Venue Operators & Promoters: How To Get The Best From Your DJs

For the purpose of this blog post I’m going to assume that there are 3 types of disc jockeys who play at bars/clubs/festivals etc.

1. High profile DJs (Their technical requirements are taken care of contractually courtesy of their riders).

2. Cheese & Party DJs (Happy to play Now Hits & unlabeled CDRs on Denon front loaders with no mixing).

3. The talented, hard working, dedicated & griding DJ striving to play each set to the best of their ability.

DJs 1 and 2 are not my concern for this entry, this is all about #3; The group to which I feel I am enfranchised. Since returning to London from Norwich 4 months ago, I’ve played at roughly 30 bars and clubs in and around London and every DJ booth has been different. They all have their quirky nuances and differ in desireability in terms of user application from ‘Yes I can’t wait to work my magic on this’ to ‘fml, this is gonna be a long set.’

What I’m going to do now is list a few pointers for venue operators and promoters to help them get their best from DJs. Note, that this is not about being Prima donna, or rock & roll, or even massaging a DJ ego. Hell to the no. DJs are only human and Deejaying is a creative process, an artform. If you give your DJ the tools he needs to perform you will motivate him to operate to the best of his ability. A Motivated DJ is a happy DJ; a happy DJ = a happy dancefloor.

You (as an employer of djs) need to understand that if you provide a broken, unbranded mixer connected to 2 denon front loading cd players, you are going to get a set about as creative as an iTunes playlist. If you’re happy for that in your establishment = fine. Read no longer because this post does not apply for you. This post is for venue operators who want to ensure repeat custom by providing high energy, exhilarating, better-than-your-average club nights.

It’s also worth noting that I understand the commercial connotations associated with expensive DJ equipment. I don’t expect a 140 capacity bar to have a full 8 deck DMC setup, but that’s not what I’m suggesting.

//Turntables VS CD Players

Ok, not the most straight forward place to start but allow me. Industry standard turntables are made by Technics and industry standard cd players are made by Pionner. This is not a newsflash and if you don’t know this you should probably consider a career change. Equipment becomes the industry standard for a reason: It’s the best. Not the most expensive, or the most complicated or elaborate but the most user friendly, accessible and functionable.

In an ideal world, every venue would have both a set of turntables and a set of cdjs. This is not always practical, especially for smaller venues as DJ booths tend to be limited in size and obviously this is a more expensive option. So, buy a pair of Pioneer CDJs (nothing less than an 800. 900 or 1000 = ideal. 2000 = perfect) because it’s easier for vinyl DJs to switch to using CDJs than vice versa. If you opt for Technics, mk2 = fine – mk5′s would be exuberant in most circumstances.

Why both? Well, as a DJ it’s nice to have a choice. And believe it or not there are some DJs who like to use more than 2 decks. WOW, SHOCK HORROR. I used to deal with a club owner who suggested it was impracticable or pointless to use more than 2 decks.’ Gibberish’. I told him. Whilst you’re not going to ever get customers leaving a club because ‘OMG that DJ is shit he’s only using 2 decks, how 1998′, having 3 or more decks for a DJ opens up Pandora’s box in terms of trickery and entertainment. Remember, a well quipped DJ (no homo) is a motivated DJ and a happy DJ is able to perform to the best of his ability.

//Mixer

The choices that some venues makes regarding mixers really, In the words of Peter Griffin, really grinds my gears. Mixer selection is a lot more varied and subjective compared to other equipment choices, but there is still a hierarchy in terms of preference. Allow me to interject with some personal preferences here.

All Formula Sound & Allen & Heath mixers should be placed in a landmass and set on fire.

There, I said it. The majority of DJs want to work with Pioneer mixers because they are reliable, inventive and very user friendly. Pioneer mixers are made with the view to helping a DJ improve his set through experimentability. I know experimentability is not a word but I just made it up and I like it, so…

Personally, I would work with a Rane (people who make Serato) mixer over and above a Pioneer mixer, but the chances of finding a venue with a Rane mixer installed is very slim. Whilst they may be considered a little more expensive than other brands, the reason you will not see them is because venue operators have not heard of the brand. This is a point I can empathise.

Long story short, Rane mixers are designed work with Serato Scratch Live and enhance use/DJ functionality. Ok, Serato Scratch live is the industry standard choice for a digital DJ interface. Allow me. You know when you see a DJ a laptop nearby, usually a glowing beacon in the shape of a half eaten apple, chances are he’s DJing using Serato Scratch Live. Whilst the uneducated STILL refute laptop usage as a credible DJ accessory (granted this could be considered valid for midi or even Trakor based DJs!!!), Serato essentially allows you to DJ using mp3s on your laptop (or HD, pen drive) which means the number of songs at a DJs disposable could be in the 100,000′s as opposed to 87 in the good old vinyl days. The other main selling point of this digital/analogue intergration as I said is functionality, loops, fx, recordings, instant doubles & so much more, things which we as DJs don’t expect venue operators to understand, but believe us when we say they are important to us.

