The Clever DJ

Who are we there for? Pleasing Everyone and Tackling Challenges - Ep #28

• Ilia & Nino • Episode 28

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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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Ilia:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Clever DJ with Ilya and.

Nino:

Nino. Another special episode, another one.

Ilia:

Another one, another special episode from Ilya and Nino at the Clever DJ Podcast. How are you?

Nino:

guys doing today? How are you guys doing? I haven't seen you guys in a week. Yes, technically.

Ilia:

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 who do we, who are we trying to please as djs? Who do we focus on now? 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 is Of course the client, the man or woman or both, who hired us.

Ilia:

But that's not the reality. It's not just the clients who hired us, it's also a bunch more people who are involved in those, in those gigs, because of so many reasons which we're gonna cover, cover today.

Nino:

so take it now we're in the service industry, right? So technically, we're trying to please everyone. But we're going to give you specifics 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 or event coordinators or the person who is paying us. Like literally, it's pretty much everyone. This means going above and beyond with customer service. Now, this includes us being on time, which is very important. Following clients must plays, like don't please, or yeah, exactly, sometimes we have to get no plays because it's very specific to certain clients that they don't want things played because it irks them when it comes to certain songs.

Ilia:

It makes their wedding cheesy or their event cheesy, or reminds them of something they don't want to be reminded of.

Nino:

Yeah, like, like so a past girlfriend, or yeah?

Ilia:

or someone passed away and that was their song. Do you remember that one wedding? Yes, yeah, so, yeah, so, yeah that it could be so many reasons, but it's really important to follow that, build a report, you know, give them the peace of mind with certain updates and, just if your couple asks you for a song, that you're literally playing it next or immediately, so it shows them that you know their input is of utmost importance to you, but at the same time, time, you're there also to know how to break the truth to them in a way that they'll appreciate, like, hey, I don't think we should play this now. Or like, hey, how about we do this next?

Nino:

yes, um, like, the truth is very important to them. They take this, uh, very seriously because they appreciate our, our actual input, because we are the professionals.

Ilia:

That's why they're paying us right exactly so our input is very, uh, very important to them and um, one of the most important things where you're saying. When you were saying this, I wanted to say something event coordinators. They're the mafia of the wedding industry in some places, because sometimes certain areas, certain venues, certain regions have like two or three coordinators that everyone knows.

Nino:

Yeah.

Ilia:

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 their bad side. You definitely want to get on their good side, and they know that. Yeah, you always do the dance. You know how's it going, oh yeah yeah, yeah, you know how it is, you gotta remember them. Remember their names especially what they like, what they don't like, all like they're extremely important. So people are like oh, what are you talking about?

Nino:

you're there for the client yeah, you're there for the client but there's so much more to look out for. Yeah.

Ilia:

Yeah, right, and we talk a lot about weddings because really like that's a huge part of the industry and we're not club DJs. Maybe I will be in the future. I'm actually getting into like bars and stuff like that. You used to do that back in the day. You still do that restaurant. That's kind of like a lounge.

Nino:

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 still there. I take a lot of time off from doing that event fridays fridays, friday nights so I've been taking it off for the past like months now, because I've been having events right so so you did take time off there yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Ilia:

All right, I really wanted to do that, but when you told me the type of music, I was like what? What was the name of the genre? Neo?

Nino:

soul. What the hell is that? It's another like a funky term just to say like old school R&B, pretty much Neo soul.

Ilia:

I never heard of it. Neil Sewell, I just how many genres are Like? That's one of the there are tons 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 they have more and I feel like people are like really going above and beyond to try to find another subgenre.

Nino:

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:

So what else it says? We are also trying to please the supervisor, manager or person in charge. Uh, show them that. Uh, we need little to no guidance, therefore showing our professionalism. Also, the venue owners, in case they are looking for preferred vendors. That's a big point. Yeah, that's a big point. Fast load ins and especially load outs because they want to go home. I have so much to say about that. You take it because you have all the experience.

Nino:

Well, with this stuff, you just have to be fast, right? They want you to set up fast and be efficient, to leave fast too, so you can go home, and they're looking for certain vendors that can like just what's the word Like what's Sorry? Yeah, exactly, Cricket cricket. What's sorry? Yeah, exactly cricket cricket.

Ilia:

But they want vendors that can reliable vendors, vendors that they can trust, like kind of like people who are managing themselves instead of needing to be managed. Yeah, when you, when you get your thought back, let us know.

Ilia:

But I'm trying to think of the exact word I'm trying to say, of the exact word I'm trying to say, but I'll give an example, and that's actually from the same place where I used to work as a bartender. The owner of that venue is extremely strict and she will charge the wedding couple or whoever whatever event is there corporate an extra hour If everyone is late. If somebody is late, even if their DJ is late, if the DJ yes, she did that multiple times she will charge at the end, like if he, if he stayed over time, like to just to pack up.

