Interview With Half Pint

[Paul Smith 0]

Half Pint comes up with a different angle on some of the questions - enjoy ...... smile icon

 

1. What is your DJU Forum Alias?

Half Pint ~ in 1976 I was short, but now I am short and Fat!

 

2. What is your Real Name, Age, Location & Marital Status?

Simon Hill, 49, Camberley Surrey, Married, two daughters.

 

3. What is the Name of your Disco?

In the 80's Disco was called Half Pint entertainments but I now trade as Dragon Spirit Ltd

 

4. How long have you been a DJ?

First gig was 1976. Sold up when our daughter came along in 1988. DragonSpirit was formed 3 years ago.

 

5. What inspired you to become a DJ?

Pagham Sailing Club. They couldn’t afford a Disco I was always the person putting the records on at house parties, so I got the job by default! The rest is history.

 

6. Are you a Full/Part Time DJ? If part time what else do you do?

Very, very Part Time. From being A DJ, I became an Insurance Broker, and 3 years ago formed Dragon Spirit. We are selling the Insurance Business and Dragon Spirit is becoming our full time activity. Dragon Spirit Imports High end PA equipment.

 

7. What is your favorite type of function now? (eg: Wedding, 18th Birthday party, etc)

Low pressure charity or community fund raising gigs. I.e. people who are desperate and can’t get anyone better! The lower the expectation of having a great time, the better. If you expect to have a rubbish time, then I will always over deliver!

 

8. What’s the worst/most embarrassing thing you've done in front of an audience?

Doing a Disco for a Rugby club with Strippers. My roadies suggested to the Strippers that it would be fun to wind me up on stage with some very, very very personal attention! There I was, aged about 18 or 19 on a stage, 3 girls doing all kinds of things to me. It was either play records with the girls or leave the stage and the music to go off! I like to think that I was professional enough to have to stay on the stage and suffer! Lets just say they called me “woody” that evening. . The strippers thought it was really funny!

 

9. If you could go back to the beginning of your DJ career is there anything that you'd do differently? (eg: The gear that you bought, the way you promoted/advertised yourself)

No, think what we did was 100% right for the time. I think it’s a young mans game and apart from a bit of fun to help good causes “old farts like me” should move over and let youth come through!

 

10. What do you feel you offer the public that convinces them to book you rather than "the next guy/girl"?

Maturity and experience, and I’m not afraid to put on something silly to have a bit of fun. The worst that can happen is that I blame some innocent member of the public for that selection of music!

 

11. Have you ever bought something for your show that you wish you hadn't? and why?

Confetti Cannon. Used it at the Heathrow excelsior hotel in 1984 and blasted a hole in the ballroom ceiling!

 

24” Mirror Ball. Bloody stupid thing! Especially being a mobile Disco. Looked great, but it was huge!

 

12. What's your next DJ purchase likely to be?

As an importer / dealer we go to China and source new gear twice a year. Currently, we are looking for very high quality amplifiers (light weight). I cannot believe that there are people out there using amps that are of such low quality. A good amp can improve a sound just as much as any other component. There is one amp I would like to import but at this moment it is too expensive. It sounds fabulous!

 

13. If you could get someone to invent a new piece of disco equipment for your show, what would it be?

An intelligent computer which looks at the tracks I have just played and gives me a list of suitable songs. It would also have to learn my style and thus starting thinking like me.

 

14. What was the worst equipment failure suffered during a gig?

1979, Chichester Secondary School ( audience about 4/500), 4 x 2x12 Speaker ( 2 with amps inside). With 30 mins left I lost one powered speaker, then the second and because I was over driving the remaining two, I burnt out another speaker. Finish the evening playing slow records with about 100 watts!.

 

15. What do you think is the best thing about DJing?

The fun and being able to be a part of creating something special

 

16. What do you think is the worst thing about DJing?

Packing away!

 

17. What would make you stop DJing (if anything)?

If it was no longer Fun

 

18. How do you think DJing will change, in the next 5 years?

I hope that people will start to learn about equipment and get some knowledge. I can’t believe how little some people know about the equipment.

 

I think DJ’ing has a serious threat with live music and electronics which are making Live Music sound so much better.

 

With the changes in drinking laws and systems like "Rolec" that’s plays music and mixes it together, DJ’s may find life rather tough. There is more to Discos than Weddings.

 

I can understand why people are chasing this work and the money with low power systems and huge booking fees, but there is so much more to being a DJ.

 

19. Most stupid thing anyone's ever said to you at a gig?

Can’t remember, people talk so much rubbish, it just goes in one ear and out the next!

 

20. Best advice you were ever given by a fellow DJ?

Your getting to old, why don’t you retire!

 

21. And worst advice you were ever given?

You used to DJ? Why don’t you come out of retirement and do our party!

 

22. How do you keep up to date with music? (eg Promo monthly CDs, Downloads, Purchase from retailer)

Not really relevant. People get what I have or what my children have bought recently and that Dad has borrowed or raided from their bedrooms!

 

23. Name 3 songs that 95% of the time will fill the dance floor for you!

Sit on my face and tell me you love me

Nelly the Elephant ~

99 Red Ballons ~

 

Don’t be stupid, it not about the songs that we use to get people dancing at our Discos’ it’s the money I have to pay people to dance! Why else would they come to an “old farts” Disco!

