Various things over the weekend....some annoying too.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Hi all,

Hope things are going well for everyone.
Just wanted to post up a couple of conversations I have had over the weekend that I have found slightly annoying with reference to suppliers, wannabe DJ's etc.

Firstly, I have a wedding this evening. I was at the venue yesterday to set up the Disco and Uplighting as pre-arranged. The room was already made up when I arrived and there were a couple of people in the room. I said hello and was ignored at first. I received a look that kind of gave me the impression of "Who are you?"
Anyway, I noticed boxes and flight cases everywhere and wondered what was going on but didn't say anything at first. I told the couple that I was there to set up the Disco and Uplighting for the wedding and we got chatting........eventually.

I asked them (politely) what they were doing and the woman told me that they were sorting the chair covers (flight cases for chair covers I wondered?). The guy was on the floor trying to put some kind of stand together. I just decided to get on with what I was doing and started to unload my van. I was bringing the equipment in when the guy asked me if I had a screwdriver. I got my tool box from the van and let him continue with what he was doing.
To be honest they were getting in my way a bit and I was getting hot and flustered at times but I kept calm and worked around them. The guy then asked me if I knew anything about LED Curtains. It turned out that the couple had just purchased a large white LED Curtain and hadn't received any instructions on how to put the thing together.

I didn't have time to help as I was busy myself and I just said "Have a look on YouTube". By the time I had set up the Disco and Uplighting, he had just finished putting the LED Curtain together (no chair covers were done as yet). When I chatted to the couple it turned out that they weren't even supplying the curtain for the wedding, they'd just got it delivered the day before and had asked if it was ok to set it up so they could take some photos. I thought that was a bit out of order to be honest because they had been getting in my way a bit. Anyway, once I had finished doing what I was doing I sat down for a moment to have a rest as I was a sweaty mess (I was in a rush as I needed to go and collect some kit from somewhere else too). I asked them if they just did chair covers etc and I found out that they were both new to the whole wedding suppliers business. I offered them a card as the woman was asking me about the Uplighting and how much it cost etc etc.... The guy then said, we're going to start supplying Discos too when we're up and running. I thought to myself "Ok, this could be another contact that might come in handy". I asked him if he was going to do it himself or use a regular supplier (trying to get my foot in the door with him) and he said "Oh, I'll do it myself, it can't be that hard eh".
I wasn't sure what to say after that but asked "Do you have any experience then?" - His reply was "No, never done it before but like I say, it can't be that hard. It looks like easy money".

I shook my head and said "Good luck, give us a call if you need any help".

The other annoying comment came on Friday. I was setting up the equipment (Disco and Uplighting again) at a venue that I do a number of times a year. The venue recommend me which is good and on average I am there probably 10 times a year. I'd like to be there more as I really like the venue and have never had a bad gig there.
I always chat to the owner when I am there over a cup of tea and I always ask what the bookings are like and he always tells me that he is nearly full for the following year so it's encouraging. Now, I know that even though I am recommended by certain venues and I have residencies at other venues, it doesn't mean that I get everything and it doesn't mean that the customers have to book me. I am not that naive to think that I will get everything.
Like I said, I'd love to be at this particular venue a lot more but it seems that from April to November (when this venue takes wedding bookings), I am missing out on a lot.

When we chatted on Friday the owner mentioned to me that just lately there were "a hell of a lot of bands at the weddings". He said that most of the bands played music in between their sets via iPods or Laptops.

I know this has been happening for a while now and it may come down to budgets at the end of the day but I find it slightly annoying, Don't get me wrong, I'm busy and that's great and these bands may well be good too and do what they need to on the music side of things too but, well...I don't know.....it's a pet hate I guess.

I've just put the 2 scenarios from the weekend together and not been too happy about it to be honest.

[grebble]

I wasn't sure what to say after that but asked "Do you have any experience then?" - His reply was "No, never done it before but like I say, it can't be that hard. It looks like easy money".

I shook my head and said "Good luck, give us a call if you need any help".

A number of times I've spoken to clients and they've used a DJ in the past and they've been disappointed, either with the equipment, presentation or lack of appropriate music in their collections. But reading things like this, it's hardly a surprise, when people go into it blind.

