Nightclub, Bar, and DJ Industry Stuff

Increase your DJ bookings with these valuable Tips

Don't just sit by the phone -- make it ring!
Is your calendar as full as you would like it to be? Do people know how to find you when they need a Mobile DJ? Are you expanding your customer base? If you didn’t answer yes to these questions, then it’s time to get to work! Before you reinvent the wheel, however, check out this list of 29 ways to maximize your bookings!

1. CHECK YOUR BUSINESS CARD. Do you have a good supply? Is the information current? Is it a great-looking billboard for your DJ services? (See Biz Card Awards in MB #58 for inspiration.)

2. UPDATE YOUR...

You have to know what you’re selling to sell it effectively

When I first began my own Mobile DJ business in July of 1994, I had no experience in marketing and so I took out a 2” by 4” white-backed ad in the Yellow Pages. Their artists designed the layout. You can see the phrases “24 HOUR HOTLINE” and “Short Notice Not a Problem,” which we all know really translate to, “I’m new at this and I don’t have any bookings yet!”

This ad, my first attempt at marketing, cost me $1,200 for the year (a figure that would eventually carry a lot more meaning for me). It resulted in only a few phone calls but absolutely...

What not to do if you want your sound system to sound good and last long

1. Mismatched power - One of the most common mistakes made with mixer-amplifier-speaker combinations is the use of components that are not evenly matched. For example, say you have a pair of speakers rated at 300 watts continuous power and 600 watts peak. This gives you an operating range in which to place the amplifier that you’ll use. Check to see whether the speakers are eight ohms or four ohms in impedance. The next step is to check the power rating on the chosen amplifier at that specific impedance or ''load.'' It is very easy to do speaker damage by...

The top 40 lines a DJ hates to hear

Audience interaction is great… but there’s always someone who just doesn’t understand the art of making requests. How many of these lines sound familiar to you?

1. Play some real music.
2. Play something that somebody actually wants to hear.
3. Play something faster, more upbeat.
4. Play something we can dance to.
5. Play something with a beat.
6. Don’t play any crap.
7. Shut this off! (so what if the dancefloor is full).
8. Nobody likes this; it sucks and you suck.
9. I need a song, but I don’t know what it’s called.
10. Throw on some Zeppelin, it’ll...

From the bottom line to basic liability—a selection of hot DJ topics

Q: What is the average cost of starting a DJ business? –Brad

A: That really depends upon your objectives, ie., the types of events you see yourself doing. If you want to build a business on the best gear, it could easily take you beyond $20K just in sound. Lighting could add another $20K. However, a more reasonable number might be $20K for sound and lights.

One area that I feel is very important for starting a business is the cost of self-improvement. You need to determine objectively whether you need to develop...

A few gift boxes that might spiff up your sound

It should go without saying that the basis for a good-sounding DJ rig is a combination of top-of-the-line components: CD player, mixer, amp and speakers. Do you really need any other gear if you have the fundamentals in place from the start? The following brief overview should get you thinking about your answer. It is definitely best to use extra signal processing devices only to fine-tune your sound, not to make up for inadequacies. A really cool bow tie will not compensate for a shirt with a dried tomato sauce stain on the collar.

What’s in your closet?
Assuming you have a...

Opening a bar or managing a bar is not as easy as many would have you believe. Although the rewards for those who get it right can be great, a large majority fail for the same few reasons again and again.

Having worked with more than 200 bars and restaurants, I’ve listed the 10 things I have come across most often that have ended up costing a lot of money, alienating customers and even contributed to the closure of the business. In no particular order:

1. No research done on location or market

Too many times I have met with struggling bar owners who spent a fortune on a concept that...

Smoke, fog or haze machines have long been used to maximize the effect of lighting effects, as most modern lighting effects rely on beams of light moving around. This effect is hugely enriched when the light hits the smoke or haze particles, making the beams more pronounced and visible.

There are generally 2 common ways in which fog effects are produced in stage productions. The first is to use equipment that utilizes the properties of “dry ice”, however the more practical and popular option is to use a fog machine that uses a specially manufactured water based fog fluid or fog “juice”, these are often referred to as smoke...