July 8, 2024 • 21 mins
Ever wondered how DJs manage to keep everyone—from the bride and groom to the event coordinators and venue managers—happy all night long? Join us in this episode of the Clever DJ Podcast with Ilya and Nino, where we pull back the curtain on the multifaceted world of professional DJs. Learn the secrets behind perfecting punctuality and honoring client-specific song requests while maintaining a professional demeanor. Discover how building rapport and offering honest feedback can make or break an event, and why keeping venue owners pleased could be the key to securing your next gig. With personal anecdotes and insider industry tips, we're laying out the roadmap to ultimate client satisfaction.
Get ready for a rollercoaster of hilarious and frustrating tales from the DJ booth, as we navigate the unpredictable nature of event gigs. From managing a dance floor amidst distracting photo booths to handling drunk guests with outlandish song requests, we've seen it all. Hear how we tackle the challenge of balancing egos, both on the dance floor and among fellow DJs, to keep the party going strong. Whether you're a seasoned DJ or just starting out, this episode is packed with practical advice and real-world stories that will help you elevate your game and ensure every event is a smashing success. Tune in for a candid and entertaining look at the life of a DJ!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ilia (00:12):
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Clever DJ
with Ilya and.
Nino (00:16):
Nino.
Another special episode,another one.
Ilia (00:21):
Another one, another special episode from Ilya and
Nino at the Clever DJ Podcast.
How are you?
Nino (00:28):
guys doing today?
How are you guys doing?
I haven't seen you guys in aweek.
Yes, technically.
Ilia (00:32):
Technically, we sometimes pre-record, as most shows do.
So, no, we don't.
No, we don't.
What are you talking about?
What are we talking about?
So today's episode is about whodo we, who are we trying to
please as djs?
Who do we focus on now?
(00:54):
Clearly, the client, of course,the person who hired us,
whether it's a birthday, uh,stag, and doe, jack and Jill, a
wedding, whatever whatever it isOf course the client, the man
or woman or both, who hired us.
But that's not the reality.
It's not just the clients whohired us, it's also a bunch more
(01:17):
people who are involved inthose, in those gigs, because of
so many reasons which we'regonna cover, cover today.
Nino (01:28):
so take it now we're in the service industry, right?
So technically, we're trying toplease everyone.
But we're going to give youspecifics now and why we're
trying to please everyone.
So, starting off with,obviously, the person who hired
us Now, if it's a wedding,usually it's the couple, right?
So there's also promoters orevent coordinators or the person
(01:52):
who is paying us.
Like literally, it's prettymuch everyone.
This means going above andbeyond with customer service.
Now, this includes us being ontime, which is very important.
Following clients must plays,like don't please, or yeah,
exactly, sometimes we have toget no plays because it's very
(02:17):
specific to certain clients thatthey don't want things played
because it irks them when itcomes to certain songs.
Ilia (02:24):
It makes their wedding cheesy or their event cheesy, or
reminds them of something theydon't want to be reminded of.
Nino (02:30):
Yeah, like, like so a past girlfriend, or yeah?
Ilia (02:34):
or someone passed away and that was their song.
Do you remember that onewedding?
Yes, yeah, so, yeah, so, yeahthat it could be so many reasons
, but it's really important tofollow that, build a report, you
know, give them the peace ofmind with certain updates and,
just if your couple asks you fora song, that you're literally
(02:55):
playing it next or immediately,so it shows them that you know
their input is of utmostimportance to you, but at the
same time, time, you're therealso to know how to break the
truth to them in a way thatthey'll appreciate, like, hey, I
don't think we should play thisnow.
Or like, hey, how about we dothis next?
Nino (03:13):
yes, um, like, the truth is very important to them.
They take this, uh, veryseriously because they
appreciate our, our actual input, because we are the
professionals.
Ilia (03:23):
That's why they're paying us right exactly so our input is
very, uh, very important tothem and um, one of the most
important things where you'resaying.
When you were saying this, Iwanted to say something event
coordinators.
They're the mafia of thewedding industry in some places,
because sometimes certain areas, certain venues, certain
(03:48):
regions have like two or threecoordinators that everyone knows
.
Nino (03:52):
Yeah.
Ilia (03:53):
Right, and they can get you lots of gigs or they can
make sure you don't get any gigs.
It's true, it's very, very true.
You don't want to get on theirbad side.
You definitely want to get ontheir good side, and they know
that.
Yeah, you always do the dance.
You know how's it going, ohyeah yeah, yeah, you know how it
is, you gotta remember them.
Remember their names especiallywhat they like, what they don't
like, all like they'reextremely important.
(04:15):
So people are like oh, what areyou talking about?
Nino (04:17):
you're there for the client yeah, you're there for
the client but there's so muchmore to look out for.
Yeah.
Ilia (04:23):
Yeah, right, and we talk a lot about weddings because
really like that's a huge partof the industry and we're not
club DJs.
Maybe I will be in the future.
I'm actually getting into likebars and stuff like that.
You used to do that back in theday.
You still do that restaurant.
That's kind of like a lounge.
