Are most wedding DJs like this???

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DJ Jynxx

DJ Jynxx

DJ
Jul 2, 2010
789
17
50
Milwaukee, WI
www.jymix.com
Ok, so I was in my best friend's wedding yesterday (his two sons were his "best man"), and at the reception I couldn't help but be overly-critical of the DJ. He looked like he wanted to be a club DJ, dressed in a casual denim-type button up shirt, un-tucked, and jeans... his speakers were placed too close to him, and he had no monitor. When he did *try* and mix, it was an awful sound, somewhere between a car crash and a baby wailing. When he announced things, he had a sheet of paper in front of him and kept saying "Okay, next on the itinerary..." and there would always be a short pause while he walked back around the DJ booth to do whatever. He would always announce what he was going to do, and it was always according the the "itinerary" he was using. "Ok, next on the itinerary, I will be starting the dance potion of the evening, and... I guess I will do that now, so... get ready to dance everyone". Silence for 1-2 minutes. Then he plays a song, don't even remember what it was... oh wait! "Hot in Herre" by Nelly. Is that still a "go to" song at weddings? No one got up and danced right away, most people just sat there at their tables.
OH! Also! He was playing stuff like "My Boo II" during dinner! I don't know a whole lot about weddings, but it just seems to me that you don't play songs about how much you miss your ex. Am I wrong on that one?

So I couldn't help but be critical of him, because I had to wonder "Is this the kind of DJ that most weddings get??". I don't want to pry, but I really want to ask my friend how much he paid for that DJ. His lights weren't bad, his system was ehh/okay (he was using two pioneer CD decks... don't remember the model, the grey little ones, not the CDJ's... and a Behringer X700 mixer), but it was just his overall performance that bugged me. There was NO "flow" to the evening, everything was scheduled, and there was a pause between every "event".
Is this the standard? Or is this one of the "Craigslist DJ's" that you guys always talk about? Maybe I am just used to a higher standard, but to me, he sucked. And I don't mean to be cruel about it, but it was my best friend's wedding, and I feel he deserved better.
 
Sounds like one of those Craigslist DJs...........oh wait I advertise on CL. LOL

Jynxx, did you not have anybody to recommed to him? I know your more of a remixer but I'd think you would know of some of the better mobile DJs in your area.
 
Audio One said:
Sounds like one of those Craigslist DJs...........oh wait I advertise on CL. LOL

Jynxx, did you not have anybody to recommed to him? I know your more of a remixer but I'd think you would know of some of the better mobile DJs in your area.
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ROFLMAO.... I was just thinking the same... damn... thing... LOL
 
Well, we've gone to quite a few weddings since starting doing weddings ourselves. The first thing that has to be asked is do you know exactly what directions were given to the DJ. Barring that information the only valid critiques would be mic work, flow and most likely mixing.
 
I'm not like that. Most of the time anyway. lol

Seriously, I know I'm not a beat mixer so I don't even try. I do my best to segue the music though. Announcements are mostly done over a music bed unless I need clarity. For example, when starting the dance portion of the evening i start the song and invite all the guests up to join the B&G on the floor in celebration of this wonderful day.
 
DJ Wes said:
I also don't use a monitor. Do I suck too? :)
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Same here.....never have used one

But I think you bring up something that is important to point out.....there is a DRASTIC difference between a wedding DJ and a club DJ. While in a club, people want to hear the latest and greatest remixes and samples, that DOES NOT fly at a wedding (at least around my area). People want to hear what they "expect" to hear at a wedding. Look at the Mobile Beat 200 or any of the lists in the FunWedding app on the iPad and you will see this is true. So yes "Hot In Here" is still a go to song at a wedding because it gets people on the floor. Same with Yeah, Baby Got Back, Ice Ice Baby and all others like that.
 
Personally, I never start the evening's dancing with anything even closely resembling hip hop or rap. Grandma doesn't want to hear that crap, much less dance to it. I play music (for the most part) in chronological order. By the time I get to the hip hop stuff, Grandma has usually gone home already. YMMV.
 
