Remember when becoming a mobile disc jockey required a huge investment in music and gear? Not to mention paying an arm and a leg for a big ad in the local phone book. The extra money was great. Back then I'm not sure how many people really thought of being a DJ as an occupation. These days "everyone" is a DJ. Buy a controller and some speakers to hook up to your laptop and stream music through Spotify and Pandora or You Tube. Book a couple of gigs and now your a DJ. Easy right? That's all well and good if you are just in this as a side hustle. For those of us that have made this a career or want to become full time, more of a business mentality is n... [read more]

DJ tips in under a minute. We've had some issues in the last week or two with vendors who have spilled stuff. So try this, wear all black, black shirt, black pants, black shoes. I used to wear an all-black ensemble with a black tie, but I switched gears and recently went with the black and white striped thinner tie to be more fashionable, because I am not fashionable. So if you wear gray, white, beige, something like that, you know it looks good, I'm not saying it doesn't and I'm certainly not here to tell you what to do, but I'm just making a suggestion as are all DJ tips in under a minute, the suggestion is try something new. If you haven't tried all black, try all black, black shirt, black pants and whatever tie you would like. I just -- I left the tux scene about 12 years ago and went to all black about 1... [read more]

The importance of building relationships is often underestimated in the Wedding/Private Event industry. If you could book 5 out of every 10 leads you meet with, how would you be doing today? If you booked 6,7 or even 9 out of every 10 leads you received , would that be ok? Well, my team and I know before we even meet with a client, if we are going to book them. Most people in general will not believe any "sales person" when they say, "we will book 9 out of every 10 people we meet with. Last time I checked, we do not have any special superpowers so how is this possible? Imagine having just 1 Venue Owner or 1 Venue Sales Team that exclusively refers y... [read more]

In just a few short months almost two thousand of us will head to Las Vegas for Mobile Beat 23. Once again the halls, meeting and exhibit rooms of the Tropicana will be filled with the conversations of "Nugget" seeking DJ's looking to better their businesses. For one week the Tropicana will become an incredible microcosm of the DJ universe. Within that microcosm memories will be created, information and ideas traded, gear bought and friendships made. Professionalism, kindness and camaraderie will be displayed. Unfortunately ego, avarice and elitism will be lurking in the shadows (don't be that guy). All that being said, here are some candid... [read more]

DJ tips in under a minute. Do you see in the front of my table here I have no cords? I'm trying something today that I don't normally do, because I don't have my Skrim. So there are some exposed cords and cables, but what I've tried is this, running everything through the back of my controller. So I have my speaker cords, I have my [inaudible] output to my other mixer, this is my backup, of course, with [inaudible] running booth out today, because I have a big party and I need booths. But I'm doing everything through the back. The only thing going through the front are right here. So my hard drive, my controller and my power supply. So next time you do your setup, you need to clean it up, you need to get it looking sharp, you need to be lacking of the cables. Give this a try, run your cables through the back.... [read more]

DJ tips in under a minute. It's loud, because my gig just ended, but this is expensive, but if you don't have an iPad, you should get an iPad or a tablet if it goes online for gigs. If everything else goes south, I can take this cable, which goes into my auxiliary input right now so I can play music off either deck, I can cross fade, simple app, but the cool thing is I can plug this into a power speaker and run. I can do a ceremony, cocktail outside, whatever I want to do. So I know it's expensive, but this is a first gen with 3G. If you can get a first gen on eBay, Craigslist, whatever, try to get one or a tablet, like I said, something you can get music on and something that you can get a DJ app on. As expensive as it is, it is a lifesaver, because now you have a complete system if needed right here. So DJ ... [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]

I've always been fascinated by shows like Ancient Aliens, Oak Island and Expedition Unknown. These shows demonstrate that history isn't written in stone and the world is still full of wonder and new discoveries. When I found out that Aliencon was coming to the east coast I just had to go. Luckily, my 50th birthday was in September and my wife got me a Gold Pass as a birthday present (she's a keeper). I wasn't sure what to expect when I arrived. Would the convention be about exploring new ideas and learning about new discoveries? Would it be a big tin foil hat parade? Fortunately it was more about the former and less about the latter; although ... [read more]