Nino (04:41):
Yeah, I still do it once in a while, but you know are you
still there yeah, yeah, yeah,you still have time for that.
Barely barely, but I'm stillthere.
I take a lot of time off fromdoing that event fridays fridays
, friday nights so I've beentaking it off for the past like
months now, because I've beenhaving events right so so you
(05:01):
did take time off there yeah,yeah, yeah yeah.
Ilia (05:04):
All right, I really wanted to do that, but when you told
me the type of music, I was likewhat?
What was the name of the genre?
Neo?
Nino (05:11):
soul.
What the hell is that?
It's another like a funky termjust to say like old school R&B,
pretty much Neo soul.
Ilia (05:20):
I never heard of it.
Neil Sewell, I just how manygenres are Like?
That's one of the there aretons man Things that really
shocked me as a DJ.
Even certain EDM genres have,like another Subgenres, five to
ten subgenres.
Yes, it's true, and then theyhave more and I feel like people
are like really going above andbeyond to try to find another
(05:40):
subgenre.
Nino (05:46):
Sometimes it just doesn't make sense.
It just fits into this one.
Yeah, yeah, that's it's true,it's true, it's true.
Ilia (05:49):
So what else it says?
We are also trying to pleasethe supervisor, manager or
person in charge.
Uh, show them that.
Uh, we need little to noguidance, therefore showing our
professionalism.
Also, the venue owners, in casethey are looking for preferred
vendors.
That's a big point.
Yeah, that's a big point.
(06:10):
Fast load ins and especiallyload outs because they want to
go home.
I have so much to say aboutthat.
You take it because you haveall the experience.
Nino (06:20):
Well, with this stuff, you just have to be fast, right?
They want you to set up fastand be efficient, to leave fast
too, so you can go home, andthey're looking for certain
vendors that can like justwhat's the word Like what's
(06:44):
Sorry?
Yeah, exactly, Cricket cricket.
What's sorry?
Yeah, exactly cricket cricket.
Ilia (06:47):
But they want vendors that can reliable vendors, vendors
that they can trust, like kindof like people who are managing
themselves instead of needing tobe managed.
Yeah, when you, when you getyour thought back, let us know.
But I'm trying to think of theexact word I'm trying to say, of
the exact word I'm trying tosay, but I'll give an example,
(07:09):
and that's actually from thesame place where I used to work
as a bartender.
The owner of that venue isextremely strict and she will
charge the wedding couple orwhoever whatever event is there
corporate an extra hour Ifeveryone is late.
(07:33):
If somebody is late, even iftheir DJ is late, if the DJ yes,
she did that multiple times shewill charge at the end, like if
he, if he stayed over time,like to just to pack up.
So then they will charge themfor an extra hour and then you
will have to pay them back.
So say, go, deal with a DJ.
Oh, that's terrible, very badbusiness etiquette.
(07:58):
A lot of people don't like herfor that.
That's why I'm not mentioningany names.
But uh, you know it's.
It was just she had seriousproblems.
Uh, your best friend, she wouldtalk to me for hours before like
she would talk to me for, likeI don't want to exaggerate, he
spoke to me for like 45 minutesto an hour.
Okay, totally, it was hoursbefore I left.
(08:21):
She found out we're like fromthe same part of the world.
Like she was really happy aboutthat.
I was like fine, let's build arapport, let's get closer with
her.
I leave, closer with her.
Um, I leave.
I think she was still.
Yeah, I managed to leave.
I didn't want to hang up on her.
I'm leaving.
I'm in an apartment.
I'm walking through the uh, youknow, I'm going on the stairs
instead of taking the elevator.
(08:42):
Somehow I did not lose herunderground.
We have like extra, likeantennas here, so I don't know
what they did.
I didn't lose her underground.
I'm driving for half an hour.
She's still on the phone withme Most of the drive I get there
she, she sees me there likecreating the special drinks and
everything.
Um, forget what they're called.
Like the special drinks, likethe signature drinks, cocktails,
(09:03):
yeah, yeah, and and and theyweren't simple.
They several steps, they tooklike lots of work to create, um,
and and she would talk to meand she would like change the
arrangement and everything andhow it should be, and then she
would come back and say how isit not done yet?
And I'm like it's your faultdid anyone else?
Nino (09:23):
see what?
Ilia (09:23):
happened the last few hours, so that same person would
charge the um the event, yeah,the client um extra, either
because they left late and orthe dj left late.
You remember what we did?
We were outside, yes, andbecause my girl also worked
there, yes, um, I just told youknow what, just like we'll,
(09:47):
we'll leave and you leave, youknow, we'll, just we're outdoors
, like that it was easierBecause we were outside.
Nino (09:53):
If we were indoors, it would be a different situation.
They still weren't supposed toleave us alone.
Ilia (09:56):
They weren't.
They weren't supposed to.
That's like if anythinghappened on their property it
would be on them.
But I used to work there too.
So we disconnected everything,reconnected whatever needed to
be reconnected and we left.
But we still very quick, yeah,with all the equipment.
