Shakermaker Promotions
21-06-2009, 02:31 PM
I know this topic has been done a 1000 times in one shape or form but I wanted to comment on another DJ I saw last night.
I was invited to a private party for my mate's missus' 40th birthday in Burnham, Surrey. He didn't want me to DJ as he wanted me and my missus to enjoy the night so along I went.
Now, I didn't make any comments towards the DJ and as far as he knew, I was just a guest like everyone else.
The DJ himself was the venue's resident DJ - He was a weird looking guy, probably approaching 60, about 5ft tall with what looked like Spina Bifida (that is an observation and NOT me taking the micky ok) and looked very much like the small one out of the Chuckle Brothers. When he was on the mic he sounded like he was on helium and you could just about hear him over the music (which people were telling him to turn up).
The Presentation (Show) - The Speakers were on the floor and not on stands (The DJ had someone with him all the time so I don't think it would have been much of a problem for them to be on stands?)...not sure of the make of them as I had never seen them before. There were two light panels infront of the console (table) and various multicoloured rope lights laid out along the tops of the panels. Scattered around the room were various T-Bars with effects on them and I thought at one point that the guy must have had a job lot of Magic Mushroom lights as they were the only effects I could see. He also had an Equinox Nebula laser on a T-Bar behind him. This was the first time I had seen one in the flesh as it were and even without smoke it looked very impressive. This will be one of my next purchases this week.
The Music - As guests were arriving the music was low which was good but all of the lighting effects were going strong. It seemed like a megamix of 70's tunes was playing and I'm not 100% certain but it sounded like it wasn't the original artists either. As the night progressed and more guests arrived, it almost seemed as if the DJ was scared to turn the music up. It was a musical mess if I am honest with you as it seemed like he was trying everything to try and suss the guests out. Now and then he would make an announcement which you could hardly hear and at other times there were gaps of silence. Ok, it may have been 1 or 2 seconds and as a DJ you notice this straight away but other people seemed to notice too.
Overall - Well, there was one point early on when I looked around me and was surprised at just how many kids were there. I didn't see any of them approach the DJ to request songs though. You could see however that one table of under 16's (at a guess) were raring to go and when the DJ played the Scissor Sisters, they leapt out of the seats and straight on to the dancefloor. It was early and I thought at the time "Well done mate, you've got a good 'up for it' crowd here and you've got them straight away"...I expected a good job from him but it wasn't the case sadly. He didn't stick with stuff to get them to stay where they were and played something totally different which had them walking off the dancefloor........this was until he put on 'Number 1' by Tynchy Stryder and then they all jumped up again...BUT as soon as he had finished that one he went back to something totally different again and the girls went back to their table again...It was a shame because I feel that he had the potential of a really good night in his hands and he didn't take advantage of it. He never encouraged people to get up and dance or say that he was taking requests, infact he hardly said anything but he DID stand there with a smile on his face all night (you could just about see him behind the decks).
Negatives - Well, I don't want to be too damning but it's definitely NOT how I work or present myself. If the opportunity is there to have a good night then take it. He had people up dancing within minutes but didn't take advantage of that. The dancefloor never had more than 6 or 7 people dancing (over 100 there) and it was all too random. The only time people danced for more than one song at a time was when he played the usual 'Cha Cha Slide' / 'Macarena' / 'Saturday Night' etc etc stuff.
Positives - I liked the Nebula Laser but sadly that's the only positive that I can remember.
Cheers
G
I was invited to a private party for my mate's missus' 40th birthday in Burnham, Surrey. He didn't want me to DJ as he wanted me and my missus to enjoy the night so along I went.
Now, I didn't make any comments towards the DJ and as far as he knew, I was just a guest like everyone else.
The DJ himself was the venue's resident DJ - He was a weird looking guy, probably approaching 60, about 5ft tall with what looked like Spina Bifida (that is an observation and NOT me taking the micky ok) and looked very much like the small one out of the Chuckle Brothers. When he was on the mic he sounded like he was on helium and you could just about hear him over the music (which people were telling him to turn up).
The Presentation (Show) - The Speakers were on the floor and not on stands (The DJ had someone with him all the time so I don't think it would have been much of a problem for them to be on stands?)...not sure of the make of them as I had never seen them before. There were two light panels infront of the console (table) and various multicoloured rope lights laid out along the tops of the panels. Scattered around the room were various T-Bars with effects on them and I thought at one point that the guy must have had a job lot of Magic Mushroom lights as they were the only effects I could see. He also had an Equinox Nebula laser on a T-Bar behind him. This was the first time I had seen one in the flesh as it were and even without smoke it looked very impressive. This will be one of my next purchases this week.
The Music - As guests were arriving the music was low which was good but all of the lighting effects were going strong. It seemed like a megamix of 70's tunes was playing and I'm not 100% certain but it sounded like it wasn't the original artists either. As the night progressed and more guests arrived, it almost seemed as if the DJ was scared to turn the music up. It was a musical mess if I am honest with you as it seemed like he was trying everything to try and suss the guests out. Now and then he would make an announcement which you could hardly hear and at other times there were gaps of silence. Ok, it may have been 1 or 2 seconds and as a DJ you notice this straight away but other people seemed to notice too.
Overall - Well, there was one point early on when I looked around me and was surprised at just how many kids were there. I didn't see any of them approach the DJ to request songs though. You could see however that one table of under 16's (at a guess) were raring to go and when the DJ played the Scissor Sisters, they leapt out of the seats and straight on to the dancefloor. It was early and I thought at the time "Well done mate, you've got a good 'up for it' crowd here and you've got them straight away"...I expected a good job from him but it wasn't the case sadly. He didn't stick with stuff to get them to stay where they were and played something totally different which had them walking off the dancefloor........this was until he put on 'Number 1' by Tynchy Stryder and then they all jumped up again...BUT as soon as he had finished that one he went back to something totally different again and the girls went back to their table again...It was a shame because I feel that he had the potential of a really good night in his hands and he didn't take advantage of it. He never encouraged people to get up and dance or say that he was taking requests, infact he hardly said anything but he DID stand there with a smile on his face all night (you could just about see him behind the decks).
Negatives - Well, I don't want to be too damning but it's definitely NOT how I work or present myself. If the opportunity is there to have a good night then take it. He had people up dancing within minutes but didn't take advantage of that. The dancefloor never had more than 6 or 7 people dancing (over 100 there) and it was all too random. The only time people danced for more than one song at a time was when he played the usual 'Cha Cha Slide' / 'Macarena' / 'Saturday Night' etc etc stuff.
Positives - I liked the Nebula Laser but sadly that's the only positive that I can remember.
Cheers
G