Can’t We Just Use a Playlist? Why a DJ?

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

Simple: DJs are alive and follow the energy and mood of the crowd- playlists do not know what is happening and cannot adapt. If you want your event to have life and excitement; hire a DJ. If you are just looking for background/ambient music, maybe a playlist is fine.

Determine what you want your event to be like, of course we have no control of circumstances like rain at an outdoor event or airport closings for guests flying in, but we can still know what we would like to happen at our event. If you want people to be dancing and moving around, a DJ may be the way to go. This is especially true if the guest list has diversity of age, background, geography, gender, education, economy or culture. Diversity makes predictability of music more challenging since the playlist may not reflect what all the people want to hear.

Example: A birthday party for a six-year-old girl with only her friends from the neighborhood as guests probably will have a tighter playlist than a wedding with guests from Korea, Ireland, Spain and Germany. The latter I did a few months ago and was amazed at the diversity of the music requested to meet the needs of this culturally diverse group of people celebrating a wedding. Truthfully, not only would a playlist on an iPod have been a failure, even carrying six racks of records back in the days when I still played vinyl would not have prepared me enough to make everybody satisfied the way they were. I needed to have the whole 100GB library to be ready for the different styles and periods of music the crowd requested.

An iPod is perfect for a family dinner where everyone will sit at the table afterwards talking and drinking coffee or maybe a pool party with just a select group of old friends as background music for catching up with each other. If you want people to be actively participating in the event; hire a good DJ and make it an event to remember and worth the effort and expense that went into it!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Professional DJs Working The Room

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

Probably the most fun activity for a professional DJ is working the room to keep a full and Rockin’ dance floor. It is one thing to just keeping the dance floor full, it is another thing to keep them rockin’! There will always be people who will dance regardless of the quality of the professional DJ or the music. So, using the dance floor’s capacity is not always a true barometer of professional DJ success. When everyone on the floor is having fun, real big fun; that is something to pay attention to. How does a new professional DJ learn how to do this?

Start with paying attention to the folks on the dance floor AND the one’s who are not on the floor. They matter too. Some people are not really dancers. They may be having a great time and loving the tunes but not comfortable being up in front of others. Watch and see how they look and feel. Are they pumped and laughing with their feet and butts shakin’ in place? Good!

Next is to watch those on the dance floor. Are they just going through the motions of dancing or are they really moving? Are they soaked with sweat because they CAN’T get off the dance floor? You can see when it is working by looking into the eyes of those dancing. Are they sparkling and beaming? Are they so engrossed in the music that they forgot there is a world outside of the five-foot area they have taken ownership of? What about the couples and the ‘couples to be’ on the dance floor? Are they so in tune with the beats and rhythms that they do not know there are others on the dance floor? If your answer to all of these is YES! Good!

If the answer is no, what to do? Because at the heart of a good professional DJ is the need to make people want to move so bad they forget their friends, bedtime, job, bills and laundry. First things first, have you been too busy playing what you want to hear and forgot that they are the ones who matter? Have you tried to switch the genre or era of the music? Sometimes we need to shift the music and energy of what is happening to meet the needs of the crowd. This is still true if you are a Club DJ that has been working this same crowd week after week. Folks sometimes need something new to get things moving. Sometimes switching the tempo can be just the thing to get people paying attention again. This applies to slowing it down just a little to give the opportunity to speed it back up again. This can be risky since you may lose those faithful few who are still out there having a good time. By slow, I do not mean a slow dance like Lionel Richie, more in line with most of the old Motown and Philly Soul stuff is fast enough for the dance floor but not slow enough for couples to slow dance to. This stuff can be great for shifting things around. Another great example of this is Barry White. Don’t be afraid to take risks, just make sure they are calculated risks AND not for the sake of you trying to slip in what you want to hear. It is always about the crowd! We can listen to our own stuff on the way home. Finally, a few professional DJ tricks may be just the thing; scratching, looping, strange mixes and segues, etc. It forces people to notice you are there and alive!

There are other skills utilized that will be included in other blogs. For now, remember the music is for them and do not get stuck in what you do and how you do it. Be creative and alive. And most of all, PAY ATTENTION!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Professional DJs Playing Remix after Remix

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

I have not been a fan of a steady diet of remix after remix of old samples added to new beats. It somehow seems like a way to take someone’s work and pull it apart. Think if we did the same thing with a painting or a novel? But music is somewhat different. Music is more malleable than most artistic forms. Artists have been doing their versions of artists songs for as long as there has been music. So, it is not a great leap to take their recorded music and reshape it to your needs. I need to clarify that I think it makes total sense for the artist or producer to remix at their leisure. It is their creative piece to begin with, but when we do so, it is without their voice being heard in the creative process. This seems different to me.

