What A Strange, Strange Night.

[aaadisco 0]

I have to admit when dealing when the general public and drink, you are always going to get the idiots. In the same way that bar staff get abused by drunk punters who think they are being clever, I guess as DJ's we will receive the same.

 

At a lot of do's I often have people putting their drink on top of my CD unit or on a speaker, I usually ask them to please put it elsewhere or I move it and then let them know when they come back for it. Also it seems that some people will get nearer and nearer the setup as they get more drunk and are staggering.

 

Also it seems that some people let their kids run wild at events, I've had kids kicking balloons at the setup and while it isn't likely to damage much it could break the glass piece on the scanners. While most of us will have insured our setup and have PLI, we would rather not have to claim because of a couple of idiots.

 

Whenever I get an enquiry for an 18th birthday party I always ask how many adults will be there and make a call on whether I take the booking or not as lots of drunk 17 year olds looking for a fight isn't fun!

 

I actually have a clause in my contract which states that I can finish the event early if something happens where either I or the equipment is put in danger.

 

It is easy to get annoyed at these idiots but better to hold in the anger and warn the person who booked you that if the trouble doesn't stop you will be forced to kill the music and finish early...

 

Just my thoughts...

 

Have to say I love this Forum and have picked up a lot of tips :-)

 

Cheers

 

Jose

 

[Welsh Audio Man 21 0]

Well said.

 

There are clear reasons outside of the control of many of us why we can't all charge £300 per night. Some of the advice and reasons have been well intentioned but at the end of the day if you are happy with your lot, then it does not matter one jot what someone else thinks.

 

I have been DJing since i was 15. I have generally enjoyed it and had the benefit of a good job, only using the disco as a second income. The prices here in Norfolk as a rule range from £140 -£250 with equipment. I aim for the top end of that range, but take less sometimes, not because I need the money, but becuase I enjoy what I am doing.

 

I enjoy the banter on the forum and the advice which I pick up , and hope also to pass on the benefit of my experience to others.

 

I don't think anybody was suggesting that any member was a cowboy because they can't get more money, proabably just a lack of total understanding that the UK differs from place to place.

 

im glad someone see's my point of view. at the end of the day, i may be on half the rate some of you are charging, but im still working every weekend.. still getting happy customers, i love my work! When i was charging more, got alot less work. maybe all the rich ba:cense:rds live outside cardiff tongue out icon ... na... im happy with the customers (in reason) that i get, and am happy to work for them at £100-150 per night, simply out of the love for the job!

[Hugmaster 0]

Hi all

 

I'm not going to get into the age old price war thing again, but I really do find it odd that in Daventry where I'm based, where the DJs here are charging on average £150, how come I can charge a minimum of £250 and still have a fuller diary than i've ever had.

 

The reason is, I don't accept the typical yellow Pages bookings where they're just after the cheapest they can find, they can get a quote and if they don't like it, they can get stuffed.

 

I've also got a clause in the booking agreement that says any mistreatment of DJs roadie and/or equipment will result in the end of the party.

 

Never had to put it into practise as yet and only introduced it as a result of a bride groom threatening to trash our car and equipment, and all because we wouldn't play an hour's worth of beatles songs.

 

the work would be great if it weren't for people.

 

Darren

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[UKHero 0]

 

Never had to put it into practise as yet and only introduced it as a result of a bride groom threatening to trash our car and equipment, and all because we wouldn't play an hour's worth of beatles songs.

 

the work would be great if it weren't for people.

 

 

 

Just wondered why you would not play an hours worth of Beatle's songs at your paying clients request...

 

 

Nik

 

[Hugmaster 0]

Hi

 

Simple, he hadn't paid us, it was the brides family that had paid us.

 

The bride had already said to ignore him because he was totally hammered.

 

When we ask for requests from clients and guests, we're very clear that they are requests, not demands. We compromised and played 20 minutes of beatles, after the first 3 songs, the dancefloor was empty.

 

The customer isn't always right, even if they do pay, especially drunk customers.

 

Darren

 

[UKHero 0]

Hi

 

Simple, he hadn't paid us, it was the brides family that had paid us.

 

The bride had already said to ignore him because he was totally hammered.

 

When we ask for requests from clients and guests, we're very clear that they are requests, not demands. We compromised and played 20 minutes of beatles, after the first 3 songs, the dancefloor was empty.

 

The customer isn't always right, even if they do pay, especially drunk customers.

 

Darren

 

Fair enough Thanks for the reply...

 

Nik

 

[shakermaker 0]

I had an incident on friday night. Nothing too bad and it ended up getting sorted quickly enough.

