Nice cosy setup there Wayne, hemmed in by tables. Give my regards to that venue for me ;)
Printable View
Nice cosy setup there Wayne, hemmed in by tables. Give my regards to that venue for me ;)
You know the venue?Quote:
Originally Posted by juski
No, I just meant 'thank' them for being another venue considerate of DJ setups (not).Quote:
Originally Posted by Imagine
To be fair - it's a VERY small venue and the amount of tables they had to squeeze in for the wedding breakfast, I was grateful of the amount of room I had to set up in. The original plan was for me to set up as much as possible and flat against the wall to be pulled out before I got started - it was a bonus to be able to set up where it was going to stay for the night.
They did remove some of the tables before the fun began ;)
Attachment 17367
Ahh nice. Fair dues then :)
Friday: Absolutely run of the mill disco - nothing worthy of note.
Saturday: Late booking for a garden party, 2.5hrs working after a band, what can possibly go wrong.
I arrive nice and early to ensure there are no issues but the band nicely runs over well into my setting up time. So now i've 30 mins to get sorted but luckily I set most of the stuff up around the corner while they encored. A nice bunch and more the fault of the crowd but we dont like rushing do we.
We're all set up in time and kick off some disco tunes but quickly the karaoke takes the forefront and i've a long list of singers (which is good). There are a ton of people there, friends, neighbours and work colleagues and its warm, no rain, free drinks, good crowd then bam.
I've got a *singer* on and focussing on the crowd when I hear a noise - its sounds like vecro ripping so I look around to see some bloke (older than me) trying to pull wires out of the mixer. After a brief second of realisation I ask him wtf he is doing. He shouts and spits at me saying the music is too loud and I'm breaking the law. I remove his hands from the wires (my beautiful new van dammes) and tell him to go and speak to the host. In the mean time I knock the volume down a little hoping to stem the complaint a little.
I see the guy and the host chat and all looks ok. He comes back over for a second go still on about me being unprofessional and breaking the law. I ask him how but he just says he's gonna ring the police as Im out of order. A little snap at this point and I tell him firstly that everything is above board, I'm very professional and that if he ever tries to touch my rig again it will result in his fingers breaking. We exchange a few more words before a guest comes over to remove him from the property - after all he is actually trespassing now as he was asked to leave.
So we finish the night at ten about an hour and a bit after the incident. As I'm packing the van who should turn up - none other than the Law. An officer asks to speak to me and the host in private so we have a little chat. I ask the officer what it is that has been alleged to be an offence, he says that several people have complained about the music level. I advise that noise nuisance is the remit of the local council and that we have not been in any way anti-social, in fact its been way the opposite.
The officer leaves as there isn't much he can do with the music off, I did ask what he would have done and he said ask me to turn it down - which I had already done. I take it this guy mustn't have got his invite and the host didn't even know him. The couple were ok about the issue and didn't see that i'd done anything wrong. I guess some people just want to see the world burn.
Another midweek wedding tonight at my favourite budget residency.
No names, no pack drill, no first dance, no indication of music tastes.. nada.
So I rolled up at slightly earlier than my usual time & started having a leisurely setup when... a band arrived.
"Oh right. We'll be setting up here then", somebody said, pointing at the place where my speakers & lightstand usually go. "Er.. can we SHARE? I can move my speakers - I've got more than long enough cables so all you'll have is the tripod for the lights". "NO! Put them somewhere else" he said squaring up to me. Fine, if you want to be a tosser about it I'll just do whatever. "You can set your lights up later". "Except it'll be dark before you're half way into your 2nd set" I said smugly. Oh, and you'll be taking your gear down as soon as you finish your set will you? Thanks VERY much.
While all this was going on the other band members had helpfully dumped all their gear in front of the DJ pulpit where my stuff is stored & there was nothing I could do until they'd pretty much completely set up anyway. I made sure the duty manager knew I wasn't happy & set off in my car to go & buy a new radio mic battery from the nearest shop 10 minutes away. Oh dear oh dear. I'm just on my way out of the shop when my phone rings. It's my old gaffer wondering what's going on. The hotel had phoned him in an utter panic asking him to send somebody to replace me because (apparently) I'd walked out in a strop. I knew the band were going to be :Censored::Censored::Censored::Censored::Censored: ing around for ages & had plenty of time. So I thought. Yes I was unhappy the band had acted like primadonnas but I bit my lip - and getting out of there for a while did my mood no end of good. I suppose that answers the question I had in my head about whether they have an emergency DJ they can use if I drop dead..
I got back to find the duty manager had already left (finished his shift) & found the band still sound checking, their ASDA bought 'flight cases' strewn all over the place.
I rigged up my PA, set up what little lighting I could I cued up a background music set ready for when the room started filling up.
