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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: The right attitude

由于该帖子已年深日久，可能包含陈旧过时或描述错误的信息。

Hey guys,
So I have never been that outgoing crazy happy looking person. I am rather content just chillin or living in my own world. In high school I would have Metal or Punk pumpin out of my headphones at full blast and everyone could hear it. When I was walking around everyone thought I was pissed right off because of the look on my face, but I was actually rather happy. When someone would flag me down or talk to me they would see I was fine and in a good mood. I tell you this because I was given some feedback from the past weekend that guests at the party I was DJing for felt I was giving off an unapproachable vibe, I wasn't focused, and I wasn't accommodating to requests.
I can tell you that every request that was given to me was played, and when a request was given I was more then happy to get it and had a polite verbal conversation with the person. I think the not focused comment maybe that I was too focused on the computer trying to figure anything out for a song to get people up. For most of the night I had an empty dance floor and when stuff like this happens I get down on myself and it shows through my facial expressions, and posture. I did finally get some people up an hour before it was over. One issue I had is I would have played some clean Rap/R&B but their info sheet said they didn't want any. The organizer also never introduced herself to me, there was no speech that I could have over heard her name, so I had no idea who I was supposed to talk to otherwise I would have brought the issue up early about having an empty floor and no Hip Hop.

What I am asking here is what does everyone do to keep their spirits up when having a rough night? (Drinking is not an option)
What are some of the things you say to encourage people to dance? I'm not asking for all your trade secrets but just some examples of some things to say to encourage people to get up and dance and to help get me out of my shell when in a rough spot.
 
发表时间 Thu 24 Dec 15 @ 6:23 pm
At any event, private or corporate, on arrival I always make sure I introduce myself to the organiser or whoevers event it may be, whatever the occassion for obvious reasons. If you don't know who they are, ask someone, anyone, until they can point you in the right direction, then you can ask them how they would like the evening to proceed, style of music they want to hear etc, your only getting pointers and nothing is set in stone so don't sweat about it and, if you haven't got a requested track be honest about it and tell them, it will save you an awful lot of grieve later when trying to make excuses as to why you haven't yet played it.

Try and chill and why not even dance along to your own tunes behind the decks, make out your loving the dj and the music he's playing... lol, you'll be surprised how your own body language filters out into the audience.

And it's surprising how twelve pints of snake bite can relax you... enjoy the next one.
 
I would suggest googling top 100 party songs and sing alongs and choose what suits your style and type of party you are playing. Use those as your go to songs and once you have the dancefloor going fill in with other songs that compliment what you are playing and may be hot in your area. Like Tayla said these are mere suggestions.

Dave
 
sometimes the organizer (aka management) can be your absolute worst enemy when it comes to getting people dancing. easiest way to handle that with the requests is to flat out tell the requester to go to the organizer/manager to make their wishes known since it's out of your hands.

but tactfully! you usually want that repeat business.
 
Your projected vibe does make a big impact. Work on projecting enjoyment and confidence even when you lost your planning sheet and blew your sub amp. Remember your there to provide a good time atmosphere. If the audience feels your not having a good time, then they will feel that way as well.

I even dance to requested songs that I don't really enjoy. I'll comment to my partner and joke about "why this one". We will laugh amongst ourselves about it. But to the audience, we are enjoying ourselves.

Get out from behind the screen. I'm not sure how your setup is laced out, but get your computer off to the side if it's in front.
Look at your crowd as much if not more then your screen. Engage them.

Just because the floor is empty, doesn't mean the night is a bust. See how the audience is reacting. Are they bobbing heads, are they foot tapping, chair dancing?

Don't dwell on mistakes or problems. Most of the time the audience doesn't know somethings is wrong, while you can lost every single mistake you've made.

As far as keeping my mood up, first is joking with my partner about things. Second, I play songs I enjoy that fit the night. I pay attent to the songs, hear them not just listen. Think about wandering the halls in the headphones. Get into that happy vibe. Then it will start to show.

Force a smile until it turns into a real one. Smile in the mirror, smile back at other people when they smile at you, smile when you greet people or they make eye contact. Smiles are as contagious as yawns. Use that.
 
Thats the problem with this business, it's supposed to be fun but sometimes it just isn't. You got to pretend though!
 
Oh my God!... there really is a Santa, he gave everybody a Charlie.. err, hang on, better rephrase that, Merry Christmas mate!
 
Merry xmas
 
Merry Xmas & a Happy New Year to everyone !
Including those with whom I argue !
God Bless.

Back on topic.

DJ's need the help of those they entertain. People must become emotionally involved, or the event will fall flat. No matter how incompetent, almost any DJ can succeed if the crowd is on their side. Some people may have their own reasons to seek to make an event fail. Failure is always possible, along with success. Major stars have been booed off stage in the past. We will always remember the bad events, they haunt our memories. Look to your successes for inspiration.
Music is the key, technique, and even equipment play second fiddle.
Being a DJ is a hard job because music is a variable, each venue, and crowd have their own preferences.
Just get on with it, and keep, keep, keep, keep... learning.
Practice (almost) makes perfect.

A little tip.
I've been known to play stuff like Patsy Cline's song Crazy in an effort to get rid of troublesome people, then after they go its on with the party. This helps the management in smaller venues, obviously its not practical in a big venue where it's then down to the security people.
 
Thanks everyone.

It's all weddings and corporate gigs for me so having security for the event has never happened. As for venue management they only issue I have ever had is being told it's too loud for the party next door or one even was outside and the neighbors complained. Otherwise the odd one will tell me "We are done at 1:00am no overtime", and that's when I am scheduled until anyway.

