Specialists

[ppentertainments]

Apologies if you have seen this on other forums/fb groups, but it is interesting how different group are responding to my question in different ways, so...

Can you 'specialise' in more than one type of event ?

[Corabar Steve]

Yes.

[Excalibur]

Can you 'specialise' in more than one type of event ?

How can I put this without being pompous, facetious, or big headed?
First up, I agree with the tactiturn gentleman above me.
Second, what I wanted to say was that we should always try to be, appear to be/ or better still be specialists in every event we do. I refuse to believe that a competent performer who classes himself as a "Wedding DJ " can't pull off a rollicking good night in a back street boozer. It's quite a bit trickier in the opposite direction, but can be done.

It's no good having an attitude " I don't do these, but I've got no other bookings, and I hate watching Strictly, so I'll turn up and press play a bit, and endure it. "

The correct attitude is " I've not done many of these, but with the knowledge I have already, and what I will have gained by researching the matter before the gig, the customer will think I've been doing these all my life".

I've got a specialist gig in a fortnight, in an area of music I'm not a specialist in, but I already knew enough to wing it, and with a little help from my friends, a play list from the customer, and sessions on Spotify and Amazon, I intend to make his guests think that's my specialist subject on Mastermind.

[ukpartydj]

Bit of a difficult question to answer ... is a specialist somebody who has more than 20/30 popular tracks in that genre and knows which work well?
If so I'm a specialist in many genres.

Is it more like 100 tracks?
If so I think I'd struggle to be a specialist in my favorite genre - Trance.

[sandysounds]

I've seen so many DJs that say they specialise in birthdays, corporate, 18ths and weddings......then the next minute they're on Facebook asking other DJs questions about wedding protocol. A specialist should know everything there is to know about their specialisation and have massive experience in that field. It doesn't mean they can't do other functions.

[DiscoMagic]

I specialise in any event or gig that pays me money!!!!

OK, in all seriousness, I agree with Excalibur in that what the point in specialising in a core field in our line of work. If you are a good DJ and know your stuff then you should be able to turn your hand to most events and /or gigs.

I do find the exception to this IMO, is those DJ's that specialise in D&B and the "thump thump toonage". I for one haven't got a clue about this genre and whenever I'm contacted about these types if events I poiltely suggest that they find someone who really knows there Skrillex from there Metrik.

On the flip side, I'm not sure that D&B DJ's would be happy playing Abba and whitney at a Wedding :-)

[Ryu]

I specialise in any event or gig that pays me money!!!!

OK, in all seriousness, I agree with Excalibur in that what the point in specialising in a core field in our line of work. If you are a good DJ and know your stuff then you should be able to turn your hand to most events and /or gigs.

I do find the exception to this IMO, is those DJ's that specialise in D&B and the "thump thump toonage". I for one haven't got a clue about this genre and whenever I'm contacted about these types if events I poiltely suggest that they find someone who really knows there Skrillex from there Metrik.

On the flip side, I'm not sure that D&B DJ's would be happy playing Abba and whitney at a Wedding :-)

Interesting....

In a previous life, I ran the DnB section in an independent record store in Oxford....I now consider myself a Wedding specialist, playing plenty of Abba and Whitney. :D

[funkymook]

Interesting....

In a previous life, I ran the DnB section in an independent record store in Oxford....I now consider myself a Wedding specialist, playing plenty of Abba and Whitney. :D

If you were doing D&B weddings that would be specialist.

[Ryu]

If you were doing D&B weddings that would be specialist.

That would be so sweet! :D

To be fair, I've had the opportunity to play one or two unexpected tracks on occasion.

[ukpartydj]

I think the ability to create a playlist on your DJ Program makes the whole specialist thing a lot easier to pull off.
I'm not very familiar with my Garage music (which is why I've chosen it over something like Trance which I know very well).

If somebody asked me to do a Garage music night I'd take it on ... then I'd be on here, google everywhere looking for top Garage tracks.
Chances are I've got quite a few of them but didn't realise they were "Garage" pop twice as many as I need into a playlist on Traktor.

Can't see that going wrong... If I've lined up say 100+ top Garage tracks for the night I'd say I've got enough to now do any party which requires a "Garage Music Specialist".
Although If I'm coming from a customer point of view and I see on a website it says specialises in Garage music and that's what I want well It's quite well and truly sold itself over "I've got lots of garage but I do other stuff".

