Heavy Metal?

[rth_discos]

I've had one gig in ten years playing sixties music. Unless I command six figures a night, that's not a living wage.


Well this " Party DJ " has been listening to Metal for a lot longer than you've been on the planet, so why not?

Sounds like you're qualified to take on a metal gig - do you promote yourself as such? What about your sixties knowledge? All the time you promote yourself as a generic DJ, you'll often be overlooked for the specialist gigs.

Nothing wrong with separate websites for each specialism - you aren't restricted to 'one' specialism.

OK, whimsy over. We're all rocking up with stick rigs, using two Barrels on sticks, with a scaffolding booth ( hideously ugly things in my opinion, but who cares ) playing digitised music with controllers and laptops to customers who want " just a mix of music we can dance to ". Not that much wiggle room in my opinion.

Yes, I'm stretching a point, but not that much. How many " Wedding DJ Specialists " are there now? I think being a Jack Of All Trades will soon be my USP.

Agreed - 'specialist wedding dj' in itself is no longer a specialism. That ship has now sailed.

So it's time to be more specialist than that...

[simon1969]

You would use someones wedding to gain genre experience that you don't have before the wedding? Thankfully, I have no need to get married in Nottingham!

Excuse me? I would be careful with what your implying !!
If you do your research and find out what your client wants specifically it can be done and explain that you haven't much knowledge of that genre, long as you communicate this they cant blame you.
I have extensive musical knowledge indie, dance , hip hop etc etc, and if I didn't I would explain this to a potential customer communication is key and potential customers appreciate this.
Blasé attitude I don't have, meeting my customers needs and a can do attitude I do have.

Cheers

[Excalibur]

Sounds like you're qualified to take on a metal gig - do you promote yourself as such? What about your sixties knowledge? All the time you promote yourself as a generic DJ, you'll often be overlooked for the specialist gigs.

Nothing wrong with separate websites for each specialism - you aren't restricted to 'one' specialism.

Agreed - 'specialist wedding dj' in itself is no longer a specialism. That ship has now sailed.

So it's time to be more specialist than that...

I agree with your view. However, I don't regard myself as a specialist in anything, in the truest sense of the word. I do however have a good grounding in many styles, eg 60's, 70's and Tamla. Classic rock, 70's Disco and 90's Dance are genres I lived and worked through. You can't help but gather knowledge of them, but I still wouldn't use the word Specialist.

While you're absolutely correct that multiple websites are undoubtedly a fine idea, and might well pay for themselves, I'm struggling enough with what I already have. Were I nearer the beginning of my career than the end, well who knows?

If you do your research and find out what your client wants specifically it can be done and explain that you haven't much knowledge of that genre, long as you communicate this they cant blame you.
I have extensive musical knowledge indie, dance , hip hop etc etc, and if I didn't I would explain this to a potential customer communication is key and potential customers appreciate this.
Blasé attitude I don't have, meeting my customers needs and a can do attitude I do have.

Cheers

Blame? I'd be looking for praise. That implies a defeatist attitude.

Now let's apply this to the OP, which seems a long time ago, in a far off and distant land. The original DJ was a mate, who has bailed out of the booking, for whatever reason, that's irrelevant. So, they haven't got a disco. Immediate options look like equipment hire+ Ipod/Spotify, or source some sort of replacement disco.

While the Ipod route may provide exactly the music required, I'm sure we all agree that a disco provided by someone approaching the task in a diligent and professional manner, even if they don't have encyclopaedic knowledge of the music themselves, would be preferable. Taking advice from folk who have, and doing research yourself on the playlist supplied by the customer, is the way forward.

I think Simon, Justin, myself and Allan are working on this principle. I'm sure none of us would advocate turning up with no preparation, and fingers crossed you got out alive and with money.

As Professional DJs we must at all times behave with transparency, honesty and integrity.

[Nakatomi]

In my experience since hitting the decks again in 2015, it's the customer who can be blasé too. We've all got spotify, youtube etc haven't we? "Whaddya mean it's illegal to play music off of youtube? Get away with you just DO IT!"... etc. "It's alright we'll just bring a USB stick with 'our music' on it".

I've been landed with surprise crowds of all ilks where I've said to myself "you know what - it'd have been really good to have been warned their guests music tastes were so left of field" - by this stage it's already too late & you just have to get on with it. People are generally friendly enough & ask for exactly what they want. It's up to your musical chops whether you can fill in the gaps or not. This, my friends, is really how we learn new tricks (and earn brownie points when they see how you're bending over double to give people what they want - as if you really had a choice!).

There'll always be a place for genre specialists but getting the customer to recognise they need an expert.. and actually finding one.. these are challenges too. Some people apparently don't think their taste in music is that far from the (predictable) norm.

[yourdj]

If you take this event have a look at this video (just watching it again now):

The other one this guy did (a head bangers journey) is a very good insight into metal and why people like it:

http://putlockers.tf/watch/ox0m2qGe-...light-666.html