wrote in message ...
In sci.electronics.repair Arfa Daily wrote:
I am talking about 'a disco (theque)' as in a person or persons who
set up music and lighting equipment in a venue for the purposes of
providing the musical entertainment for a dance event, or a birthday,
or a works celebration, or a charity do, or whatever.

In the US this is usually called a "mobile DJ" service. "Mobile"
because they come to your location with records, amps, speakers, etc.
DJ means "disk jockey" - a person who selects and plays recorded music.
People will say things like "We should hire a DJ for the party."

The DJ has usually brought amps and speakers and maybe some lights. He
(most common) or she (sometimes) used to bring a stack of (records|tapes|
CDs) and a (turntable|tape deck|CD player). Today the music comes from
a laptop or MP3 player, but everything else is the same.

By itself, "DJ" can also be the person that works at a radio station,
introducing songs and playing them. A "DJ" can also be the person in
a hip-hop group who plays records to back up the singer.

If you are talking about a building where people go to listen to
recorded music, dance, and probably drink alcohol, that's usually called
a "club" or maybe a "bar". It was called a "disco" in the 1970s but not
any longer.

As you have probably figured out, if you say "disco" in the US today,
people generally think of the late 1970s music style - "Saturday Night
Fever", etc.

Matt Roberds



OK. That makes sense then. Your 'mobile DJ service' is exactly the same as
our 'mobile disco'. It sounds as though lighting is not a significant
aspect, but would probably be known as DJ lighting, and the rest of the
stuff - amps, speakers, CD decks etc - as DJ equipment. Here, although those
terms are used, it's all better known as 'disco' equipment or 'disco'
lighting. Audio and lighting equipment for sale on eBay is usually described
as 'DJ' equipment. The guy I was out doing the lighting for last week, calls
his service "Occasions Disco". In the past, I have done light shows for
"Force 8 Disco" "Hot Wax Disco" and "Disco International", among others.
Back in the day, it was, as you say, all run from records and decks, or CDs
and dual CD decks. The one I was out with last week, was all run from a
laptop, although the physical lights were driven from a separate custom DMX
controller. Visualizations via a video projector, were from another laptop,
fed through a video mixer to allow a video camera on the revelers, to be
overlaid on the visualizations.

So, now that's all cleared up, we will all know that when I talk about a
disco, I'm referring to a mobile DJ service, and not the music genre /
lifestyle ... :-)

I thought I spoke pretty good American, having been there many times, and
having spent years on usenet talking to Americans, but this seems to be yet
another good example of two nations divided by a common language ...

Arfa