(10:16):
We were still pretty quick, Iguess.
But you know, this happens.
It's not made up and I'm nottrying to make it more
interesting.
This happens and actually italmost happened in the other
venue as well.
I don't know if she ever didthat in the other venue used to
work at she was also managerthere.
She's a manager there, noanother one, she was also kind
of problematic um, but uh, yeahand um, it just leave on time.
(10:39):
Yeah, like make that goodimpression.
You know what a fun story, anice story, like a positive one.
That other place where you're,um, it's out west or up north
north yeah, uh, were you wherewe were told actually like, oh,
we were fantastic, we loaded inquickly and we loaded out
quickly, right?
Yeah, they noticed that thatwas the wedding.
Nino (11:00):
That was the coordinator yeah, right, yeah she, she loved
me yeah, so it's extremelyimportant and they also
mentioned in the in the post, oroh, this is why he's one of our
in-house vendors.
Oh, I was like oh, thank you.
Yeah, so it makes a difference.
Ilia (11:22):
Yes, secondary is the guests or patrons, because they
are, they are.
They are who we arepredominantly playing for.
They are, they are who we arepredominantly playing uh for.
And um, a lot of our success ofthe night uh is directly
related to whether they aredancing or not, uh, making noise
(11:44):
and overall just having a goodtime a good time and yeah, and
then what's the biggest partlike?
Why are they so important?
Nino (11:52):
well, besides that, well, they're, potentially they will
can hire us too.
Ilia (11:58):
How many times did people walk up to you?
Hey, you know you're doing mywedding next year, or like the
one where they did did the sameday video, right, you had at
least two couples, yeah, yeah,and then one couple who, whom
wedding you already did, alreadydid in one wedding, yes, so
it's like two or three couplesthere yeah, yeah, it's, it's wow
(12:19):
it's just exponential yeah inone wedding.
You never know who's gonna getmarried or have an event right,
or if it's a birthday, who'sgonna want you for their kids
event?
Nino (12:30):
or someone yeah you never know, they'll recommend you to
to uh to other people, right,because there's so many
connections there's so manyconnections to be made, so you
gotta make sure you're you're onyour a-game all the time, right
.
So we're pleasing like theguests literally they have.
We have to make them happy,because if they're not happy and
dancing the couple's's going tobe like why aren't people
(12:53):
dancing?
Ilia (12:53):
They'll feel guilty that they got the worst DJ.
Yeah exactly Right.
So, even though sometimes it'sreally not us it's not us, it's
not our fault.
Nino (13:03):
Sometimes it's something's up with them, something's up.
Ilia (13:05):
Yeah, or maybe because we told you not to get a photo
booth.
Nino (13:09):
photo booth that starts at the same time when the dance
floor opens.
You know it's gonna fight thedance floor, but and then, and
then, and then the photo boothis in another room which
everybody has to leave.
Yeah, it's not our fault,sometimes right, and eventually
they'll come back.
But it's a lot of work.
Ilia (13:26):
It's a lot of work to to, to get people back up yes, I
actually had another point, I Iforgot what it was, but um, we
do have people.
We're not trying to please.
Nino (13:37):
Yes, and this is a obvious like drunk and belligerent uh
guests that are requestingterrible song choices, we're
technically not supposed toplease them.
We don't want to please them.
They're not in the right mindto even request certain songs
(14:01):
and they don't know what's goingto keep people dancing.
Ilia (14:05):
They are in a different reality at that point.
Yeah, some people are reallybad drunks, some people are rude
.
Nino (14:11):
Very, very rude.
Ilia (14:12):
Play my song now some, yeah, demanding yeah, they make
a very uncomfortable, turnsituations into very
uncomfortable situations, um,but yeah, like if you give them
a little, they'll ask for moreand you just you need to know
how to kind of control thatsituation without making a scene
or something, right, that's,that's, that's very important.
Nino (14:35):
I'm just I'm giggling because there's so many stories
there are so many instanceswhere this happens, right so
many drunk guests.
Ilia (14:42):
Like when I went to the bathroom for like a moment.
Fine, I was a bit more in themoment because I was also on my
phone on the way back and I waslike walking really slowly.
Yeah, I really need you, youcan handle it.
Yeah, no, not this girl.
He needed me again.
One of the shorts.
Nino (15:01):
You can hear him saying once he needed me once, but it
was more than once more thanonce.
Okay, I did need you there, man, because I I needed you.
Oh, okay, I thought I didn'thear I was playing and then she
wouldn't leave me alone.
She was like touching my stuff?
I'm like, apparently myequipment, what are you doing?
Yes, and I was like, okay,touch his equipment.
No, I was like trying to gether away, just in general.
Ilia (15:18):
Right, but she has, she was like holding her beer or
whatever that was.
And she, she was her face.
Just she looked like she waslike not there.
Yeah, I've never seen someoneso unaware.
Yeah, I can't imagine how muchshe had to drink, oh my gosh.
Yeah, and her boyfriend felt souncomfortable.
