Good Gig, Bad Gig.

And that's two all day weddings done this weekend!

Yesterday was very hot - no air con in this venue!

Much confusion at the start of the day when my timeline didn't match up with that of the venues. Whilst my timeline matched the big printed board, it was agreed the venue timeline would be better (the one provided by the bride was very optimistic!)

We naturally fell on to that timeline anyway, although everyone was getting a bit hot outside a little earlier than had hoped, but all worked out.

But the heat really did affect the dancing - I played music to those outside. Fortunately the venue allowed the windows to be kept open much later than usual (noise restrictions), so the guests could hear outside.

Very grateful for the air con in the van saving me during the day - a few trips to the van were very much needed to cool down!

Guest started trickling back inside from 10 and had a steady dancefloor from 11 building up to the 12 midnight finish.

Considering the heat, it ended up better than I had feared it might, so all good!

Last night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi2hl4m1q9k


It was er.. challenging.... The surprise element, coupled with Kelly's arrival time meant no chance to soundcheck. The agreed running order changed twice & I had to be on the mic levels for a solid 40 minutes.

This bit, as with the majority of the rest of the night including before the cake cut & first dance, was absolutely jumping.

Pro tip for future reference.. get a small PA mixer with mic channel limiting. Seriously!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nakatomi

Last night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi2hl4m1q9k


It was er.. challenging.... The surprise element, coupled with Kelly's arrival time meant no chance to soundcheck. The agreed running order changed twice & I had to be on the mic levels for a solid 40 minutes.

This bit, as with the majority of the rest of the night including before the cake cut & first dance, was absolutely jumping.

Pro tip for future reference.. get a small PA mixer with mic channel limiting. Seriously!

---

Aww man Heart of Gold is an absolute tune!!! Takes me right back to being 14-15 in the scheme listening to Pengo's Power Hits I'd nicked off my sister :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jim - Scotland's Party DJ

Aww man Heart of Gold is an absolute tune!!! Takes me right back to being 14-15 in the scheme listening to Pengo's Power Hits I'd nicked off my sister :D

---

The whole night was absolutely banging. The crowd absolutely smashed it. I may have played some part in that ;)

Absolutely EPIC night!

I'm going to edit the whole of Kelly's set together, what I've got of it that's usable from my action cam anyway.. Which is most of it.

The arrogance and ignorance of youth! :mad:

I took a diary filler at a quirky West Riding venue. 60th birthday for a lovely chap and his family. He wanted 60s, 70s and 80s early on, Celebration- Kool and the Gang around 9pm, and warned me that he expected his Granddaughters to want some modern stuff later. I got set up, despite the plethora of DJ kit scattered around my setup area. ( And the less said about the whacking great 15" Peaveys hung from the ceiling beams with cable ties, the better! :eek: )

I followed the client's music policy with great success, especially as most of the guests were around his age, or family in mid thirties. I could see folk singing along, and all was good. We had Celebrate around 9pm, and buffet followed, killing my dance floor. I tried to gently pick it up again, with little success, and the client and his Granddaughter came up. You know what she asked, don't you, children? Oh yes.

" Have you got anything modern" ? :bang::bang: Despite mine and the clients gentle and humorous warnings, she insisted we needed we needed some unspecified modern music, ie chart/ last two months. Bear in mind, I reckon we had less than five under 21s in the room. Well, dear reader, I played some, and what happened?

Half the guests seemed to disappear. :( What an unforeseen result. ( Not ).

I thus returned to Oldies, Party and Usual Suspects, with a little success, until we reached the last half hour, at which point, we apparently needed " something beaty and dancy ", probably by Beyoncé. This led to Mr Brightside, and one or two similar tracks. As is often the case, after hours of inactivity, the dance floor became busy, and with a few singalong ones to finish, I was halfway through playing Sweet Caroline as the last one.

Time for requests for One Step Beyond, and something else modern! Well, I slipped Madness on, something else I forget, went back to Sweet Caroline, and since it was an early ( ie before midnight ) finish, and the venue was open till then, we sang Happy Birthday to the birthday boy, and finished with Celebration. Cue handshakes from client and a couple of mates, and a round of applause. Job done. :)

Pesky kids!

After only three hours of sleep in the past 2 days....time to catch up.

Last night then, one of my usual venues for a bit of an unusual wedding. As is becoming the norm, I'd had very little contact with this particular couple and the playlist rolled in whilst I was on holiday last week. All I knew of the couple is that she was of West African descent and he was a local lad.

The playlist confirmed this, with several gospel type tracks I'd never even heard of (oh well.....got hold of them anyway....eventually!)