[funkymook]

I think the ability to create a playlist on your DJ Program makes the whole specialist thing a lot easier to pull off.
I'm not very familiar with my Garage music (which is why I've chosen it over something like Trance which I know very well).

If somebody asked me to do a Garage music night I'd take it on ... then I'd be on here, google everywhere looking for top Garage tracks.
Chances are I've got quite a few of them but didn't realise they were "Garage" pop twice as many as I need into a playlist on Traktor.

Can't see that going wrong... If I've lined up say 100+ top Garage tracks for the night I'd say I've got enough to now do any party which requires a "Garage Music Specialist".
Although If I'm coming from a customer point of view and I see on a website it says specialises in Garage music and that's what I want well It's quite well and truly sold itself over "I've got lots of garage but I do other stuff".

And that's why you're not a specialist, any decent DJ can wing it like that, but a few choice questions or requests and you'll soon reveal your ignorance.

Now if you'd DJ'd lots of garage parties, been to loads of garage clubs (possibly the same ones your clients had been to), knew the music and culture inside out and can discuss it with your clients from a position of years of experience then you start being a specialist.

[ukpartydj]

And that's why you're not a specialist, any decent DJ can wing it like that, but a few choice questions or requests and you'll soon reveal your ignorance.

Now if you'd DJ'd lots of garage parties, been to loads of garage clubs (possibly the same ones your clients had been to), knew the music and culture inside out and can discuss it with your clients from a position of years of experience then you start being a specialist.

I would disagree that you become a specialist because of those points - Any long time fan of the music in question would have all those points but the point - "DJ'd lot of garage parties", and then I think all you'd need is to be a fan of the music and be a DJ because picking tracks that you like for people like you would be a piece of cake for any DJ.

Surely all you need to do to become a specialist is focus on one genre of music, experience, cultural awareness etc are very helpful but I don't think I'd tell a mechanic that he isn't a Skoda Specialist because he has never owned a Skoda car.

Besides I've done a couple of parties in garages now and each time I've nailed it!! :D

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Sorry but I totally disagree UKPartyDJ.

Having 100+ tracks of a specific genre does not make a specialist in that genre in my opinion.
I personally think it's about knowing the music and having a passion for it. You soon get found out if you're 'winging' it.
I don't claim to be an expert but I would say that I specialise in Alternative (Indie/Rock etc) and 80s.
When the occasion arises and I get an enquiry for something alternative or 80s I jump at it. I know the stuff inside out and I guess my enthusiasm shines through to the customer.

Yes, we can all probably 'wing' it if need be but I wouldn't be mega confident if someone asked me to do a specialised Drum n Bass function where it was that music all night and the customer expected it all mixed in nicely for example. In that instance I would seek someone I knew that could do it rather than potentially be called a fake.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

There's a total difference between doing what you're suggesting and being a specialist UKPartyDJ.

Case in point I was booked for a wedding in September where the bride (who up until this point had been uncontactable) told me with a week or so to go that her friends are total Ibiza heads and she wanted a night full of trance music.

Now I like a lot of mainstream trance and can drop much of that into a normal wedding / party night but this woman was looking for more than your token big hit tracks everyone knows.

I did exactly what you said - googled, spotified, got some more compilations and asked her exactly what she was after so i didn't go off the deep end.

At the end of it I did pretty well - everyone loved it and had a right proper rave at it but I spent the night sweating that the next tune I picked would bomb because I wasn't comfortable enough with the music at my disposal. Did I pull it off? Yes, does that make me a trance expert? Not a chance.


I also think we're being a bit limited in our outlook here - to me, who mainly does weddings, the biggest issue is organisation before and during the eventand building a good relationship with the client. You might have 40 years worth of experience and knowledge of playing tunes but if you don't have the experience to make a wedding's entertainment run smoothly then you're not an expert.

Same with kids parties, club djs and so on.

[funkymook]

And there we have the difference between specialists and non-specialists.

Of course you can get a set together of suitable music if you're asked, and you can probably do a great job, we all do that....but unless you've a deeper knowledge you won't pull out that totally unexpected tune that just works even though it shouldn't on paper (and you know it will because you have a connection with your audience based on shared experiences) and you won't have thousands of tracks to choose from, just your 100.

For example - say you're asked in advance to do a lot of Northern Soul at a party, it's actually pretty easy to get a good set together even if you know nothing about it......but at the gig can you spot the difference between the Mods, Skins and Scooterists and know what else you can play?

