DJ venue visits: checking power, access and setup time
Load-in route, power points, sound limiter, curfew: what a mobile DJ checks on a venue visit, and how to block setup and pack-down time around every gig.
6 min read
Visit any venue you don't know before the event, with a checklist: access for your gear, power points, sound limiter or curfew, where the booth goes, and who your contact is on the day. Then plan the gig in your calendar as the full block it really is, from load-in to the last cable packed, not just the hours you play. Make the visit a bookable appointment for the client or the venue, and keep days with a gig closed to anything else, so you never promise a lesson or a call while you're carrying speakers.
Why visit before the gig
A venue's website shows the room at its best, not the three flights of stairs to the stage or the single socket behind the bar. Some rooms have a sound limiter that cuts the power when the volume passes a set level; others have a hard end time because of neighbours. Finding this out on the night means a set that stops mid-song or an hour lost looking for an extension lead.
A short visit, ideally with the client or the venue manager, answers these questions while there is still time to adapt your setup.
Venue visit checklist
- Access: where to park, distance to the room, stairs or lift, door widths, loading times allowed.
- Power: number and position of sockets near the booth, separate circuit or shared with the kitchen, need for your own extension.
- Sound limits: limiter in place and at what setting, end time for amplified music, rules for doors and windows.
- Booth position: view of the dance floor, distance to the tables, space for lights, safe cable routes.
- People: the venue's contact on the day and their phone number, caterer's timing, other suppliers setting up (band, photobooth, florist).
- Timing: earliest time you can set up, when the room must be empty, whether you can leave gear overnight.
Take photos of the sockets and the booth spot. They save a lot of explaining when you prepare the gear list the week before.
Making the visit bookable
On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. You open slots for each service at the length it takes, each with a number of places. A venue visit takes one place: one client, one venue.
| Service | Example slot | Example price |
|---|---|---|
| Venue visit (local area) | 45 min | Included |
| Venue visit (further away) | 1 h 30 | €40 |
| Sound check at the venue | 1 h | €50 |
Durations and prices are examples. Since the visit happens at the venue, include travel time in the slot and state your area in the description. Ask the client to write the venue name, address and the date of the event in the booking note: you receive it in your new-booking email, and the note stays read-only once the booking exists, so put the instruction in the description. When the venue manager arranges the visit by phone, create the slot and book it yourself from your calendar: first and last name are required, email and phone optional.
Blocking setup and pack-down time
A four-hour set can mean a much longer day: loading the van, driving, carrying gear, setting up and testing, playing, then packing everything back. When you book the event date in your calendar, make the slot cover the whole block, from arrival to departure, and write the playing hours in the note. Your calendar then shows the time you're really unavailable.
Each slot sits within one day. A night that runs past midnight can't be one slot: book the evening until midnight and note the real finish and pack-down time.
Keeping gig days clear
Book doesn't stop slots of different services from overlapping: a lesson slot you opened on Saturday afternoon stays bookable even if you've booked a wedding that day. So on gig days, don't open lesson or call slots, or delete the ones already open before you confirm the event. If you repeat lesson slots each week on chosen weekdays until a date, leave your usual gig days out of the repeat.
With calendar sync (Google, iPhone, Mac), gigs, venue visits and lessons appear in the same calendar as the rest of your life, which makes a clash easier to spot before you say yes. Clients can't move a booking online: they contact you, you reschedule or cancel from your bookings list and tell them yourself, since Book doesn't email them about changes. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.