It had to be told at some point of time or the other , so I guess I should start my rant on this. I’ve been to a few parties here and there and the one thing that annoys me is the inevitable issues with the music. More than half the time I see the DJ being inundated with requests and for all of you out there who need to listen to that special song in order to get on the floor- I have one thing to say to you – A DJ is not a JukeBox !!
The DJ has one primary function – to make people dance. If you at that point of time are going to be sending the DJ requests then you might as well get rid of him , take your ipod and calcluate how many songs you need for the entire set. (3.5 minutes per song givcs you approx 17 songs per hour) . So let me explain what a DJ really does:
- Select the songs – Where his artisty comes into play. He has to know the crowd that he is playing for and select songs that would mix nicely with each other. When he does his job well , the crowd is with him on his musical journey that usually starts off slow, builds momentum and energy to reach its crescendo . If he is hired for a private party then he uses his party-friendly sets with well-known hits and classics.
- Create his mixset – Where he blends his songs so that the tracks appear seamless. The audience feels one track flow into the other without a jarring sound inbetween. He can do this live , if he wants to go with the reaction of the crowd.
Now for all the people who interrupt the DJ, I would also blame the DJ. Here in Kuwait I can often see DJ’s who don’t have mixsets and can be seeing flipping through their collection of CD’s to find songs whenever they get a request.For them I say , could you please:
- Get an external drive and move all your music to it
- Get a second drive and have a copy of all your music on it too. (you can never be too safe)
- Use a tag editor to fix your tags (http://www.mp3tag.de/en/index.html) , even with all your music on the drive, you need the tags to start searching for songs. Trying to find a Kate Perry song when your mp3 is tagged as {Best.Music.Mr.Download.K.9erry}.mp3 is just no use to anyone!
And while im harping on DJ’s could you please follow some basic rules to make sure that you get invited again :
Before the event , come in a day or two earlier and check the location of the event. You need to know where the place is, where you and your equipment will be located and confirm the availability of electrical points – It just looks unprofessional when you come in the last minute and run around trying to find extension cords that snake across the room. Also talk to the people who have hired you – What type of music to they want to hear, what are the demographics of the people attending, and if there are any songs and artists that they don’t want played.
On the day of the event, Come in an hour earlier with your crew to set your systems up, and then get your crew to leave – You are getting paid to DJ not to get your crew to hang around behind you and oggle!