What I did find interesting though was hearing great inspiring speeches and phrases dubbed over beats. An example was Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream Speech was dubbed over some basic hard-driving beats. Of course, this is not a new practice, just one that deserves further exploration. Is it against the basic premise of artist’s work is left alone except when the artist themselves are giving their creative input to make certain it meets their standards and maintains their intention? Artist integrity also has to be considered. As an artist, would you be OK with someone you have never met taking your work and reshaping to the way they want it? Any shape they want. They may even take out your vocals altogether, or just the lyrics they do not like.

As a songwriter, there is a conflict here. Of course, they are fine with the idea that someone likes their work enough to care, maybe not as accepting to the concept of it being pulled apart at the seams and made into something brand new, without their input. I think it would depend on the artist.

I wonder how Pink Floyd feel about hearing their songs sampled over a disco beat or Johnny Cash to a Hip Hop beat (both exist)? What about Sinatra remixed to Country beats? Or Mozart to Heavy Metal? Would these artists lose sleep from agony or embrace the new, different form their work has taken?

I think it is important to recognize that not all artists will feel respected and admired by the final results. Some may be blown away at what we can do today without bands or musicians, yet others may cringe at the thought. While we dance away to the new version of Sly and The Family Stone’s Everyday People, I invite you to keep in mind the original artist’s intention and how they would feel about our new version of their song. Hear their voice and let it speak to you and connect with you. It is not that I am saying that remixing or sampling are bad, just think it is important to be mindful of the original artist and their focus, creativity and direction. Are we honoring or ignoring them in our need for something new without actually creating something new? This is the question for the professional DJ.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

That is Not The Professional DJ We Booked!

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

It is your wedding day and you have been getting ready for this day since you first met each other. Everything is perfect; flowers, ceremony, photographer, table-setting, dress, tux, family arrived safe, just the way you planned it! It is time to enter the reception hall for the first time as husband and wife with all your friends and family waiting excitedly. You enter the room to cheers and glasses tapping and you see some guy standing behind the professional DJ equipment wearing a t-shirt and jeans that you have never met before pronouncing your name incorrectly. Who is this guy and what is he doing at our wedding? Where is the professional Wedding DJ we booked?

Funny scene right? Well, this happens more than you think. It has become a sad but somewhat common practice for professional Wedding DJ companies to sell you on one Wedding DJ and have another show up. The professional Wedding DJ that you picked was one you felt comfortable with and shared several phone conversations and emails. You discussed the music, your favorite songs and the ones you didn’t want to hear, order of events, dress code, pronunciation of family members names and all the professional Wedding MC duties till all three of you felt you were on the same page. Now some other guy is here who you have never met before DJing your wedding.

Hint #1: When signing your contract with your professional Wedding DJ, make certain it states which Wedding DJ will be the one providing services at your event. Do not let them choose for you, unless you get to make the final decision. They can pick one out for you but make sure you are comfortable with the one they choose. It is your event, you get to choose. Chances are that a good professional agency will pick out the right Wedding DJ for you but it is still in your best interest to have the final say.

Hint #2: Have direct communication with your Wedding DJ before the event to make sure they have your playlist, special songs, order of events, names of those being announced, proper clothing (don’t laugh) and understand how you want the event to transpire. This is crucial. Even the best professional DJ wants to know before showing up what is expected and needed to perform their work effectively. Sure, we can improvise and do when necessary, but having a plan is helpful for all involved and limits misunderstandings at your event.

Hint #3: It is your event! You may have as much or as little input into your professional DJ service as you wish. Again, it is your event!

Remember, it is your event! This is your mantra: It is MY event!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

What to Look for in A Professional Wedding DJ

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

Experience. Experience is the most important aspect of choosing a quality professional Wedding DJ for your wedding. A professional Wedding DJ needs to have experience with DJing many kinds of events, and most importantly; weddings. Weddings have a certain rhythm and flow to them that can be overwhelming when you are new at providing professional DJ services for weddings.

Let’s face it, the intention is to do this only once and it has to be something that you and your guests walk away feeling like having experienced a slice of heaven for a day. One of the least thought about but often key decisions is choosing a professional Wedding DJ. Your music and Wedding MC go along way towards making this a memorable and fun event for all. An experienced professional Wedding DJ has the skills and confidence to make certain that the bride and groom, and all their guests can appreciate the honoring of tradition and this moment at the same time. The right music can do this. There is a large gap between knowing music, spinning music and being able to meet the needs of those attending your wedding.

