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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: I would like to hear your opinions, please. - Page: 1

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Last night at a wedding I was set up an hour early, as I always do. I ran a fast sound check made sure my system was dialed in and ready to rock. One of the guests came up, after I stoped the music, and asked me if I could play something, anything, while everyone awaited the bride and grooms arrival. Now, I explained I was not contracted to start for another hour, and I would start a little bit early. But not a full hour early, I used this analogy "ask your plumber to work on your pipes for an hour for free see where that gets you". The guest was very cool and said thank you for the explanation. This got me thinking....and you know, it hurt....How do all of the other mobile DJs here handle this "dead time" between set up and start? Do you play some music? Go outside and grab a smoke? Sit there looking cool? Usually I use it to change into my suit and tie....but even that doesn't take a full hour. So, please, let me hear everyones thoughts...thanks for sharing..T
 
Inviato Sun 14 Sep 08 @ 1:32 pm
u should play music prior. almost like dinner music. just play a cd. easy & painless for you.
 
funkturnal wrote :
u should play music prior. almost like dinner music. just play a cd. easy & painless for you.


Definitely agree
The room is cold and empty otherwise, and that is not what we are there to do.

*autoplay* never killed anybody, so why not...
 
yeah just throw on a cocktail playlist on autopilot .......

i actually have a lot of such playlists for both personal and business use

throw on some Bob Marley .... he was Damian's dad i think .....

uuuuhhhh this has probably happened to a lot of us ......once you were set , the dialing it in process / sound check was so cool they wanted more...... it's all deadly , they dig it , just throw on some easy stuff that you can roll with unattended .....

i never talk any business details with anyone except the woman who signed the check .... i said woman because all the men are always absent except the occasional grampa ...... i guess there not HEMAN types

if they prefer you sittin there lookin cool ..... maybe the music's not good enough ??
 
Yeah playing music wouldn't hurt because in my opinion their not only paying you for the music, but a performance as well...autoplay is the way to go here :)
 
Agree with all of the above there Terry, your there and you got that dead time to kill might as well fill it with some background stuff, it will show potential customers how helpful your service is, good PR for future bookings. If you don't want to do it stay out of public view until it's time for your set.
 
funkturnal wrote :
u should play music prior. almost like dinner music. just play a cd. easy & painless for you.


This is what i do when doing mobile before the event officially start normally.. just make them have some atmosphere n i grab myself for a smoke and see any beautiful girl there..lol;)
 
I was curious as to how everyone here handled this situation..usually @30 minutes ahead of the scheduled time I start cocktail/dinner music, last night got me thinking about how much "free" service I have given away over the last 20 years....for "dead times" like that....a friend of mine completely leaves, only returning ten minutes before his contract time..I was talking to him today..and it had me wondering how everyone here handles this type of situation...Thanks for the input...please keep them coming....T
 
Most of the time I include Dinner music / Cocktail music in my contracts. I have a couple of easy listening cd's burned onto my harddrive that I play in automix same 2 CD's over and over and over and over.

Essentially it's a freebie.
 
It sort of depends on the venue for me. If I'm tryin to impress the venue for future bookings on their ticket (which I usually am, lol), I'll put on some lite stuff right after the sound check. If it's the type of place where I can get completey out of view, I'll wait for contract time.
 
I've never done a wedding but I asked one of my "DJ mentors" what his policy was in this regard. He said the person who contracted you should have known that music needs to be played as soon as the first guests begin to arrive and not wait till the bride and groom get there. He said although you were under no "obligation" to start early you didn't explain ahead of time the importance of having something playing to help set the mood you should have sucked it up remembering one successful wedding leads to another.

Teary, please don't shoot the messenger. :-) LMAO
 
I think the organisers are at fault for putting you in the situation - they should have had it under control - what were they going to do if you wernt around? seems like you were doing the right thing for them by sticking around but djs shouldnt feel obliged to. i think djs should take this all into consideration when arranging gigs. and adding it to your cost - your time = money! may sound rude but lots of DJs i know (and myself up until a few months ago) get taking advantage of and your comment of a plumber not working an extra hour for free is very valid.
 
I believe if your start time was later then you as the person who is really in charge. You just make others believe thier in the lead ( professionalism ). You always going into the function that you will do what it takes to make things as easy as possible for you. With that being said you know as a seasoned DJ you always play music according to the temp of the room. That person may have been ready to look for a DJ in the next month of so.

" You know what mr guest, I'm not contracted to start until xx o'clock but if you want music I'll make it happend " Saying this with smile like your doing him / her a favor.

Set up play list or CD finish getting ready and start mingling with guest and getting your name out there among the guest. A perfect time for networking for guest list of 75+ people. That kind of number would cost you hundreds for this kind of posible ROI.
 
djrenee wrote :
I've never done a wedding but I asked one of my "DJ mentors" what his policy was in this regard. He said the person who contracted you should have known that music needs to be played as soon as the first guests begin to arrive and not wait till the bride and groom get there. He said although you were under no "obligation" to start early you didn't explain ahead of time the importance of having something playing to help set the mood you should have sucked it up remembering one successful wedding leads to another.


Actually I did explain this to the bride Renee. She just did not have the money for the extra hour. I ALWAYS am set up and ready at least an hour early. And, I am ALWAYS there, on sight, at least an hour before my contracted time, to handle any emergency situations that might need to be addressed. I consider this to be professional, and part of the preparation. All of these thoughts from everyone are very welcome...please keep them coming.
 
Terry:
I agree with most others here, go ahead and play something.
I did one 3 weeks ago and was set up about 1 1/2 hours ahead
of time. When I saw some people arriving, I just put started
to play some music.
At the end of the evening, the person who hired me gave
me something extra. (Cash I mean)
 
Here is what I say. Don't charge by the hour charge for the event. you can actually charge a little more with that. sayong 100.00 per hour may get you 200.00 dollars but saying 350.00 for the event gets you 350.00 and then YOU define what the event is.
 
this is where u market your bedroom mixx while you wait.lol.remember they expect you to raise the standards kinda like giving a tip so u start early that's your tip to your customer or client.trick is have enough collection to do a 12hr gig and you shouldn't worry bout what time you start. that's my opinion
 
that's the way i used to work it sirkit, charge for the event with a definite end time any longer and we always came to an amicable agreement about any extra, haven't done mobile for years now but would still adopt that policy.
 
I used to do the flat per event price..and after running onto the A) greedy.. "OK, Start at 2 and we want to go through midnight" type or B) The "We only really want three hours..just the stuff after dinner..do we still have to pay the full price?" people I decided to go with an hourly rate...

But the hourly rate brings us back to my original question....it seems most here like the idea of playing when the guests show...but for the very first guests? Or, after a few (lets say 10-20 for a 200 guest wedding)?
 
I think you should play background music before you start...as said before the room is empty
 
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