Careful who you book to be your DJ
I found this on Gumtree and thought would post it on here. I have edited it slightly, but most of these views are that of the original poster.
There are a lot of DJ's advertising on the internet, so how do you know if they are genuine and reliable ? Well most of them have posted what are called 'stock' photos of lights, people dancing, equipment etc. These ARE NOT what they supply, if you search for 'disco light' 'DJ rig' 'disco crowd' on Google you will see these. Some DJ's have even used OTHER DJ's set up photos to make them look more professional.
When you book a DJ they provide one of the most important things for your party, people always remember the music and if they had a good time, so make sure you see what they ACTUALLY use. A number of hotels and other venues are now asking for DJ's to have public liabilty insurance, so make sure your DJ had this or they will NOT BE ALLOWED TO PROVIDE MUSIC. Obviously this would nto be good for your wedding.
A professional full time DJ will also be registered with the Revenue service and if they are not be very wary of booking them, they are not paying tax on thier earnings and that is putting yours up every year ! When you get a receipt from a reputable professional DJ that gives you piece of mind that you have made sure they pay tax. ALWAYS ASK FOR CONFIRMATION OF YOUR PAYMENT.
Professional DJ's use professional equipment, you can get a pair of cheap speakers, an amplifier, a CD player and a couple of flashing lights from a well known electrical shop in the city centre, but they are not reliable enough or powerful enough to provide decent sound for a big party. CD's can get scratched, (despite what the manufacturers claimed when they were released !) MP3's downloaded from the Internet illegally are not good enough quality either, so don't think if they are using a laptop or iPod that it will be any better. I use a custom designed DJ computer that only uses high quality MP3 files, it can play these through a professional quality soundcard so the quality is always perfect. This is not for normal home use, it is only for DJ work. (it doesn't have the programs that clog up the smooth running of a professional machine)
Now I will admit on my website I have stock photos, but they are not shown as pictures of my equipment or any parties I have done. ALL content in my gallery is my own equipment at parties I have provided discos. I have watermarked my photos and videos to try to stop other DJ's posting them as their own. Just remember you get what you pay for, a cheap DJ might be chaep for a reason, is he (or she) doing it for pocket money or a full time job ? If they are doing it for pocket money, who's pocket is it going into ? not the tax man's or the insurance company.
Professional DJ's have websites with their own domain name, most DJ's who are what are sometimes called 'bedroom DJ' use free websites like Yahoo, Freewebs, Bebo, etc. They also use free email like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc, make sure your DJ has a registered email address and website, this ensures you are dealing with a professional full time DJ.
There are a lot of DJ's advertising on the internet, so how do you know if they are genuine and reliable ? Well most of them have posted what are called 'stock' photos of lights, people dancing, equipment etc. These ARE NOT what they supply, if you search for 'disco light' 'DJ rig' 'disco crowd' on Google you will see these. Some DJ's have even used OTHER DJ's set up photos to make them look more professional.
When you book a DJ they provide one of the most important things for your party, people always remember the music and if they had a good time, so make sure you see what they ACTUALLY use. A number of hotels and other venues are now asking for DJ's to have public liabilty insurance, so make sure your DJ had this or they will NOT BE ALLOWED TO PROVIDE MUSIC. Obviously this would nto be good for your wedding.
A professional full time DJ will also be registered with the Revenue service and if they are not be very wary of booking them, they are not paying tax on thier earnings and that is putting yours up every year ! When you get a receipt from a reputable professional DJ that gives you piece of mind that you have made sure they pay tax. ALWAYS ASK FOR CONFIRMATION OF YOUR PAYMENT.
Professional DJ's use professional equipment, you can get a pair of cheap speakers, an amplifier, a CD player and a couple of flashing lights from a well known electrical shop in the city centre, but they are not reliable enough or powerful enough to provide decent sound for a big party. CD's can get scratched, (despite what the manufacturers claimed when they were released !) MP3's downloaded from the Internet illegally are not good enough quality either, so don't think if they are using a laptop or iPod that it will be any better. I use a custom designed DJ computer that only uses high quality MP3 files, it can play these through a professional quality soundcard so the quality is always perfect. This is not for normal home use, it is only for DJ work. (it doesn't have the programs that clog up the smooth running of a professional machine)
Just be careful when choosing a DJ, you might save money booking someone cheap, but you wont save a bad party because of a BAD DJ ! To give you an idea of DJ's posting other DJ's set up pictures this photo is from 2 other DJ's as you can see from this site
Now I will admit on my website I have stock photos, but they are not shown as pictures of my equipment or any parties I have done. ALL content in my gallery is my own equipment at parties I have provided discos. I have watermarked my photos and videos to try to stop other DJ's posting them as their own. Just remember you get what you pay for, a cheap DJ might be chaep for a reason, is he (or she) doing it for pocket money or a full time job ? If they are doing it for pocket money, who's pocket is it going into ? not the tax man's or the insurance company.
Professional DJ's have websites with their own domain name, most DJ's who are what are sometimes called 'bedroom DJ' use free websites like Yahoo, Freewebs, Bebo, etc. They also use free email like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc, make sure your DJ has a registered email address and website, this ensures you are dealing with a professional full time DJ.
posted by DJ Paulie at
4/12/2011 11:03:00 PM
0 Comments