He was like pulling her awayand like I'm like I don't want
(15:39):
to manhandle your girlfriend,let alone anyone really but like
right in front of you, yeah, infront of you, but she would
attack my controller.
And like did you see what shewas like smacking it?
And like what are you doing?
Like she was trying to piss meoff or something I don't know.
Did she want a song?
Nino (15:59):
What did?
Like she was trying to piss meoff or something, I don't know,
did she want a song?
Ilia (16:04):
what did she want?
I don't know, she just wantedto play with her equipment.
Wow, that was funny.
Some of the stories like we'lltell you guys, like those who
don't don't dj on that level yetyou won't believe it.
Nino (16:13):
Yeah, some, some requests too, like, um, I got a somebody,
a drunk person, asking me canyou play midnight train for me?
I'm like midnight train by who?
I'm like I don't know.
It's just, you know the songwith the midnight train in it.
I'm like I have no idea whatyou're talking about.
I googled it midnight train,there's the journey song.
What's that?
(16:33):
Can you sing it for me?
And then she actually sang itfrom.
Ilia (16:37):
Yeah, it was the journey song, right wow, yes, a lot of
people will have a differentname for the, for the song, I
don't remember you know whatwe'll actually do an episode on
that, just specifically becauseI have so many of those, uh and
for me, when I just starteddjing I'm speaking about it like
I've been djing for 10 years,but when I just really went and
just just read it, when it justjust started, it was, uh, it was
(17:00):
hard cause I didn't know somesongs.
So I just searched it by thename they gave me and like two
or two out of 10 times, three or10 times, it would be like not
the name of the song.
So I'd find it in the lyrics.
Yeah, exactly, I hope that's thesong and every time it was, but
it was, it was.
You know you could have playedsomething completely unrelated,
uh-huh uh-huh, uh-huh uh, oh,that's a big one.
Nino (17:25):
Other djs yes, and this is a big one, because as djs, we
tend to have eagles.
We sometimes we don't admit it,but we all tend to have eagles.
So when there's another djaround, like you know, there's a
dj in the in the crowd you tendto want to impress them, right.
(17:47):
But you shouldn't.
You just do your thing, right?
It's, it's almost ourinsecurity.
We're trying to um show off orlike the camaraderie could be
like hey look what, look, lookwhat I can do yeah, yeah, and I
found myself doing this all thetime, but I don't, I don't
really um focus on it, but I, Ido it.
(18:08):
Subconsciously, I do do it, andI kind of tend to show off your
routine yeah doing my routinesand then you know, sometimes I
get like the, the odd from thedj oh, that was good, yeah.
So like, ah, yeah, he noticed.
Try to think right, because youknow it's just a confidence
(18:29):
booster, but honestly youshouldn't you shouldn't have
someone like super, like famouswalking in and like to the club.
Ilia (18:35):
If that's a club or something like that.
I remember reading some storiesyeah and um, yeah and then they
would walk up to the dj and say, hey, you did a fantastic job
yeah, yeah, it's a big ego boost, right?
Nino (18:47):
especially if it's your idol, like somebody you looked
up to, and then they talk to youand tell you that like it's
like wow, I can't believe it,yeah.
Ilia (18:56):
So I guess one of the best ways you can impress them is by
doing your job and impressingthe crowd.
Yeah, and they'll be impressedtoo, yeah.
Nino (19:04):
Just do your job.
You're there to provide aservice.
If you're there for a wedding,rock the crowd as you would,
right, try not to think aboutany outside things, because it
could make you nervous as welland give you the nerves and you
probably will screw up, yeah, sodon't let it get to you.
(19:25):
Just do your thing, do what youdo, best sort of thing, right?
Ilia (19:28):
yeah.
So bottom line, uh, you can'tplease everyone, yeah,
especially with music.
Uh, if you're an open format dj, um, there'll be, there'll
always be a divide, like an age,genre, genres, genre groups, et
cetera, and we don't focus onthe people who are not dancing,
(19:49):
we focus on the majority ofthose who are dancing and
keeping the dance floor alive.
Yeah, so yeah, exactly, it's.
You know, if, if you have 65,75% of people dancing, I'd say
you're winning?
Nino (20:03):
Yeah, we're winning.
Right.
You focus on the majority, thepeople that are dancing.
You want to keep them there,right?
The people that aren't dancingwon't dance.
Ilia (20:10):
And I saw that shift, you know, like those waves of people
going in and out, when you'relike I'm like you know, that
person asked for that request,he still didn't play it.
I think it would work out.
And you're like no, no, there'sno, no, I don't want to play it
.
And and I'm like, no, youshould play it.
And then suddenly you see thatshift of like 70% on the ones
(20:41):
that like the group would get onright, but sometimes it was.
It would be the other wayaround.
Yeah, right, I'll remind youabout about a request, and then
that group would stay and thenthat group would join.
Then suddenly you have almosteveryone on the dance floor at
once.
Nino (20:50):
Yeah, but it's hard to keep for a long time to keep man
, because sometimes, sometimespeople um, some groups want rock
and some want R&B right.
Ilia (21:02):
So how are you?
