The most important ingredients in making the music work for a special event are information and preparation. The more I know about the tastes of the attendees, and especially the guest(s) of honour (if applicable) the better I can prepare, and the better job I can do on the night. I can (and have) done functions with absolutely no information and relied upon my experience - sometimes because I was hired, last minute, to take over from a no-show DJ, and sometimes because the organiser had to concentrate on other things and leave the music up to the hired professional.

I am happy to work with you on whatever basis you prefer for your Wedding or Event...

Here are some guidelines as to what I will play at your function (unless doing so would be at odds with your requirements for the night):

1. My personal tastes have no influence on what I play at your do (unless you want them to - watch out for my soon to be added section on jazz-based music) - my decisions on what to play are governed by a combination of three things:
   • Your requests and ‘Must Play Songs’ (if any)
   • Requests from your guests (if appropriate)
   • Music that suits the type of event and average age of attendees
   
   That said - I tend to avoid most of the action songs so often associated with Mobile DJs unless (of course) specifically requested by you (and only you). Occasional exceptions are made for ‘YMCA’ and ‘The Time Warp’, as I consider these to be the least grating and most broadly accepted songs of this type.
   (I made this decision not for my own taste, but because a room full of people doing the ‘Macarena’ or the ‘Bird(ie)/Chicken Song/Dance’ could seem like a room full of people having a good time but my experience tells me that many people merely ‘go along with it’ and would rather the song hadn’t been played.)

2. As a DJ I have access to versions of songs that you might not be aware exist – I believe that a good remix of a song can be a better choice than the original where:
   
   • the remix doesn’t deviate too far from the original, just making the song easier to dance to (especially for those who are less familiar with the song), and/or;
   • the remix brings elements of another genre that is appropriate to the tastes of the audience, e.g. a dance version of a classic rock track for a crowd that is made up of older guests who will know the original and younger guests who enjoy clubbing, and;
   • the remix isn’t repetitive or dull

Weddings:

A lot of mobile DJs will provide you with a play list (sometimes it will be a daunting dozen pages or so) and most will also accept a request list instead of, or in conjunction with, that play list. From these it is usually possible for them to do an OK job figuring out what other music you like and what music you might consider unacceptable. The function of the DJ at your function is usually to strike a balance between your specific requests and the music that your guests are enjoying. If the guests make requests it is up to the DJ to weigh each request against the play list and the prevailing tastes of the guests… DJing is a numbers game – whatever is most likely to have the most appeal to the most people will most often be what is played… mostly.

This leaves a lot to chance.

My recommended process for weddings involves a simple questionnaire that focuses in on three major elements of the music that will make your wedding day memorable for you and your guests:

a) What music or artists do you like now?
b) What music or artists did you enjoy with your friends when you were growing up?
c) What music or artists did/do you enjoy with your parents?

The completed questionnaire also acts as a guideline for me on the night – any requests have to pass your criteria. So whilst you’re on the dance-floor, or at the bar, or having a quiet chat you’re also right there, with the DJ, making all of the decisions as to what gets played.

If you are less concerned about what music gets played and more concerned about giving your guests the freedom to make requests, and giving me the freedom to take the crowd where they want to go then you can look at the options I recommend for other events, below. If you have more specific musical requirements, such as the bride and groom having markedly different tastes, then see my page on Solutions for these and other issues, or check out Your Wedding for more information on other aspects of my service.

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Events:

I have two specific methods that I regularly use for selecting the right music for events:

The first, and simplest, is purely getting a list of up to 20 important songs for the evening, beyond that I like to know the approximate age ranges of the guests. This gives me my starting point for the music as well as an approximate idea as to where the music needs to go over the course of the evening. If you are happy for me to take requests then I gladly will, though I will always weigh up the value of playing any given song against the prevailing taste of the crowd.

The second method includes the above but also asks for selections to be made from both my ‘All-Time Top 100’ song list and my ‘101 Favourite Artists’ list. These lists have been compiled from my years of experience DJing all manner of functions and represent, respectively, the 100 songs most likely to get an all-ages crowd up and dancing, almost regardless of individual musical preferences, and the 101 artists whose music is a benchmark of either pop music or their particular genre. In combination the lists allow enough scope for a night of rock or disco or dance or hip-hop/r’n’b or any combination of these.

I can’t stress enough that if you don’t know the attendees well please do not try to guess what music they might like (that’s my job), or possibly worse, make requests that reflect your own tastes (unless you are going to tell me that that is what you have done)… outcomes like a request for a romantic song when attendees’ partners are not present are unlikely to go down well. I am a professional music-selector and am very flexible in what I play, any gathering of mixed ages and backgrounds requires as much of this flexibility as possible to find music that will appeal to the 25 year old PA and the 60 year old GM.

If there are issues regarding the music that need to be catered to then please, by all means, let me help you – check out my pages on Theming and other Solutions, or see Your Event for more information on other aspects of my service.

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