Have you thought about when your last DJ gig would be? Have you envisioned walking off the stage and packing up for the last time? Do you have your DJ career and retirement mapped out? What if "life" just came in and trashed all those plans and dreams? Have you and your family prepared for something like that? That dreadful scenario is happening right now for one of our DJ brothers. In 2017 Richard Mills (who hails from the kiwi nation of New Zealand) was dealing with life, marriage, kids, bills and a busy DJ schedule when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. He pressed on and with the support of his ... [read more]

In the DJ business, things are constantly evolving. My wife and I own/manage our business Austin's Best DJs & Photo Booths, and have run it since 2012. We were both long-time DJs before we even met! I'm approaching 3 decades (yes, decades, since I started when I was a kid) and my wife is approaching nearly 2 decades! We've seen a lot of trends come and go. As business owners, we have to stop and consider the trends and evaluate whether or not we want to be a part of them. DJs seem to always want the latest, greatest new turntable or controller, or light, that just came out. It seems as if DJing has turned into another way of "keeping up with the Jones." DJs like to constantly buy new equipment, and understandably so. Sure, you have to keep up with the trends or get left behind. This brings me to the to... [read more]

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]

I've always been a big fan of science fiction and weird stuff. Recently I was hooked on a Netflix series called "Altered Carbon". In the future our "bodies" were nothing more than interchangeable meat suits because we had discovered how to down load the human conscious and transfer it from one shell to another. A new form of immortality. Instead of having a mortgage on a house and car payments, people would pay for "skins" to continue their existence.   Does that sound too far fetched? The Trans Humanist movement has grown tremendously over the last two decades. Their goal is the integration of technology with the human body. Scientists have... [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]

Next to Christmas and Thanksgiving, Easter is one of the biggest family holidays of the year. Religion aside, most families put on their Sunday best and spend the day celebrating with egg hunts, tons of food and desserts. Easter also means the beginning of spring and the start of a new busy DJ season (at least in New England). Soon there will be proms, weddings, field days and graduation parties. We go from zero to slammed in a weekend! The renewed busy season also brings the welcome opportunity to see industry friends you haven't worked with in a while or seen since the last bridal show you did. Sometimes those reunions can be bittersweet when you find out a colleague or banquet person you enjoyed working with passed away suddenly. I unfortunately experienced that recently. A friend of mine who helped ... [read more]

Prom season is here and it's about to be very busy, everywhere. We provide Austin/San Antonio prom DJs, Austin/San Antonio photo booth rentals, lighting, games, and much more. Prom season is always very busy for us and for DJs and DJ companies everywhere. With that being said, it's time to prep for the upcoming rush of proms and events. Although you should prep all year long, to stay on top of your game. Whether you're a DJ only, or if you provide many other options for your clients, preparation is always the key to your success. We recently hired a new DJ and I contracted him to work his first prom with us. He had a few questions and it made me realize that it's probably a great topic to write about, since many DJs may be in his shoes, too. He asked several great questions, so I thought I'd write the ques... [read more]

Music is life for a lot of people, and it can be said that over the course of an average day you are bound to hear or listen to some sort of music. In fact, music has managed to become incorporated into nearly everything that we come in contact with, from waiting for a customer services rep on the phone to being the inspiration for slot games like Danger High Voltage. As with anything, technology has had and continues to have a huge impact on music, with music tech some of the most advanced out there. So, with 2019 nearly four months old, what can we expect from music tech this year? Sony 360 Reality Audio Sony are experts... [read more]

All right. Another DJ tip in under a minute. This is a black binder, folder, whatever you want to call it. I've had it for about 10, 11 years and it's the one item that goes to every meeting, every wedding, every party, every event, because I carry all my music in it, my main hard drive, my backup's in another bag and then I have folders. If you can see, that's today's date and inside I have a CD for the ceremony. Yes, I'm using a CD. I have a full schedule of events, I have music requests that the bride and groom have handwritten and given to me and I have the timeline that I wrote for the bride and groom and it's got all my notes on it, everything I have to do and then I have my wedding form that I fill out with all my clients. If you have one item that you can carry everything in so you never go without so... [read more]

All right. DJ tips in under one minute. Here is the room I'm working tonight. It is at a site called Pala Mesa. It is set for 100 people. This is my setup. The point is when you do a site, any site for any event, make a video between one and three minutes long about the site, about your setup. ID the video with your name, web address, anything else you need, show how pretty things look and make sure you mention you're working the site. This is a wedding you're doing, this is a private party you're doing. Give future customers the option to find you on YouTube. I actually just got an email the other day from someone who found me on YouTube, because I did a wedding at the site they're getting married. So in under 60 seconds, the DJ tip of the day is get a YouTube account and post videos from every single event.... [read more]