Shakermaker Promotions
16-05-2010, 10:46 AM
Hi all,
Yesterday I set up in the afternoon for a wedding reception in a venue literally 5 minutes down the road from me. Very spacious with a stage, no sound limiters and you're allowed to use smoke machines so I thought "Cool!".
The Bride and Groom had arranged for 2 friends who couldn't make it to the ceremony, to set up the tables etc at the same time as I was setting up the Disco equipment...(I've taken photos but they didn't come out that great so I am not posting them up). Access to the venue was very easy, in through one of the exits and straight on to the stage!
As there were 180 guests for the evening I thought I would take the bass bins and the JBL's with the 2 amps (Crown XLS802 and Cerwin Vega 2800 with the crossover) as I wanted to have plenty of 'oomph' in there. I didn't go over the top with the lights and used 4 x Dynamos and 2 Mystics. It looked pretty smart actually.
Anyway, the 2 friends that were setting up were around my age but looked a lot older and were (how can I put this...) a bit 'Prim and Proper'. Do you know what I mean? I'm 42 and maybe it's my mannerisms and personality but people always think I am younger. These 2 seemed 10 years older and gave me the impression that they don't venture out much. I suppose you had to be there but they seemed pretty hard to communicate with.
So, firstly...I start bringing the equipment into the venue. The lady setting up the tables sees me wheel in one of the JBL's and (I know this will sound silly) kind of looks at them in disgust (I knew what she was thinking straight away - BIG = LOUD!....or like some others on here, she didn't like JBL speakers! ;) ). I then bring in the bass bins and put both sets on the stage in position. It looked quite a nice stack on the stage. Once all the other equipment was set up, I stood back and checked that it looked ok. As I stood there, the lady said to me "I hope you aren't going to have that too loud, that looks like you are going to play Wembley!"... I laughed and said nothing.
I turned everything on and tested the microphone, all ok. I tested the lights and positioned them so that they filled the room, all ok. Whilst I was on the microphone I said to the 2 of them "Excuse me, I am just going to do a sound and light check"...all was well. I didn't pump up the music just then and it was on pretty low but the first thing the lady did was stick her fingers in her ears.... ( I guessed she didn't like my sound check song 10cc 'Dreadlock Holiday'). All looked and sounded good so I stopped the music. She looked at me and then I said "I am just going to pump up the volume a bit now if that's ok" and the lady tutted loudly..."Sorry" I said, "I need to do this to make sure everything is ok and that there will be enough sound for the amount of guests" and with that I pumped it up, not to full volume but enough....It was loud and sounded great.... She wasn't impressed... "Do you really need to have it that loud?" she asked.. I went on to try and explain about bodies absorbing sound etc etc but I think it went in one ear and out the other. She really was a grumpy one this one.
Oh, nearly forgot... I tested the smoke machine too. Just a quick burst, nothing special really. She was up the other end of the venue and the smoke wasn't even near her but she did a massive over exaggerated cough as if she was almost dying.
When it came to the evening itself....WOW! What a night... Lots of Indie/Rock and Alternative tunes mixed in with lots of 80's and the time flew by! I actually saw the 2 friends come in to the venue around 10pm and they had their coats on all evening and stood to the side without a drink. The Groom was in the Navy and was in full costume as were around 10 of his friends. He had requested in advance that I play 'Spongebob Square Pants' and 'In the Navy' so I requested that they get on the dancefloor on their own. They thought it was hilarious...especially when I chucked in the theme from 'Captain Pugwash' too.
Everyone seemed to be loving it. Some guests blocked their ears up when they walked past the speakers which is fair enough but what made me laugh was that there was an old dear sat a table around 10ft away from them (the nearest table to me) and she didn't do anything. She sang along, got up and danced and smiled at me, giving me the thumbs up. She must have been 80 and was good as gold....(probably deaf too I hear you say :D ).
I had a boy of around 11 come up and ask "Excuse me Mr DJ, can I be in charge of your smoke machine?"... Never heard that one before. I had a bridesmaid come up to me and say "Are you Gary?"...."Yes" I replied...."Your wife is making my wedding dress"..."That's nice" I replied..."We aren't having a Disco at our wedding, we're having a band" she said...."Oh ok, that's cool. How much is that costing you?" I asked..."£1500" she said... I laughed and said "I hope they're good then for that price!"..."Yes, so do I" she said "I haven't even heard them yet". Oh dear!
The night was great. One of those where you could easily play on all night because the guests were up for it. I had a guy at the end of the evening say something to me but I couldn't understand because he had a real strong scottish accent. His mate was with me and interpreted it for me and it transpired that he actually said "Spot on mate, best wedding I have been to". I nodded and said thanks.
The Bride and Groom left half hour before the end. They wanted the arch thing so they did that and then I played through until Midnight. The venue were quite strict about times and I had to finish on the dot. Last song was 'Don't stop me now' which was then followed by the usual "more!" chants but I wasn't allowed to go over time so that was a bit of a downer on the night. I was also told off by the Groom's father for not playing 'his song' which was 'Love Affair' - 'Everlasting Love'... I just didn't have time to and it didn't really fit in with how the night was going plus I had over 150 requests, mostly of the same genre. I apologised and asked him if he'd had a good time and he said "Brilliant"...That was enough for me.
I had everything packed down and back in the van by 12.35am and was back indoors by 12.40am with a beer.
