Why Does Your Wedding Reception Need a Master of Ceremonies?

So, you’ve said yes and set the date. Church? Check. Caterer? Check. Hall? Check. DJ? Band? DJ/MC?

Hmmm…

What’s the difference? Isn’t every DJ an MC? And aren’t most wedding band lead singers MC’s?

The simple answer is no. Believe it or not, a Wedding Reception Master of Ceremonies is a very specialized vocation. In many places around the United States, a Master of Ceremonies makes twice what a good wedding DJ makes. Why? Because a good Master of Ceremonies is responsible for keeping your guests engaged, informed and entertained all night. And a great Master of Ceremonies can take your celebration to another level.

They do it by being well spoken, fun, informative and, most importantly, PREPARED. He or she prepares by meeting with you and listening to you. Then, your Master of Ceremonies will help you plan your evening and execute that plan EXACTLY as you wish. A good Master of Ceremonies will never refer to you as “the bride and groom.” Everyone in the room knows your name. Shouldn’t the person representing you know it, too? And your parent’s names? Is your mom “The bride’s mother?” or is she Carrie’s mom, Judy? It’s tiny details like these that separate a person with a microphone from a real, professional Master of Ceremonies.

Like any other profession, the Master of Ceremonies relies on a mixture of talent, experience, knowledge and practice, practice, practice. And a great one is easy to identify. So, as with all your wedding vendors, plan to meet with your Master of Ceremonies, DJ/MC, or band spokesman before you decide to hire them. Even a very polished presenter might not be the person for you. It’s not just about finding a good Master of Ceremonies. It’s about finding a good Master of Ceremonies who suits your style, taste and expectations.

With wedding show season upon us, you’ll have the chance to meet several people at each show vying to be your reception representative. And while it’s easy to just take their information and get to the next booth, it will really pay dividends to spend a few minutes observing someone you might be interested in as they chat with other brides. What is their body language like? Are they warm and inviting? Can you hear them over the din of a wedding show crowd? It’s all about finding the right person to represent you on the biggest day of your life.

If you’re planning to say “I do.” in 2012 or 2013, I hope you’ll join me and some of the top wedding professionals in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania at the 25th annual Bridal Spectacular, Sunday, January 29th, at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. You can find out more at:  www.bridalspectacularonline.com

2012, Here We Come!

By mid-2011, I knew 2012 was going to be a big year. All of our hard work and great word-of-mouth had pushed 2012′s bookings far past where they had been for 2011 in June of 2010. So I decided to reward all that faith and good will with a major investment in both sound and lighting.

I’ve always felt that it was important to upgrade my equipment or a regular schedule. Because old equipment is unreliable equipment, no matter how high the quality.

So, in June, I began the process of selling all my old gear and re-investing in the best new music and lighting systems available. The result is a state-of-the art system that provides better, clearer sound, a richer dance floor experience, and unsurpassed power management. Wait, power management? Yep. Thanks the digital amplifier and L.E.D. technology, DJ systems can be smaller, better sounding and brighter with less power used and, in the case of dance floor lighting, less heat.

So all my equipment is up to date. But what about the guy providing the entertainment? Being a professional DJ is just like being a professional in any field. It requires continuing education. Skills must be developed and honed through practice. Whether it’s speaking, mixing or motivating, skills that aren’t practiced and perfected become stale.

That’s why, throughout 2012, as in years past, I will be participating in several regional and national DJ workshops. These events are important in that they allow DJ’s who feel strongly about professionalism to network, strengthen their skills, and share new ideas. My goal, as always, is to be able to provide my clients with an extraordinary wedding reception experience.

To all the couples who have booked my services in 2012 and 2013, please allow me to express my sincere gratitude. I can’t wait to make your special day everything you hope and dream it will be.

As I Wait for Courtney and Brad…

I have a meeting at 2:00 today with Courtney and  Brad from Cleveland. Their reception is on June 11th, so we’ve decided to meet today. And as I sit here in the office waiting for them, I try to imagine what parts of their evening I’m going to be able to help them personalize and make really special.
Every couple is different. But my mission as their DJ is always the same; to put the focus on them.
There are lots of ways to achieve this. But until we sit and talk, I won’t really know which way to go. Some couples are very outgoing. Some are shy and retiring. Some have very close families and/or groups of friends. Other’s have very small families and aren’t close.
Some couples have physical handicaps. Some are older and perhaps on a second or third marriage.
They may arrive with books and ideas and lists and questions…or they may arrive with nothing but an expectation that I can help them.
So, as I sit here in the office waiting for Courtney and Brad, it’s my job to try and have as many options for them as possible. I’ve gone over the planning forms they’ve completed on my website…I’ve checked the names of the people in their bridal party (even though we’ll do that together)…I’ve even made up a schedule sheet with everything they’ve indicated they would like to do during the evening.
All that’s left to do is set out two bottles of water and wait for them to pull into the lot. When they do, we’ll discuss their schedule and music and what their vision of the evening is. There are a lot of things I could easily skip over at this point. Sometimes when I’m preparing all the little special touches we add I think, “I could easily just not do this.” And yes, it would save time. And yes it would make things easier for me.
But this is their big day. I just can’t let them down. It wouldn’t matter if I charged them $5,000.00 or was doing their wedding for free. It really is all about them.
Just what I was thinking.