Nino (21:02):
going to please them.
You're going to have to go backand forth.
Sometimes it's tough.
It's tough.
You can't please everyone atthe same time.
Ilia (21:09):
So, as long as you get the majority of people and you have
a good flow, I think you'redoing a good job You're doing a
good job.
Nino (21:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Ilia (21:16):
All right, well, there we go.
That's another episode.
You're doing a good job, yeahyeah, All right.
Well, there we go.
That's another episode.
Yes, sir, thank you for joininganother episode of the Clever
DJ.
Nino (21:24):
We'll see you guys next one.
All right, see you next one.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Clever DJ
with Ilya and.
Nino (00:16):
Nino.
Another special episode,another one.
Ilia (00:21):
Another one, another special episode from Ilya and
Nino at the Clever DJ Podcast.
How are you?
Nino (00:28):
guys doing today?
How are you guys doing?
I haven't seen you guys in aweek.
Yes, technically.
Ilia (00:32):
Technically, we sometimes pre-record, as most shows do.
So, no, we don't.
No, we don't.
What are you talking about?
What are we talking about?
So today's episode is about whodo we, who are we trying to
please as djs?
Who do we focus on now?
(00:54):
Clearly, the client, of course,the person who hired us,
whether it's a birthday, uh,stag, and doe, jack and Jill, a
wedding, whatever whatever it isOf course the client, the man
or woman or both, who hired us.
But that's not the reality.
It's not just the clients whohired us, it's also a bunch more
(01:17):
people who are involved inthose, in those gigs, because of
so many reasons which we'regonna cover, cover today.
Nino (01:28):
so take it now we're in the service industry, right?
So technically, we're trying toplease everyone.
But we're going to give youspecifics now and why we're
trying to please everyone.
So, starting off with,obviously, the person who hired
us Now, if it's a wedding,usually it's the couple, right?
So there's also promoters orevent coordinators or the person
(01:52):
who is paying us.
Like literally, it's prettymuch everyone.
This means going above andbeyond with customer service.
Now, this includes us being ontime, which is very important.
Following clients must plays,like don't please, or yeah,
exactly, sometimes we have toget no plays because it's very
(02:17):
specific to certain clients thatthey don't want things played
because it irks them when itcomes to certain songs.
Ilia (02:24):
It makes their wedding cheesy or their event cheesy, or
reminds them of something theydon't want to be reminded of.
Nino (02:30):
Yeah, like, like so a past girlfriend, or yeah?
Ilia (02:34):
or someone passed away and that was their song.
Do you remember that onewedding?
Yes, yeah, so, yeah, so, yeahthat it could be so many reasons
, but it's really important tofollow that, build a report, you
know, give them the peace ofmind with certain updates and,
just if your couple asks you fora song, that you're literally
(02:55):
playing it next or immediately,so it shows them that you know
their input is of utmostimportance to you, but at the
same time, time, you're therealso to know how to break the
truth to them in a way thatthey'll appreciate, like, hey, I
don't think we should play thisnow.
Or like, hey, how about we dothis next?
Nino (03:13):
yes, um, like, the truth is very important to them.
They take this, uh, veryseriously because they
appreciate our, our actual input, because we are the
professionals.
Ilia (03:23):
That's why they're paying us right exactly so our input is
very, uh, very important tothem and um, one of the most
important things where you'resaying.
When you were saying this, Iwanted to say something event
coordinators.
They're the mafia of thewedding industry in some places,
because sometimes certain areas, certain venues, certain
(03:48):
regions have like two or threecoordinators that everyone knows
.
Nino (03:52):
Yeah.
Ilia (03:53):
Right, and they can get you lots of gigs or they can
make sure you don't get any gigs.
It's true, it's very, very true.
You don't want to get on theirbad side.
You definitely want to get ontheir good side, and they know
that.
Yeah, you always do the dance.
You know how's it going, ohyeah yeah, yeah, you know how it
is, you gotta remember them.
Remember their names especiallywhat they like, what they don't
like, all like they'reextremely important.
(04:15):
So people are like oh, what areyou talking about?
Nino (04:17):
you're there for the client yeah, you're there for
the client but there's so muchmore to look out for.
Yeah.
Ilia (04:23):
Yeah, right, and we talk a lot about weddings because
really like that's a huge partof the industry and we're not
club DJs.
Maybe I will be in the future.
I'm actually getting into likebars and stuff like that.
You used to do that back in theday.
You still do that restaurant.
That's kind of like a lounge.
Nino (04:41):
Yeah, I still do it once in a while, but you know are you
still there yeah, yeah, yeah,you still have time for that.
Barely barely, but I'm stillthere.
I take a lot of time off fromdoing that event fridays fridays
, friday nights so I've beentaking it off for the past like
months now, because I've beenhaving events right so so you
(05:01):
did take time off there yeah,yeah, yeah yeah.
Ilia (05:04):
All right, I really wanted to do that, but when you told
me the type of music, I was likewhat?
What was the name of the genre?
Neo?
Nino (05:11):
soul.
What the hell is that?