I was using my JBL's with my DB Tech's on top for a bit of extra oomph. I noticed some guy put a half full pint of lager on top of one of the DB's so I reached over to get it off it and he grabbed it back quickly. I said to him "please mate, keep the beer away from the speaker" and he apologised but then literally 10 seconds later, I looked up and it was back on top.

 

I went back over to him again..."Look mate, I just said don't put the beer on the speaker didn't I?" I said, He nodded and turned around and carried on dancing. Everything was cool for about 10 minutes when all of a sudden, he comes back with a new pint and sticks it straight back on the speaker again. "oi!!!" I shouted... He ignored me so I went over and took it off the top of the speaker and put it on a table. "What you ****ing doing?" he shouted and I ignored him. He kept shouting at me until I finally had enough and said "I've told you 3 times now mate, if you keep ignoring me then you can leave!"...He didn't like that but at the end of the day, friday night was a night that I was promoting myself and I pay to hire the venue and door and barstaff so I like to think that I can say what I like.

 

He began to argue again so rather than wait for it to get silly, I called over one of the doormen and told him the score and he had a quiet word. A few minutes later the guy came over and apologised to me. He even had the cheek to say that he does the "odd bit of djing" too. I was speechless and just laughed. Why is it that a guy who does the door gets his respect but me, the DJ who is entertaining....who he has paid to come and listen to, doesn't?

 

I'll stand there and take the grief for as long as it takes but when people blatantly stand there and take the P on purpose.....well, that's a different story.

[UKHero 0]

I had an incident on friday night. Nothing too bad and it ended up getting sorted quickly enough.

I was using my JBL's with my DB Tech's on top for a bit of extra oomph. I noticed some guy put a half full pint of lager on top of one of the DB's so I reached over to get it off it and he grabbed it back quickly. I said to him "please mate, keep the beer away from the speaker" and he apologised but then literally 10 seconds later, I looked up and it was back on top.

 

I went back over to him again..."Look mate, I just said don't put the beer on the speaker didn't I?" I said, He nodded and turned around and carried on dancing. Everything was cool for about 10 minutes when all of a sudden, he comes back with a new pint and sticks it straight back on the speaker again. "oi!!!" I shouted... He ignored me so I went over and took it off the top of the speaker and put it on a table. "What you ****ing doing?" he shouted and I ignored him. He kept shouting at me until I finally had enough and said "I've told you 3 times now mate, if you keep ignoring me then you can leave!"...He didn't like that but at the end of the day, friday night was a night that I was promoting myself and I pay to hire the venue and door and barstaff so I like to think that I can say what I like.

 

He began to argue again so rather than wait for it to get silly, I called over one of the doormen and told him the score and he had a quiet word. A few minutes later the guy came over and apologised to me. He even had the cheek to say that he does the "odd bit of djing" too. I was speechless and just laughed. Why is it that a guy who does the door gets his respect but me, the DJ who is entertaining....who he has paid to come and listen to, doesn't?

 

I'll stand there and take the grief for as long as it takes but when people blatantly stand there and take the P on purpose.....well, that's a different story.

 

That really is one of my pet hates with punters... Would they like it if i put my beer glass on the roof of there shiny new car...??? Guess not...

 

The other is leaning over and picking up your mic and trying to sing along to the music... Again how would they like it if I just picked up there car keys cause i fancied taking there ride for a spin....

 

People have no respect sometimes for our equipment... With the glasses issue I usually just move them and I only tell where they are if they actually ask me... Then I explaine my feelings about the beer on speakers etc and this usually does the trick although some are so drunk they go and buy another round... People UH what can you do with um....

 

Nik

 

[guyowen 0]

In response to all these posts I would like to share my experience last month at a weding I did at a local hotel.

 

The function was a wedding on a friday night, from 6 - 1am. I set up my gear the night before to avoid rushing home from uni on friday to set up in time.

 

I arrived at the venue to find a kid about 5 fiddling with my gear but i just poiltly said pllease dont come behinf here again for safety rteasons.

 

Anyway the wedding was a gypsy wedding with about 200 guests. To start with they were reasonalbly pollite and friendly but as the night went on they got very rude and obbusive and then I stupidly allowed one of the young lads to MC a few dance songs. Suddenly there were 15-20 lads hanging around my gear fighting over the mic. I got the maagner and said if this doesnt stop now the disco is over.

 

I thought all my gear was gonna get trashed it was a horrible night. I dont think 1 person said please or thankyou to me once on the night and I was on the verge of jacking djing in after that night.

 

But it decided to give it one more shot, the following weekend i was in a local social club for a 50th birthday. I took my girlfriend along and we had a great night , every one was so friendly and polite and they all danced, and at the end some of the guests thanked for a really good fun evening. I was made up.