Here’s a mix I recorded live at the Brazilian Room in Berkeley on 10-9-11. This one was made up largely of client requests (as to avoid setting off anyone’s “cheese” alarm, I would not play songs like “Dancing Queen” unless requested by my clients – in this case, my client did request that particular tune plus a few other songs of a similar nature which are included in the mix), and was aimed at a mixed age crowd – half 60 somethings, and half twenty and thirty year old guests. Essentially, this is a dance set aimed at pleasing everyone in attendance, regardless of age range. This is a surely a more conservative mix than some of my others, but is a good representation of a crowd pleasing mix of very mainstream, accessible music. While a vast majority of this mix is beat-matched, its worth noting that I did drop a few songs in without mixing them – I was trying to get a LOT of requests into a short 1 hour set, and didn’t have the time to work the tempo up or down seamlessly in a few spots.
In any case, some of my potential clients are worried that a mix-style DJ can’t play this style of music, and of course, that simply isn’t true. Take a listen and I’m sure you will agree.
NOTE: ALL DJ MIXES AVAILABLE HERE ARE FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY AND ARE BEING OFFERED FREE OF CHARGE. ANY COMMERCIAL USE OF THESE MIXES IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
Here’s a little video from the massive 800+ guest corporate affair we recently handled over at San Francisco’s Bently Reserve. We set up a large 8 QSC K12 speaker array to spread sound throughout the Banking Hall, and even with a packed room, the audio sounded fantastic (and could be kept at a volume conducive to holding a conversation).
The Banking Hall at the Bently is a very popular wedding venue as well, but as a room with really poor acoustics (the room is loud, but echoes badly due to all the reflective surfaces and can sound muddy), I will generally advise clients (who have the budget to do so) to go with a 4 or 6 speaker array (short of erecting a stage and going with an impractically expensive line array system, this is the best option), with speakers located on both sides of the space.
For background music, and for speeches / toasts, a standard 2 speaker “wedding DJ” setup just isn’t optimal in the Banking Hall space. It may seem counter-intuitive to use MORE speakers in an attempt to keep the volume LOWER (and thus reduce the echo effect), but multiple speakers spread throughout the space really makes a huge difference in a space like that that was not initially designed for event use.
In any case, the Bently is a beautiful venue, and if you are booking there, its surely worth considering adding a bit to the budget to optimize the sound as much as possible.
