The Infinity Light & Sound Time Line:

The following is mostly useless information about the history with my disc-jockey business. It highlights some of the events that went on since 1985.

1985 To 1988
The College years - I Would sometimes help my Brother, Greg Bloom and my Brother-In-Law, Gary Helmkamp at Gigs mostly at Purdue University, East Noble HS and some weddings.  I was always too shy and not confident enough to take over the controls so I mainly helped with setup, take down, ran the light show and took requests.

September 1988 First Gig!
Northridge High School near Wabash IN. Gary Helmkamp double booked a night and wanted to see if  I would do it. My brother had started a computer business and was not interested in DJing any more. I rented the equipment from Greg and with 3 friends headed down to Wabash in a my 1984 S-10.

The media players that were used:

  - 2 Sony CD players (some of the earliest ones made back in the mid-eighties which was actually pretty advanced for DJs back then)
  - 2 Techniques Turn Tables - used mostly 45 rpm records for the current music
  - 1 Cassette Player - To keep costs down Gary did record some of the newer music on a cassette tape (mostly Guns-N-Roses and Poison)
The gig went OK but I do remember fumbling around on the controls of the mixer often starting the music with nothing coming out until I figured which channel of the mixer I had to switch to.


August 1989 - First Wedding

A friend from Angola recommended me for a short-notice wedding reception that was a result from a pregnancy (I had to start somewhere). The crowd was small and I said as little as possible on the microphone. One CD-Player was not performing well. It was time for the couple's first dance and the CD player would not start their song. I had to swap the CDs out after attempting to nudge, bump and drop the player from 3-4 inches off the table a few times. The rest of the evening went very well and actually gave me a lot of confidence for weddings.  I had probably completed 4-5 gigs by this time and I already decided that I was not going to load and unload the equipment from my truck after each gig.  I found a small used trailer and made carts to lug around the working console and music. Towards the end of that year, I had to purchase new CD players.  I bought 2 Kenwood consumer models (professional players were barely available and very very expensive). Although I only use the Kenwoods as backup and for home use now, they are still going.

March 1990

Bought most of Gary Helmkamp's equipment, some music and took the name of Infinity Light & Sound. Prior to that I was going under the name of Sound Master Sound which was what Greg Bloom's disc jockey business was called. I wanted to gear myself toward weddings and thought the name was more appropriate.

1993
Purchased a Sony Mini-Disc player. This was a major leap and expense for me at the time but it would save a lot of space and headaches. I was able to digitally record existing music onto disk-cartridges that were even smaller than a 3.5 inch computer floppy disc. Mini-Discs gave me the convenience that CDs offer (instantly accessing tracks or songs) and hold up to 75 minutes of music. This allowed me to get rid of the one turn table I was using and get rid of the weight and bulkiness of the Albums, 45s and a large library of cassette singles. I revamped my working console and music cart for this change.

1995

Through a mix up in my scheduling with East Noble High School, I went to go setup for an after-game dance but ended up meeting the scheduled DJ at the loading dock for the dance that night. Dan Echinberg  of  'The Music Palace' (Goshen Indiana). We talked about our business and traded war stories. Dan introduced me to Mobile Beat Magazine (a magazine geared for Mobile Disc Jockey). I was now exposed to a vast amount of information, avenues for ideas, professionalism and equipment. Looking at the business with a new perspective, I soon purchased a new professional mixer, new lighting, a dual CD player made just for DJs and most importantly a source for new music. I no longer had to buy my music like everyone else - go to a music store a sort through what I think I could use.  Since October 1995, I have been in a service that provides all the weekly releases of music in formats such as Top 40, Adult Contemporary and Country. This was a huge leap for me in the areas of music and convenience. At the time, I had built most of my library of music with the must-haves and classics, but I was struggling with keeping up with current music and country music which at the time was very popular. This service is probably the reason I am still going today. Besides working full time, DJing and farming on the side, my wife and I just had our first child.