Think DJ, Think Turntables?

Recently, I’ve gone back to using turntables and vinyl records as my primary method of music playback.

Wait, what?

Didn’t they stop making records and record players in the 80’s?

Well, yes and no. After about 1986, vinyl was replaced by the Compact Disc as the primary playback media for commercially available music. But vinyl never really went away. Turntable purists and the hip-hop community have kept the wheels of steel turning for the past 25 years.

In that time, thanks to Napster, iTunes and the iPod, the Compact Disc was replaced by the mp3 as the primary playback media for commercially available music.

So, if the turntable hasn’t been the primary way most of us listen to music for a quarter-century, why do we still picture a guy with two turntables and a mixer when someone says “DJ”?

I’ve already mentioned that the hip-hop community was instrumental in keeping the turntable alive. Meanwhile, turntablists, often called “scratch DJs” developed a method of treating the turntable more like a musical instrument than a small appliance.

Probably the first song most casual radio listeners remember hearing with “scratching” was Herbie Hancock’s 1983 hit “Rockit” from the album, “Future Shock”.

Even the DJs interviewed in the 2002 Doug Pray documentary “Scratch” overwhelmingly cite this track as the first on which they heard turntable scratching.

Whoa, whoa…isn’t this a wedding DJ blog? What the heck does all this have to do with my wedding?

Over the years, DJ equipment companies have  listened to the wants and complaints DJs and DJ business owners. Club DJs are interested in equipment that allows them to fully express their vision for their mix; whether it be hip-hop, house, electronic, or any of the many sub-genres of club music.

DJ business owners on the other hand, tend to be mobile DJs. They’re concerned with more than just music playback. For the DJ business owner, automation is important. Computer software that mixes cocktail music and synchs beats during dancing allows them to concentrate on other things. Weight and portability are also concerns. As a result, you’re more likely to see a real, live DJ standing behind a laptop screen than two turntables and a mixer. Is that in any way a bad thing? Absolutely 100% not! I’ve simply decided that, for me, being a DJ who can exhibit good DJ skills is as important as being a good DJ business owner. It’s also a lot of fun!

It’s funny that the arc of my DJ career has taken me from vinyl, to CDs, to mp3’s, back to vinyl. Of course, I’m not 100% old school. I use a DJ software called Serato Scratch Live which allows me to manipulate mp3 files using a special vinyl record on a traditional turntable. I can scratch, touch vinyl and add my personality to the mix without having to lug crates and crates of records on a dolly to each gig. Plus, I’m getting way too old to get arrested for stealing milk crates from behind my neighborhood supermarket.

See you on the dance floor!

Bridal Spectacular 2011 is Sunday, Jan. 30!

Once again, for the 5th straight year, I am proud to be part of  Bridal Spectacular at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. As in years past, I will be helping to choose the music for the fashion show and providing the sound system.

Chances are, If you’re planning your wedding, you’ve already been to at least one bridal show. But if there were one word I could use to convince you that you should attend, I guess that word would be; professional. Because all of the businesses who are part of this show, including the business that presents the show, Rauz1 Promotions, are the kinds of businesses who represent the best in service.

I hope to see you there. Even if you’ve already secured wedding entertainment or lighting services, I guarantee you’ll find something to make your special day even more so.

You can find out more about Bridal Spectacular 2011 by visiting: www.bridalspectacularonline.com

A Great, Unexpected Benefit of Facebook

Over the years, lots of my wedding couples have ” friended” me on facebook. Every progressive marketing DJ and DJ Social Media seminar will tell you this is a great way to increase your exposure, get gigs and so on. I guess that’s true. And it’s always great to have another way to reach a couple if their phone number, address or email address should change as they get ready for their big day. But I just can’t tell you how cool it is to see posts a few years after the wedding about expecting kids, then to see two people become a family. It’s an unexpected benefit of Facebook and it makes me smile every time it happens.

