I’m about to go onto my first gig ever tomorrow at a clothing store in downtown LA. I was wondering if taking my own monitors to the gig is a total must or not necessarily considering the store is not huge and the sound system is decent. I definitively want to go to the gig as light as possible with just my laptop, vci-100, audio kontrol 1, and MDR-V700 headphones. You guys think this is enough for such an informal gig or should I also take some monitors (KRK Rokit 5’s)?
If it is possible i would suggest taking the monitors. Only if you can take them then i would. Only because of past experience with not having monitors. What size rokit’s have you got?
I always take my monitors with me… Especially with a store environment.
I used to DJ for Gap, and while you can use the system in the store itself, the speakers are distant and you will get delays from all of them at your mix position. These delays can vary from 15-100ms+ and if you’re trying to beatmatch signals that are distant and delayed to the ones in your headphones, it can make your job a lot tougher.
Try putting your speakers down the hall, in another room, or even on the other side of your room not facing directly towards you, then try your set… I bet you’ll notice a big difference.