The Clever DJ

Our DJing Pet Peeves! Ep #32

• Ilia & Nino • Episode 32

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What’s it really like to handle overly enthusiastic party-goers while trying to keep the dance floor alive? On The Clever DJ, Ilia and Nino reveal the rollercoaster ride of DJing with hilarious personal anecdotes and insights. We start off on a light note, celebrating Ilia's recent birthday with some missed toasts and a showcase of his stylish new watches. Nino adds his own humorous twist, confessing his allergic reaction to wearing watches.

Ever had to fend off that one persistent guest who just won’t take no for an answer? We share our funniest and most frustrating stories, from managing repeated requests at weddings to dealing with the father of the bride who just can't get enough of his favorite song. Learn why trusting your DJ is crucial and how we keep the party going even under the most awkward scenarios. Plus, we discuss the unwritten rules DJs live by to maintain that perfect dance floor energy.

Finally, we tackle the real challenges DJs face, especially when starting out. From the controversial topic of accepting low or no pay gigs to the nightmare of poorly set up venue equipment, we offer hard-earned advice for fellow DJs. We also shed light on the importance of clear communication with event organizers to ensure a smooth performance. Join us as we share our passion for bringing joy through music, and invite you to be part of our ongoing journey in future episodes of The Clever DJ.

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Ilia:

welcome back. Welcome back to another episode of the clever dj. A quick intro about ourselves. My name is ilia and I started djing about two years ago. I've done a variety of events and while bartending actually right before I started DJing while bartending I met this guy right beside me and yeah, what's your story?

Nino:

Yep, I'm Nino and I'm a professional DJ. I've been DJing over 20 plus years now. I started off with bars and clubs and private events, now I'm doing weddings and I have a roster of 15 djs under my belt.

Ilia:

So all right, yeah, so, uh, this is a banter style podcast. Yeah, um, we are always on youtube for those who want to watch and kind of get the experience. Uh, I think that's the best experience really, but uh, we're also on all the other platforms. Spotify, apple Music, other other platforms, right a dozen a dozen, at least all of them, yeah, so hey, that's just a quick intro so you know who we are and yeah yeah, so what's up with my drink, man?

Nino:

where's my tea?

Ilia:

I decided to go for coolers because it was just my birthday oh, that's right, it was your birthday this weekend.

Ilia:

Yeah. So who didn't show up? Sorry, bro didn't show up. I did it on a sunday thinking, okay, he'll show up for sure. Sorry bro, you know you still have a gig on sunday. Probably had several gigs on sunday, it's okay. Um. So how was it, man? It was great, it was great. There's just drinks left over and I thought you know what, like, let's try this. I love this drink. We're not sponsored by them, no.

Nino:

What is it Basque? Basque. I have the green tea peach and you, mine's a black tea, goji and blackberry. Oh, very healthy, let's try this. I Right up my alley man All right.

Ilia:

Oh, cheers, buddy, cheers Right over our roadcaster. That's good. You know what? Yeah, man, something I've been wanting to do. I mean, we probably should clean this, but there's something I've been wanting to do for a while, yeah.

Nino:

Oh my gosh, yeah, so he's cleaning the roadcaster right now.

Ilia:

Let me do something.

Nino:

Oh, you're taking off the plastic.

Ilia:

You know what you do, the rest you got it.

Nino:

Okay, you got it that was amazing.

Ilia:

That's it. Look how clean it is.

Nino:

Look how clean it is. It's brand new. Put it back Literally okay, no. I'm just joking. No, look at these watches, man Did. Look at these watches, man Did you get these for your presents.

Ilia:

I was just showing you the stuff before the episode.

Nino:

Show and tell, show and tell.

Ilia:

So I got a bunch of gifts. I'll go over two of them. So this watch right here is a Movado watch.

Nino:

What yeah, For those who are just listening. He's showing everybody his watches.