LED Lighting Allows a Greener Footprint for Your Event

LED lighting has been available for several years now. You may have experienced LED lighting in the form of a flashlight or the latest in holiday lights. For DJ’s and lighting professionals, LED’s have been available in the form of wash and dance floor lighting for about three or four years. In the past year or so, LED scanners and pinspots have become available. These lights are a great option for reducing the carbon footprint of your event, in effect, making it “greener”.

As someone who is interested in lighting applications, I have watched the evolution of LED lighting with great interest. LED (which is an acronym for “Light Emitting Diode”)  has several advantages and disadvantages over traditional incandescent lights. The advantages include:

• very little to no heat emission
• extremely low power consumption (LED pinspots are 3 Watts, as opposed to traditional 30-Watt fixtures)
• virtually eliminates the use of color gels (those colored sheets that are put in front of traditional white par can lights to give them color).

WOW! LED lighting sounds great! Throw all the old par cans away and call the supply store, right?

Well, no. Not yet.

Like any emerging technology, LED lighting is evolving. That leads us to some of its disadvantages:

• LED light is not as “warm” as incandescent or halogen light.
• LED lights have the ability to mix millions of colors, but they fall short in providing rich, golden amber hues and deep, saturated colors. These colors are high-demand colors and must be achieved in the traditional method.
• An inexpensive traditional par can ($20.00) will put out more light than a light costing 7 times (and as much as 15 times) more.

Luckily, in the past year, several advancements have been made in the LED fixtures available to lighting professionals. Better quality, larger LED’s allow for brighter and truer, “hue-free” color-mixing and white-only professional LED fixtures allow lighting professionals to use traditional color gels to achieve the perfect hue.

At Luminous Evenings Special Event Lighting, we use a mix of traditional and LED fixtures to achieve the perfect look for your event. But now, we are able to offer virtually incandescent-free lighting to green brides. The choice is yours.

Luminous Evenings is Ready!

After much work on both the equipment side and the website design, www.luminousevenings.com is up!

Thanks to all of my lighting suppliers for providing excellent service and fast shipping (in some cases, free! . And thanks to all the couples who have shown interest and added these services to their big day!  Looks like  2010 will feature many luminous evenings.

If you are interested in uplighting or monogram projection services, please fill out the request form on the website, or call me at 330-509-2109. This service is totally separate from my DJ services and can be booked independent of them.

Backup…

It might be the question that slips your mind when interviewing your prospective DJ. But the question, “Will you have backup equipment on site at my reception?” is a question that could save your evening.

No matter how well prepared your DJ is, or how new his equipment, the fact remains; things break. Speakers blow their woofers…Mixer channels stop working…crossfaders fail…and hard drives crash. This can be a major problem, or a momentary inconvenience. A well-prepared DJ can completely bypass a malfunctioning system in 5 minutes or less if they are prepared.

Don’t be afraid to ask your DJ to put a backup equipment clause in their contract (if one does not already exist). It’s an easy, free way to insure the success of your reception.

Of course, equipment is one thing. What about the human side of the equation? Does your DJ back up him or herself? If they are, though sickness or unfortunate circumstance, unable to fulfill their contractual obligation, is there someone ready to step in and ensure service? There should be. And it should be in writing.

Do You Use CD’s or a Computer?

I’ve been asked by potential clients whether I DJ with CD’s or a computer and the answer is, neither. For many years, DJ’s wishing to play mp3 files were forced to use a laptop. That involved figuring out what software to use, what file format provided the best compromise between good sound and storage space requirements, whether their laptop’s sound card would be able to handle the rigors of multiple file playback…and on and on and on…

In those days, I chose to stay with CD’s. The technology was proven reliable, and professional equipment manufacturers were producing gear that would stand up to the rigors of the mobile DJ business. I knew that, at some point, professional gear manufacturers would produce media playback units. Three years ago, the first dedicated units like Denon HD2500 and the Numark D2 Director were released. These units do nothing else but play music. They utilize a single, dedicated hard drive that contains only music. And in the three years I’ve used them, they’ve been 100% reliable.

Computer-based DJing has come a long way as well. Rane’s Serato Scratch Live is now the standard software for club jocks, and software like Virtual DJ, Traktor Pro and others are pushing the limits of DJ’s into the video age. Great VJ’s like Roonie G are using that technology to take video music to new heights.

Still, some DJ’s stick with CD’s. And hardcore guys are still rocking vinyl on Technics turntables around the world. To me, it doesn’t really matter what equipment a DJ uses so long as that equipment is professional grade and the DJ has confidence in it. Last year, I added another Denon unit to my club and backup setup that is both a dedicated controller (think of a professional grade iPod) and a controller for software-based laptop programs. It’s great to always be learning, and to use that knowledge to better entertain my clients.

Oh, I mentioned backup. More on that next time