When it comes to a wedding I'm not going to argue with their No-No list but I'm really getting the feeling that for most staff parties the person put in charge of booking us has no idea what music everyone likes. I have been catching up on a lot of missing R&B from the 90's to now so some of those tunes should take place of where I would stay away from Rap/Hip Hop.

I am getting the over whelming message that I need to fake being happy no matter what and dance to music I don't like anyway. This is the persona I have been trying to figure out and have been able to do here and there but I need a vocabulary to go with it. I'm just not sure what to say to get people up at a Christmas party or Staff party. Weddings I can lean on the couple to do a snowball dance with them or if there is at least 2 people on the floor and get it going off that. A corporate gig I'm just not sure who to "pick on" a little if needed but I think the MC's and "organizers" are going to become targets lol.
 
DJWrenocide wrote :
I am getting the over whelming message that I need to fake being happy no matter what and dance to music I don't like anyway.


When I read that response, I wanted to clarify that I don't mean every event, you have to plan on dragging yourself through it. That was meant for the occasional "This isn't going right" scenario. There is so much music available for each genre that it is hard not to find a collection of songs for an event that I would enjoy. Would they be my first choice to play at my own party, no, but I do enjoy them. That was more for the requests I'm not a fan of. One thing I have done to make a request a little more tolerable is to announce the request as a special song dedicated by the requester. That helps to keep the requests fitting to the environment. The same applies to problems with equipment, the venue, and the guests. For the equipment, there is backup gear and practice. Get used to the gear, try different configurations, try doing without different gear, try your backup plans before you need them.

For the venue and guests, I find it comes down more to communication with both. The smoothest wedding I did was my last one. We were ahead of schedule the whole event. Everyone was in a great mood and helpful. Everyone had the same goal. No one noticed when my DMX signal kept dropping (found a bad cable) and my moving heads would go off doing there own thing, except me. The venue had the head table off center from the decorations, this was exaggerated by my uplighting that was added during the setup change. But, because of the practice and preparation, the hiccups were easy to manage. I had arrived with plenty of time to set up and then meet with vendors involved. I knew who to go to so the tables could be repositioned. I knew who to check with to get the knives on the cake table. I had time to tell the bridal party they could have a smoke break while we waited for the food to be ready for the blessing.

Nothing was am emergency, because everyone had a heads up. I had given all the vendors a copy of the itinerary. They all knew who to talk to for answers.

DJWrenocide wrote :
A corporate gig I'm just not sure who to "pick on" a little if needed but I think the MC's and "organizers" are going to become targets lol.


While I appreciate the "pick on" vibe, I am only willing to do that to people I already have that kind of relationship with. I was the target of a DJ at a wedding. The group as a whole were not big on dancing or singing. I was there as a guest with a large group of close friends. After a little while, the DJ seemed to be reaching for participation. He had pulled out games and karaoke. Instead of people volunteering, he would grab people. I was one of the people called out and put down until I attempted karaoke. It was an embarrassing experience for me in front of a lot of close friends.

There are tactful ways to get participation. Even some communication ahead of time with ideas for games and stuff. Find out from your customer what the group would be into.
 
You may have a music problem. Target the ladies using your music. Their average age then becomes important. I try to take them back to when they were in their prime. Hence if their around 40 years old a lot of the big songs from the 90's might help. Along with this I would use clusters of party songs from the different decades. I'd normally warm up using 70's pop at a low volume allowing people to talk, but also keeping the old happy. New music comes in later.
This is not a fixed agenda, if they want house all night, then so be it.

Since the onset of globalization race issues are becoming a little more tricky.
If you suspect a problem, respond through your music.
I'm happy playing Black, White or Hispanic music.

Hip Hop is a genre for which I have little use.
 
If your not happy, maybe you should change up gigs???

For me this is the reason I WONT do weddings and very few corporate gigs. People already say I look intimidating so if I don't like the gig, people would probably leave anyways, lmmfao!!

I've never had a problem at a club or festival that I've played at but for me money isn't my first priority either.

Maybe throw in a club gig every now and again.

Either way don't let it get you down and just keep doin what you love.
 
blckjck wrote :
When I read that response, I wanted to clarify that I don't mean every event, you have to plan on dragging yourself through it. That was meant for the occasional "This isn't going right" scenario.


Yeah it's not every event that goes bad lol. I am still going off my original post of when having a bad day.

blckjck wrote :
While I appreciate the "pick on" vibe, I am only willing to do that to people I already have that kind of relationship with.


Noted. I am not one to enjoy people trying to get me to do something I am not willing to do. Plus I won't be picking just random people it will be the contact or bosses if I have to and I am certainly not going to pester them. I do find that I give up easy if I am reaching for volunteers. If they don't want to dance they don't want to dance. I have walked around to every table at one event and they all said the same thing. Your doing a great job, keep up the good music but we just don't dance. I have to get past that and accept it but my emotions react to the dance floor.
 
beatbreaker1 wrote :
If your not happy, maybe you should change up gigs???

For me this is the reason I WONT do weddings and very few corporate gigs. People already say I look intimidating so if I don't like the gig, people would probably leave anyways, lmmfao!!

I've never had a problem at a club or festival that I've played at but for me money isn't my first priority either.

Maybe throw in a club gig every now and again.

Either way don't let it get you down and just keep doin what you love.


Thanks man. I am looking around for the odd club thing to get experience, but the only thing around is an open USB Jam on Sundays. That's fun but has no order and everyone that plays just plays what they want. There have been theme nights that are cool but it's not a very busy place on a Sunday.
 


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