Ilia:

So I'm currently wearing a movado watch. I got this I got this, uh, on my 30th birthday from my parents and my sister, and they decided that one of them wasn't enough, so they got me another one, another one I still need to size this, but get it fitted man I gotta I gotta get close to your parents too, man, look at this beautiful thing right, I need to watch.

Nino:

Yeah, that's beautiful man. What is that like? Black matte?

Ilia:

black. Yeah, so I, I have this black one, and then I have the so it's black silver, one black with gold.

Nino:

Yes, oh, that's nice describing to the people, uh, who are not watching. Yeah, that's beautiful.

Ilia:

Yeah, so here we go. I still need to fit it. Yeah, uh, to size it, or whatever you call that very nice, very nice yeah okay, we are not sponsored by movado not yet at

Ilia:

least if you guys are watching uh, but yeah, I got this one, so nice, you got two movado watches yes, I got two now oh, what about this one? So I'm getting to that. Let me just put this back. This one's like. They're both expensive, but this one was really pricey yeah, there you go, man he's balling and um, where is it? Yeah, it goes right here yeah, there you go.

Nino:

I love the boxes put so much work, so fancy bro I'll just leave it here for the fancy. And then what's that one?

Ilia:

and then this one. My girlfriend got me a smartwatch and I love it. It's good, it's accurate, it does everything it's supposed to do. It also tells me when I'm menstruating, apparently. So that's something that I discovered that my body apparently can't do Apparently, according to this watch. But I love it. I always wanted a smart watch and I thought, ah, it's not going to be accurate, it's not going to be convenient to use. I go to sleep with it. It tells me how well I sleep there you go man yeah.

Ilia:

That's good, so it's awesome. I got this watch collection now and, yeah, i'm'm gonna wear my mobado for this episode, but I'm gonna put this right on top, yeah I'm gonna put this right on top, right here me.

Nino:

I never you're. You're into watches?

Ilia:

I love.

Nino:

I've never been really into watches. I actually get I get um allergic reactions when I watch this. Yeah, I'm good I'm. I wish I could wow yeah, okay, alright.

Ilia:

Well, I'll get you something else.

Nino:

I'm good, alright wait, no, my phone, I use my watch oh yeah, that's all you need.

Ilia:

That's all I wanted to say. You know what? So what's this episode about? Man something different today, something special but special. Something special, always special. We're gonna start something new here. We're going to start a new segment Our pet peeves of DJing, our DJ pet peeves.

Nino:

Yeah, we're going to talk about DJ pet peeves. I know a lot of you guys. Djs have tons of pet peeves. You have pet peeves all the time.

Ilia:

Yes, and some of the Wow, wow, there's still water on this. We got this yeah okay, the plastic okay.

Nino:

Okay, we're fine. Okay, we're good, we're good. I don't. I don't think it's gonna impede the recording process or anything but worse comes to worse.

Ilia:

It's only like like close to a thousand bucks, right? So we're just gonna get a new one, get a new one, all right. So pet peeves, pet peeves, pet peeves number one.

Nino:

So requests for songs that don't fit the vibe or the set that you're playing at currently, yes, right and um, yeah, it really disturbs me when, uh, people that me, when people ask for songs that don't fit the vibe because it doesn't fit the vibe but that doesn't matter. If it matters that it's a good song, then you're going to play it anyway. But if you're not going to play it right at the time, it kind of it kind of ruins.

Ilia:

It ruins the vibe because each song kind of tells a story. Well, each each song fits into a certain part of the night, and a good dj can play any song anytime, but at the same time it could have been way better if it was played at that part of the night. Right, you have, you have an idea, you have. Sometimes, you have a plan, right and genres too.

Ilia:

Right, you kind of want to play group genres together and if whoever asked for it is someone from the wedding party or a client of a different kind of event. You almost always have to really find the time to play it soon, either right away or soon. Yeah, so they don't care about your plan nope nope, normally they don't.

Nino:

Some of them will tell you oh, you know what, you do your thing but but if it's a good, if it's a good request, then yeah, we'll most probably play it. Maybe not at that moment, but we'll find time to play it yeah and uh.

