Help me DJ a wedding

August 2, 2005 4:22 PM

I'm DJing a friend's wedding this weekend. Any tips from real DJs?

I say 'DJ,' but in fact I'm making two mix CDs--one 'early' dance set for the grown-ups and one 'late' set for the kids. I have a pretty good bunch of songs lined up for each set: classic rock, motown, soul, Sinatra, Nina Simone, and other 'wedding songs' for the early set, and a lot of up-to-the-minute dance music for the late set, plus more dance-oriented older music that you tend to hear at weddings ('Once in a Lifetime,' etc).

Unfortunately, once the sets are going, I won't be able to change them. So: what advice do you all have about, for example, pacing? Are there any indispensable songs I need to have? I've done lots of radio, but I've never DJ'd dance or party music so I'm a little lost. Especially for classic slow songs for the aunts and uncles to dance to.

posted by josh to media & arts (11 comments total)

I've done DJ'ing both for friends and family, although I don't do it for a living as such.

You're onto the right track with having classic tracks to start with - later in the evening you can be a little more creative because people will have drunk a bit more but bear in mind you can't go too far off course with songs no one has heard of or people may get stuffy about it.

I'd say you wont go far wrong by mixing classic motown, rock and whatever top-shelf top-40 compilation is out (in the UK we have the NOW compilations - I understand they sell in the US but I'm not sure how successful they are).

The main thing is you're DJ'ing for other people, and not yourself - bring a huge aresenal of mp3's and a laptop if you can (worked a treat for me!).

Songs of note that work well in general parties I've seen are:

Mambo #5 - Lou Bega
Build me up buttercup
Celebration - Kool and the Gang
Any popular Beatles tracks (Twist and Shout etc, see their #1's album)
The same for Elvis (Jailhouse Rock, Love me tender for slow stuff)
Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
Summer of 69 - Brian Adams
Respect - Aretha Franklin
YMCA - Village People
I Will Survive (later in the evening, don't curse the bride and groom - generally people singalong anyway)
La Bamba
Brown Eyed Girl
Soul Man - Blues Brothers
Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
Ain't Too Proud To Beg - Temptations
Locomotion - Kylie (some of her new stuff would work later too)
Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
I Want You Back - Jackson Five
We Are Family - Sister Sledge
You Really Got Me - Kinks
You Can't Hurry Love - Phil Collins
Surfin' USA - Beach Boys
Shoop Shoop Song - Cher (and Believe)
You're The One That I Want - John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John (or the Grease Medley)

As far as the evening sets go, aim for 1995-2005, any really popular dance tracks - aim for the kind of pace in Waiting for Tonight by Jennifer Lopez and work your way around.

Other tracks...

Get the party started - Pink
Vogue - Madonna
Love Shack - B52's
Gettin' Jiggy Wit it - Will Smith
What is Love? - Haddaway
Mr. Vain - Culture Beat
Rhythm of the Night - Corona
Total Eclipse of the Heart - Nikki French
Everybody's Free (To Feel Good) - Rozalla
Please Don't Go - KWS
Music Sounds Better with You - Stardust
The Rockafellar Skank - Fatboy Slim
Red Alert - Basement Jaxx
Samba De Janeiro

Of course I say all this with a slight lump in my throat, I'm very much a progressive trance / house / breaks fan these days but if I'm sent in to do a job like a wedding, I know I'd get on just fine with the above.

Some other tips are:

- Don't be a Master of Ceremonies if you're not expected to.

- Make sure you have enough material to last the whole evening, plus a few albums to whack on while the last people are mooching around.

- Please please please consider getting either an iPod or laptop to help you along - I'd use a laptop with the foobar2000 player with crossfading playback (5 seconds). Consider the dead time while changing CD's!

- Ask people what they want to hear, invite people you think are safe to select a few tracks on behalf of you.

- Don't be afraid to raid your local music store for a bunch of cliché compilations, best of 70's/80's/90's/Motown/Party Albums etc.

- Don't be original! Be as predictable as possible and you'll get on fine, think lowest common denominator. Look at it from other people's perspectives (If they didn't recognise the song, would they still dance to it?).

- Most of all smile while you're doing it, talk a lot to people around you - most of them will be more than happy with what you're doing!

Hope this helps!
posted by rc55 at 4:46 PM on August 2, 2005

One other thing to bear in mind - at an absolute maximum you'll have 160 minutes on those two CD's - are you sure it's enough?

Consider 5 minutes of playlisting on an iPod, it may well save you on the evening.
posted by rc55 at 4:49 PM on August 2, 2005

Thanks rc55--that is very, very helpful. I'll track down a bunch of those songs.

I'm finding out right now just where my two CDs fit into the evening.... For some background, the friend who's getting married was the station manager of our college radio station, and my semi-explicit instructions for the late set are to make it 'cool' and vaguely 'scary.' So my plan is to mix top-40 / dance / dance classics (e.g. 'Vogue,' 'Red Alert') with newer / more interesting tracks (e.g. The Knife 'Hearbeats' (Rex remix) or Bjork 'Who Is It' (Vitalic remix) or Gwen Stefani 'What You Waiting For' remixed by Jacques Lu Cont. I'm sort of stuck in the situation of having to satisfy the hip bride and groom and their hip friends (myself included).

