the WiFLY Transceiver. This meant that separate runs of DMX cable could be run down each leg, removing the need for the signal to be sent back up again via another cable from the last fixture at the bottom of each leg.

Further cable savings were made possible by the mains power input and output sockets included on all of the ADJ lighting units. This meant that just four incoming mains cords were required to power the whole rig, with the power supply linked via IEC cables running from fixture to fixture.

So what did the Bridge and Groom think of Gotta-B’s new rig on its inaugural outing? “They were blown away,” Antonio tells us. “The crowd was in awe, looking at the lightshow and pointing at it every time I ran a different program.”

With this impressive and creative rig, Antonio Garibay and the team at Gotta-B Sound & Lights prove three things. Firstly, impressive room-filling lightshows are well within the realms of possibility for mobile DJ companies. Secondly, such a rig can be setup and torn down in a manageable amount of time. Finally, and most importantly, that an impressive lightshow adds to the atmosphere of an event and is valued by many discerning clients.

Antonio is clearly passionate about creative lightshows and we can’t wait to see what he comes up with next. In the meantime, if you’ve got a lightshow you’re proud of, whether it’s a mobile setup or a fixed installation, send us a picture to newswave@americandj.com and you never know, it could be featured in a future NewsWave!

Gear used:
20x ADJ Flat Par TRI7XS
10x ADJ Inno Beam LED
12x Mega Par Profile Plus
4x ADJ D6 Branch
2x ADJ Fog Fury Jett
1x Elation Emulation control software
1x ADJ myDMX 2.0
2x ADJ WiFLY Transceivers
40’ x 40’ x 10’ DuraTruss Square truss

Antonio D. Garibay
Gotta-B Sound & Lights
(361) 904-4656
Corpus Christi, Texas
https://www.facebook.com/GottaBSoundLights

Check the Wedding-Wow Lightshow created by Gotta-B Sound & Lights

For additional questions, please e-mail: marketing@americandj.com

For more information Contact ADJ:
U.S. Office - Tel: 800-322-6337/+1-323-582-2650 • Web: www.adj.com