An experienced professional Wedding DJ will have very high quality equipment that is well taken care-of and looks appealing for your guests and photos. Do you want your wedding photos to look like a concert hall? Of course not. Does your Wedding DJ look like a guy off the street or someone who respects you and their profession?

At the end of the day, it is YOUR wedding! Make certain your wedding DJ realizes how important this is to you and your guests. It is your music, your photos, your celebration. An experienced wedding DJ knows this and is ready to honor and embrace your needs and can do so seamlessly while having fun participating in this unique event.

Experience is the key to finding the right professional Wedding DJ for your wedding.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Professional DJs Moving Music Beyond Borders

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

There was a young man named Chris recording some of his most recent piano compositions in our studio this morning. I was and still am blown away by his force and grace at the keyboard. He reminded me in some ways of George Winston in his ability to transition from and to forceful, very intense and soft, gentle caresses of the keys seamlessly. An exceptional Professional DJ can create bridges between cultures through music. This is what a Multicultural DJ does.

One of the great things that music can offer us is a means to break and go beyond borders and limitations that are created individually or socially. I think about when I was a kid. My family was not the most culturally aware or respectful but when it came to music, there were no barriers or prejudices. At night my parents could be listening to Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Beethoven, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Fiddler on the Roof, Rossini’s William Tell Overture (which I thought was The Lone Ranger theme), Santana and Hugh Masekela.

For me, it was The Beatles, Motown, Carole King, Cat Stevens, Beach Boys, Santana, Steppenwolf, Simon and Garfunkel, Elton John, Sly and The Family Stone, Bill Withers, Jimi Hendrix and The Byrds. I am sure there were others but those were the ones that owned my turntable during my early childhood. Of course, that all changed when I reached my teens.

Today music from Brooklyn, Jersey, LA, Texas, Mali, Mexico, Cuba, Turkey, Spain, Korea, Japan, Tibet, Indonesia, India, Philly, Detroit, UK, Italia, The Middle East, Africa in general, Jamaica, Hawaii, Ireland are all regular guests in my bedroom these days with other ‘friends’ visiting from time to time.

Music can do this. It is amazing to me how easy and painlessly music can expand our vision of what is possible between people, cultures and sound. Turn on your radio and briefly flip through several different stations that you do not regularly listen to and enjoy the diversity and creativity that you will experience. Music can do that and more.

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Class Reunion Parties Professional DJ

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

One of my favorite event forms to DJ have always been class reunions. I enjoy the opportunity to provide music to facilitate memories for people that have shared some part of their past together.

I started doing class reunions back in the early 80’s, by accident really. There was a group of Police Officers in Morris County who were all big motorcyclists. They belonged to an organization named The Blue Angels. They hired me once as a professional DJ for an Oldies (50’s & 60’s) gig, and from there I ended up doing many class reunions because I got a reputation as a good professional Oldies DJ. This was funny to me since I was not born during a large chunk of the music I played and was a little boy during the rest. In took time for me to build a solid collection of this music on vinyl (all there was back then) and more importantly know the music. Eventually, I had what I considered enough knowledge and library to do this on a regular basis. This is where all the reunions started coming from.

Class reunions are fun times. The professional DJ has a real clear direction of what selections to play, leaving some room for those who want music from other periods than high school or college. This tight playlist offers the opportunity to really dive into this period and play both what was on the top of the charts but also to play stuff that was not as popular. We can do this since we know that if you were in high school or college at the time the music was out, chances are you had some knowledge of the whole music scene. This is unique because usually we cannot play the lesser known, music from the past, people just do not know it except those who were in their teens and twenties at the time.

So if you are a professional DJ who really has an affection for music from a certain period, I encourage you to market yourself for class reunions during that period. They are such fun events and you get to jump back in time for the night along with the guests. Trust me, these are such fun events and you will want to do them all the time!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Professional DJ On Fire!

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

I was DJ an event at Barefoot Boogie in NYC after the special dance and movement class lead by Heidi McClure. Everybody appreciated Heidi’s class and were ready when I cranked up the volume with Stevie Wonder to get things rockin’. It was a matter of minutes before everybody was totally into the music and shouting and singing while shaking and moving on the dance floor. This is what I live for as a professional DJ. It is when I know the time spent preparing and making sure I have the right music for the occasion was worth it without question.

In fact, on this night everybody was having so much fun with the old R&B, Soul and dance music that I was not able to shift the music to some of the more creative and interesting music I had selected that I only get to play at somewhere like an event of this nature where diversity and eclectic music are held in high esteem. After such an intense class as Heidi’s, dancers wanted to release energy and just have fun, I was able to honor that and we had a great time. It was hard getting people to stop at the end of the night. I even went over the allotted time by 30 minutes and people were still not ready to stop; not because they were drunk or wanted to stay out later, they were just having fun.