So, that's kind of the situation!
posted by josh at 5:04 PM on August 2, 2005

In other words--does that sound like a really bad idea?
posted by josh at 5:06 PM on August 2, 2005

For some background, the friend who's getting married was the station manager of our college radio station, and my semi-explicit instructions for the late set are to make it 'cool' and vaguely 'scary.'

Sounds a little vague, like what does he mean by "cool and vaguely scary"? Wolfsheim and Bigod 20? Ghostbusters theme? You might want to ask for more specifics.
posted by bobo123 at 5:27 PM on August 2, 2005

My golden rules of DJing events:

1. Transitions are, in a way, more important than songs. If you play a song, make sure it makes sense coming after the previous one and coming before the next one.

2. A good general rule of pacing: songs should gradually get faster and faster, until there's a sudden change to a slow song. Going from a really up track to a slightly more sluggish one will have a sluggish effect on the mood of the event. Corollary: keep consistancy in groups of songs. Make sure the old-people-slow-dancing songs come together in a set (though as a radio DJ you probably don't need to hear this).

3. If you want people on the dance floor, play dance music (that is, music with a danceable beat and solid bassline). Don't give in to the temptation to play something just because you like it, or it's cool, or it's good to listen to on the radio. On this note, I wouldn't bother to find specific tracks that will satisfy hip guests' hip sensibilities. Danceable beats that don't suck will always be better (and more versatile) than painstakingly selected hip tracks.

4. What rc55 said about having extra and being able to improvise. No matter what you might imagine people's responses and demands will be, it will turn out somehow different... and you've got to be ready with an extra 1-2 hours of music. If you properly react to the mood of the crowd, you'll end up not playing some portion of the music you initially selected, and that's when the backup music will be important.


This may be totally obvious to you, though.
posted by rxrfrx at 5:27 PM on August 2, 2005

It's gonna be really difficult just having a couple of pre-mixed CDs. But then again you'll have more fun not having to be on the stereo all the time.

Can you do me a huge huge favour and NOT play Brown Eyed Girl? Somewhere, every time that song is played, a little bit of taste is killed.
posted by wilful at 10:16 PM on August 2, 2005

what wilful said, but for YMCA. if the bride and groom are anywhere near hip, please don't play that song. the last time it came on at a party i almost smashed the CD player.

i also reccomend some kind of music player. after you get there and get a feel for exactly what is going on, you are going to want to adjust your music when you get a feel for the audience.
posted by sophist at 10:47 PM on August 2, 2005

So by your 2 mix cd arrangement, does this mean you only have one cd player? That is severely limiting in terms of what you can play and when.

You should have some musiciany type friends if they're as hip as you say, so borrow at least 2 cd players, a dj mixer (mostly for the crossfader and headphone cueing of next track - if cueing is less important then a small mixing board would work using level sliders to transition), and a microphone is good to have even if you don't plan on being the "mc" - some drunk relative will undoubtedly want to use it for something or other..

The reason I'd recommend this - especially for the dance portion (one or two cds are fine for dinner portion) is because you really need to be able to make the playlist on the fly. Things will change, whether it be an empty dancefloor, old people wanting the old people music, relatives making requests, etc (you will soon learn to hate wedding djing)- and you need to be able to adjust the music accordingly w/ smooth transitions.

Musically, you seem to know where you're going already. Only thing I would add: If there will be many older folks then make sure you have some soul and mowtown classics for them to dance to, maybe a bit of latin/brazilian too - but they're bound to hate your Vitalic and Gwen Stefani stuff.
posted by p3t3 at 5:31 AM on August 3, 2005

Especially for classic slow songs for the aunts and uncles to dance to.

Just re-read that bit in your original question.

For classic slow dance tracks.. I don't know, play the same stuff you see in cheesy movies. I've gotten by at weddings playing things like Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto, Otis Redding ballads, Patsy Cline. Most of the classic old singers like Elvis, James Brown, Sinatra - always did the occasional love ballad; those should work okay.
posted by p3t3 at 5:42 AM on August 3, 2005

I agree that creating a playlist is a bad bad idea. What are you going to do if song two comes on and no one reacts? I know you have some experience, but radio is a lot different from a party. No good DJ writes out a set list and plays the tunes etched in stone. The best tool a DJ has is reading the crowd. Constantly ask yourself what these people want to hear, what will get them dancing. And yeah, it's not about you - you may have to delve into the cheese a few times.

But do yourself a favor and at least get two cd players, a mixer and as much music variety you can handle (too much is better than too little). It'd be so painful for you when that track you were expecting everyone to boogie to falls flat and there's nothing you can do but wait and hope the next one works. And weddings and requests go hand in hand...no way around it.
posted by hellbient at 8:17 AM on August 3, 2005