stressed bride

[STEVE HANLEY]

this is my longest ever post, but i needed to vent it...lol,

I was djing at a wedding with lots of bells and whistles on sunday night, they had a swing band, table magician, Elvis tribute act, wii machine and disco and that was just the night time party.

Elvis was a suprise for the groom (big fan) and had been told he could use the in-house P/A The plan was to get the happy couple up on the floor at 10.30pm to "viva las vegas" and then cut it dead while they're dancing and explain how big a fan etc the groom is and wouldnt it be more fitting to have it sang live ...so direct from memphis...etc

but when it came to the time, the nod i was waiting for from the room mgr to let me know elvis was ready etc didn't come, and the bride was keep looking over at me and waving her hands around, then her mother appeared so i pointed her to the room manager, a few seconds later i heard a booming voice "well make it work" ! the elvis backing tracks disc wouldn't play ... she re-appeared at my booth and said - "just play elvis - now" with the bride and groom dancing half way thru the song the room mgr asks me to try it through my system ? so i quickly load the disc and press play and away it goes (thank god) so i managed to fade out the song fade in the backing cd, while introducing the artist with the room manager breathing down my neck, the bride and mother staring daggers at me.

throughout the show i had to pause his tracks when he asked and cue up/play songs at his request while he talked in between etc. i made 1 mistake, i set the wrong track away playing and he made a joke of it, the bride came over and said "concentrate" really loud !

the set was an hour long and when he finished i had to start my djing set straight away so i didnt get a chance to speak to anyone until the very end... she couldn't appologise enough when she found out i had saved the day!

Bet you didn't think it would get 201 replies either I'm going back to number 70ish I think that's where I left it

[Nexus]

Did you have an FOH desk with you or did you run them through a DJ Mixer. If you ran them through a DJ mixer its never going to be up to the job as it will be dry for a start unless you have outboard effects.

Singer is a for letting you run them through a DJ mixer if you did.

Not your fault, but without a FOH desk with at least some reverb its going to sound dry (unless they are a bloody good singer).

If you run a singer through a DJ mixer its going to make you sound bad - that is a fact.

You're quite right. I was still new to the game at that point and ran it through my normal mixer. Never again! We live and learn.

You are also right, she was a singer!!

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Freaky or what - I had a call last night from a friend of a friend who wants me to DJ at their wedding later this year and they also want a local Ska covers band to play too (they're friends of mine and very good).
One of the first things I made clear was that I knew the band and therefore I knew that they had their own P.A. so I would rather they ran through it.

I have played at their potential venue before too and I know space may be an option so we'll have to work that out beforehand.

[aeroken1]

Read every post on this and some very good comments. Im a mechanic by trade and would never expect to use another mechs tools. If i was asked if i could sort sound for anyone then i would probs say no, but only for a fee payable now or before if sorted before gig. Like whats already been said why should DJ's spend all their hard earned money for other people to get the benafit and you get the if it goes up.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Well, guess what happened Friday?

I turned up to do a booking at one of out regular Hotels and they had cabaret booked who were using my P.A.! To be fair, the GM did ask in an email but I thought he was talking about another booking.

What did I do? Told him I wasn't overly happy about it but on this occasion would let them use the P.A.. They had a keyboard player with his own amp and the singer had a mic, so she used that.

This is a regular Hotel who look after us. In fact they paid me for all of December's bookings half way through the month even thought they weren't all completed.

I think each case needs to be taken on individual merit.

[Excalibur]

I think each case needs to be taken on individual merit.

Two hundred posts to work that out?

Flexibility, adaptability, loads of kit and pragmatism. You know it makes sense.

[CRAZY K]

Two hundred posts to work that out?

Flexibility, adaptability, loads of kit and pragmatism. You know it makes sense.

I havent read all the posts but I get the drift.

Personally I work as follows---

CD player--- no problem--be like me, buy one from ASDA or Tesco for a fiver, might come in handy as in my experience the majority of the public--thats only 51 per cent--think every DJ or musical Entertainer use either CDs or a Laptop so if they roll up with a CD it can be played for them, whether you or I think the material is suitable is a different matter and I often refuse requests to play music CDs that are out of context.

CD player easily slips in the bag and runs on same batteries as the JTS Radio Mike (AA)

Use of a mike is ok for a short period---after remarks like DONT DROP IT it cost me £300--- have been made in a friendly manner as usually they are drunk, I also allow Radio Mikes to be used for speeches at Weddings as I tend to only take on such events for people I consider to be reasonably responsible.

Singing along with the music OVER MY MIKE Is definitely OUT

It reduces the event to a very unprofessional level.

I would agree with some of you including Peter ( not Shaun) that if it all goes wonky ( irrespective of whose fault it is) you might not come out of it looking too good.

Although im not DJ ing all the time I am ALWAYS happy to play CDs supplied out the blue without notice( if suitable material) and will work with singers and other entertainers as an unpaid sound engineer/ MC/link man to make the whole event run smoothly and professionally for the client.

I dont allow Bands to play through my kit ( Bass and Drums no thank you ) but have miked up a folk band with fiddles, banjo and guitar/vocals at a Wedding.

Everyone has their own rules on their own kit which we should all respect--mine may be slightly more flexible because I often ask to play through DJs /Band kit myself.

A bit of give and take really, my only regret was agreeing to allow a bloke to strum a guitar and sing free of charge through the PA at a Wedding.

I soon found out why he was free


He succeeded in ruining the whole event, a large number of people immediately cleared off home and left me with precious little in the way of people to entertain--an absolute nightmare.