DJ Wes said:
Personally, I never start the evening's dancing with anything even closely resembling hip hop or rap. Grandma doesn't want to hear that crap, much less dance to it. I play music (for the most part) in chronological order. By the time I get to the hip hop stuff, Grandma has usually gone home already. YMMV.
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Right on.
 
DJ Wes said:
Personally, I never start the evening's dancing with anything even closely resembling hip hop or rap. Grandma doesn't want to hear that crap, much less dance to it. I play music (for the most part) in chronological order. By the time I get to the hip hop stuff, Grandma has usually gone home already. YMMV.
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I am exactly the same way. Normally, it is some Motown / Elvis / Oldies style for about the first 45 minutes or so, they gradually work in the rap / hip hop once the adult beverages get flowing :)
 
Ok, let me address these one by one lol

I wasn't asked about their DJ. They did the same mistake a lot of couples make and think that the DJ isn't very important. And I am more of a remixer *now*, but I have still been a DJ for 21 years, so I DO know a lot of DJ's in my area, and would have gladly steered them to guys that I KNOW work weddings very well. I don't think they asked me about it because they are respecting my medical condition, and didn't want to put any unnecessary stress on me. I went over to their house today (I left my shoes and a pair of jeans there when I changed into my tux lol) and the first thing she said was "I should have asked you to help me hire someone!". I didn't ask how much she paid.

Second, the monitor thing. If you are going to try to beatmix most of night like a club DJ, then yes, I think you should have a monitor. For beatmixing here and there, headphones are fine if that is comfortable for you. You should never ever ever go off the speakers that are pointed towards the crowd if you are beatmixing though. I don't mind when a DJ fades from one song to another. At a wedding I EXPECT it. So when I hear "Blow" by Ke$ha played at -8% pitch (about 112 BPM), just so he can TRY to mix it with something that is 105 BPM (at +8% pitch! lol), then IMO he should just not be even trying to beatmix. He should just be flowing songs one into another, even if the BPM is the same on both songs, don't try to beatnix unless you are comfortable doing it. IMO there should never be a situation where one song is at +8 and the other is at -8 JUST to get them to go together.

The whole "Hot in herre" thing.... I guess that is fine to play once you know WHEN to drop it, but to me that is one of those songs you really have to read the crowd for. I was stressing the point that dude OPENED with that. I still shake my head when I think of it. I literally heard people go "What the F...?" and NO ONE danced. Not even the little kids! But once he got people out there, IMO playing it while the energy level was higher would end up as a "Awwww!!" rather than a "Huh??". So I can see it still being played, that's fine... but as an opener? Totally skipping anything for any older generations, or even the littler kids.... which brings me to my next point.

Lastly, I agree with playing in chronological order (for the most part). I have DJ'd only a handful of weddings, but I always started out with some 50's-ish kind of music, some kiddie songs like Chicken Dance and Hokey Pokey, then started getting the energy up a bit by playing things like "Shout" and "Twist And Shout" and.... ironically, "The Twist". Weird. lol. Anyway, when most of the older people have left, and most of the kids are too tired, I start to play to the 17-35 year olds. Mostly newer top40/hip-hop with a few old school songs thrown in ("It Takes Two" and "The Humpty Dance" for example), but I would say 90% of the weddings I have done have all been because the B&G wanted their reception to be "just like a club", which is fine... but I am not gonna beatmix songs from the 50's and 60's, because to me that's not what THAT music is about. It's what you play, when you play it... and when you beatmix you are usually locked into a BPM range, so you can't play one song that is 105 with another that is 150.



