Foxinabox10 said:
You can also use a low-line
fog machine, which actually cools the
fog with ice to keep it low to the
ground, allowing you to
fog all you want. Try a
hazer too.
This does work well, but once the
smoke warms up or is stirred up by performers, you have the same issues as with a regular
smoke machine. In most applications, you actually want a small amount of
smoke to be present for most of the time to accentuate the lighting. For me, this is particularly the case when using intels.
As a mobile DJ, I always enquire as to the presence of
smoke detectors and whether they can be isolated or not. I then ask for this in writing, just to
cover me in the case of an alarm being set off by me.
Some venues will simply say NO to
smoke. In particular, those where there are elevators, as if any
smoke does find its way into the elevator shaft the whole building will have to be (in theory) evacuated and the fire department called out to inspect. Now – should the fire department have to come out and conduct an inspection for a false alarm. It is not free (in Australia) and if I have been found to be at fault, the cost could be passed on to me to
foot the bill.
Only once has this happened and it was in a
venue in which I had asked if the round white sensor in the middle of the roof with a pretty flashing
LED was a
smoke detector, and if so, could it be isolated for the gig. I was reassured that it was in fact a glass breakage detector and that I had no problems with using
smoke. I asked that the person check that this was the case (as it looked like a
smoke detector to me) and get back to me in writing. He did, and the letter stated that the detector in question was not a
smoke detector and that the
venue did not have any
smoke detectors that were monitored.
Well – sure enough, a couple of hours into the gig a familiar high pitched screaming alarm went off :
roll: