Tips for DJ's

I did a 80th birthday for a lovely lady in Dublin a few years ago. Her great grandson came to me with a list of songs he and his pals wanted playing. Fall Out Boy, Rammestien, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot etc, I looked at the list, looked at him, then said, 'Do you really think your Gran will appreciate these?' He looked sheepish and joined in with the Jive Bunny mix later that night !

I have been running a DJ & Disco hire company in Dublin for 4 years now and there is nothing I enjoy more than to see people having a good time. Some gigs are hard work, others are interesting and some are really fun. I use professional Digital equipment, LED & laser lighting, and my own style of interacting with the crowd. Visit my website at http://www.discoroyale.net/ and you will find more information about me and my services.

If you are doing a wedding, birthday, or some other important event and the client has given you a list of songs they would like, put them into a folder in your chosen DJ program BEFORE the event. That way, you will know if you have ALL the songs needed, and can dip into it during the event. Also make sure all your songs play. This applies to ALL kinds of DJ's not just digital ones.

Don't leave a backup computer plugged in. (In case there is a power surge that fries your main computer). Always have a backup speaker, amp, and mixer. Or powered speaker. I take a portable DVD player for special songs, long mixes, or for clients who want thier own songs played. This way no corrupted files are transferred onto my laptop. this is not because I don't trust the client, my laptop is my tool and as such needs to be kept 'clean' Always make sure you have at least one backup for each type of cable you use.

Test your mic BEFORE guests walk in the door. Test your cordless mic from the table that the toast and or blessng will take place from. NOT from behind the DJ booth. Of course it will work when you are 1ft from the receiver. Check your headphones, and have a spare pair. Buy a little USB pen drive. This in invaluable if you are at an event, don't have a song, and need to buy it online using a computer at the venue. Obviously this means you will have to check you can plug in a USB drive. You can then move it to your computer.

When arriving at the venue, always introduce yourself to whoever's in charge. If they are busy, touch base with them BEFORE the food arrives. Always ask the client how the entertainment is about 1/2 way through the event, and again at the end, as YOU are saying goodbye to them. It's also a good idea to send a client a follow-up note or email to thank them and perhaps fill out a survey. Never touch, go near, move, or even look at the cake or gifts

Burn all the "particular" songs to a CD. Even if all hell is breaking loose.. You will still have the song for the bride to dance with her father etc.

Buy a fold up sack trolley. Even if the piece is 10 lbs its worth wheeling it in as opposed to sweating through all your clothes. Even when you have spare clothes to change in to you will still get that sweaty look about you. If you are going to wear a tux or suit, have it on when the guests arrive.

Keep a personal kit in your car/van. Included: toothbrush/toothpaste, deodorant, razor, shave foam, after shave, etc. In my "just in case" drawer, I carry all kinds of drugs (asprin, allergy sinus, eye drops etc) toothbrush, safety pins, bow tie, batteries, lighters, shoe shine, black duct tape, clear tape, multi tester, circut breaker tester, dB meter, band aids. In the main gig box I have spare light bulbs, misc. adapters, cables, glow sticks, and door wedges. Carry anti acid/indegestion liquid/tablets. I always keep rennie's or similar in my pocket. Sometimes I have been asked if I have any !

In my "just in case" drawer, I carry all kinds of drugs (asprin, allergy sinus, eye drops etc) toothbrush, Blu-Tak, safety pins, bow tie, batteries, lighters, shoe shine, black duct tape, sellotape, multi tester, circut breaker tester, dB meter, band aids. In the manin gig box I have spare light bulbs, misc. adapters, cables, glow sticks, and door wedges. Buy some gaffer tape (avalible at most D.I.Y. stores) Tape ALL your cable down. You want your setup to be as clean as possible and dressing your cable can make a rig look great. Its also a safety thing.

Have breath mints in your pocket and hand them out to the bridal party when lining them up. For some reason, they are sooooo happy someone has a breathe mint at that particular time. Always keep backup socks and undergarments (you never know what can happen!) Keep bin bags and towels in your vehicle in case it is raining. Give yourself 1/2 hour extra "flat tire" time to get to an event. Keep a couple of clean towels and a jug of multi-purpose cleaner with your DJ stuff. You never know when you may get into a venue and find that your equipment needs a spruce up. Buy a multi-tool (leatherman/gerber) Don't wear it.. Just keep it handy.. you never know and rack screws are a pain in the ass to get out with a butter knife from the head table.