Ilia:

So yeah, like it just just a pet peeve. It's not something terrible, but it really like kind of irks yeah, it irks a lot of djs, right.

Nino:

Yes, uh.

Ilia:

Number two the over eager drunk patron. So you have those overly enthusiastic drunk people who are just like hovering over your uh, your, your, your dj booth and, um, they're trying to like balance their drinks and themselves at the same time and telling you about their life story they just won't leave you alone and until you play their, their, their request, right, a lot of the times they're gonna forget anyway, right?

Nino:

like if you, if you um, just say oh, I'll see if I can play it, just play it off, right, but though you don't end up playing it, then they'll forget.

Ilia:

But those are at least the ones that have a mission. Yes, and usually they'll leave after that. Yeah, but they're the ones who just came and just they're just drunk, they just want to chat you up, yeah yeah, yeah, right when you're playing, right yeah.

Ilia:

And they're just chilling there, they will stay. Do you remember the one guy who went downtown Toronto to that really cool studio? Was it there or was it the other? Oh, there was one gig where somebody would not leave. No, it wasn't there, it wasn't that one, it wasn't that one, and he wouldn't leave. There was one guy who was really nice, who kind of didn't really bother us, and we just let him stay, but there was one guy who would not leave?

Nino:

who? What geek was it? You don't remember. I don't remember that one.

Ilia:

I remember like the situation, but not where it happened, um, and I tried in the nicest ways to get him to kind of step aside, or you know, and I said, hey, why don't you join? Why don't you join?

Nino:

why don't you join the dance party?

Ilia:

or like hey, didn't you say you like that song? And I thought, hey, I'll play his song and he'll leave, right, I knew he's gonna come back.

Nino:

I just didn't think he's gonna come back that soon that's the thing when they request a song and you play it, they're gonna ask for another one, yeah so that's that you have any uh, overly eager drunk patron stories all the time.

Nino:

No, I, I experience it all the time. So, um, there was one, one gig, one wedding, where, um, the father of a bride kept on asking for requests all the time and there were weird requests, so I didn't really want to play them and I knew he'd been, he's been drinking like throughout the night, so it was like I kept on playing. Here was a request. So it just opened the doors for him to keep asking. I'm like, okay, but there were weird requests. So, and it would clear off the dance floor, I'm like, dude, okay, that's enough. I played your request like four or five times that I, I'm, I'm good. And he was like, no, no, no, you have to play it because he was the father of the bride I was like okay, did, okay, did you keep playing his songs.

Nino:

I kept on playing his songs, yeah.

Ilia:

It just. I find that you are one of the only people I know who can shoot themselves in the foot like that Because you have to, but at the same time, you know how to bring the crowd back.

Nino:

I try, yeah, I try to always crowd with like one of the crowd pleasers, right, but it's tough man, it's hard to make everybody happy and it's the father of the bride, so you don't want to, you know not play it, so yeah it's, it's tough, it's a fine line that you have to cross, but number three number three the play, something we can dance to crowd or person oh gosh, there's always that one person or one group that asks for a song.

Nino:

Usually, usually it's a song that you're already playing already. Uh, right at the can you play some spice girls usually, and then they're playing. You're playing spice girls and can, can we? Yeah, can you play something good?

Ilia:

or something like that. Play some some old school like rap, and you're playing old school rap, yeah, so either a genre or a song that you're already playing or already played, you play it again. No, no, everyone else didn't hear it. Oh my gosh, you didn't hear it because you went to the bathroom for 15 minutes exactly, exactly, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna play it again.

Nino:

We have uh, djs have rules like, like they can only play one song like one time, unless it's from the actual celebrant or the bride and groom and what I find usually is that when they say play something we can dance to, normally the dance floor is full always.

Ilia:

If it's not, I'll be like you know what? What do you want to hear? Yeah, help me, sure, fine. What do you guys like to dance to? These are your friends, these are your people, and you're wishing that. You know what. What do you want to hear? Yeah, help me, sure, fine. What do you guys like to dance? These are your friends, these are your people and you're you're wishing that.