A lot of music has a scene - unless you have some knowledge of that scene or been part of it you'll miss the nuances that can make a playing by numbers night into an awesome party.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Good replies and pretty much along the lines of what I wanted to say too.
Another example would be an 18th Birthday party that I did earlier in the year. As I mentioned at the time, the girl and her guests were all into their RnB, Dubstep etc. I did my research and made sure that I had everything that she had requested on her request list. I actually listened to some of the tracks too in advance because a lot of it was underground stuff and for someone like myself that takes pride in knowing a bit about each genre, I had not heard of many of the artists or tracks so it was very worthwhile doing it.

At the end of the night I was praised for how good the night was and I got another 2 bookings out of it for the new year. I know I'll feel more comfortable next time round because I know what they like and how the tracks worked but I would not make a habit of taking on those kind of bookings because it can easily go wrong as Jim says about worrying about a track bombing.
Like Martin also says, it's about knowing the difference too, listening to what the people want etc.
It's easy to just to pick up a 100 Indie Hits box set or 100 Rock Classics box set...etc etc etc and think that will do the job but to me it's a cop out really. Yes, there may be a few classics on there from back in the day but Indie (for example) isn't all about Sex on Fire or Mr Brightside. Go to a function armed with the '100 Hits' box set and see what happens when people that KNOW their stuff start asking for the likes of The Pixies, Janes Addiction and more. Even if those types are on those box sets you can bet it's not what the punters want to hear.

[ukpartydj]

I would agree having 100+ tracks doesn't make anybody a specialist, I think the word is used flippantly by DJ's

Don't get me wrong I'm not a specialist at anything, I can understand if a Mobile DJ's events are around 80% weddings and that's his passion so he calls himself a specialist Wedding DJ because he focuses his efforts in this field.

Going back to my car reference you don't expect to go to a Skoda Specialist with your Ford car and expect him to do a repair.
So why should a Specialist DJ in a certain field play songs from other Genre's?

I think you'd find it hard to explain to a non-DJ that 1/10 of your work is in your chosen field but that's what you specialise in.


EDIT - I think I may have worked out the confusion here ... when I'm saying the playlist and google thing makes it easy to pull off the specialist gig I mean - "The party which specialises in a certain type of music" not the DJ so googling etc will help you pull off the specialist gig not become a specialist of that genre if that makes sense.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I don't see how you can specialise in weddings as the music you play covers such a large amount of time and genres.

Also, how do you specialise in one particular decade as again, within that decade there are many different genres.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

I use 80s as a general reference Darren. Yes, there are loads of different genres within that era and I tend to play most of them.

UK - The majority of my work is Wedding Discos but I wouldn't class myself as a Wedding Specialist. I play as many genres as I can and I feel comfortable doing it. I am in my element though when I know the genre well and am comfortable with it. The Indie/Alternative genre also has lots of sub-genres and I like to think I can cater for them all by keeping up to date with what's going on.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

I don't see how you can specialise in weddings as the music you play covers such a large amount of time and genres.

.

As I said, in my own (and thus completely correct :D ) opinion a wedding specialist is someone who is going to treat the wedding with the reverence that it deserves and have the knowledge, ability and where with all to make everything run like clock work.

Wee Joe from down the local who rocks up and starts unloading as the room is being turned over does not fit that profile...

[Excalibur]

I don't see how you can specialise in weddings as the music you play covers such a large amount of time and genres.


Darren, I agree totally with that point. However, there are an inordinate amount of websites advertising the services of " Wedding DJs ".
:whistle:

Seriously, I suspect that the implication of being a wedding DJ is that you are fully conversant with the formalities and protocols of the event, rather than being an expert in every style of music you could possibly ever be asked for.

Re your remarks about the difficulty of specialising in eras, your point has much validity. I feel though that you're likely to have a greater knowledge of and affinity with the music associated with your formative years. I'd say I have a very good knowledge of anything from the sixties to eighties, less good for the eighties, and merely adequate at best from the nineties onwards.



and have the knowledge, ability and where with all to make everything run like clock work.
Ah, gotcha. That would be the Flying Instructor who trains the squadron of Gloucester Old Spots, I presume. ;)


Wee Joe from down the local who rocks up and starts unloading as the room is being turned over does not fit that profile...

