Blog
Music Library Update
Apr 15th
Just to let you all know i’ve updated the music library today with an additional 267 songs.
I normally do it every week but since I changed music software i’ve found it difficult to export the list from iTunes into something that our online system understands. Luckily i’ve now managed to overcome this little hurdle and will be back to updating it weekly again!
Now, back to my ice lolly in the garden!
The Cheaper DJ – a good deal?
Apr 11th
So here I am sat in the garden (again) blogging. It’s a beautiful day and i’ve just had another DJ on the phone. Before I go into our conversation I need to let you know how our business works.
DISCOfever is owned and operated by me, Ian Forest and whoever hires me first gets me as their DJ. For every other gig we get in we get one of our other DJ’s to do it. Luckily, we work with a great bunch of guys, all wedding professionals. There’s no pecking order and there’s absolutely no risk to the client. They get the benefit of our superior levels of customer service and of course access to our online planning system without the worry of having to continue their search for a DJ in the Yellow Pages or wherever. We take a very small commission out of each of the gigs we give to our DJ’s to help cover our expenses such as time and advertising, etc.
As with all small businesses, we have to price our service at a certain level and do so many gigs a month in order to pay our bills and make a little profit at the same time and it’s very hard because we constantly have to deal with other companies out there who are undercutting us by HUGE margins in order to get your business and to be honest the ONLY person who benefits from this is you, or at least you would think so.
The real truth is that these companies who are undercutting us by as much as £200 do not have the resources that professional wedding DJ hire companies have access to and what they end up doing is ringing every cheap DJ they can think of and offering them wedding gigs at knockdown prices. They will even take a £50 cut out of the fee leaving the DJ with as little as £130 for his services.
As I said above, you’re getting a good deal as your entertainment budget get slashed in half allowing you to go and spend extra money on another tier on your cake, or fancier table decorations. The fact of the reality is that whilst you may be happy initially in spending much less on your entertainment you have absolutely no idea at all who is going to turn up at your wedding to entertain you and their level of experience/quality of equipment. Because these companies do not have access to decent DJ’s what they end up doing is ringing around all the quality DJ’s in the area asking if they are available to do these really cheap gigs – and because more often than not these DJ’s are unavailable (not surprisingly) they end up booking the cheapest DJ they can find.
Right at the beginning of this post I mentioned a phone call from another DJ. He rang me up asking if we were available to do a wedding disco in 13 days time (I wonder if the Bride and Groom are aware that despite booking some time ago, they do not actually have a DJ for their wedding yet?) for less than half of our usual rate. As it happens, we had quoted ourselves for this gig at our standard rate – is it any wonder we did not get it when this other DJ slashed our price by a good 60% and he is now ringing us asking if we can do it! He then went on to ask if we could ring round any of our guys to find out if they would do it. As you can imagine we declined the very tempting offer.
So folks, and I cannot stress this enough. If you are looking for quotes for your wedding entertainment and you get several quotes all around the same price and one at less than half the cost of the others, please do not be tempted because you WILL regret it.
The Rider…a whowhat?
Apr 8th
One of the many benefits of working in this business is that you get to work with some amazing people. Florists, venue decorators and of course bands are all people we work closely with on an almost daily basis.
A client of ours contacted us recently to tell us that he has hired in a big surprise for his Bride and could we help him out. Well of course!
He has hired in a group of professional opera singers who basically “pretend” they are members of staff and they just appear from nowhere and start singing. I have worked with this group before and they are absolutely fantastic, a real eye opener. When you hear their voices up close it really does make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck.
The company has sent him a “rider” which is basically a sheet of paper containing their requirements. The bulk of it is mainly technical requirements like a specific brand of microphone is required for their voices, speakers in the corners of the room and a competent technician to run it all for them – they just basically turn up with their voices and you have to pay for everything else. From memory, this particular group cost a few thousand £££’s, a staggering 10x my usual fee!
The rest of this “rider” is quite funny to read. You would think you were hiring in some A-list celebrity. I will show you some examples of their special requirements on the day that if you fail to provide could potentially lead to them cancelling the performance.
- Hot meals and refreshments must be made available for the performers and two sound engineers after sound check.
- For overnight stays, single rooms in a minimum 3-star hotel with breakfast near the venue and must be provided and paid for in advance.
- For transfers from the hotel to the venue a dedicated air conditioned car, taxi or minibus must be provided.
- It is the clients responsibility to ensure that any specific clothing is made available e.g. waiters uniforms.
Now, it’s the last one that confuses me. This group of singers are well known for their “act” when pretending to be members of staff. You would think that with the thousands of pounds they earn they could afford a few sets of waiters uniforms? Also, would they cancel the performance if you sent them a non-air conditioned taxi to get from the hotel to the venue?