It's another like a funky termjust to say like old school R&B,
pretty much Neo soul.
Ilia (05:20):
I never heard of it.
Neil Sewell, I just how manygenres are Like?
That's one of the there aretons man Things that really
shocked me as a DJ.
Even certain EDM genres have,like another Subgenres, five to
ten subgenres.
Yes, it's true, and then theyhave more and I feel like people
are like really going above andbeyond to try to find another
(05:40):
subgenre.
Nino (05:46):
Sometimes it just doesn't make sense.
It just fits into this one.
Yeah, yeah, that's it's true,it's true, it's true.
Ilia (05:49):
So what else it says?
We are also trying to pleasethe supervisor, manager or
person in charge.
Uh, show them that.
Uh, we need little to noguidance, therefore showing our
professionalism.
Also, the venue owners, in casethey are looking for preferred
vendors.
That's a big point.
Yeah, that's a big point.
(06:10):
Fast load ins and especiallyload outs because they want to
go home.
I have so much to say aboutthat.
You take it because you haveall the experience.
Nino (06:20):
Well, with this stuff, you just have to be fast, right?
They want you to set up fastand be efficient, to leave fast
too, so you can go home, andthey're looking for certain
vendors that can like justwhat's the word Like what's
(06:44):
Sorry?
Yeah, exactly, Cricket cricket.
What's sorry?
Yeah, exactly cricket cricket.
Ilia (06:47):
But they want vendors that can reliable vendors, vendors
that they can trust, like kindof like people who are managing
themselves instead of needing tobe managed.
Yeah, when you, when you getyour thought back, let us know.
But I'm trying to think of theexact word I'm trying to say, of
the exact word I'm trying tosay, but I'll give an example,
(07:09):
and that's actually from thesame place where I used to work
as a bartender.
The owner of that venue isextremely strict and she will
charge the wedding couple orwhoever whatever event is there
corporate an extra hour Ifeveryone is late.
(07:33):
If somebody is late, even iftheir DJ is late, if the DJ yes,
she did that multiple times shewill charge at the end, like if
he, if he stayed over time,like to just to pack up.
So then they will charge themfor an extra hour and then you
will have to pay them back.
So say, go, deal with a DJ.
Oh, that's terrible, very badbusiness etiquette.
(07:58):
A lot of people don't like herfor that.
That's why I'm not mentioningany names.
But uh, you know it's.
It was just she had seriousproblems.
Uh, your best friend, she wouldtalk to me for hours before like
she would talk to me for, likeI don't want to exaggerate, he
spoke to me for like 45 minutesto an hour.
Okay, totally, it was hoursbefore I left.
(08:21):
She found out we're like fromthe same part of the world.
Like she was really happy aboutthat.
I was like fine, let's build arapport, let's get closer with
her.
I leave, closer with her.
Um, I leave.
I think she was still.
Yeah, I managed to leave.
I didn't want to hang up on her.
I'm leaving.
I'm in an apartment.
I'm walking through the uh, youknow, I'm going on the stairs
instead of taking the elevator.
(08:42):
Somehow I did not lose herunderground.
We have like extra, likeantennas here, so I don't know
what they did.
I didn't lose her underground.
I'm driving for half an hour.
She's still on the phone withme Most of the drive I get there
she, she sees me there likecreating the special drinks and
everything.
Um, forget what they're called.
Like the special drinks, likethe signature drinks, cocktails,
(09:03):
yeah, yeah, and and and theyweren't simple.
They several steps, they tooklike lots of work to create, um,
and and she would talk to meand she would like change the
arrangement and everything andhow it should be, and then she
would come back and say how isit not done yet?
And I'm like it's your faultdid anyone else?
Nino (09:23):
see what?
Ilia (09:23):
happened the last few hours, so that same person would
charge the um the event, yeah,the client um extra, either
because they left late and orthe dj left late.
You remember what we did?
We were outside, yes, andbecause my girl also worked
there, yes, um, I just told youknow what, just like we'll,
(09:47):
we'll leave and you leave, youknow, we'll, just we're outdoors
, like that it was easierBecause we were outside.
Nino (09:53):
If we were indoors, it would be a different situation.
They still weren't supposed toleave us alone.
Ilia (09:56):
They weren't.
They weren't supposed to.
That's like if anythinghappened on their property it
would be on them.
But I used to work there too.
So we disconnected everything,reconnected whatever needed to
be reconnected and we left.
But we still very quick, yeah,with all the equipment.
(10:16):
We were still pretty quick, Iguess.
But you know, this happens.
It's not made up and I'm nottrying to make it more
interesting.
This happens and actually italmost happened in the other
venue as well.
I don't know if she ever didthat in the other venue used to
work at she was also managerthere.
She's a manager there, noanother one, she was also kind
of problematic um, but uh, yeahand um, it just leave on time.
(10:39):
Yeah, like make that goodimpression.
You know what a fun story, anice story, like a positive one.
That other place where you're,um, it's out west or up north
north yeah, uh, were you wherewe were told actually like, oh,
we were fantastic, we loaded inquickly and we loaded out
quickly, right?