Apologies for the long post...you know what I'm like...or should do by now!:D
Yesterday I set up in the afternoon for a wedding reception in a venue literally 5 minutes down the road from me. Very spacious with a stage, no sound limiters and you're allowed to use smoke machines so I thought "Cool!".
The Bride and Groom had arranged for 2 friends who couldn't make it to the ceremony, to set up the tables etc at the same time as I was setting up the Disco equipment...(I've taken photos but they didn't come out that great so I am not posting them up). Access to the venue was very easy, in through one of the exits and straight on to the stage!
As there were 180 guests for the evening I thought I would take the bass bins and the JBL's with the 2 amps (Crown XLS802 and Cerwin Vega 2800 with the crossover) as I wanted to have plenty of 'oomph' in there. I didn't go over the top with the lights and used 4 x Dynamos and 2 Mystics. It looked pretty smart actually.
Anyway, the 2 friends that were setting up were around my age but looked a lot older and were (how can I put this...) a bit 'Prim and Proper'. Do you know what I mean? I'm 42 and maybe it's my mannerisms and personality but people always think I am younger. These 2 seemed 10 years older and gave me the impression that they don't venture out much. I suppose you had to be there but they seemed pretty hard to communicate with.
So, firstly...I start bringing the equipment into the venue. The lady setting up the tables sees me wheel in one of the JBL's and (I know this will sound silly) kind of looks at them in disgust (I knew what she was thinking straight away - BIG = LOUD!....or like some others on here, she didn't like JBL speakers! ;) ). I then bring in the bass bins and put both sets on the stage in position. It looked quite a nice stack on the stage. Once all the other equipment was set up, I stood back and checked that it looked ok. As I stood there, the lady said to me "I hope you aren't going to have that too loud, that looks like you are going to play Wembley!"... I laughed and said nothing.
I turned everything on and tested the microphone, all ok. I tested the lights and positioned them so that they filled the room, all ok. Whilst I was on the microphone I said to the 2 of them "Excuse me, I am just going to do a sound and light check"...all was well. I didn't pump up the music just then and it was on pretty low but the first thing the lady did was stick her fingers in her ears.... ( I guessed she didn't like my sound check song 10cc 'Dreadlock Holiday'). All looked and sounded good so I stopped the music. She looked at me and then I said "I am just going to pump up the volume a bit now if that's ok" and the lady tutted loudly..."Sorry" I said, "I need to do this to make sure everything is ok and that there will be enough sound for the amount of guests" and with that I pumped it up, not to full volume but enough....It was loud and sounded great.... She wasn't impressed... "Do you really need to have it that loud?" she asked.. I went on to try and explain about bodies absorbing sound etc etc but I think it went in one ear and out the other. She really was a grumpy one this one.
Oh, nearly forgot... I tested the smoke machine too. Just a quick burst, nothing special really. She was up the other end of the venue and the smoke wasn't even near her but she did a massive over exaggerated cough as if she was almost dying.
When it came to the evening itself....WOW! What a night... Lots of Indie/Rock and Alternative tunes mixed in with lots of 80's and the time flew by! I actually saw the 2 friends come in to the venue around 10pm and they had their coats on all evening and stood to the side without a drink. The Groom was in the Navy and was in full costume as were around 10 of his friends. He had requested in advance that I play 'Spongebob Square Pants' and 'In the Navy' so I requested that they get on the dancefloor on their own. They thought it was hilarious...especially when I chucked in the theme from 'Captain Pugwash' too.
Everyone seemed to be loving it. Some guests blocked their ears up when they walked past the speakers which is fair enough but what made me laugh was that there was an old dear sat a table around 10ft away from them (the nearest table to me) and she didn't do anything. She sang along, got up and danced and smiled at me, giving me the thumbs up. She must have been 80 and was good as gold....(probably deaf too I hear you say :D ).
I had a boy of around 11 come up and ask "Excuse me Mr DJ, can I be in charge of your smoke machine?"... Never heard that one before. I had a bridesmaid come up to me and say "Are you Gary?"...."Yes" I replied...."Your wife is making my wedding dress"..."That's nice" I replied..."We aren't having a Disco at our wedding, we're having a band" she said...."Oh ok, that's cool. How much is that costing you?" I asked..."£1500" she said... I laughed and said "I hope they're good then for that price!"..."Yes, so do I" she said "I haven't even heard them yet". Oh dear!
The night was great. One of those where you could easily play on all night because the guests were up for it. I had a guy at the end of the evening say something to me but I couldn't understand because he had a real strong scottish accent. His mate was with me and interpreted it for me and it transpired that he actually said "Spot on mate, best wedding I have been to". I nodded and said thanks.
The Bride and Groom left half hour before the end. They wanted the arch thing so they did that and then I played through until Midnight. The venue were quite strict about times and I had to finish on the dot. Last song was 'Don't stop me now' which was then followed by the usual "more!" chants but I wasn't allowed to go over time so that was a bit of a downer on the night. I was also told off by the Groom's father for not playing 'his song' which was 'Love Affair' - 'Everlasting Love'... I just didn't have time to and it didn't really fit in with how the night was going plus I had over 150 requests, mostly of the same genre. I apologised and asked him if he'd had a good time and he said "Brilliant"...That was enough for me.
I had everything packed down and back in the van by 12.35am and was back indoors by 12.40am with a beer.
Apologies for the long post...you know what I'm like...or should do by now!:D