All right. DJ tips in under a minute. These are wedding invitations and usually these are done maybe before you're even hired as the DJ, but one thing that wedding invitations can sometimes have is the end date of the reception. It might say, beginning at 5:00, ending at 10:00 or whatever it says. The reason I'm bringing this up is it was brought to my attention that whenever a party has an end time, it tends to give guests a little bit different perspective as to how long they should stay. And I noticed most of my events on the outside of the room will have an end time. See if you can get the end time taken away. So just reception to begin at 5:00 o'clock. That way there is no sense of when am I out of here? Because I think if you have it in your head that this ends in two or three hours, you gauge how long ... [read more]

Spring is here and wedding season is almost in full swing for many of us in colder climates. Time to go through all our wedding gear and test everything. It's also time for a playlist tune up. Like most of you I have a ton of crates built up with wedding playlists covering all the relevant genres and music styles. Each spring I go through and update those crates with more current song choices and weed out less popular tunes. A few years ago I wrote an article for Mobile Beat Magazine focusing on using acoustic versions or different arrangements of popular songs to shake up your playlists and create a different vibe for your weddings. I wrot... [read more]

All right. Sixty-seconds or less tip. This is my beverages of the evening, I've got a Rock Star sugar free, two Powerades, the reason being that I don't eat at weddings. I'm not saying that you shouldn't eat at weddings; I'm saying I don't. Because I don't. I bring things like Powerade that has electrolytes and carbs and all that good stuff with me. I find it just lets me focus, stay hydrated, the whole nine yards. Now, if you eat during your weddings, cool, go eat. I just don't, because I'm working through dinner, I'm picking different music to try to bring the crowd kind of up towards the end of the meal and it's just my thing. I'd be happy to explain the incident that happened about 10 years ago when I was eating out of the room and the music stopped. So since then, no eating for me. Do what you would like... [read more]

All right. Another quick tip, I use Serato ITCH and as you can see over here, I make crates for dates, meaning today's wedding is the bottom crate, it says 6-9-12 and this is the crate. Now, the other thing I do is I set it up so I put a color next to the songs that are important. These are all songs that I know I have to play for certain things later in the night, cake, garter, bouquet, things like that. So I find it easiest so I can find them in an instant within the crate. Just a quick 60 second or less tip from me, DJ Jay. So if you find that helpful, do it. Thank you.   ... [read more]

For the last decade social media marketing has steadily replaced traditional forms of advertising like print media, postal mailings and cold calling. Over the years the algorithm for what works has changed almost as much. Ten years ago all you had to worry about was Facebook and My Space. Now there’s Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, Linked In and many others to contend with. How do you know which content to add to which site that will get you bookings? It’s seems like one big crap shoot. I reached out to Andrea Eppolito, owner of Andrea Eppolito Events in Las Vegas (A luxury wedding planning and event service) for insight. She is presenting a must see seminar at MBLV23 titled “Social Stature and Selling”. Andrea’s seminar is going to discuss the most widely used platforms for each segment of ... [read more]

DJ tips in under a minute. Here we go, I'm at a wedding. I'm up here where the wedding will take place. So as you know, looking out, this is the groom's side, that's the bride's side. We're going to switch that today. We're going to have the bride's parents sit here on what would be my left side and the groom's parents sit here on what would be my right side. Why? Because that way the groom's parents will see the groom, the bride's parents will see the bride. Try this at your next wedding. Tips in under a minute, bringing you redoing the wedding setup. So again, put the bride's parents at the front of the groom's section and the groom's parents at the front of the bride's section. You end up with the fact that now they're looking at the face of their loved ones and not at their backs. So we're going to try it... [read more]

All right. DJ tips in under a minute. This is an actual timeline from a wedding I did, wow, three years ago. As you can see, it outlines what time everything is going to happen, names for things, first dance names, who's giving a blessing, who's giving the toast, any changes, the father/daughter dance had not been decided yet, bouquet toss, last dance, all those things. I do this for every wedding. Even if I have a coordinator who's sending me a timeline, I do this for my eyes, because I want to know that everything is included and if I suddenly stepped away and had someone come in and jump in my wedding, they would have all the information they needed to do a great job. So whether you have a coordinator or not, when you meet with your clients, go over their timeline, jot down your own notes, have your own gu... [read more]

The 200th edition of Mobile Beat Magazine just dropped. That's amazing in itself. The articles on cultural wedding music are spot on. Although, one area I believe needs a little more clarification is the genre of Latin music. This genre seems to encompass everything from Spanish, Reggaeton, Caribbean, Tex Mex and Brazilian. The truth is that they are all very different in origin, tradition and cultural influence. Although the Portuguese language is Latin based, traditional Portuguese music is very different from what is considered "Latin". Culturally, old style Portuguese music or Fados sounds more Italian or Greek than Latin. Mo... [read more]

One of the greatest ways to continue improving a skill is to develop a habit that revolves around it. We all know that "practice makes perfect," and when looking for ways to polish our speaking or DJ skills we should always seek to incorporate scheduled practice and rehearsals into our routine. But while practice is beneficial, executing a behavior enough times that it becomes a habit can increase our ability exponentially. An example I often use in this regard comes from a book on public speaking I read a few years ago. One chapter, in particular, stood out to me, as it mentioned the importance of actively listening to our own speech to eliminate our nervous tics, "ums," and "ahs." If you've ever listened to a recording of yourself speaking, you've most likely noticed your own repetitive speech patterns. ... [read more]

Now that you've recovered from the orgy of food on Thanksgiving Day and survived the malls on Black Friday; it's time to set your sights on Cyber Monday. Arguably the busiest shopping day of the year. Most of us are probably hunting for specials on audio and lighting. Those shiny new pieces of equipment meant to dazzle our clients and make us look like the best DJ in the world. Don't be distracted by the squirrels! Invest in something that will last you longer than a fifty foot XLR cable or new LED bar. Your education. What new training manuals, books or DVDs are you planning on getting to improve your knowledge and skill as a DJ? Did that thought even cross your mind? I've put together a list of three training tools you should definitely add to your library this holiday season.   read more]