He'll learn the hard way when he finds out it's not just about playing music and flashing a few lights

[chrisj]

I must agree with you there. I have had many enquiries when the caller has said they had been to a function, not necessarily a wedding, and the DJ really didn't know his music nor did he have very good equipment.
Having mentioned that experience is needed for a good disco, not saying all new dj's can't do it, callers often just want a cheap disco.

The two don't go together very often. Sorry if you think this is turning into a pricing thread. I don't intend it to be read this way.

[Benny Smyth]

I wasn't sure what to say after that but asked "Do you have any experience then?" - His reply was "No, never done it before but like I say, it can't be that hard. It looks like easy money".

I think at this point, I would have happily taken my card back.

Sounds like a weekend that won't go into the hall of fame though. Spend your winnings, and better luck next week.

I must agree with you there. I have had many enquiries when the caller has said they had been to a function, not necessarily a wedding, and the DJ really didn't know his music nor did he have very good equipment.
Having mentioned that experience is needed for a good disco, not saying all new dj's can't do it, callers often just want a cheap disco.

The two don't go together very often. Sorry if you think this is turning into a pricing thread. I don't intend it to be read this way.

It's annoying, but I look at it this way - there can't be a 'high end' to the market if there is no 'low end'. No quality without quantity.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

The way I look at it is that EVERYONE has to start somewhere.
Yes, I was taken back a bit when that comment was made but he didn't elaborate and I more or less made my exit quickly as I didn't want to stand there and go over everything. It could be that he has been out with someone and watched?
My first impression was that he hadn't but you never know.

Like I said, everyone has to start somewhere. I watched at first and then went out on the road with someone to learn the ropes as they say.
As said already, I pity anyone that is actually that naive to think that they can just go out and get a few bits of kit and play a few tunes without actually knowing what the job entails.

I'm sure a lot of us no matter how long we've been doing the job, are still learning things as we go. Whether it's new genres of music or how to work different kit.
I'm positive this guy will soon find out that it is not as easy as he thinks it is, neither is it 'easy money'.

[ukpartydj]

When I started bedroom DJing I thought the mobile DJs were getting paid way over the odds for what is a really easy job.

Then when I did kids parties I thought Wedding DJs got far too much money (I was doing teen parties for mates, £50 a night).
After about 3 teen parties and a fair few nightclub gigs a mate asked me to be his wedding DJ.

I thought weddings where easy money, did a fair bit of research online asked some DJs on youtube (never went along with another DJ) and I was "ready" for it.
It went terrible, mostly my fault being inexperienced - however my mate did ask for Trance, Club tracks etc which I went along with and as you can imagine didn't work at all.

I think it was about 2 years until I did another wedding, and I did a good job and the rest is history.

It works quite well this way, what people were doing was paying an apprentice price for my services early on when I lacked experience - I wasn't charging a lot when I started.

[funktions]

I think a lot of the problems are things are easier and cheaper to get hold of and everyone thinks they can do it. if your going to supply a service then you need to have some idea of what it involves, I have never made easy money being a dj, have had some awesome experiences from being a dj but on the downside the one you think will go like clockwork is the one that will create issues. knowing your limitations is always good and that of others, still look on the Brightside you might get a call asking if you fancy buying some things as the easy money seems like such hard work of lugging boxes around at 3 am after the night from hell.

[ckpr2]

The band viewpoint is interesting.
I have seen us turn up and there is a band already set up taking up the whole stage.
So we had to set up on the dance floor and with records that was no joke.
We had to ask people to dance away from the disco to make it workable.

I have noticed bands playing ipod music in intervals too. It would be interesting to know how many pay produb to do that.

[Pe7e]

It would be interesting to know how many pay produb to do that.

Very, very few I think, but in the interest of fairness and balance, how many 'digital DJs' boasting collections of 50,000+ tracks on their laptops are themselves 100% pro dub legal? IMO, not that many also.

[mattydj50]

Very, very few I think, but in the interest of fairness and balance, how many 'digital DJs' boasting collections of 50,000+ tracks on their laptops are themselves 100% pro dub legal? IMO, not that many also.

I know of a group of four DJs that share their music collections. I also came across someone recently that, when asked for a track he didn't have simply logged into YouTube and played it from there.