Yeah, they noticed that thatwas the wedding.
Nino (11:00):
That was the coordinator yeah, right, yeah she, she loved
me yeah, so it's extremelyimportant and they also
mentioned in the in the post, oroh, this is why he's one of our
in-house vendors.
Oh, I was like oh, thank you.
Yeah, so it makes a difference.
Ilia (11:22):
Yes, secondary is the guests or patrons, because they
are, they are.
They are who we arepredominantly playing for.
They are, they are who we arepredominantly playing uh for.
And um, a lot of our success ofthe night uh is directly
related to whether they aredancing or not, uh, making noise
(11:44):
and overall just having a goodtime a good time and yeah, and
then what's the biggest partlike?
Why are they so important?
Nino (11:52):
well, besides that, well, they're, potentially they will
can hire us too.
Ilia (11:58):
How many times did people walk up to you?
Hey, you know you're doing mywedding next year, or like the
one where they did did the sameday video, right, you had at
least two couples, yeah, yeah,and then one couple who, whom
wedding you already did, alreadydid in one wedding, yes, so
it's like two or three couplesthere yeah, yeah, it's, it's wow
(12:19):
it's just exponential yeah inone wedding.
You never know who's gonna getmarried or have an event right,
or if it's a birthday, who'sgonna want you for their kids
event?
Nino (12:30):
or someone yeah you never know, they'll recommend you to
to uh to other people, right,because there's so many
connections there's so manyconnections to be made, so you
gotta make sure you're you're onyour a-game all the time, right
.
So we're pleasing like theguests literally they have.
We have to make them happy,because if they're not happy and
dancing the couple's's going tobe like why aren't people
(12:53):
dancing?
Ilia (12:53):
They'll feel guilty that they got the worst DJ.
Yeah exactly Right.
So, even though sometimes it'sreally not us it's not us, it's
not our fault.
Nino (13:03):
Sometimes it's something's up with them, something's up.
Ilia (13:05):
Yeah, or maybe because we told you not to get a photo
booth.
Nino (13:09):
photo booth that starts at the same time when the dance
floor opens.
You know it's gonna fight thedance floor, but and then, and
then, and then the photo boothis in another room which
everybody has to leave.
Yeah, it's not our fault,sometimes right, and eventually
they'll come back.
But it's a lot of work.
Ilia (13:26):
It's a lot of work to to, to get people back up yes, I
actually had another point, I Iforgot what it was, but um, we
do have people.
We're not trying to please.
Nino (13:37):
Yes, and this is a obvious like drunk and belligerent uh
guests that are requestingterrible song choices, we're
technically not supposed toplease them.
We don't want to please them.
They're not in the right mindto even request certain songs
(14:01):
and they don't know what's goingto keep people dancing.
Ilia (14:05):
They are in a different reality at that point.
Yeah, some people are reallybad drunks, some people are rude
.
Nino (14:11):
Very, very rude.
Ilia (14:12):
Play my song now some, yeah, demanding yeah, they make
a very uncomfortable, turnsituations into very
uncomfortable situations, um,but yeah, like if you give them
a little, they'll ask for moreand you just you need to know
how to kind of control thatsituation without making a scene
or something, right, that's,that's, that's very important.
Nino (14:35):
I'm just I'm giggling because there's so many stories
there are so many instanceswhere this happens, right so
many drunk guests.
Ilia (14:42):
Like when I went to the bathroom for like a moment.
Fine, I was a bit more in themoment because I was also on my
phone on the way back and I waslike walking really slowly.
Yeah, I really need you, youcan handle it.
Yeah, no, not this girl.
He needed me again.
One of the shorts.
Nino (15:01):
You can hear him saying once he needed me once, but it
was more than once more thanonce.
Okay, I did need you there, man, because I I needed you.
Oh, okay, I thought I didn'thear I was playing and then she
wouldn't leave me alone.
She was like touching my stuff?
I'm like, apparently myequipment, what are you doing?
Yes, and I was like, okay,touch his equipment.
No, I was like trying to gether away, just in general.
Ilia (15:18):
Right, but she has, she was like holding her beer or
whatever that was.
And she, she was her face.
Just she looked like she waslike not there.
Yeah, I've never seen someoneso unaware.
Yeah, I can't imagine how muchshe had to drink, oh my gosh.
Yeah, and her boyfriend felt souncomfortable.
He was like pulling her awayand like I'm like I don't want
(15:39):
to manhandle your girlfriend,let alone anyone really but like
right in front of you, yeah, infront of you, but she would
attack my controller.
And like did you see what shewas like smacking it?
And like what are you doing?
Like she was trying to piss meoff or something I don't know.
Did she want a song?
Nino (15:59):
What did?
Like she was trying to piss meoff or something, I don't know,
did she want a song?
Ilia (16:04):
what did she want?
I don't know, she just wantedto play with her equipment.
Wow, that was funny.
Some of the stories like we'lltell you guys, like those who
don't don't dj on that level yetyou won't believe it.
