Vendor Interview
REEL DJs
Interview Transcript
What makes a professional DJ?
Arpeggio
A professional DJ should always have professional equipment.
Conte Sound Productions
When I go to a venue, I don't know if the ceilings are going to be high. I need a system for that. If it's along venue, if it's outside, if it's inside.
Xtreme Soundz
Obviously be enough to provide sound for up to 4 or 500 people for any event.
DJ Corey Young
Being a DJ today is like having an iPhone. You need to upgrade your equipment every two years.
What about experience?
Dawson Entertainment
A professional DJ should have many years of experience. You know the more experience you have the more situations you’ve seen and the more ways you have to resolve potential issues.
Xtreme Soundz
You have the actual experience of all those years of what not to dom, what to do.
Arpeggio
A friend that might not have the experience with weddings might not know how to react and it could cause some interruptions for your wedding day which you definitely do not want.
DJ Corey Young
A professional DJ should have the ability to take on weddings, private parties, corporate events, and the ability to adapt to all situations.
Music Machine
A wedding’s a one-time thing, you can’t mess anything up. You can’t get back a first dance or a parent dance and so on and so forth. I would say, do your homework and make sure that DJ has a number of years of wedding experience.
How much preparation goes into an event?
Arpeggio
There is so much preparation that goes into a event. It is so much more than just us showing up, pressing play and letting the music play for 5-6 hours.
DJ Corey Young
Through experience could be five hours, could be ten hours, depends on the size of DJ’s library.
Xtreme Soundz
Preparation starts right from the beginning, as soon as we meet with you.
Conte Sound Productions
You’re preparing to get to know them and whats so important to me is building relationships with the couple.
DJ Valentina
It takes hours to put together songs, to put together a library based on the vibe that you think it’s going to be.
Dawson Entertainment
You kind of take your vision and make your vision into a playlist for the day.
How should a professional DJ respond to technical malfunction?
Arpeggio
So malfunctions happen. Think of it at your home, your lightbulb goes out, there’s no warning, you don’t know. Same thing happens with DJ equipment sometimes.
DJ Corey Young
They should stay calm. They should be confident that they’re going to fix it.
Dawson Entertainment
Experience in these situations can often lead you to some troubleshooting techniques to quickly figure out what the problem is.
Music Machine
We deal with computers, they could have a hiccup, but having a professional DJ with professional professional equipment would make the event run a lot smoother.
How should a professional DJ read a room?
DJ Corey Young
Reading a room as a professional DJ takes a lot of experience the ability to understand if the dance floor is getting tired, if they need to change it up a little bit.
Xtreme Soundz
Older guests, you obviously have to cater to them to make sure that they’re not being left out.
Conte Sound Productions
If you have a DJ or someone that’s also a vocalist or a live performer at your wedding they also have to know the time to bring that up.
Arpeggio
But sometimes those songs that you picked, that you want played, sometimes they don’t get the best reaction so it’s our DJ’s job to quickly move out of that song and into something that they think will work and keep the vibe alive.
Dawson Entertainment
And if they don’t respond well to that song, well maybe I can go this way and play these other sets of songs that are going to really get them to respond.
Music Machine
Understanding your crowd, understanding the music, knowing what to play to get people on the dance floor, that is our job as a DJ.
