So my Uncle asked that I DJ for my cousin’s wedding. I have about 3 months to prepare which I figure should be okay. I’ve got a few questions though since I have to fly to the other side of the states to DJ regarding equipment.
I’ll be renting pretty much everything since I’ve sold my controllers and gone to CDJ/DJM, and I have no intention of bringing those. Am I going to be able to rent a controller? Or is it going to be pretty much the same price as renting a pair of CDJs and a DJM?
For lights, I have no experience with them. Again, since I’ll be renting them, would the rental company just set them up for me and maybe just do some simple automatic programming or is this another thing I’ll have to learn?
For speakers, I have yet to find out the details of the room yet, but it’s supposed to be 200 people. I was thinking QSC K12s or JBL Eons. I don’t know what is available yet. Is a subwoofer really necessary for weddings? While I am sure it adds a lot of fun, I imagine the PAs already have a ton of bass. Budget is not an issue so I can rent one if need be.
From what I’ve heard, I’d go for the QSC’s over the JBL’s. I would also get a subwoofer, doesn’t need to be a massive one, a 15" will probably do fine, just because a 12" speaker isn’t going to put out much bass below 80Hz. Even if I’m just DJing for 100 people, I always take a sub, just makes everything sound fuller. I’m sure whichever rental company you’re going to rent them from will be able to give you better suggestions though.
I do weddings from time to time and it is key to keep it simple. Go with songs everybody knows (a blend of old and new), and if you can work some clever mixing into it, do. Otherwise keep it high energy and break it up with a few slow songs from time to time.
As far as renting gear, just get speakers (2x JBL 15s is plenty for 200 ppl–not all of them will dance), a wireless mic, and lights (2 LED par cans is plenty). Don’t forget stands. If you want to add a sub to fill out the sound, you’re probably the only one who will notice, but it will sound good.
The DDJ WeGo outputs pretty good sound and has a mic input (1/4"). You could either rent one for buy a used one on eBay for about $150.
Virtual dj by far better for weddings unless you enjoy mixing every 3 minutes autoplay in traktor doesn’t do fades however cross dj and virtual dj allow you to set mix in and mix out time this is pretty much essential… Rule of thumb for anything never let it be silent… I recently did a wedding for 250 in a building capable of 400 had 2 15 mains 2 15 subs and a 12 just because I could… Lighting is fairly straight forward remember though too many of one light effect is sometimes cheesy… Most lights are capable of sound active stick with thoose unless your going to run a dmx controller… I don’t recommend this for common pratice but would work and have done it with great results… Get a cheap USB sound card route headphones to laptop and main to external card… Go from 1/8th to RCA then RCA to 1/4 TRS connect to input on sub then from sub goto mains out to the mains
The “excitement” of a wedding does not come from pushing “play” - it comes from the coordination of all the moving parts. Who will be MCing the reception? You need to make sure that whatever solution you come up with will handle a mic (or two).
Wedding receptions are NOT club gigs. There is a WIDE range of ages, and a WIDE range of musical tastes, and a WIDE range of expected genre/tempos to be played.
Most of the time at a wedding reception there is no need (or ability) to mix. The background music for the early reception and meal doesn’t need to be mixed. The music for the special dances will typically have a gap to allow for the people to be introduced.
During a wedding reception, it is really only the “party” music that could be mixed. Even there, the variety of music makes mixing all of it tough. The party music is less than half the time of a typical “four hour” reception. There is a wide enough range of genres and tempos that the “slam” transition is sufficient. Thinking back over the weddings I have done this year, I typically only manged 4 or 5 song mixes in a stretch.
I do weddings often. When looking at sound, the area of the room is not important. The only area you want to fill is the dance floor. The rest of the room should be light as people will want to talk and catch up. This is probably the first time they have seen each other in a while. My setup is simple. 2 turntables and mixer (this sets me apart from most controller djs as far as the visual experience goes), 2 EV ZLX15s, 3 up lights (one for under the dj booth, and 2 for under each speaker, all with scrims) and 1 light (chauvet 4play clear)… Its PERFECT for weddings 150-200 people. Only about 50-75 people will be dancing at a time. for bigger attendance I will bring a sub, but you are not playing for the full attendance, just for about 35% of that of whom will be dancing.
I’m struggling with finding rental companies. None of them are providing information as to what speakers they are. The ones who do are renting out lower end equipment like Behringer.
I guess for speakers, I am more worried that people in the back will not hear when people are making announcements and whatnot rather than music. I’m going to try and get my Traktor S2 repaired and I’ll take it along with me.
For lights, I’ll definitely be going with the sound active ones. I have no intention of trying to master DMX controllers as well.
Thanks for the tips guys. Maybe I’ll give Virtual DJ a try. Those of you who have DJd weddings before, would you guys happen to have recordings of the mixes? The things I’m finding online are pretty boring with only crossfading.
edit: Actually now that I think about it.. I might just buy a DDJ WeGo.. I imagine repairing my S2 will cost the same.