Nino (16:13):
Yeah, some, some requests too, like, um, I got a somebody,
a drunk person, asking me canyou play midnight train for me?
I'm like midnight train by who?
I'm like I don't know.
It's just, you know the songwith the midnight train in it.
I'm like I have no idea whatyou're talking about.
I googled it midnight train,there's the journey song.
What's that?
(16:33):
Can you sing it for me?
And then she actually sang itfrom.
Ilia (16:37):
Yeah, it was the journey song, right wow, yes, a lot of
people will have a differentname for the, for the song, I
don't remember you know whatwe'll actually do an episode on
that, just specifically becauseI have so many of those, uh and
for me, when I just starteddjing I'm speaking about it like
I've been djing for 10 years,but when I just really went and
just just read it, when it justjust started, it was, uh, it was
(17:00):
hard cause I didn't know somesongs.
So I just searched it by thename they gave me and like two
or two out of 10 times, three or10 times, it would be like not
the name of the song.
So I'd find it in the lyrics.
Yeah, exactly, I hope that's thesong and every time it was, but
it was, it was.
You know you could have playedsomething completely unrelated,
uh-huh uh-huh, uh-huh uh, oh,that's a big one.
Nino (17:25):
Other djs yes, and this is a big one, because as djs, we
tend to have eagles.
We sometimes we don't admit it,but we all tend to have eagles.
So when there's another djaround, like you know, there's a
dj in the in the crowd you tendto want to impress them, right.
(17:47):
But you shouldn't.
You just do your thing, right?
It's, it's almost ourinsecurity.
We're trying to um show off orlike the camaraderie could be
like hey look what, look, lookwhat I can do yeah, yeah, and I
found myself doing this all thetime, but I don't, I don't
really um focus on it, but I, Ido it.
(18:08):
Subconsciously, I do do it, andI kind of tend to show off your
routine yeah doing my routinesand then you know, sometimes I
get like the, the odd from thedj oh, that was good, yeah.
So like, ah, yeah, he noticed.
Try to think right, because youknow it's just a confidence
(18:29):
booster, but honestly youshouldn't you shouldn't have
someone like super, like famouswalking in and like to the club.
Ilia (18:35):
If that's a club or something like that.
I remember reading some storiesyeah and um, yeah and then they
would walk up to the dj and say, hey, you did a fantastic job
yeah, yeah, it's a big ego boost, right?
Nino (18:47):
especially if it's your idol, like somebody you looked
up to, and then they talk to youand tell you that like it's
like wow, I can't believe it,yeah.
Ilia (18:56):
So I guess one of the best ways you can impress them is by
doing your job and impressingthe crowd.
Yeah, and they'll be impressedtoo, yeah.
Nino (19:04):
Just do your job.
You're there to provide aservice.
If you're there for a wedding,rock the crowd as you would,
right, try not to think aboutany outside things, because it
could make you nervous as welland give you the nerves and you
probably will screw up, yeah, sodon't let it get to you.
(19:25):
Just do your thing, do what youdo, best sort of thing, right?
Ilia (19:28):
yeah.
So bottom line, uh, you can'tplease everyone, yeah,
especially with music.
Uh, if you're an open format dj, um, there'll be, there'll
always be a divide, like an age,genre, genres, genre groups, et
cetera, and we don't focus onthe people who are not dancing,
(19:49):
we focus on the majority ofthose who are dancing and
keeping the dance floor alive.
Yeah, so yeah, exactly, it's.
You know, if, if you have 65,75% of people dancing, I'd say
you're winning?
Nino (20:03):
Yeah, we're winning.
Right.
You focus on the majority, thepeople that are dancing.
You want to keep them there,right?
The people that aren't dancingwon't dance.
Ilia (20:10):
And I saw that shift, you know, like those waves of people
going in and out, when you'relike I'm like you know, that
person asked for that request,he still didn't play it.
I think it would work out.
And you're like no, no, there'sno, no, I don't want to play it
.
And and I'm like, no, youshould play it.
And then suddenly you see thatshift of like 70% on the ones
(20:41):
that like the group would get onright, but sometimes it was.
It would be the other wayaround.
Yeah, right, I'll remind youabout about a request, and then
that group would stay and thenthat group would join.
Then suddenly you have almosteveryone on the dance floor at
once.
Nino (20:50):
Yeah, but it's hard to keep for a long time to keep man
, because sometimes, sometimespeople um, some groups want rock
and some want R&B right.
Ilia (21:02):
So how are you?
Nino (21:02):
going to please them.
You're going to have to go backand forth.
Sometimes it's tough.
It's tough.
You can't please everyone atthe same time.
Ilia (21:09):
So, as long as you get the majority of people and you have
a good flow, I think you'redoing a good job You're doing a
good job.
Nino (21:15):
Yeah, yeah.
Ilia (21:16):
All right, well, there we go.
That's another episode.
You're doing a good job, yeahyeah, All right.
Well, there we go.
That's another episode.
Yes, sir, thank you for joininganother episode of the Clever
DJ.
Nino (21:24):
We'll see you guys next one.
All right, see you next one.
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