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]

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]

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]

The views in this article are entirely my own. I purchased these speakers with my own money and am not receiving any incentive to write this article. A little over a month ago, I began a search for a new powered wedding ceremony speaker. My criteria were simple; I wanted something compact, lightweight, aesthetically pleasing, powerful, and of course, it needed to sound great. After deciding I wanted a 10" speaker, I began researching every powered model on the market today. Seeing as I already have 2 main systems that were both expensive and powerful, I just wanted a speaker that could deliver clean speech during a wedding and have enough juice to play some dinner music in a remote area. After a lot of searching, I kept noticing the new Alto TS 300 series popping up at the top of my queries. Alto speakers... [read more]

What I really love about the YouTube and DJ Facebook community is sometimes we can turn those negatives into positives and Howie Darkstar has done this and he's asked me to do a video on it, so I'm going to do it. Have you seen the mike drop commercials from Verizon? Mike drops are nothing new, but these commercials are in circulation. People are seeing these if they're watching TV. And something like a mike drop is maybe starting to look pretty normal. I was concerned that we're going to run into this problem come wedding season. Howie has a great solution and he's done it and he's sold it and it's working. What he's suggesting is, have a mike drop package as part of your services. When you're in the client meeting, just tell them, hey, I offer a mike drop package, and they might say, well, what's that? So ... [read more]

Weddings are the main source of income for most mobile DJs. I get that. But more and more entertainers are reaching out to me, trying to enhance their business or in some cases completely overhaul it. I don’t know if it is today’s brides or the thousands of “competitors” that have invaded the industry over the years. Believe it or not: You CAN make a great income outside of the actual wedding industry. PLAN WHAT YOU WANT TO DO Start with a plan on what types of things you want to do to supplement your income. You might want to increase your bottom line and you might want to completely revamp what you have been doing. I have had d... [read more]

Arguably the most important piece of equipment we have is our voice. We use it to lead, guide, inform and coordinate at our events. Knowing what to say and when and how to say it is tantamount to a successful event. Each word choice instantly affects the mood and vibe of the guests and room. Do you always know the right thing to say at the right moment? Do you struggle at your events or second guess yourself on the microphone? What if there was a simple acronym or quick little guide rule you could use when deciding what to say? I'm a fan of Jay Shetty, former monk and internet wisdom guru. He's the quieter version of Gary Vaynerchuk. Jay's vid... [read more]

There are a lot of lessons in business that we are able to learn from books, videos, and articles. Others we learn from trusted friends and mentors. Some lessons, however, must be learned from the harsh hand of experience. This weekend provided me with such an opportunity, and today I'd like to share the lesson I learned about asking enough to questions to be properly prepared for an event. When the client (a 15-year-old girl) first reached out to me about using my services at her sweet 16, I thought to myself "Sweet! A birthday party will be an easy event and a needed break from the hectic wedding season." We had a quick conversation ab... [read more]