All right. DJ tips in under a minute. I've got about 30 minutes before I begin and I wanted to bring up social media at your wedding. It is totally cool to do check-ins. In fact, you should. You should let people know what's going on, you should let people know that you're busy, you should let people know that you have a wedding and where, but during the wedding, stay off Facebook. Don't tweet the bride looks goofy, don't tweet the groom is drunk. At the end of the night, if you took pictures, post them, put a review of your wedding, let people know things went really well, this was a challenge or that was a challenge or I played this song and it was a really good song. Be helpful to DJ's, clients, whoever sees your social media connection, especially clients, because they probably follow you or find you an... [read more]

If you've ever watched a DMC DJ competition you've most likely been as blown away as I have by the crazy amounts of talent that the participants possess. From behind-the-back scratching to intense tone-play routines, the DJs seem to always have fresh new ways to mix, transition, and blend the tracks they use in their sets. As mobile DJs, we may not have as many opportunities to utilize such radical mixing techniques in our dance sets, but I contend that the fundamentals, such as beat-matching and understanding phrasing, are some of the most important skills to master. In most circles, it goes without saying that for someone to be considered... [read more]

What is an MC? Ask any DJ and you'll get a variety of answers. First, let's start with what an "MC" even means. Some will say it's for a "Master of Ceremonies," others may say "Mic Controller," and others may say "Mic Chief." In a way, these are all correct. For me, however, I believe an MC is a Master of Ceremonies. An MC is not only a host, but also controls the event flow and timeline. Yes, a coordinator may be present, and you may have the timeline, ahead of time, but it is up to the DJ/MC to ensure that the event flows as the client wants it to, especially if there is not a wedding planner or day-of-coordinator, present. So do all DJs also serve as an MC? It depends on the DJ or DJ company. Some DJs will say "I don't MC" and I don't make any announcements, at all." This is quite surprising to me, as a... [read more]

All right. DJ tips in under a minute. Ask your clients to send you the seating arrangement. Why? Because you see way back there the cake, there's a good 25 feet between the tables and the cake. So today, even though I'm not a fan of it, and I can explain that in another video if you want, I have speaker over here with a light for safety and a speaker over there and guess where my table is, that's right, I'm right there. Maybe you noticed the table right there; maybe you noticed this table right here. What you're noticing is the photographs that aren't going to happen, because that speaker's now in the way of that table. Again, speaker, table. So if they had sent me the seating arrangement, and I had asked, my own fault, I would've known to say, is it possible to give me 5, 10 feet in front of me? So future,... [read more]

ADJ is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the latest addition to the company’s Entour range of professional effect generation equipment. The Entour Faze is a robust and affordable portable faze machine, with patent pending rapid heater technology, that creates a thin mist of atmospheric haze using regular water-based fog fluid. It is ideal for installation in a wide variety of venues, including bars, lounges, clubs, entertainment centers, community theatres and churches, and is also suitable for mobile use by entertainers and production companies. The new Entour Faze builds on the success of the popular Entourage professional touring faze machine... [read more]

Ok, so maybe I didn’t hate being an Elementary School Spanish teacher. But waking up extra early to answer e-mails before running to school and then coming home covered in chalk, just to walk right to my computer and start working the night shift, was not my ideal way of spending my first year of marriage. My poor husband would greet me at the door, super excited to see me (he was already a full-time wedding cinematographer). I’d have to do my best to smile through the anxious thoughts over how long the hello would take. “Does the hug need to be this long? I’ve got work to do!” “Weekend warriors” is the cliché term for us crazy event professional who know nothing of a 40 hour workweek or what it’s like to attend a Memorial Day BBQ. At least not one where we’re not tired from the 12 h... [read more]

-- a minute, record yourself. Not only record yourself, but record yourself and post it if you can. The other thing is see what you say a lot. I have a bad habit of saying the word well. So I start with well, ladies and gentlemen. I also say good evening a couple of times when I probably shouldn't. So make a little note next to your setup, write down what you say and when you say it and start putting checkmarks next to it. Find expressions you like, go to YouTube, search out other DJs, search out masters in the industry, whatever you do, find out what they're saying, try to integrate it into your routine. The other thing is make announcements that you need to make, not that you don't. Right now it's intros, welcome, first dance, father/daughter, mother/son, bridal bouquet, the things that are important. I d... [read more]

Standing out is essential to building our personal brand. Excelling at the service we provide can help us to grow our business, but to truly become a well-known figure in our local markets we need to develop a quality (or multiple) that distinguishes us from the hordes of other DJs and entertainment options that our potential clients have to choose from. Some DJs are known for a specific service they provide; you may be the only person in your neck of the woods that's offering indoor fireworks or light-up LOVE letters. Other DJs are well known for their personalities. My good friend Rob Ferre is known as the goofy, outgoing guy in the crazy suits that loves to work with kids. Joe Bunn is the man with the southern accent who has an obsession with shoes. You see, what sets you apart is YOU - it doesn't hav... [read more]

First - new songs.  We are slowly getting rough draft license agreements for new songs and just received our first fully executed copy.   We have requests out for over 30 songs with some songs listing 5 or more publishers.  Many people are not aware but we have to have formal contracts with all of the publishers (who represent the song writers) covering 100% of the rights holders so that everybody gets paid their share of royalties and we avoid any infringement claims.  That process often takes a long time (frequently months), but karaoke does not generate the revenues it should, given how many venues and hosts offer karaoke, so the licenses are low priority for many publishers. We're going as fast as we can, but obtaining karaoke sync rights is the first obstacle on the way to making new karaoke music.�... [read more]

If you're anything like me, when it comes to the weddings you're apart of you love organization. We spend plenty of time preparing timelines and categorizing our music so that our weddings can play out as close to perfect as possible. A lot of us have type A personalities that thrive on both details and being in control. So when the photographer asks for an additional 15 minutes or the planner insists that you do the last call right now instead of in an hour, what do you do? Thanks to our egos, many of us will get annoyed. "This isn't what we planned!" we will say inside our heads, "This will kill the vibe we have been working on!" And you know what? We are probably right. Unfortunately, DJs who take the "my way or the highway" stance usually alienate other vendors and burn bridges that otherwise could hav... [read more]