One day in the not too distant future, all mixers are going to be built around digital/laptop intergration. Why not jump ahead of the pack and get a Rane mixer now? It will save you money in the long run.

//Laptops & Setup

I DJ using my laptop and a 2 or 3 turntables. For maximum effectiveness, the laptop should be placed directly in front of me, at eye level above the mixer. Can you guess how many of the 30 or so venues that I’ve played at in the last 4 months have allowed me this luxury? That’s right, none!

I’m not a starlet so as long as the laptop is in the same room as me, I can perform. Note however, that the further away from me my laptop is, the less I can do.

When you are designing the layout of a booth, please consider this. A DJ should be able to stand in the middle of the booth facing the mixer which sits slightly above waist height and touch every working feature on the turntables and/or cdjs, adjust every knob on the mixer, hit every key on his laptop and still be able to enjoy a vantage point onto the dancefloor. The number of DJ booths which have a discombobulated feel and are hidden away from the dance floor is unreal.

Remember, we live in a digital age. If you haven’t made arrangements for digital DJs, we’re going to need to access the back of the mixer. Or if you’ve installed one of those cable bridges, great, but is it labeled? If it is labeled, is it done so succinctly, we’re not mind readers unfortunately.

Do you have a limiter on the system? Great, but tell us about it. Where is the read out? We don’t want compressed sound coming from the speakers and neither do you or the customers, but if we don’t know where the display is or what the thresholds are there is very little we can do about it.

//Servicing

A car has moving parts and it is widely accepted that part of the cost of running a car involves servicing it. Turntables, cdjs & mixers all have moving parts and thus it should be accepted that part of the cost of running a venue encorporating a DJ booth should include servicing the equipment. Turntables need to serviced to keep the timing accurate. Cdjs are allegedly designed with a life expectancy on the play/cue/skip buttons to ensure Pioneer a substantial chunk of servicing & parts revenue. The truth of that could be debated infinitely, but the reality is, the buttons need replacing. In my experience for a venue operating 5 nights a week, buttons should be placed approximately every 18 months (12 months if we’re talking plastic buttons as opposed to metal. Plastic buttons are found on mk1 models).

When the song skips every time you pless play (the most common Pioneer fault) it’s very frustrating. I once inadvertently played The Stroke’s ‘Last Night’ in the middle of an R&B set because of this. Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeewind!

Somewhere in the world, there is a DJ laying in a pool of crossfader knobs which he has stolen from mixers all over the world. It’s bloody frustrating. As DJs, we understand that the cost of replacing fader knobs is an annoyance, but please, just do it. If equipment is well maintained, it’s easier for people to respect it which means it will inevitably last longer and hold it’s resale value.

//Monitoring

A MONITOR SPEAKER IS NOT A LUXURY!

Audio signals travel from the mixer, to an equalizer, to a limiter, to an amplifier, through metres of speaker cable into the speaker drivers where it is delivered by the bass cones and tweeters as noise. This process can take a little while so that by the time the DJ hears it, it could be several nanoseconds old.

With a monitor speaker, you alleviate the delay and increase booth monitoring volume because (usually) the monitoring signal comes directly from the mixer itself which helps a DJ regulate the delivery of mixing, scratching, trickery and also microphone output.

Again, as DJs we do not expect operators and promoters to understand this process just acknowledge that it exists and respect it.

//Going The Extra Mile

DJs are only human and equipment can break. So from time to time we may forget something essential to our delivery or arrive at a venue to find something has broken. So, why not keep some budget headphones nearby in the office? Or keep a couple of mix cds nearby, just incase. It’s not a big ask and such measure could come in handy one day.

Sod it, go all out and have a couple of spare phono cables, an extension lead & a usb cable. That £10 at maplin could make all the difference one night.

//Artform

If you gave an artist just 1/4 of his colour palette you would expect less from his paintings.

If you gave a graphic designer the first version of photoshop and put him in an office where other people are using a fresh Adobe Suite, chances are he’s going to deliver lesser graphics.

If you went into the Pineapple Dance studios (I hope you don’t have to) and chopped off the leg of one of the best dancers there, their subsequent routines are going to suffer.

If your DJ booth has a broken, unbranded mixer connected to 2 Denon front loaders, even the worlds best DJ will deliver for you a mediocre set.

Operators and promoters often take the approach of ‘Oh, you’ll be ok with that won’t you’ as they point to a setup fresh from Cash Converters and the answer from us DJs is often yes. Of course we want to work. It’s in our nature as DJs to want to perform and deliver, but we are governed by the limitations of our technical setup. If you want us to work to the best of our ability and deliver something better than your competitors, especially when you consider the vastly over-saturated nature of the currently retracted economic climate, please please please, give us the tools to be able to do so.

This is not about pandering to the DJ ego, which we will admit DOES exist, this is about us as PROFESSIONAL DJs wanting to deliver a paramount product for YOUR customers, no, OUR customers.

~ by DjHotpoint on 29/03/2010.