Ilia:

So then they will charge them for an extra hour and then you will have to pay them back. So say, go, deal with a DJ. Oh, that's terrible, very bad business etiquette. A lot of people don't like her for that. That's why I'm not mentioning any names. But uh, you know it's. It was just she had serious problems.

Ilia:

Uh, your best friend, she would talk to me for hours before like she would talk to me for, like I don't want to exaggerate, he spoke to me for like 45 minutes to an hour. Okay, totally, it was hours before I left. She found out we're like from the same part of the world. Like she was really happy about that. I was like fine, let's build a rapport, 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.

Ilia:

I'm in an apartment. I'm walking through the uh, you know, I'm going on the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Somehow I did not lose her underground. We have like extra, like antennas 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 with me Most of the drive I get there she, she sees me there like creating the special drinks and everything. Um, forget what they're called. Like the special drinks, like the signature drinks, cocktails, yeah, yeah, and and and they weren't simple. They several steps, they took like lots of work to create, um, and and she would talk to me and she would like change the arrangement and everything and how it should be, and then she would come back and say how is it not done yet? And I'm like it's your fault did anyone else?

Nino:

see what?

Ilia:

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 or the dj left late. You remember what we did? We were outside, yes, and because my girl also worked there, yes, um, I just told you know what, just like we'll, we'll leave and you leave, you know, we'll, just we're outdoors, like that it was easier Because we were outside.

Nino:

If we were indoors, it would be a different situation. They still weren't supposed to leave us alone.

Ilia:

They weren't. They weren't supposed to. That's like if anything happened 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. We were still pretty quick, I guess. But you know, this happens. It's not made up and I'm not trying to make it more interesting. This happens and actually it almost happened in the other venue as well. I don't know if she ever did that in the other venue used to work at she was also manager there.

Ilia:

She's a manager there, no another one, she was also kind of problematic um, but uh, yeah and um, it just leave on time. Yeah, like make that good impression. You know what a fun story, a nice story, like a positive one. That other place where you're, um, it's out west or up north north yeah, uh, were you where we were told actually like, oh, we were fantastic, we loaded in quickly and we loaded out quickly, right? Yeah, they noticed that that was the wedding.

Nino:

That was the coordinator yeah, right, yeah she, she loved me yeah, so it's extremely important and they also mentioned in the in the post, or oh, 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:

Yes, secondary is the guests or patrons, because they are, they are. They are who we are predominantly playing for. They are, they are who we are predominantly playing uh for. And um, a lot of our success of the night uh is directly related to whether they are dancing or not, uh, making noise and overall just having a good time a good time and yeah, and then what's the biggest part like? Why are they so important?

Nino:

well, besides that, well, they're, potentially they will can hire us too.

Ilia:

How many times did people walk up to you? Hey, you know you're doing my wedding next year, or like the one where they did did the same day video, right, you had at least two couples, yeah, yeah, and then one couple who, whom wedding you already did, already did in one wedding, yes, so it's like two or three couples there yeah, yeah, it's, it's wow it's just exponential yeah in one wedding. You never know who's gonna get married or have an event right, or if it's a birthday, who's gonna want you for their kids event?

Nino:

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 many connections to be made, so you gotta make sure you're you're on your a-game all the time, right. So we're pleasing like the guests literally they have. We have to make them happy, because if they're not happy and dancing the couple's's going to be like why aren't people dancing?

Ilia:

They'll feel guilty that they got the worst DJ. Yeah exactly Right. So, even though sometimes it's really not us it's not us, it's not our fault.

Nino:

Sometimes it's something's up with them, something's up.

Ilia:

Yeah, or maybe because we told you not to get a photo booth.

Nino:

photo booth that starts at the same time when the dance floor opens. You know it's gonna fight the dance floor, but and then, and then, and then the photo booth is 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:

It's a lot of work to to, to get people back up yes, I actually had another point, I I forgot what it was, but um, we do have people. We're not trying to please.

Nino:

Yes, and this is a obvious like drunk and belligerent uh guests that are requesting terrible song choices, we're technically not supposed to please them. We don't want to please them. They're not in the right mind to even request certain songs and they don't know what's going to keep people dancing.

Ilia:

They are in a different reality at that point. Yeah, some people are really bad drunks, some people are rude.

Nino:

Very, very rude.

Ilia:

Play my song now some, yeah, demanding yeah, they make a very uncomfortable, turn situations into very uncomfortable situations, um, but yeah, like if you give them a little, they'll ask for more and you just you need to know how to kind of control that situation without making a scene or something, right, that's, that's, that's very important.

Nino:

I'm just I'm giggling because there's so many stories there are so many instances where this happens, right so many drunk guests.

Ilia:

Like when I went to the bathroom for like a moment. Fine, I was a bit more in the moment because I was also on my phone on the way back and I was like walking really slowly. Yeah, I really need you, you can handle it. Yeah, no, not this girl. He needed me again. One of the shorts.