Turned up in good time (I gave myself a LOT of time to set up in the 32c heat that was beaming down at 6pm), and waited.....and waited....and waited some more. 'Tis unusual in this venue for anything to be overrunning and even the coordinators were starting the lose the plot - this lot were in no hurry whatsoever to get the evening's proceedings underway!

The speeches ran and ran and ran with virtually every guest having a go on the mic and saying something nice about the newly-weds. It become apparent at this point where the gospel stuff came into play....lots of talk of "light shining" and "praise be".....

Eventually (as in two hours later than the original time!), they're wheeled through the trademan's entrance to the dance marquee to do their mock first dance for the photographer. The bride then asked me what song I was playing for the first dance.

Erm....the one I've just played says I.
No - that's not what I asked for says she.
Yes is it I say, showing her what's on the screen and what I'd obtained from Amazon the day before.
Out comes the phone and YouTube....seems this particular chap has recorded two different songs with the same :Censored: title!

So, a panicky 5 mins on the inter web finding and buying the right version and getting it into VDJ (why does it take so long to recurse and pick up new tracks? :mad:), and we're finally off and running.

Nice full floor for two songs.....and then the photographer announces she's already on overtime, has a long journey home and would like to get photos of the sparkler lighting and waving around so needs everyone outside. Ho Hum.....

The floor never really built back up after that (it was still hot and this lot were VERY chilled). They were also virtually alcohol free! (eek!)

The groom's side of the family (around a dozen out of the assembled 50 guests) were very loud, wanted all manner of songs the bride didn't necessarily want (apparently Total Eclipse of the Heart is a family anthem.....well that didn't work then), wanted to sing on the mic.....you get the idea.

The bride's family - all West African and a good bunch. As you can probably imagine, the request list included quite a lot of Reggae, as well as a lot of music direct from the Mobo awards (now't wrong with that if you're into Beyonce and the like). Struggling to get much action, I dropped in one of the African tracks (a TEN minute job!) and couldn't believe the reaction (and I'll post a video when I'm awake enough to edit it).

The track?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45hDqPHfLPs

I kid you not, the elders were up on the floor doing something very similar to the tribal dancing you see on the TV....it was brilliant to watch!

The party however quickly faded. The bride had insisted that we end at 11:30 - the venue themselves have different ideas and won't normally call time on the party before midnight whilst there's still guests there. 11:40 they come up and ask me to switch off.....they want to go to be and want the guests to go (they'd been adamant about this since they booked me).

Quick confirmation with the DM and it's goodnight from me with lots of thanks, handshakes and hugs, and in the van by just after midnight. Result in my book as I had to be up early doors and on the road to be a witness at my sister's wedding 60 miles away (McDonald's coffee in large quantities really DOES work!).

Another 120 mile trip after that to return the EV50's to my most local DJ Dealer and I'm now completely shattered.

No pressure - the next one is my sister's reception on Saturday night (yup....I'm doing that one because the alternative was her hiring a local chap that charges £70 a night and I couldn't bear to sit through that!).

Right - time for an early night. Lots of zzzzzzzzz's to catch up on

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Imagine

getting it into VDJ (why does it take so long to recurse and pick up new tracks? :mad:), and we're finally off and running.

---

Once you've dropped a new track in, browse to it via 'local music' in DJEP. You can see it immediately in its folder.

Once VDJ sees it in the folder, you can then search for it etc.

Ideal for those times when you need a track immediately after downloading it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rth_discos

Once you've dropped a new track in, browse to it via 'local music' in DJEP. You can see it immediately in its folder.

Once VDJ sees it in the folder, you can then search for it etc.

Ideal for those times when you need a track immediately after downloading it.

---

"In DJEP?" Should that not be "in VDJ"? :confused:


What I would have done in this situation is simply save the track to the desktop and use the folder navigation tree to choose "Desktop" and just play it from there. No need to recurse anything to play a one-off track quickly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DazzyD

"In DJEP?" Should that not be "in VDJ"? :confused:

---

Oops yes, VDJ!

No DJEP involved!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DazzyD

What I would have done in this situation is simply save the track to the desktop and use the folder navigation tree to choose "Desktop" and just play it from there. No need to recurse anything to play a one-off track quickly.

---

That's true (and indeed a way I've used in the past).

To be honest, it was hot and I was panicking just slightly last night - that's the first time I've ever had the wrong first dance track lined up. I've announced the wrong names in the past (very long story that one....and wasn't unexpected by the B&G, in fact they'd warned their guests it may happen after a conversation we'd had pre-wedding.....I actually got a round of applause for that one!)