 

24. One piece of advice you'd give to someone just starting out.

Learn. Experiment. Don’t be like a DJ with 1 years knowledge but been doing it for 20.

 

Add to your skills, both in music and in how the equipment works!

 

25. What medium format do you mainly use eg vinyl, CD, hard-drive?

Eight Tracks, Cassettes (both C30, 60 and C120 tapes), Records and I now have 2 CD’s of my own!

 

26. Have you embraced/adapted any ideas that you've read about on DJU - if so what?

NO ~ you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

 

27. What is your best gig ever and your worst?

Woking Centre Halls in the early 80’s on New years year. Played musical chairs with 900 people. The stewards thought it was funny not to help keep people off the dance floor and the whole game went on for over 1 hour. People just kept coming back onto the dance floor with their chairs! Loads on Fun!

 

Wedding in about 1982, when the bride stood up and told the guests that her groom was / had been screwing the bridesmaid and that they were going to get a divorce on Monday! You had to see the faces of the Groom and Bridesmaid! Brilliant, but it rather made the evening a bit flat! After the announcement she told everyone that she want to make him look stupid and she left the function room and went to the private helicopter (his) and flew off! First class performance!

 

29. Are you a member of a DJ Association / Union?

No.

 

31. How many gigs do you do a year, how many would you like to do?

5 now ~ 10 would be fine. We now only do gigs to support the business profile or for good causes.

 

32. What is your average charge for a booking?

Do people still get paid... Damm.. I wish I'd had known that.

 

33. How many tracks do you have in your music collection?

No idea! Have to check how many CD's the Kids have!

 

34. Have you ever had someone try to claim off you? (eg: Public Liability Insurance or other such legal action)

Yes, The excelsior Hotel, I was very lucky that because the Disco was for a Japanese Airline and the organizer insisted that I used the Cannon that the hotel only charged the airline £50.00 for a new ceiling! I think it was the amount of business the hotel group got from the airline that saved my bacon!

 

35. What is your favorite music genre?

It was Soul and Jazz Funk until I had Kids. I still like all the old rubbish, but increasingly, I am enjoying what ever the Kids like. I guess its because they now control the remote control on the Sky box and the Music channels!

[Andy Westcott 0]

Superb interview, Simon - I enjoyed reading that! :Thumbup:

 

I got worried about this bit:

"Don’t be like a DJ with 1 years knowledge but been doing it for 20"

 

Sounds uncomfortably familiar, that one.

[HalfPint 0]

Hopefully only saying what many are thinking!

 

Simon

 

[Dukesy 0]

Great read!

:Thumbup:

[brianmole 0]

Nice interview Simon, I will pop in for a cuppa as soon as I get a spare hour!!!

 

Weddings.

 

I can understand why people are chasing this work and the money with low power systems and huge booking fees, but there is so much more to being a DJ.

Not quite sure what you mean here...... There are loads of very good reasons I can think of why some of us chase this work. Mind you I would say the booking fees are not huge, they are average.

[HalfPint 0]

Nice interview Simon, I will pop in for a cuppa as soon as I get a spare hour!!!

Not quite sure what you mean here...... There are loads of very good reasons I can think of why some of us chase this work. Mind you I would say the booking fees are not huge, they are average.

 

Hi Brian,

 

Not talking about the sort of shows you do. Totally understand why the experienced DJ does weddings, and probably does them very well. In fact only experienced DJ should do weddings!

 

It appears many start ups with little gear go straight for the wedding market, charge the same as you, Marky and many others. You guys cover weddings which is what I expected but you also can hold your own with of course functions like "Houe proud". Its getting the balance right.

 

My only concern with the DJ market chasing the wedding business is that the new boys only see one side and don't get a balanced set of Skills. Weddings, as you know are very different to other functions. In fact they almost require a a totally different set of skills. Very few start ups will understand what a wedding really needs and have the skill sets to cover it correctly.

Edited April 30, 2007 by HalfPint

[brianmole 0]

Gothcha, fully understand...

 

 

Edited April 30, 2007 by brianmole

[Welsh Audio Man 21 0]

great interview... enjoyed reading!

[EdBray 0]

Excellent, really enjoyable read :Thumbup:

[High Fidelity 0]

:Thumbup: Excellent read Simon

 

I particularly like

 

7. What is your favorite type of function now? (eg: Wedding, 18th Birthday party, etc)

Low pressure charity or community fund raising gigs. I.e. people who are desperate and can’t get anyone better! The lower the expectation of having a great time, the better. If you expect to have a rubbish time, then I will always over deliver![/quote]

 

I think I might change what market I aim for now

[HalfPint 0]

Thanks for the comments,

 

but seriously, any advertising should under state the items. Then the customer is always happy.

 

The last gig was a Mayors charity ball. They expected a 50 watt FAL system and got a 4k "full on" sound system and lights.

 

It is all about expectation!

 

You can be absolutely crap and still get praise after the event. Its all about what is expected!

 

I am sure you will agree with me that the Best advice for new people starting off is to be truthful!

 

Thanks again for kind words

 

Simon

Edited April 30, 2007 by HalfPint

[Mattaious 0]

Excellent Read!

 

 

[wizard 0]

Some wise words ....and a few laughs............... excellent. da da da ada ada adaaaaaaa ( for anyone that remembers bill & ted)

[Nathan Fleming 0]

Great read Simon well done. :Thumbup: