Bringing wifey to the "dark side"

To many ads? Support ODJT and see no ads!
rickryan.com

rickryan.com

DJ Extraordinaire
ODJT Supporter
Dec 9, 2009
19,251
17,347
59
Hendersonville, TN
www.rickryan.com
(evil laugh, wrings hands)

Got a call yesterday from a prom we did last year. It's a private school and that was their first year to hold a prom. In fact, the administration wouldn't even allow it to be called a "Prom". I forget the term they used. I'm already booked that date (4-11) for a prom in Cullman, Alabama. I was talking with the wife about it and told her I was about to punt it (all my other guys are tied up) when she started asking, "Do you think that I would be able to handle this?" Hey, it's a softball job. No MC work, no dinner music, no anything except 2 hours of clean dance music (it's a Christian school). For sound, I'm planning Bose L1 and feed the sub out to a power amp which will power a single JBL m-pro sub powered by a Crown xti4002 in bridged mode (3200watts/4 ohm) should make for a nice little rig AND something that she and my son can load into the Nissan Rogue. Gotta keep this simple, simple simple.
 
My wife worked one in an emergency 7 years ago and has done hundreds since. You have the right idea keep it as simple as possible, a little software training, and maybe send her with a decent playlist

Your best "employee" is someone with a vested interest ;)
 
We use winamp so no training needed. She used it a lot at the school when teaching music. She's actually been keeping me updated on top 40 dance stuff so she's probably better versed on what's current. The real trick at this prom is they're ultra-sensitive towards explicit. The only real question I still have is whether to run the sub off the sub-out of the Bose or to use the mixer's crossover. I have a Behringer vmx1000 that we'll probably use for this gig and she's already said she wants me to help her setup/teardown enough to get the config part down. She's a musician herself so really she's already pretty handy at hooking things up and since I have everything racked into a DJ capsule, should be a piece of cake. The good part, now I can start booking her as a DJ and we don't have to give the money away.
 
My wife goes with me on most all gigs and there has been an occasion or two that she has done a gig by herself because I double booked or needed to attend the rehearsal. Like Ron's wife she is a little mic shy. Over the last year or so she has taken over the roll of "dj" at most private gigs while I do all the MC and PR work. She knows the music just as well as I do and does a great job.
 
Aw dammit, they just sent the list of questions and of course asked "Can you give us a list and let us pick through it?" I politely told them "No" that is wasn't feasible and argued that it would exclude any kid requests. She already stated that we did a great job with this last year so I just said "Trust us." Let's see if she bites.......
 
Okay, she replied back so I thought I'd take the opportunity to lay it on thick and try to land this puppy. For your amusement,

Will do and one more thing. I hope I didn't appear inflexible on the "give us a playlist and let us pick approved songs" request. Perhaps I should give you a bit more explanation.

As I stated, allowing the kids to make requests is (my opinion) a must-have in any successful event. Anytime you have to tell them, "Sorry we're not allowed to take requests" it's a wet blanket. In addition, and I'm being transparent here, we adults are generally pretty poor at choosing material that works a dance floor with 16-18 year olds and don't forget that we're using radio edits (bad words bleeped out). My company performs an average of about 100 events per year and practically all have demands to be "family friendly". In short, we are well-versed on how to handle this kind of situation and even on the rare occasion that one slips through we instantly pop it to the next song, problem solved. Like I said, trust us. My wife and I are Christians and we also have kids that are 13 and 17. I share your concerns and frustrations with today's music.

Thanks and have a wonderful day.
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: dunlopj
I play Homecoming for the local Christian School tomorrow. The kids put together request and sent them to the student government, the student government (within school policy) scrubbed the list and sent it to me. I now have to dive in deeper and scrub it again (at first glance it looks very good), then add additional content to cover the dance length.

I am then required to send the final playlist to the school, where the head master locks it in and puts it on file, in case there is any questions from the parents or board members. All the kids that attend the dance know I can take no request.

There is really a lot of good clean music out there if you look hard enough to cover a three hour dance. I am lucky as the kids at this school like a mix of Hip-Hop, Top 40, Country and Oldschool.

Rick, what school are you playing for and where. I know one of the Nashville schools comes all the way to the Hopkinsville Convention Center for their PROM. I think they are in the other end of the building in April, while I am doing PROM in one end of the building doing Heritage Christian Academy. I might be wrong but I think it is Joe Burns.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger
oldschooldj said:
I play Homecoming for the local Christian School tomorrow. The kids put together request and sent them to the student government, the student government (within school policy) scrubbed the list and sent it to me. I now have to dive in deeper and scrub it again (at first glance it looks very good), then add additional content to cover the dance length.

