Todd – That’s basically what I did on the phone when he initially booked me. He said he’d provide a list and I told him that wasn’t necessary, that he could just provide a few songs and that I could create a great playlist. I explained that part of my value was saving him the work of making a playlist. I guess his idea of “a few” was slightly different than mine…or he just ignored me.
Terry – no arguments there. As a mobile DJ I know it’s all about their tastes not mine. The issue is, my audience isn’t the ONE person that is paying me, it’s also all of their friends/family at the event. While the person cutting the check is your client and the most important, all of the other people are “potential clients.” The problem is, they won’t know I’m playing a set of reuqests, they’ll just wonder why the hell I’m playing Linger by The Cranberries when it’s an awful party song. A good mobile DJ gets a lot of business by word-of-mouth and from people who were at an event you played. A prescribed list ties my hands and hurts how I look to those people. As far as scratching and FX… This isn’t a club, most people want to hear the songs as they remember them so they can drunkenly sing along. I’ve found that using effects or scratching more than very sparingly creates an annoyed response at private events. (“Just play the song!”) I typically stick with remixes that minimally alter the track, just enough to make them more mixable and/or danceable.
Scotto – My familiarity with the songs isn’t at issue. It just severely limits my flexibility to adjust to the crowd. The client here assumes that (1) the “old people” will miraculously disappear at 7pm, and (2) that they have no interest in dancing. Therefore, he wants me to switch wholesale to rap and Top 40 at 7pm (except for that Cranberries track…???). I bet his baby boomer guests wouldn’t mind some Motown mixed in there, for example. Hopefully there’s enough time to mix it in.
