Freek: April 2010

Don't Ask!...

1. PLAY SOMETHING GOOD…SOMETHING WE CAN DANCE TO! The D.J. has to play
for more than one person…so, what you may hate may be another's
favorite song and EVERYTHING played here can be danced to one way or
another.

2. WOULD YOU PLAY SOMETHING WITH A BEAT? BE SERIOUS! We know of NO
songs played in a club that don't have some sort of a beat!

3. I DON'T KNOW WHO SINGS IT AND I DON'T KNOW THE NAME OF THE SONG,
BUT IT GOES LIKE THIS… Please don't sing for the D.J.! They have to
put up with playa-filled rooms and dangerous decibel levels all night.
Do them a favor and DON'T give them a rendition of your favorite song!

4. EVERYBODY WANTS TO HEAR IT! Oh sure, you polled EVERYONE in the
club and, as their spokesperson, you are requesting the song.

5. I'M GONNA GET LAID IF YOU PLAY IT! If you are GOOD ENOUGH, you can
get laid to anything!! (also been known as "buy the album and get laid
for a month!"). If you need ME to play you a song so that YOU can get
laid, you've got problems. Besides, point your girl out to the DJ and
I will play it for her after you get wasted and pass out.

6. I WANT TO HEAR IT NEXT! The only people who can get away with that
statement write the D.J.'s paycheck, with the exception of the guy
with the $100 tip! Plus more often than not, the dj has the next song
already cued up and ready to go, and does not have time to find your
song, get it on the decks, and get it cued up in time to be next.

7. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANNA HEAR…WHAT DO YOU HAVE? It's a lot easier
for you to go have another beer and figure out what you want to hear
than it is for the D.J. to recite the name of EVERY record in the
booth! Also don't ask for a songlist! I don't know of any club DJ's
that actually keep a printed list with them! We keep it in our heads
or sometimes in a database!

8. HEY YO, NOBODY CAN DANCE TO THIS! It is not advisable to say this
when the dance floor is packed (but, some people do anyway)! However,
even if there is only ONE person on the floor, it STILL contradicts
the statement. You're just being rude. Have an open mind about music.

9. EVERYBODY WILL DANCE TO IT IF YOU PLAY IT! The D.J. won't…I guess
that blows a hole in that theory! Plus half the time I hear this,
no-one goes to the dance floor except for the person that asked for
it, and when they realize they're the only one that wanted to dance to
it, they bail. If you ask the DJ for a dance song and don't dance to
it, expect the DJ to ignore your requests the rest of the night.
However, if we play your song and you dance and have a good time, even
if no-one else does, we'll still take your next request seriously. We
like to please, even if it's one person at a time.

SOME EXTRA ASSORTED THINGS NOT TO SAY

If you ask for a song and the D.J. says he just played it, DON'T SAY,
"Well, I just got here." It makes absolutely no difference. None at
all. If you want to be sure you hear your favorite song at the club,
you better be there when the dj starts his/her set. We don't have a
flashing red light in the booth that tells us that you're there and we
can play your song now.

If you ask for a song, BE SPECIFIC. DON'T SAY, "I wanna hear
something, anything but this!" Try going to the bar and saying, "I
wanna drink something, anything but this…" You can't complain if
you're not SPECIFIC.

HOWEVER, if you ARE specific and the D.J. says he doesn't have the
song, DON'T SAY, "What?!! What do you mean you don't have it? What
kind of DJ are you? Why don't you get into the wonderful world of fast
food! You obviously don't know what you're doing as a D.J.!"…

THE DJ MAY SHOOT YOU!!! OR DROP KICK YOU MATRIX STYLE! Or just have
you escorted out of the club. We can do that. Trust me. DO NOT BE AN
JERK.

Special Note

A nightclub D.J. gets very little respect. They are expected to play
everything for everybody. It is impossible to satisfy all to the
people all of the time, yet club jocks are expected to do just that.
If a radio jock tells his listeners a song is a hit, the majority of
the people think it must be "because they said so on the radio".

However, 80% of the time that same song was being played in a club
long before the radio "DISCOVERED" the "NEW" song. So give the D.J. a
break!

The next time you request a song, stop and think before you speak.
Remember a request is just that… a request!! It's not a guarantee your
song will get played!!

Ask once for your song and the DJ will try and play it. Keep asking
and you're being a pain!

Don't send all your friends to request the same song hoping to get it
played. DJ's aren't that stupid!! They get dozens of requests in a
night and there isn't enough time to play them all.

If you have a cd that you want the DJ to play, and the DJ agrees to
listen to it, they're ALREADY DOING YOU A FAVOR BY TAKING THE TIME TO
DO SO.

If they don't play it don't be angry, they made a judgement call that
the music wasn't the right type to be played. Or if you walk up and
you see that all the DJ is using is two turntables and there is no CD
player in site, dont ask if I can get one hooked up real quick, like I
am gonna stop everything I am doing to go find a CD player, which i
probably dont have with me, and then start to disconect every wire and
get it all hooked up to see if your wack music you made at home on
your casio keyboard is even worth droping in the club. Better yet just
dont ask!!! If you wanna hear only songs that you wanna hear, STAY AT
HOME AND LISTEN TO YOUR CD'S.

If you DJ or MC (or just say that you do) DONT ask me if you can
"dj/mc for a little bit" AT MY GIG especially if I dont know you! If
you wanna spin/mc at a club, talk to the owners and give them a mix
tape! No one will take you serious without one. Of course unless you
already have paying gigs (in which case you wouldnt be tryin to do it
at my gig). They're paying us to play music and make announcements,
not to host open mic night.

My booth is not a "Coat Check" So don't come up in it asking me if I
could watch your coat/purse. If all of your stuff is to much for you
to handle you should have left it in your Damn car!!!

Also don't come up in the DJ booth and just hover around!!!! A DJ
needs space to work.You don't see me coming into your work and
standing over your computer, or looking over your shoulder while your
trying to work. That would just be plain rude!!

And if I do decide to let you hang around in the both, NEVER EVER set
your BEER/Drink down around my VERY EXPENSIVE equipment!!!!! If that
spills I'm out Thousands of Dollars!!!!! You don't see me and my
girlfriend hanging out on the hood of your car.

So PLEASE show me the same respect for something important to me.

And above all and !!!Most Importantly!!!, if the DJ has one hand on
the mixer, one hand on a turntable and is wearing headphones, DON'T
BUG US unless you know us!!!!!!!

Oh, I almost for got one more thing. Don't flash us any money for your
request unless William Lyon Mackenzie King is on the
bill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Put everything else ion the tip jar.

It's a hard job being a DJ. Our work most of the time goes very much
unappreciated. Think about it, we are the only people in the club who
don't get a chance to actually just sit and hang out with our buddies.
We are the first to show up, and the last to leave the club. If we
stop to take a break, the whole club and the music stops with us. We
spend sometimes 6 to 8 hours in a booth, STANDING the whole time. We
are lucky if we get a chance to find a second to take a bathroom
break. Cause when we screw up and the music stops everyone starts
yelling and complaining. "No one ever remembers when we are doing a
good job, but screw up even once, and everyone notices"

If you read this and appreciate it…. Post a comment,

And Remember Support your local DJ.

Listen to their mix.

Better yet come down to thier club and represent when they are spinning!!!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

How to Get Your Request Played

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