I am then required to send the final playlist to the school, where the head master locks it in and puts it on file, in case there is any questions from the parents or board members. All the kids that attend the dance know I can take no request.

There is really a lot of good clean music out there if you look hard enough to cover a three hour dance. I am lucky as the kids at this school like a mix of Hip-Hop, Top 40, Country and Oldschool.

Rick, what school are you playing for and where. I know one of the Nashville schools comes all the way to the Hopkinsville Convention Center for their PROM. I think they are in the other end of the building in April, while I am doing PROM in one end of the building doing Heritage Christian Academy. I might be wrong but I think it is Joe Burns.
Click to expand...

I'd rather not name the school and this is one of the reasons I certainly won't be chasing any school biz. Having to jump through hoops and having to go through the whole pre-approval B.S. just makes my butt pucker. I'll let other folks chase that biz and be glad for them. I have about 4 or 5 schools who are hiring me now to do their proms. I bring big screens, lots of lights and a photobooth and I keep the music reasonably clean and keep the kids in the building (instead of out making babies). If they can't trust me, it's time they go somewhere else.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Romard and ittigger
I don't do much for the public schools as they seem to want the really foul stuff, so I don't mind the few hoops I jump through for the Christian School, but then I turn away gigs for adults that want the foul stuff, or if it is a younger crowd and their is a lot of alcohol involved, I also pass.

Sugar Grove Wedding Carriage House has been a God send to me, I can see it from my back porch, weddings range from 4K-10K, they have packages where I am included and I am the preferred vendor for the location. Another plus is there is no drinking on the property and only one place people can smoke. All events end around 9:30 to 10:00. I have keys to the place so I can set up or tear down anytime I want.

I do understand I am a hobbyist, and that I am not trying to make a living or make a large supplement to my income, so my approach is different than most.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ittigger
Haven't done a prom .. have done many "post-proms" (midnight to 4/5am) and no one has ever asked for or checked the playlists. I typically have them on automix, since I also run the activities in the Gym. I have had requests and usually accommodate them. I'm thinking of trying to do a jukebox setup where they can pick from the library of non-explicit stuff and the unit will default to the planned playlist. I bought a touchscreen monitor to see if I can make it work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ron, ittigger and oldschooldj
rickryan.com said:
I'd rather not name the school and this is one of the reasons I certainly won't be chasing any school biz. Having to jump through hoops and having to go through the whole pre-approval B.S. just makes my butt pucker. I'll let other folks chase that biz and be glad for them. I have about 4 or 5 schools who are hiring me now to do their proms. I bring big screens, lots of lights and a photobooth and I keep the music reasonably clean and keep the kids in the building (instead of out making babies). If they can't trust me, it's time they go somewhere else.
Click to expand...

In some ways, going through a few hoops will make things better between you and the administration .. it then appears that you are not blatantly trying to play stuff that the Administration doesn't want to hear. I understand that this is a party for the kids - but if the Admin / parents aren't happy, you won't be coming back. Realistically, all it takes is one wrong song - that the kids may have loved, but the admin / parents hate.
 
ittigger said:
In some ways, going through a few hoops will make things better between you and the administration .. it then appears that you are not blatantly trying to play stuff that the Administration doesn't want to hear. I understand that this is a party for the kids - but if the Admin / parents aren't happy, you won't be coming back. Realistically, all it takes is one wrong song - that the kids may have loved, but the admin / parents hate.
Click to expand...

I know, that's why I'm not spending my time and energy chasing these kinds of gigs. Just my opinion, if you jump through the hoops for the admin and play music that the kids don't want, you won't be back. If you play the raunchy stuff the kids want, the admin won't let you come back. On the proms, the parents are all thrown out for the dance set. As long as I suck up to the sponsor(s) and win them over AND I'm reasonable on keeping the raunchy stuff to a dull roar, I'm gold. Seems to be working so far since they all are now repeat customers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJ_MJ and ittigger
Believe it or not, there is a happy medium. That's where the 'approved' song list comes from. Most schools (from what I've seen) allow some leeway and expect you to know what you can and can't play. The approved songlist is an agreement between the school and the kids (with your professional input) of what is allowed. Most of the Admin staff won't / doesn't listen to the stuff the kids do.
 
Rick, is there a special skin you use for DJing on winamp? Just curious how you have it set up for this use. Are you just creating a playlist and letting it roll?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Dj Nightmare
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back