So, if I was “so diva” to put together a rider it would contain only one thing…
- DISCOfever will only perform in ground-floor venues where our vehicle can pull right up to the stage area for ease of unloading OR the client must provide strong venue staff to carry out equipment both in and out of the venue.
But of course, such venue’s are very hard to come by (and so are helpful venue staff!) so for now i’m quite happy carrying equipment up and down endless flights of stairs, long corridors and around tight bends.
I must go, the sun has moved and my garden chair is now in the shade and it’s a little bit nippy. Have a great weekend everyone, looks like the sun will be shining for most of it!
It’s April 1st!
Apr 1st
Omigod! When did that happen? Ok, ok, it happened at Midnight…
So it’s the first of April which means that it’s April Fools Day -- a time when all the media outlets in the UK try to hoodwink us with fantastic hard to believe stories and the gadget shops try to pull the wool over our eyes with amazing advances in technology.
Check out I Want One Of Those for some marvels that even Tomorrows World would bend over backwards to get on their show.
DJ’s aren’t immune either, I was made aware of this product this morning and I think it would really take my show to the next level -- what do you think?
Introducing eyeCanDJ…
Four Weddings is back!
Mar 29th
Well it’s that time of year – the new series of Living TV’s Four Weddings is back and it promises to be very much the bitch-fest the first series was but I had a more-than-casual-channel-flicking interest in this purely because I was the DJ at the first wedding they showed on tonights programme!
The venue my client chose is one of the finest and most exclusive wedding venue’s in Sussex but two of the Bride’s managed to find fault in EVERYTHING! From the prices at the bar, to the food, to the wedding singer, the chocolate fountain, casino table, tarot card reader and the “poor smelly” horses pulling the carriage that the Bride arrived in. There was definitely a huge element of “sour grapes” from one of the Brides who felt really annoyed that this wedding was everything hers was not.
I managed to get off lightly, in fact I didn’t really feature at all in the programme. My equipment was there (looking very elegant I must say) and my mood lighting looked absolutely stunning, in fact better than i’ve ever seen it before. It was weird though seeing it on the screen.
Sadly, like I said, sour grapes was the order of the day and two of the Brides, Louise and Sarah had their cat claws out for pretty much the whole day – i’m so glad they didn’t win! At the end of the programme they looked really REALLY annoyed that they had not won. Unfortunately, neither did my client who I have to say did herself proud on the show, and i’m not just saying that.
So, another 15 minutes of fame to be proud of.
Here are some pictures from that very special day!
[Gallery not found]Fame!
Mar 19th
Ok well, not quite.
Your Sussex Wedding Magazine asked me to be on their panel of industry professionals to answer a “Hot Topic” question from one of their readers and they’ve only gone and printed it! I haven’t been this excited since Annie Nightingale played one of my requests on her late night Radio One show back in 1989!
[SinglePic not found]
Click on the image above to see it! My little bit is at the bottom…
WARNING: There’s a picture of me on there.
Mixing Workshop
Feb 27th
Did something a little different last night. Myself and A couple of DJ friends all headed off to the 8th Burgess Hill Scout Hut in Burgess Hill for a mixing workshop. We taught the lads about music structure, the components of a good mix and how you can use FX and samples to make mixes more interesting, but best of all we let them loose on thousands of pounds worth of professional DJ equipment and try it out for themselves. They really enjoyed it especially the bit where they each chose two tracks and went head to head with the other groups.
We answered any questions the boys had and also planted the seed in their minds that DJ’ing can be a proper job and you can earn good money out of it if it’s done properly. We also discussed the dangers of tinnitus, a dreadful condition that severely affects your hearing through prolonged exposure to loud music.
The grand finale however was between myself and the other DJ’s where we each chose a song and then next DJ had to professionally mix from that song into a song of their own choice. It was a great example of our own skills, especially as we did not know what song each DJ was going to choose!
Fun was had by all and I think we’ll be looking to take our workshop to other groups in the area so if you run a group of under 16’s please do get in touch!
What can I write about?
Feb 11th
So i’ve got a few spare moments, I thought i’d update my blog…but what can I write about? Hmmmm….tell you what, i’ll just go through what’s going on right now.
Last night was my last Christmas Party. Yes folks, it’s now February and they’re still going on! Thankfully, that’s it now until October, so there’s still a few months left yet until I have to drag out the old Christmas classics. I have to admit though, there was no Christmassy music at all last night, but there were plenty of crackers and streamers and those horrendous balloons that people blow up and let go resulting in an ear piercing screech as it deflates. Whoever invented those needs a severe beating!
