Mobile DJing is the most common type. You’re expected to perform as a DJ, but often also wear the hats of event organizer, client liaison, sound engineer, roadie and even MC. The best way to avoid doing a bunch of work you didn’t sign up for is to have a clearly worded contract for you and your contact to both sign. Remember, this is probably your client’s first wedding and you likely have way more experience than them.
Music request form
Mobile DJs who perform different types of events (as opposed to residency DJs) need to be flexible and manage their client’s expectations. Make sure you have a music request form for the client. This will include the type of music that they expect, but also may include a list of banned music. Some of the most common banned music includes songs like YMCA, Macarena, Chicken Dance, Hokey Pokey. You get the idea. Presenting the client with a list of these songs will also make you appear more professional, with the added bonus being that you won’t have to play the songs should a special guest request any of them. Here’s the full list of most banned wedding songs.
Itinerary
As soon as possible, get a copy of the timeline of events for the day. Besides being your best way of knowing when to arrive and play, it will also give you a sense of what to expect. For example, if there’s a 15 minute slot for prayers or a Disney-themed duck parade, you’ll have a sense of the type (and age) of the people you’ll be playing for and be able to adjust your set accordingly. You can also get a sense for how long your expected waiting time is between setup and set. You could use the free hour or two to brush up on your skills with one of the online courses from DJ Courses Online!
Special requests
It’s pretty rare to perform an event with no special formal moments at specific times. Often, a specific track is required for first dances, punchline moments in speeches and toasts, prayers and other formalities. It’s obviously quite essential that you have these songs cued up and ready to go according to the timeline of events. Pro tip: make sure you’ve test played each special song at least once after downloading it. You can recover from a mistake in a dancefloor pop song by just skipping to the next track. But a balls-up during one of the special moments has the ability to make you the el primo idiot of the day. Get it right by doing your preparation.
You’ve got this! Mobile DJing is a fantastic way to cover your rent in a day’s work, allowing you to dedicate even more time to learning the art of track selection. Be smart about getting the gigs by remaining humble enough to entertain the host’s musical taste. Understand that the creatively free superstar DJ myth isn’t for everyone, and that you’re actually in this for the long run. Check out what our courses have to offer today and get cracking on your DJ career.
John Bartmann is a music producer and DJ