As mentioned above bringing glowsticks is a great idea for keeping kids happy. We do it at almost all shows. Make sure the client is ok with the idea ahead of time. Just remember when you crack the first one open be sure you will have plenty of time to hand them out to the rest of the kids!!!

Take requests and play them

Remember, YOU are not the focus of attention, your client, (Bride & Groom/birthday boy or girl/anniversary couple etc) are. Clean your shoes ! Carry a lint roller - not only for your clothes but speaker carpet as well.

Always have a cd in the player, ready to go.
Pronounce the names properly during intro's
Call the bride and groom by their first names... not always "the new bride and groom" Guests know them by their names. This is the same for the person who's event it is. Call the birthday girl/boy by thier name, etc

Always make sure everyone is prepared for special dances... The Dad is ready to dance with his daughter, the bride has the garter on, the Mother is ready to dance with her son etc.

Be KIND AND PROFESSIONAL TO EVERYONE, Photographer, Caterer, Banquet Manager. These people can make or break your dj career!

Be funny, not obnoxious.

Here are a few little extra tips that anyone can use. WATER!!! Want a simple impression? When you see the wedding party arrive meet the B&G outside with a "congratulations" and a glass or two of water! If the catering staff is "freed up" for a second have them bring some extras for the wedding party on those really hot days. BE SURE however you get out there first with the water for the B&G or you will just look like a follower - not a leader!
On your planner, know ahead of time who the photographer, caterer, etc will be. Most in your area will have worked with you before and know how you run things but some are new. If you let them know you are going to be the DJ, they will probably help you with any extra information you might need. Such as what time the bar closes, what time the food is being served etc.

When welcoming the guests include the venue name and location of toilets and designated smoking areas. After dinner sometime give thanks to the wonderful job by the caterers and have everyone thank them by applause. "Once again I would like to welcome everyone to the beautiful _________ Hotel/Hall for ______ & ______'s wedding reception. Before we begin the first dance I would like everyone to join me in an applause for the wonderful catering staff (could name their company name) and the meal they prepared for us today." If there are wedding favours on the table, like mints, disposable cameras, etc, don't forget to remind guests they are welcome to take them as a momento of the wedding.

My wife attends all events with me. She plays the vital behind the scene coordinator. She has a bag in the car with spare shoes, socks, etc. Other duties have included fluffing the dress, fix broken straps, assist cake cutting, lighting candles, getting me food/drinks and taking phone calls.

Check to make sure the items needed for the cake cutting are in place and the Champagne(or drinks) are ready BEFORE you start the toast.

I do carry a small kitchen type fire extinguisher just in case something goes really wrong in the rig. Be aware of the halls extinguishers, fire pull boxes and fire exits. Have a plan in the back of your mind if a emergency were to happen.

Pick up some of those cheap disposable cameras, (they even sell them in the €2 shops!) They come in handy when a parent or guest forgot thier camera. Be sure to tape your business card to it!

Run 2 power cables to the dj console. When you blow one you can get back up much quicker.

Make your Linkedin profile the best

LinkedIn, while a boon to recruiters and job hunters alike, has spawned some interesting practices in the name of the job search.

If you’ve spent only a brief amount of time setting up your profile, your chances of being sought on LinkedIn for your expertise are quite remote—especially if it fails to represent your core brand value and or highlight achievements.

However, you can take matters into your own hands to turn this situation around. First, take a look to see if you are committing these common mistakes:

Setting up your LinkedIn profile like your resume.
Dumping the contents of your resume straight into your LinkedIn profile is a huge mistake. After all, your resume is usually created to fit on 1 to 3 pages in hard copy form, but writing for the Web is much different.

For instance, you might have plopped your traditional resume summary paragraph directly into the LinkedIn profile Summary section (which appears at the top), but if you don’t break this information up for the reader, it will be nearly impossible to navigate online.

In addition, many job hunters don’t realize that online readers are an extremely fickle and impatient audience. Given that it’s unlikely others will scroll down to read your Experience section in detail, it’s best to put a quick, brand-focused snapshot of individual achievements right into the Summary.

I recommend pulling out a composite of your past, including job titles, individual accomplishments, and notable positions (such as community leadership or national speaking engagements) to include in this area, in addition to stating your goals and value offering in this section.

If you don’t do anything else with your LinkedIn profile, at least tweak your Summary in this manner – and use all 2,000 characters. This will ensure that recruiters doing a brief sweep of your background won’t miss salient points.