I bought a new computer this week, not to replace an old one I must admit but i’ve been after a MacBook for some time. Everything else I have at home comes from Cupertino, computers, iPhones, iPods and so on, so it kind of made sense. I will also use the new computer to DJ from using a very excellent package called Serato Scratch Live. Complete overkill for weddings, but very functional and more importantly…stable. It will also allow me to let rip with my creative juices when times allow which is great for 16th’s and 18th’s when a bit of Judge Jules-style mixing is required.
Been having some major brain trauma about my equipment. There’s nothing wrong with it, I just have OCD when it comes to presenting a professional show. I’ve tried so many different variations and am still unsure which is the best. The fact remains though, and this is based on FACT, none of my clients have EVER made a negative comment about the equipment, so does it really matter? Well yes, to me it does. I always strive to excel and be the best wherever possible, problem is it costs me a small fortune in bits and bobs to try these different variations. On the other hand, it’s always handy to be able to change the look of your show to fit in with the surroundings.
On Friday I played at Waltons Oak Barn in Alfriston, next to the Wine Centre. A beautiful barn right next to the A27, with lots of room inside so I was able to spread out a bit. Saturday night I played at a 21st birthday near Preston Park here in Brighton. I had to set up in the front room of the house which meant I had to seriously downsize my equipment. I managed it though, and to good effect, the party was great with lots of positive comments. I wasn’t too enamoured with the look of the equipment but again, there were no negative comments from the client. I do keep a small library of shocking looking photo’s on my computer which I will maybe show you one day!
This weekend i’m playing at Upwaltham Barns near Midhurst on Friday and in Crawley on Saturday. There’s quite a bit of snow around at the minute so hopefully there will be no trouble getting to venues!
Don’t leave it too late!
Feb 2nd
One thing that always astounds us is how late people leave booking the entertainment for their Wedding. Mind you, it doesn’t surprise me. We get sent all sorts of “weddingy” magazines and they all contain planners which are meant to give Brides & Grooms a list of things they need to do in order of importance. Never ever ever ever is entertainment near the top, if it even appears on the list at all!
The fact is this, if you want a pick of some of the best wedding professionals in your area you NEED to be looking to book at least 12 months in advance. The longer you leave it, the more chance the companies you want will be working elsewhere.
Another fact is that the disco is a far more important part of the day than you think it is – I just wish the magazines would catch onto this. It’s the last part of the day, and the memory you go home with (along with the ceremony, etc.). It is a major part of your special day yet I find it most odd that magazines and wedding websites don’t even list it as important!
The Royal Pavilion Wedding Show
Jan 27th
I’m going to post my first rant today. I’m not normally annoyed by things, but this really got to me.
After the success of the Buxted Park Wedding Show last week I thought would investigate other Shows. The one i’ve been itching to do for some time now is the one at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. They don’t actually host evening wedding receptions there but they allow other venue’s in, venue’s that we actually already provide DJ’s for, so it kind of made sense.
So we rang them up and instead of the woman we wanted we were put through to somebody else who was most dismissive in thinking that Brides & Grooms who choose to come to their Show and indeed get married there would not be looking for mobile disco’s to entertain their guests in the evening. She continued to tell us that harpists and piano players would be the entertainment of choice for the quality of the client who visited their show (this was the bit I found most laughable).
Now, DISCOfever already provides high-end wedding entertainment across the board and we get to work in some of the most prestigious wedding venue’s in Sussex. Like many of my DJ peers, I would like to see the words “mobile disco” banished to some vast underground dwelling where it would never return, it just conjurs up some horrific images. It now appears that the words “mobile disco” are creating some sort of divide between us and other wedding suppliers. What sort of elitism is this? We already struggle to get what we are worth. Some clients already choose to put the supplier and the size of their wedding cake in a much higher priority than a DJ. Some clients are happy to spend hundreds if not thousands of pounds on balloons and other trinkets that are simply thrown in the bin at the end of the party, yet always look for the cheapest deal on a DJ.
Getting back to the Pavilion before I really go off at a tangent into deeper, darker murky waters – it is (I believe) owned and run by the Brighton & Hove City Council. Now, unlike some DJ’s, I pay my taxes and national insurance. I pay my parking tickets on time, on top of the already obscene costs to park in the city where I live and choose to work, yet when I want to advertise my business – I can’t.
What is even more baffling is that whilst I am allowed to perform as a DJ in front of today’s Royalty (remember the Sandhurst gig I did before Christmas?) I cannot advertise my business in what frankly was a building that started off as a farmhouse before turning into a location for the Prince Regent to enjoy secret liaisons with a certain Mrs. Fitzherbert.
I will keep you updated with this, I doubt that I will be able to attend as the show is allegedly “fully booked” but we shall see what happens.