IMHO, this guy was just inexperienced. Its not that he SUCKED, it's just that he didn't seem to know what he was doing. I *think* they went through a DJ company. There are a couple companies out here that hire people with no experience (one of their ads literally says "Do you want to be a DJ?!? We can make you one!") and basically tell them "this plays the music, this stops it", sends them out with someone to do a wedding once, then has them doing their own weddings right away. To them it is more like a McDJ service than an actual experience for the bride and groom. In MY opinion that just isn't a very high level of professionalism.
 
all good points, i dont use a monitor either, weddings I do the chron order thing, works better, but usually there is always a someone getting in your space-- who comes up and tells u to pick it up, weddings go in progression, last week their was this step father who had been on the radio like 20 years ago, kept coming over wanting this n that cleared the dance floor, then I would play what the 18-35's wanted and he would look at me (Im 60 you see) and he was wondering how i kept them on the floor, well its called a study of the music and this board is a big part of the schooling,, he finally came over a last time and said boy its not like it used to be,, thank you all for your invaluable information and insight here
 
Well.....

In my case 60%+ of the crowd is generally "friends of the family" and the like. The bride and grooms friends are in the minority and most times they like to "get thier drink on" before hitting the dance floor. Also the younger folks will dance to the older music moreso than the older folks will dance to the newer music with the exception of something that is cross generation popular like I gotta feeling or something like that.

I don't necessarily play older to newer but I generally do start with older and mix it up throughout the night so that no one is sitting too long hopefully.
 
I get the old up with songs the younger ones who want to enjoy the celebration will recognize amongst the early sets and then move into as Jeff mentions, the songs which cross the age line like I gotta feeling to make sure the young folks dont think this old dude is gonna play oldies all night and then bounce around fronm one song and genre to the next and build more of the newer sort of like Trini Daves (drzinc) new playlist entry in the gig report section. It works great and Jeff I hate to disagree with you but with my formula I have a fair amount of the elders dancing to Usher and FLo Rida at the end of the night since I covered their music and continue to work them in throughout the night which gains their respect. The older folks are more forgiving of different music once you get them going than the younger one. The big key I have found is gaining a rapport before the dancing begins.
 
I too, do not use a monitor, never had a need for it.

There are a lot of newbie mobile DJs out there that don't realize that there is much more to a wedding compared to a regular gig.

I have noticed that their top priority is investing into the greatest lighting, effects & equipment, and they have no emcee training, organizational or planning skills. They may have fantastic light or video equipment, but none of that means a hill of beans at a wedding if there is no organization or flow, or they have no idea on how to read a crowd.

A couple months ago, we attended a cousin's wedding in the midwest. The DJ was a hispanic guy that seemed to only want to play hispanic or hip-hop music. The demographics were 70% caucasian, 30% hispanic. If his goal was shooing all the caucasians out, he did a fantastic job, because many left early.

It didn't matter to him that many were coming up and requesting pop, rock or country, etc. He would play 1 or 2 & then right back into his long sets of cumbias & other Mexican music. Various family members tried talking to him about it, but he was clueless.


I think he frankly didn't know or care about reading a crowd.....but he had a great light show.
 
I only use monitor when I plan to do some serious beat mixing OR when the speakers are spread very far apart and its hard to hear the program. I always keep a monitor in the van for karaoke anyway. I've known DJs who beat mix in the headphones and swear by it.
 
I didn't mean for this to get into a monitor vs no monitor thread. Like I said, I only have an opinion on it if you plan on beatmixing a lot, which this guy was trying to do.
I was asking more on whether or not I was wrong in thinking the guy did a bad job for my friend's wedding. I don't really know what the "normal" wedding experience should be. I have seen extremely good ones, and the ones I have done have been much better than this guy did, but I catered to a specific crowd, so mine were easy peasy for me. I am very comfortable on the mic, I have a great stage presence, and I know how to read a crowd, plus they wanted more of a club feel 90% of the time, so for me it was mostly just a matter of reading the crowd and knowing what kiddie songs to play and when, etc.
But to *me* this guy was just like a chicken without a head. He did a lot of things right (getting requests right after dinner, having a plan, catering to the bride and groom), but he also did things that IMO are just unforgivable mistakes. Holding up the paper and reading aloud "Ok, according to the itinerary, this next part of the evening" was a running joke throughout the night, so I know it wasn't just me being a DJ and nit-picking or over-analyzing the situation.

So back to my original post.... In your guys' opinions, is this what to expect from the "average" wedding? Or was this below average, or (lawd forbid) above average?
 
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