Nino:

You can hear him saying once he needed me once, but it was more than once more than once. Okay, I did need you there, man, because I I needed you. Oh, okay, I thought I didn't hear I was playing and then she wouldn't leave me alone. She was like touching my stuff? I'm like, apparently my equipment, what are you doing? Yes, and I was like, okay, touch his equipment. No, I was like trying to get her away, just in general.

Ilia:

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 was like not there. Yeah, I've never seen someone so unaware. Yeah, I can't imagine how much she had to drink, oh my gosh. Yeah, and her boyfriend felt so uncomfortable. He was like pulling her away and like I'm like I don't want to manhandle your girlfriend, let alone anyone really but like right in front of you, yeah, in front of you, but she would attack my controller. And like did you see what she was like smacking it? And like what are you doing? Like she was trying to piss me off or something I don't know. Did she want a song?

Nino:

What did? Like she was trying to piss me off or something, I don't know, did she want a song?

Ilia:

what did she want? I don't know, she just wanted to play with her equipment. Wow, that was funny. Some of the stories like we'll tell you guys, like those who don't don't dj on that level yet you won't believe it.

Nino:

Yeah, some, some requests too, like, um, I got a somebody, a drunk person, asking me can you 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 song with the midnight train in it. I'm like I have no idea what you're talking about. I googled it midnight train, there's the journey song. What's that? Can you sing it for me? And then she actually sang it from.

Ilia:

Yeah, it was the journey song, right wow, yes, a lot of people will have a different name for the, for the song, I don't remember you know what we'll actually do an episode on that, just specifically because I have so many of those, uh and for me, when I just started djing 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 just just started, it was, uh, it was hard cause I didn't know some songs. So I just searched it by the name they gave me and like two or two out of 10 times, three or 10 times, it would be like not the name of the song. So I'd find it in the lyrics.

Ilia:

Yeah, exactly, I hope that's the song and every time it was, but it was, it was. You know you could have played something completely unrelated, uh-huh uh-huh, uh-huh uh, oh, that's a big one.

Nino:

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 dj around, like you know, there's a dj in the in the crowd you tend to want to impress them, right. But you shouldn't. You just do your thing, right? It's, it's almost our insecurity.

Nino:

We're trying to um show off or like the camaraderie could be like hey look what, look, look what I can do yeah, yeah, and I found myself doing this all the time, but I don't, I don't really um focus on it, but I, I do it.

Nino:

Subconsciously, I do do it, and I kind of tend to show off your routine yeah doing my routines and then you know, sometimes I get like the, the odd from the dj oh, that was good, yeah. So like, ah, yeah, he noticed. Try to think right, because you know it's just a confidence booster, but honestly you shouldn't you shouldn't have someone like super, like famous walking in and like to the club.

Ilia:

If that's a club or something like that. I remember reading some stories yeah 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:

especially if it's your idol, like somebody you looked up to, and then they talk to you and tell you that like it's like wow, I can't believe it, yeah.

Ilia:

So I guess one of the best ways you can impress them is by doing your job and impressing the crowd. Yeah, and they'll be impressed too, yeah.

Nino:

Just do your job. You're there to provide a service. If you're there for a wedding, rock the crowd as you would, right, try not to think about any outside things, because it could make you nervous as well and give you the nerves and you probably will screw up, yeah, so don't let it get to you. Just do your thing, do what you do, best sort of thing, right?

Ilia:

yeah. So bottom line, uh, you can't please 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 on the people who are not dancing, we focus on the majority of those 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:

Yeah, we're winning. Right. You focus on the majority, the people that are dancing. You want to keep them there, right? The people that aren't dancing won't dance.

Ilia:

And I saw that shift, you know, like those waves of people going in and out, when you're like 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's no, no, I don't want to play it. And and I'm like, no, you should play it. And then suddenly you see that shift of like 70% on the ones that like the group would get on right, but sometimes it was. It would be the other way around. Yeah, right, I'll remind you about about a request, and then that group would stay and then that group would join. Then suddenly you have almost everyone on the dance floor at once.

Nino:

Yeah, but it's hard to keep for a long time to keep man, because sometimes, sometimes people um, some groups want rock and some want R&B right.

Ilia:

So how are you?

Nino:

going to please them. You're going to have to go back and forth. Sometimes it's tough. It's tough. You can't please everyone at the same time.

Ilia:

So, as long as you get the majority of people and you have a good flow, I think you're doing a good job You're doing a good job.

Nino:

Yeah, yeah.

Ilia:

All right, well, there we go. That's another episode. You're doing a good job, yeah yeah, All right. Well, there we go. That's another episode. Yes, sir, thank you for joining another episode of the Clever DJ.

Nino:

We'll see you guys next one. All right, see you next one.