Did you perchance mean " turned round" ? Mind you, I've had a few weddings where the room has undeniably been turned over. :D

[ukpartydj]

Darren's comment has just put a thought into my head - can anybody realistically be a "specialist" in the DJ profession?
Other than of course your famous DJs that stick with one genre only, even then many Artist/DJ's get involved with a couple of genre's - DnB & Dubstep / House & Trance / Hip Hop & RnB.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Darren's comment has just put a thought into my head - can anybody realistically be a "specialist" in the DJ profession?
Other than of course your famous DJs that stick with one genre only, even then many Artist/DJ's get involved with a couple of genre's - DnB & Dubstep / House & Trance / Hip Hop & RnB.

Of course you can get specialists. It doesn't mean they can't do other types of gigs.

If I'd to say I specialise in anything other than weddings it would be indie stuff from the 80s and 90s but I've got enough passion, love and knowledge of other genres like glam, hair metal, 90s pop, current chart and so on that I'm more than able to do excellent sets based around that though maybe not with the same level of ability as indie.

Back to the car analogy - someone who works for Skoda will be able to work on various different brands of cars other than Skoda.

[Pe7e]

Back to the car analogy - someone who works for Skoda will be able to work on various different brands of cars other than Skoda.

In some respects I agree with you, a half decent mechanic would be perfectly capable of fixing many problems on a variety of vehicles. But, the average Skoda mechanic really would not have a clue faced with an engine fault on say a Mazda rotary engined car, or the new hybrid petrol/electric vehicles. The same applies in many other fields of expertise i.e. an orthopaedic surgeon would be your first choice to perform heart transplant surgery on your father, mother, son or daughter
Back to the specialist DJs, I think most competent DJs would be perfectly capable of working a credible half hour 'northern soul' set into a 50th birthday party, but very few would be capable of pulling off a 5 hour N/S gig for the 'Wigan Casino' aficionados, MP3 files in a laptop doesn't work with that crowd, it's original vinyl and turntables or nothing. Some gigs do require specialist knowledge to give a true professional performance and satisfy the client, and taking on these specialist jobs without the necessary in depth knowledge, does nothing but harm to the image of the profession.

[Ecstatic Events]

Yes. Mainly dance orientated genres and club classics

I completely agree with the comments about 'specialist' Wedding DJs. I did consider myself one - But it's nonsense.

You just need to be extremely versatile and know what music works...

[DazzyD]

I don't see how you can specialise in weddings as the music you play covers such a large amount of time and genres.

Also, how do you specialise in one particular decade as again, within that decade there are many different genres.


Yes. Mainly dance orientated genres and club classics

I completely agree with the comments about 'specialist' Wedding DJs. I did consider myself one - But it's nonsense.

You just need to be extremely versatile and know what music works...

I disagree. I think a wedding DJ is one that specialises in the wedding event as opposed to being a specialist in any particular music genre. I accept they can play other functions from time to time but I liken them to footballers. A lot of footballers can play all over the field but they become known for playing in a certain position making them, from my viewpoint, a specialist in that position.

A strange analogy, maybe, but in mind it works!

[ukpartydj]

Of course you can get specialists. It doesn't mean they can't do other types of gigs.

It's just my opinion but I reckon that it's only the DJ industry which has that view.
In other industries if somebody said they specialise in a certain field the thought comes across my mind that 70%/80%+ of the work they do is in that field.

Maybe the genre and event type specialist DJs should re-phase their advertising to be "Experts" rather than "Specialists"??

Expert:
a person who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area.

Specialist:
a person who concentrates primarily on a particular subject or activity; a person highly skilled in a specific and restricted field.

[BeerFunk]

I think a lot of DJs like to think of themselves as such, but might fall under the bracket of 'very knowledgeable' rather than a 'specialist'.

I'd expect a specialist to know a subject almost inside and out. For example, a specialist in reggae would be familiar with nearly every Desmond Dekker single, which ones were 'hits', which ones weren't hits but are still reasonably well known, that sort of thing. That would be my expectation anyway.

[funkymook]

It's just my opinion but I reckon that it's only the DJ industry which has that view.
In other industries if somebody said they specialise in a certain field the thought comes across my mind that 70%/80%+ of the work they do is in that field.

Maybe the genre and event type specialist DJs should re-phase their advertising to be "Experts" rather than "Specialists"??

Expert:
a person who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area.

Specialist:
a person who concentrates primarily on a particular subject or activity; a person highly skilled in a specific and restricted field.

We have enough problems with people dictating who is or isn't a 'proper' DJ already :D