No need to know what the 1st dance song was - the band were covering it. Badly. The vocals were barely audible (Yeah Yamaha actives are very nice - but only the 10" ones? Bleh).. and the keyboard player sounded like he was wearing gloves. They plodded on & had a 'full' dancefloor of around 20 people which gradually ebbed away towards buffet time.
I played background music for 40 minutes or so & back came the band to murder some more songs. Time marched on & they announced their last song. Huge cheers from the guests. Not the reaction they were hoping for so they tried again. This time the cheer was louder.
Then it was my turn. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel. Loads of requests, some very 'out there' for a wedding I thought, but they all got played one way or another. Yes even Rammstein - Du Hast. I gave up trying to program it to fit in & just whacked it on with an announcement saying I'd been told the groom loved it. He did. I had a 'plan B' track lined up ready but I turned out not to need it. People who didn't know it were clearly giving it a chance. Bravo, people, bravo! Back on track, a highly condensed cheese set soon followed (all requests).
A lass asked me for a James song & almost walked off to ask her mate what it was called. "She only comes when she's on top?" she said. There's only one possibility there.. LAID (CHOOOOOOOOOOOOON!).. massive singalongs - and I saw the time, looked at the remaining unplayed requests & thought "hmmm... Elvis might go well after this". Suspicious minds.. sometimes I have no idea how the programming part of my brain makes these connections but it segued well & was lapped up by the groomsmen & guests alike.
From there with 9 minutes to go I decided to go with Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.. bigged up the B&G, wished em all the very best & went into the last song - a reprise of their first dance - Fleetwood Mac's Everywhere. Not a dry eye in the house.
The big 'out there' track during the night was definitely Booker T & The MGs.. Soul Limbo though. I thought "what the hell"... put it on & the full dancefloor didn't even pull a funny "WTH is this" face. They jolly well got down to it anyway.
Anyhoo, first band I'd worked with for a while & I honestly hope I never run into them again. I have nothing against bands in general. But bands who act like prize gits? Meh. May they all GET IN THE SEA.
Bah I played in bands years ago and much like DJs, it tends to be the ones that are :Censored::Censored::Censored::Censored: and have something to prove that are the mouthiest and most hassle to work with.
As for random programming choices - wedding on Saturday night (absolute belter for the get go btw - great crowd and I even had a polite queue for requests and one point!!!) later on I was playing Party Rock Anthem, they were quite into their punk and classic rock and somewhere down in my brain I thought "Jump would slot in here nicely."
Turns out they're a ball hair apart BPM wise (always a good sign) so I looped the first 2 synth bars of Jump and full bhoonad the bass filter. Once I got to the last drum section of Party Rock I looped that for a bar, fader over and veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly brought the bass filter out of the mix - it was brilliant - people were still giving it big licks to the party rock beat but could hear and sense something coming, just not sure what it was then when the filter was mild enough that they sussed out what it was their faces lit up.
My finest bit of totally random mixing that came off big style since a mad Irish wedding I did earlier in the year(consequently at the same place Ronan Keating got married in last week) where I had a similar brainwave and came up with some ridiculous but excellent sounding mix of Bob Marley and Mylo :D
I've planned my whole setup to be flexible for the very reason that bands drop in unannounced .. why else would I have enough XLR cable to be able to site my speakers on the other side of the room & the ability to mount lights on my speakers? I don't mind having to move things around so everybody has a successful time. But walking in not even saying "Hello" & just making demands.. that got my back up from the get go. I'm not dissing bands, loads of them I've worked with haven't been what I'd call my cup of tea but they've been really nice people. You don't have to kiss my hand or curtsey.. just be civil :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim - Scotland's Party DJ
Last night I was at my main residency for the annual RAF Summer Ball.
I've done it for the past 4 years and have got to know the majority of guests so when I walk in I usually go around the tables and shake hands and say hello beforehand.
They are mainly over 70 and a mix of different British Legion's from around Hampshire and they all meet up for dinner and a bit of a dance.
I set up (with a bad back) yesterday morning and whilst doing so I met the organiser and his wife who are always very welcoming and complimentary. They were dropping off some union jack bunting. The booking was from 7.30pm - Midnight but I didn't need to be back at the hotel until 9.00pm as they didn't require background music.
It was the same format as previous years with dinner first and then some announcements followed by me calling the raffle for them and then some slow songs building up to the usual 50's, Rock N' Roll and Party stuff.
During the announcements a special mention was for a guy whose birthday it was. He was 99 years old yesterday and I couldn't believe it. He looked like he was still in his 60's!!! You should have seen his moves on the dance floor.
Packed dance floor from start to finish and the same last 2 songs as previous years. The National Anthem followed by New York, New York and then lots of people clapping and cheering and shaking my hand.
Always a pleasure to do but standing there in more or less the same position for 3 hours hasn't done my back any good. It hurts quite a bit this morning but onwards we must go to tonight which I am looking forward to.