The £100 DJ, and what to expect!
Back in the day, a DJ needed a good strong back. Not just for equipment but to lift and shift their music collection. The modern-day DJ can now carry a massive music collection on a small hard drive. This is the era of DJ technology making the life of a DJ easier, but it also brings the wannabe DJ out of the bedroom and into the wedding market. Welcome to the £100 DJ.
DJ technology has made the ‘playing’ of music easier.
DJ software search engines mean a tune can be sourced and played within seconds. Unfortunately, this results in a hoard of people thinking they can DJ at a wedding. All they need is a laptop and suitable software and a music collection then they assume that they are ready to play to an audience.
Standards Are Slipping
Just at the time when people expect to have an experienced and knowledgeable DJ who knows exactly what to do, and when to do it, the market is bursting with newbies lacking the skills to do the job. We all need to start somewhere but these DJ’s are not suited to such an important event as a wedding.
Because they know that most people are looking to save money they are willing to play for as cheaply as possible. Worse still, they shop around to see what other DJ’s are charging, then they undercut their fees. Nothing wrong with a bit of competition but you have a situation where newbies are charging just below the rates of fully experienced DJ’s. This is not good. You will have heard the saying, ‘You get what you pay for’, this simply does not apply.
A typical budget DJ will illegally download their music, often poor quality from Youtube, circumventing the rights of the musicians and cheating them out of their deserved income. Some will stream the music from legal or illegal online sources until the internet in the venue fails or gets slow.
Cheap DJ’s will use budget equipment where the audio sounds cheap and nasty. Even if it doesn’t, it will most certainly give you a sore head. Cheap speakers perform loudly in certain frequency ranges and do not provide a balanced or pleasant listening experience. Their playout systems will typically be low cost and low quality or they haven’t made the time or financial investment in an attempt to provide a decent sound.
Dotty lights? Dots darting all over the room are produced again by cheap lighting produced to a price. Quality and good visual impact are seriously lacking with these.
Worse still, a cheap DJ will have no insurance or safety test certificates putting your event and possibly your safety at risk. They will not provide you with a contract or have any backup system regarding equipment or personnel.
Their communications skills are likely to be lacking, some are even scared to use a microphone and will simply blurt out general announcements.
For Your Important day, make sure you do yourself proud
A wedding can cost anything from say £5000 to £50,000. Of course, the ceremony is the most important part of the day for the bride, groom and family members but don’t fall short at your reception. Your wedding reception will be attended by all the important people in your lives, so make sure you make the correct decision.
Make sure you hire a DJ with principles, one who invests time and money into a great service. One who can use a microphone to enhance your event and who takes pride in appearance, performance, safety and making sure you get what you expect.
For an investment of about 2.5% of your wedding budget, you can get great disco entertainment. Most importantly, you can get a DJ who is professional and will do anything to make sure your event is remembered for the right reasons.
For a cost equivalent of 1% to 4%, depending on your total budget, you CAN make yourselves and your guests proud.
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