7 Things Average DJs Do Wrong At Workplace Parties

Posted on 16 Dec 2016

7 Things Average DJs Do Wrong At Workplace Parties

So you have been asked to DJ associate degree workplace Christmas party. Maybe you bought the gig through a neighborhood building, eating place or a social club that engaged an occasion for a giant company in your city, and so had to travel and find a DJ. Maybe you truly work for the corporate throwing the party. Point is, you are in all probability not a full-time mobile DJ won't to this sort of gig. This is a bit out of your comfort zone. So what do you do?

Unfortunately, a depressingly large number (easily the majority) of DJs booked to play office parties do a terrible job of it. Nobody diversion, the music just annoys everyone, a box ticked but the job is done badly.

Truth is DJs WHO do an honest job of this sort of gig are few and much between. Maybe it's because nobody expects any better. Maybe it's as a result of the DJ is associate degree afterthought, or there's not much budget left. Whatever the reason, it's a fact (ask anyone you know how good the DJ was at their last three office parties).

So in the spirit of educating you if you're a relatively new DJ who's been asked to do this kind of gig, or if you're not, in the hope that writing one thing like this may raise the atrocious customary of DJing everyone's return to expect at this sort of event, here are a few mistakes second-rate DJs who play office parties make over and over again.

Get simply many of those right, and you'll deliver a better set than most. Beauty is, the bar is about therefore low that it honestly takes comparatively very little work to try to well.

7 things average DJs do wrong at workplace parties

1. They fail to talk to the organizer

Sure, the venue might tell you once you are meant to start out and stop. But what about anything else? Office parties tend to possess speeches by CEOs, perhaps many awards to lean out, typically a buffet or a lot of formal meal, maybe a novelty photographer or other sideline entertainment. Running-order wise, then, they can have the complication factor of weddings (with the stakes lowered considerably, of course).

How, then, would the organizer like you to fit in around all these things? Is there anything they need? Any special music you can add to make it more fun? Talking to the organizer both in advance and on the night shows you care and allows you to do a more professional job too. (It does not hurt either that if you were set-aside by the venue, not the organizer, you get the possibility to swap contact details for direct bookings within the future.)

2. They play too full-on, too early

This is not a rave. There are a hundred other things going on both in the itinerary and the minds of everyone there. It's no surprise free bars, welcome drinks associated wine on the faucet with meals square measure an integral a part of most workplace dos - it takes additional time and booze to bring down the barriers of workplace politics and also the caution between bosses and employees before individuals begin even eager to be there, including dance.

Play a long game. Smashing out EDM variety ones at intervals associate hour of everybody incoming presumptuous everybody can miraculously dance may be a deluded maneuver.

3. They don't play a wide enough variety of music

So you realize you cannot play innovative deep house, trap or hip hop all night - you know your audience is mainstream, not clued-up clubbers. Well done. But deciding instead to play dance remixes of the highest 10 from the past eighteen months all night long presumptuous that'll be thought enough to try to do the work whereas still allowing you to show off your DJing amazingness is honestly only marginally better.

Firstly, no one cares regarding your dance remixes, therefore wise up early, and admit you are solely enjoying them, therefore, you'll be able to a minimum of practicing your holy beat-mixing - then stop it. Play the originals, those all of them hear on the radio. Save the beat-mixing for another time. This is regarding enjoying songs individuals understand, and that is it.

Secondly, you have got associate age vary in all probability from eighteen to sixty to play too. That's four of five decades of music to choose from. Widen your palette - considerably. We're talking familiarity, a singalong, and fun - nothing more.

Thirdly, remember as we said that nobody really wants to dance, at least not at first. So switch things up. Often. A lot of usually you'll be able to get a distinct section of your audience thinking or speech "oooh, I prefer this one! ", the sooner you'll bring everyone to the point where they're ready to have a dance. Playing one vogue all night, however mainstream you think you've made it, won't work.

4. They don't use the microphone

A few words every now and then can work wonders. That's all that's needed. Just introducing sections of the night ("let's play some great songs from this year", "let's go back in time, for the bosses! ", "this one's for X, who also has their birthday today") is the kind of thing that breaks down barriers, gets people feeling friendly towards you, and encourages them to dance a bit more.

Pretending you are a club DJ, and staring moodily at the audience as you attempt to mix in another track that's similar to the last ten you played without meaningfully trying to engage the people in front of you at all, will have the opposite effect.

5. They distort the provided sound system

Often you'll be asked to use the electronic equipment within the venue provided, especially if you're that "afterthought / low budget / I-work-for-the-company" booking. And I've got a truth for you: the likelihood is that that electronic equipment is not nice. You simply have to work within the confines of what you've got. That means keeping everything out of the red, and monitoring closely how it sounds around the venue as the night develops.

Distorting the audio by pushing a sub-standard sound system won't ever make people dance, it won't ever make the vibe better and it won't ever make you look good. It's just unprofessional. The volume available is what it is. You can name, as Scotty said in Star Trek, change the laws of physics. So don't try. Instead, get everything sounding as good as you can, and stick within those limits, even if it means the music is lower than you'd like.

6. They take their mates

There's only 1 factor worse than a don't-want-to-be-there, moody wannabe club DJ doing a bad job of DJing an office party that he or she didn't really want to play in the 1st place, glaring at a nearly empty dancefloor or checking their phone every 30 seconds from behind their consumer DJ controller - and that's two or three such characters behaving in the same way.

Come on, you've been asked to do a job. If you took it, respect it and do it properly. That means turning up alone, and making an attempt arduous to try to do an honest job, while not the distraction / support / further diversion of your friends. At best, you'll look like you're treating the event as a warm-up for a social night out. That's not good enough.

7. They blame the audience for the dancefloor being empty

It's never the audience's fault. You need to accept responsibility. The audience (to alter a widely known retail speech communication regarding the customer) is often right. And bear in mind, simply because not many of us dance, doesn't suggest you did not get as many of us as were ever attending to dance terpsichore - you'll simply have done the best job any DJ could have.
DJing is regarding setting an atmosphere and up an occasion - any event. And it's not possible to fail at that unless you start "blaming " people for things not turning out how you imagined.

Do the most effective job you'll, learn from anything that isn't quite right, and try and improve next time - but always be humble and grateful. That's the quite DJ WHO gets re-booked - even on "bad" nights.

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