Not setting up your LinkedIn profile like your resume.
For some reason, all the principles of effective resume writing seem to fly out the window when job hunters create their LinkedIn profiles.

Jobs from 1975, titles that state “Unemployed” in lieu of an occupation, and overly verbose explanations of job duties vs. achievements continue to appear on too many profiles to count.

Here’s a tip: if it wouldn’t normally appear on your resume, consider leaving it off your LinkedIn profile.

Older jobs that can signal your age, for example, should be left off the profile and merely listed in the Summary. LinkedIn also asks you for your birth date and year of college graduation, but these values are not required.

Also, just like a resume, your LinkedIn profile shouldn’t resort to generalities that fit all of your peers. Online readers will grasp your brand value faster if you add relevant accomplishments, clearly defined with dollar figures, percentages, and other quantifiable numbers.

Failing to use Contact Settings properly.
Joining LinkedIn as a job hunter effectively tells the world that you’re ready to take your search seriously.

Unfortunately, some professionals who use the site leave their profiles virtually locked down and therefore inhibit any form of connection—either because they are maintaining a confidential job search or because they fail to understand the reasons behind the site.

If you haven’t already done so, examine your Contact Settings to ensure that you’ve indicated willingness to accept Introductions, InMail, or some combination of these plus OpenLink messages.

In addition, you’ll want to check the Opportunity Preferences section to verify that you have at least checked off boxes for “expertise requests.” Doing so will ensure that others can feel comfortable approaching you.

Of course, for those openly searching for work, I recommend enabling settings for other values such as “consulting offers” and “career opportunities.” Don’t forget that you can also add a phone number in the Personal Information Section, as some recruiters will skip you in favor of candidates they can reach more easily.

In summary, keep in mind that your LinkedIn profile can serve as an online resume. However, to be truly effective in a job search, the profile should borrow some elements from a traditional resume, and leave others behind.

The Dole !

I think the rules for foreigners to enter Ireland should be tightened. I was in the Dole office the other day and while I waiting to be seen, there was a french guy applying for dole. He was living with a friend and so didn't have a bill in his name. The woman said, 'give this form to your friend to sign to confirm you live there and bring it back' Anyone could sign that. But then she said 'you'll get your first payment in 10 days time, it will be €200 per week'

When I came to Ireland, they wanted my passport, which I had lost a few months previous so came over on my Citizen card, (a voluntary ID card), a letter from my dole office in the UK stating I was no longer claiming in the UK, a letter saying I lived at the address I gave, my full birth cert, again I had mislaid it due to moving several times recently, and my P45.

Now when I signed off in the UK, I told them I was moving to Ireland and they closed my claim, paid me up to when I was leaving and that was it. apparently I should have been given a form to transfer my claim to here and wouldn't have to have got all those documents.

I was actually living in a hostel before coming here and any official mail sent after I left had to be sent back. So I had to call the dole office, find out where my P45 was and get it sent over. In the end they denied my claim because they said 'the claimant was not making efforts to find suitable employment' Yeh, right, you try getting a job with no PPS number, tax details or references.

I went to my local TD and explained it to him, he raised it in the Dail and was given much the same response. But I appealed and it was allowed, I think the fact I went to my TD and appealed helped. most people would have just accepted the decision. The Dole office dragged their heels to pay out my backdated money though, when I called them to ask how long before I got it, they went 'Oh your claim was allowed, (face drops!) um, about 2 weeks' LOL

Email scams

I know many of you will already know this, but here is some advice for emails you might get supposedly from your bank.

The main goal of a phishing email is to get you to a site where you
will provide your personal information. With these basic, but powerful,
clues, you can easily recognize the threat and ensure the safety of your
identity and finances.

1. Does the email ask you to go to a website and verify personal
information? Banks won't ask you to verify your personal information in
response to an email.

2. What is the tone of the mail? Most phish emails convey a sense of
urgency by threatening discontinued service or information loss if you
don't take immediate action.

3. What is the quality of the email? Many phish emails have
misspellings, bad grammar, or poor punctuation.

4. Are the links in the email valid? Deceptive links in phishing
emails look like they are to a valid site, but deliver you to a fraudulent
one. Many times you can see if the link is legitimate by just moving
your mouse over the link.

5. Is the email personalized with your name and applicable account
information? Many phish emails use generic salutations and generic
information (e.g. "Dear Customer" or "Dear Account Holder") instead of your
name.