I have noticed that lately this is happening more and more for me. Apparently, the experiences I had as a professional DJ full-time when I was younger, the times off and on since then and now with my new perspective and use of MacBook with iTunes have been good for me. I feel like I have tuned into some form of understanding of music and people that I did not have previously.

Maybe time, practice and experience really are the keys to success!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Professional DJ Training

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

I had the opportunity this morning to give some basic DJ training to a young man who is filling in for someone tomorrow night at a family function as DJ for the first time. It was fun to share with him the simple yet often failed process of blending styles and tempo together seamlessly. He seemed to ‘get it’ fairly easily, it is not rocket science.

Learning the art of transitioning musical styles and tempos is one of the most important skills a good professional DJ has. They have to be able to make Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus, Michael Buble, The Police, Beyonce, Bon Jovi, RUN DMC, U2, Cotton-Eyed Joe and Frank Sinatra all fit together without taking the energy of one from the other. They have to actually fit together, not just be part of the same night.

The equally important art is that of shifting tempos from fast to slow and back again without losing the energy and dancers on the floor.

Example: You have the dance floor rockin’ with a set of Stevie Wonder, Prince, Akon, Empire State of Mind, Sly and the Family Stone and Aretha, and now you have the person who booked the event requesting some slow songs, a good thing but not what follows Respect real well nor Dance To The Music. What to do? Slow it down over a few songs. How about Lionel Ritchie or Smokey Robinson to move towards a true slow dance tune? How do you get it back up to a fast tempo after a few slow songs? How about Marvin Gaye, Barry White, Leona Lewis or one of my favorites; 4 The Cause “Stand By Me”? Then it is easy to crank out something faster like Beyonce, Yaz or Billy Idol.

All of this keeps the event flowing naturally and does not force dancers to shift gears to quickly. Let them enjoy the gentle transitions of style, genre and tempo to support their ability to move and groove to the music without feeling lost or out of sync.

I am interested to hear about how his gig goes tomorrow night. He will be in New Jersey doing his thing while I will be in NYC doing mine!

DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island DJ & NY DJ

Dinner Music for Professional DJs

Posted on October 29, 2012 by DJ Mystical Michael Rhode Island Wedding DJ

When playing music for a group as a professional DJ, dinner music can be either one of the easiest or most challenging aspects of a gig. How can dinner music be challenging you ask? Good question.

There are the ‘guest wars’ over volume and musical styles. Uncle Joe wants “Some nice old Italian music, you know, Jerry Vale and Frank Sinatra” and the Groom is concerned that “My Polish family will go crazy without any Polkas at a wedding” then the Bride, who booked the event to begin with wants “Slow, Soulful music” and the original playlist you discussed called for Western Classical music during dinner with some Smooth Jazz. You can see how this can be confusing. So what does a professional Wedding DJ do to satisfy all these contrasting tastes and requests?

Play them all! Since the dinner potion of an event, especially a wedding, will last about an hour; this is when you can spread your wings and let them all get some airtime. Maybe start with some Smooth Jazz and segue into some Slow, Soulful music. When that has run its course, a Polish Polka or two will make the Groom and his family happy knowing that a couple more Smooth Jazz tunes will be needed to transition to the Italian favorites Uncle Joe demanded. As dinner hits the main course, relaxing Classical Music is always a positive choice being mindful that many of these pieces will have slow gentle beginnings but full-bodied upbeat middles that may not be suitable for dinner music. It is important to always pre-cue your selections and take a quick listen to make certain it is good dinner music for this event.

Dinner music is a time for letting people enjoy food, conversation, connecting, maybe even introductions and getting in the mood for whatever will follow. The middle of dinner should be the mellowest of music with the coffee and desert portion moving a little bit more upbeat to segue into the danceable music to follow. Be warned though, if your music is too good, you may have people leaving their full plates and heading to the dance floor. I have experienced this several times as a professional Wedding DJ and am sure if it is a sign of doing a good job or taking from the event itself. You be the judge.

I encourage all new professional DJs to not fall into the habit that many professional DJs do of running dinner solely on Auto-Mix and not paying any attention to what is going on. Remember, dinner sets the mood for the event and you want to be sure everybody is being prepared for a great night! Watch and feel what is working with the guests even though they are not dancing. Feel the vibe and energy and choose your selections accordingly. We are the entertainment and entertainers do not go on auto-pilot. Bring the same energy and focus to dinner as you do to the rest of the gig and it will provide the foundation for a successful event for everybody!