When I get home I’ll dump one of my playlist history for last one I did but keep in mind country music is very popular where I’m at in Saskatchewan so lots of it is played… I have multiple TB hard drives that should speak for variety also expect to have itunes open to download as required… Also very important on mics if your not usuing house pa for that… Have a agenda and the special songs required… Most stores do not rent high end equipment due to cost and how abused rental equipment gets… No one records a wedding mix of all the weddings and that style “party” I’ve done I think only a handful of times I’ve accutally mixed tracks usually if I do it’s pop top 40 dance tracks and maybe half hour at most
I take my ns6 and a numark total control and two laptops one with SDJ Open total control with vdj then I route to a 24 channel board where I have 2 wired mics and quad wireless mics hooked up I then run out on board to my powered speakers and then sometime if they wants peaches recorded run back to audacity to record direct from mics
Ah okay. Are there any brands I need to stay away from? I guess I’ll start with that.
Already in the process of talking with my cousin to find out what special requests there are! And I don’t believe we’ll have any country being played, but that list will be greatly appreciated! I’m hoping the Wifi will be fast enough so that I can buy songs if need be.
Teather to phone likely best bet I find. Well honestly most people aren’t too picky about sound quality I know ev I’ve had very good luck with also altos are great bang for buck I mean most respectable music shops will not rent out poor quality stuff. I have heard good things from the peavey line like pv118d sub and pv215d or just pv115d have been told are good bang for buck
First bit was cocktail hour and dinner music but here’s one I did recently
Rubert - Time after Time Smooth Mix
Jorge Miguel - Anda!
Boy Tedson - Dance On Sand
Speak Easy - Castlebed
Lounge Relax Brothers - Summer Vibration Buddha Lounge del Mar Edit
Jaco Curacao - Foreign Mountains
Jaco Curacao - Souths Ide
Nightvision - Tim Angrave
Howard Lopez - Afternoon Repose
Eastward - Yin And Yang
Jorge Miguel - De Cadiz A Canada
Mister Chillin Ibiza - Summer Vibration Sungroove Mix
Jerl Southern - It’s De-Lovely
Pharrell Williams - Happy
Mellna Soleil - Rubin Diamond
Zeit - Sinatic
Sarah Vaughan - Stairway to the Stars
Howard Lopez - Show Me
Billle Holiday - Lady Sings the Blues
Blake Soleil - Metropolitana Sungroove Mix
If It’s True - Grande Delacroix
Howard Lopez - After All
Howard Lopez - Song For Pamela
My Sunny Day - Smooth Deluxe
Yoruba - Cuba
Jordi Jordi - Don’t Talk Silent Mix
Alexandry - Heartbeat Deluxe Edit
Afterhours - Niestolik, Richter
Jorge Miguel - Doo Dee Dah
Lee Hofner - Sensuality Relaxed Sunset Bar Mix
Where No One Can Hear You - Openzone Bar
Danny Colomby - A Fine Line
Solaris Aqualux - Smooth Deluxe
Drowning - Guenter Haas
Danny Colomby - End Of The Day
Ella Fitzgerald - Mack the Knife
Imposibile Love - Ilirjan Guri
Evol - Silencio Deluxe Edit
Diane Schuur - Easy to Love
Sail On
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Old Time Rock & Roll
Pink - Get The Party Started
I Gotta Feeling
Blurred Lines (Feat. Pharrell) - Robin Thicke
Katy Perry - Roar
Royals - Lorde
Baby Got Back
Ice Ice Baby
Spice Up Your Life
Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of…)
Hips Don’t Lie (feat Wyclef Jean)
Village People - YMCA [1978]
Staying Alive
Celebration
Nat King Cole - Unforgettable
(Sexual) Healing
The B-52’s - Love Shack
Footloose
single ladies - beyonce
Nico & Vinz - Am I Wrong
Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke
That’s My Kind Of Night - Luke Bryan
Red Solo Cup
Brantley Gilbert - Bottoms Up
lil john the eastside boyz get low
Jason Derulo - Talk Dirty (Feat. 2 Chainz)
Walk This Way - Run-DMC & Aerosmith
Pu$$y
Mark Morrison-DJ Beats Return Of The Mack
Dierks Betley - Drunk On a Plane
Presidents Of The USA - Peaches
David Lee Murphy - Dust On The Bottle
Small town Saturday night
Sorry tags DIdnt transfer so had to manually dump file names
No mention of what you’ve been asked to play yet mate. Unless your family is down for it, you will have to get out of dj mode for the night and have that list of request handy. At my brother’s wedding, once the oldies fucked off home, we did a b2B psytrance set
Why not find a local mobile dj that is willing to rent his set, He can build it up and break it down for you. You could even ask him to stay and do some light shows, and can take over when you wanna join the party.