6. What is the sender's email address? Many phish emails come from an
email address not from the company represented in the email.

7. When in doubt, type it out. If you suspect an email to be phishing,
don't click on any links in the email. Type the valid address
directly into your web browser.

Charity Leaflets

I have just had a sticker leaflet thingy shoved through my door, I didn't ask for it and I'm not sure if you have it here but when I lived in the UK we have the mail preference scheme. Whereby you register your name and address on a website and they will stop junk mail companies sending you junk. They get a heafty fine if they do. We also have the same for the telephone sales calls. I actually worked for a company who cold called people and if anyone on the list had TPS next to thier name we were not allowed to call them. Again a big fine if we did. The lists were provided by BT so I would assume only BT customers were on it.

Anyway back to this leaflet, the grammer on it was a bit like the 419 nigerian scam emails you get. Not very good and at the top is said 'breast cancer prevention programm' spot the obvious mistake?! Anyway at the bottom it had a website address, so I decided to see what is was. The URL was http://www.donotdelay.org but the actual URL is this http://www.nedelsk.lt/index.php?set_lang_id=en&show_content_id=573

It looks like it is only for women with breast cancer in Lithuania, now I'm not sure about you, but I lost my natural mother to breast cancer, (I was adopted at 6 weeks and she died before I could trace and meet her) and many woment in Ireland and UK die from breast cancer. Wouldn't it be good to support them first? I am not being cold or heartless, but my mother always said 'charity begins at home' and there is the other saying 'Put your own house in order before trying to straighten someone else's' Also the website is written in atrocious english as I expect they have typed it in Russian and then used babel fish to translate it!

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DJ Hire

Many people want to hire a DJ for an occaision. It could be a wedding, birthday, retirement, Xmas or just for the 'craic'! But why have a DJ at all? why not just go to a bar that has one and save money? Well if you hire you own DJ, you know that they will play songs you want. Where as most DJ's in a bar or club will only play what the house wants. Obviously hiring a DJ, function room, catering and decorating the room is more expensive, but people will probably have more fun. Also if the music is too loud, try telling a club DJ to turn it down and see what they say!

For most people thier wedding is the most important day of thier life and they obviously want it to be as perfect as possible. You only get married once, (well most of us do!) so you only get one chance to make it count. All your friends and family will be there and you want to show them how good your life is. It's not a case of beating your other family members at what you provide, some of the best weddings are the most simple ones. Obvioulsy if you're the Beckhams, Donald Trump, or Peter & Jordan, (well maybe not the last 2!) then money is no object, but for us mere mortals we need to watch how much we spend more than ever.

Most DJ's for birthdays work from 8:30/9:00pm to closing time. This can be anywhere from 11:45pm to 2:30am, so people say why do they charge so much?
Well let's look at what a DJ actually has to do.
Make sure they have the latest chart songs
Buy bulbs, cables, batteries, and spend money on advertising
Make sure all the lights and sound system works
Keep up to date on the latest dance trends, like those silly dances you do on holiday and want to show your friends when you get back!
If the DJ is using a laptop, all the songs have to have the ID-3 tags correct in order to show up when they search for a song.
When you give a DJ a playlist they have to get those songs you really want, that can cost more than buying the whole album by an artist.
Of course then there are the travelling expenses incurred. A DJ from Dublin travelling to Trim is going to charge more than a local DJ.

So you see there is a lot of 'behind the scenes' work that most people don't see. I'm not one of those DJ's that scratch and mix and play the songs you hear in clubs, I play the songs you know and love from the 60's 70's & 80's. Also I play those all time cheesy classics like macarena, Cha Cha Slide, raining men, daydream believer etc. I always think if you want the dance music that is mixed up, mashed up and scratched, you can go to a dance club. Most people at a wedding or birthday would have never heard of most of the dance mixed songs anyway. You have to try and please everyone. I know that's not always possible, but I've been doing it for over 20 years and I'm still being booked!

Then there is the setting up of the equipment, most DJ's use CD players with a built in mixer, more and more are now using Digital systems that need a computer with an added mixer. The speakers have to placed in the right places to make sure they don't get damaged, drinks put on them or sat on. The there are the lights to set up and connect to power sockets. Some DJ's use a lighting controller as well, so there has to be room for that.

Well that is my first blog post! Hopefully I will write more posts if I get the time. Don't forget to visit my website for more about me.