Let's Talk Music

Let's Talk Music

(December 2016) As DJs, we talk about lighting and sound equipment. We talk about sales and marketing. We talk about software preferences, grand entrances, and love stories. But the one thing we, as a community, don’t seem to talk much about (with the exception of the Wednesday night music show on DJNTV) is music. It certainly hasn’t been on the agenda at the few DJ conferences that I have attended, which is funny since the crux of our business is centered on music. It’s also been a topic that has come up more than once as I met with prospective couples in the past year and heard questions like these:

·          “Do you play any slow songs, because I was at a wedding and the DJ never did play any, and I was pregnant at the time and could not go out and dance to any fast songs with my fiancé?” said one bride to be.

·         “Do you play music that everyone can dance to, because at our first daughter’s wedding the DJ played a couple of classics at the beginning of the night, then we sat there the rest of the evening?” a soon-to-be father of the bride asked me.

·         “Can we have a say in the playlist because we were at a wedding and the DJ played like eight Rolling Stones songs?” another couple asked.

·         “Do you play the whole song, because we were at a party where the DJ kept ending the song early. Sometimes just about the time we would hear a song we like and get to the dance floor he would change it right in the middle.” was another comment I heard.

There may, of course, be reasons for those situations that the prospective client was not aware of (I certainly don’t know of any DJ that would play EIGHT Rolling Stones songs at a wedding purposely!); for example, they may have been dictated by those particular couples However, that too is just speculation.

So let’s talk about music. More precisely, how do we program it?

In my early days, I worked for a large multi-op company. The owner had a music programming formula that he encouraged the staff to use, and it went something like this:

• Six to eight up-tempo songs
• Two slow songs
• Novelties or traditions
• Repeat

The six to eight up-tempo songs were usually broken into two sets, with each set being a certain genre. For weddings, it was typical to open up the dance floor with a set of three to four oldies, often followed by a set of three to four country songs, then two slow songs. You never played fewer than two ballads, just to ensure that there weren’t couples who took so long to locate one another and make their way to the dance floor that they only caught the last 45 seconds or so of the song. However, you never played more than two, so as not to slow down the party too much.

Those were followed with a novelty, such as a line dance or the chicken dance. At a wedding, it may be a traditional moment like the dollar dance or a garter and bouquet toss.

I’ve long since strayed away from that early formula. Nowadays, I see several different options being tossed around as to how mobile DJs plan their music itinerary. Some still do sets in genres, grouping songs of a specific time period or style of music together. Some rely on matching beats per minute, and a newer method is matching songs by music key.

So I had to ask many of my fellow DJs: How do you program your music? Do you have a formula? How do guests’ requests fit into the picture?

I—like Steve—treat them as suggestions 

For longtime DJ Steve Saltzman, owner of Steve’s Mobile Music in Ames, Iowa, using sets is still his preference: “In most cases I think in terms of ‘sets’ between slow songs and program [them] to build energy (increasing bpm) within each set. Each set is typically one to two genres. I look at key occasionally, but mainly only when trying to beatmix and there is obvious clash between the two songs.”

As for requests, Steve offers a popular stance among DJs. “Usually requests are treated as suggestions rather than commandments and we try to fit them in when/where/if it makes sense with the overall plan (bride or groom might get higher priority in terms of immediacy).”

The cornerstone of Steve’s business is formal school dances and weddings.

Connecticut wedding DJ Jim Collins says it all depends on his mood.

“I try sets—sometimes by genre, sometimes by bpm regardless of genre,” he says. “Depends on my mood. Whichever way, though, I build the energy from the first song in each set to the last in the set.”

So sets and bpm seem to be the preferred methods for Steve and Jim. In Florida, Tampa Bay’s Jeffrey Evan Mufson has a completely different approach.

“I'd like to think that I'm a good (or adequate) programmer but I have a feeling I do it much differently than most of the DJ world,” says Jeffrey. “Because I use MixMeister, I have the luxury of being able to pre-mix, prepare, and pre-program many of my sets. In fact, I keep up to five different set templates for different event types: weddings, mitzvahs, youth, seniors, and general.

“I don't have any particular genre that I prefer or brand myself with, so when people ask me ‘what types of music do you like to play?’ I tend to get perplexed about the question, wondering if I truly am in a minority in that regard. I've learned not to pile up songs together of the same genre and/or rate (unless specifically asked, or if I'm in a club situation).”      

  

And Jeffrey concludes: “Again (normally) I believe it's best to keep the sets as varied as possible, especially if the age group is varied (like at a wedding)... a slow song here, then a faster song there, a 60's oldie there, followed by a Top 40 hit there.... I want to see crowds get up for one set, then switched by a different crowd at the next set. No, we can't please everyone, but I'll die trying.”

As for myself, I’m predominantly a wedding DJ and still customarily a sets guy. I most often will run a stretch of eight, ten, or twelve upbeat songs before I slow things down a bit, most often playing a ballad and then a traditional sing along song (“Don’t Stop Believing,” “Friends in Low Places,” “Sweet Caroline”). I like to start most of my dances off with something newer yet universal enough that most all age demographics know and will dance to (“Uptown Funk” and “Shut Up and Dance” are perfect recent examples), thus establishing to the younger audience that, yes, I do have new music, before I ease back into something a bit older. Club or hip-hop music will come later. 

As for requests I—like Steve—treat them as suggestions and I phrase my request pleas over the microphone to, “If there is something you would love to dance to, let me know what it is,” therefore planting the seed that I am looking for DANCE tracks and minimizing the chance that the guy with the grey-haired ponytail in the back of the room will approach me and ask if I can play “Radar Love” by Golden Earring… next.

But, the way I see it, programming music is an art. And like any form of art there is no right or wrong answer, as long as we all achieve the same result: happy customers.

Until next month
~ Michael ~

Michael J. Lenstra is celebrating his 25th year in the Mobile DJ industry, is a full-time DJ/Entertainer, and owns Alexxus Entertainment in Dubuque, Iowa.