Can we see a show of interest

So it's been nearly 18 months since my last blog entry. Why? Because I've been doing a fair bit of time juggling and adding something to this blog has had to take a backseat. So you should realise that with the advent of this post that it has to be something I find very important that needs to be addressed.
Slowly but surely WooDz:Muzik is becoming a recognised name and I'm now currently the recommended 'in house' DJ for 4 very reputable venues in the local area. It means that I'm often being asked to perform on an already booked day. Now I do work with other DJs but they have their businesses too and together we are now finding it hard to meet our demands and offer another DJ service we have full faith in as an alternative. Well what's the problem? a DJ is a DJ right? Wrong!
Ordering a DJ is like asking for beef at a restaurant because as we all know, like DJs, beef is all the same. Yeah, exactly it isn't and there's a world of difference between being served fillet steak or a burger. This all entails the huge problem facing the industry. In the mobile DJ segment we have DJs who are taking pride in what they do, making sure their clients are happy, doing everything they can to get people on the dace floor. Making clean transitions between songs to even mixing songs together to keep energy and momentum on the dance floor. They use high quality equipment and adopt such a level of professionalism that if quality controls were enforced, most club DJs wouldn't be able to meet them. We then have DJs who whilst playing music at someone's party can be equated to flipping burgers. They take a very trivial attitude to the effectiveness of their song selection to the point they continue to play the same genre of music, even though nobody in the room has made any noticeable appreciation to the last 3 similar songs played before hand. The problem in this industry is that there are more DJs 'flipping burgers' than there are 'serving steak' so the chances of a client experiencing a premium service is minimal and if I were to take an educated guess I'd say clients and guests have less that a 20% chance of experiencing a really good DJ. What most people are experiencing is mediocre to poor performances throughout the year and this has now become the stereo typical representation of what people sadly now think is a mobile DJ service.
So you can see trying to find somebody I can trust, who has the same mental attitude toward the job as I and understands a wedding for 25 people is just as important as a party for 2,500 is going to be difficult to find.
In my last post I advised anyone wanting to become a DJ should work alongside an experienced DJ and learn the ropes before they take the huge responsibility of making someone's party a day that will be remembered for years. However; you must realise you're in the same boat as me. The chances of learning from someone who is very good at this job is going to be pretty minimal but you knew that anyway. Most starting out DJs I've spoken to, often talk about how bad that DJ was at that party and how bad this DJ was. Still, you can learn from them because everything you see them doing wrong, you can question why they done it. You may get to see a bigger picture and realise they are better than you've given them credit for. A good example would be if you asked,
"why did you play that really slow song, when you had everyone jumping around on the dance floor?" if the reply is
"I dunno, I thought it might work."
you'll have learnt not to make rash decisions that can ruin the flow of the event. On the other hand if the answer was,
"because they've been jumping around like crazy for over half an hour, they starting to tire and if I don't cool things down momentarily , they'll be exhausted and go home before the party is scheduled to end."
You'll have learnt that dance floor rotation is important regardless of venue or event.
However above all of that, is to show interest and this goes for the beginner to the those who have been djing for 15 years. look at who's on the dance floor, look at who isn't. Are they getting tired or do they need more? For those not dancing, do they look like they waiting for you to play something for them? And this is what I mean about showing interest. Be alert; don't spend to much time twisting effects and searching through your songs. Know what you want to play, keep an eye on your surroundings and pay attention to the energy levels on the floor. If you're not showing interest then this will transpire onto the guests and they'll not show any interest in you.