Ilia:

You know it hits right, yeah but if I'm doing well, which is normally the case, leave the guy alone. Leave the dj alone. He's doing his job. Yeah, like I don't want to, I don't want you to like to tell me what people want to dance, because there's like 60 people on the dance floor right now.

Nino:

I know play something we can dance to number four number four low pay or no pay gigs, low ballers this. This is more for like newbies or like people just uh, djs are starting out. There are no newbies here, but yeah, it's usually for for no. Like DJs are starting out, but, um, yeah, you kind of don't want to play for, just free, you gotta. You want to get something in return, right?

Ilia:

Yeah, and since I'm the beginner here, um and we're just talking about it earlier like it doesn't feel like being a beginner anymore. I have so many stories, I have so much success and so much knowledge already, but still compared to what you know like 20 plus years and then two years right, and then one year out of those two years I mainly focus on the podcast. So we've been on for more than a year now, Like we've been, you know, playing this and working on this. But one thing I will say about low pay or no pay gigs a lot of DJs, a lot of pro DJs, told me and I heard them telling my fellow beginner DJ friends and the people I studied with and stuff like that how never accept a gig for free, never do gigs for free.

Ilia:

And while I don't truly agree with it 100, because sometimes you know some places you can get extremely good exposure and you should definitely take that gig. Don't, don't be so full of yourself. Oh no, I'm gonna get paid. Uh, because you really want to play there, you should play there no matter what. But the way you approach or let them approach you about doing this for free, you got to really show that you know you'll do this for exposure. You appreciate the opportunity, but don't get used to it kind of thing Like you gotta, you gotta stand up for yourself so they don't. They don't get used to it or think that you don't have any value for yourself. So even when you take it for free, you need to know how to present yourself.

Nino:

Yeah, there are exceptions, of course. Now, when you do something for free, you know that something's going to come out of it. Right that there are future. There might be future gigs that are lined up for you.

Ilia:

Yeah. Or, for example, low-balling gigs Like look if you're just starting out.

Nino:

And it's a thing. Right, you have to start somewhere.

Ilia:

But don't make it a a thing, right, you start. You have to start somewhere, but don't it's gonna happen. Make it a habit, right? Don't be like, well, it's just my 10th gig or just my 20th gig. After like 10 or 15 gigs, like, you should have been already making some decent money. And if you don't, it means that you are not really doing the marketing, promotion, the practicing, the making your own brand becoming unique. You're not doing something right, because there's a bunch of DJs out there getting paid properly or too much, and here you are taking a tiny piece of the pie. Why You're not worse than them? Right? There's a bunch of beginners who make way more than you.

Nino:

So know your worth too, and keep on practicing, man. You get better. Yes, get better. Do you practice?

Ilia:

All the time, every time I call, every time I call you're always scratching.

Nino:

I'm trying to get you know I want to get to that level um number five.

Ilia:

Are we number five?

Nino:

yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, uh, badly set up equipment, so that's well for venues yeah, more for for in-house venues like the sound or if it's like the outdated equipment, like really old uh equipment that's scratching or just bottoming out and it just doesn't sound good anymore what about that church where we're at?

Ilia:

you remember how everything was in the back and how all the mixers and everything was just covered and you had to like turn and rotate it in that tiny room and it was a popular spot and somehow their speakers were shot. Yeah, it was pretty bad. It literally sounded like gunshots every time the bass came on.

Nino:

Yeah, yeah, surprising. Some people actually came up and said why does it sound like that? I'm like I don't know.

Ilia:

All I want to do is oh man, some people actually came up and said what, why?

Nino:

does it sound like that? I'm like all I want to do is oh man, that was pretty bad. That's that song actually went?

Ilia:

yeah, pretty like, because the gun shots sounded like actual gunshots, oh man yeah, but you gotta, you gotta just power through, right.

Nino:

so it's a pet peeve and a lot of in-house systems are not up to par, right. So in-house venues, please make it easy for us, please.

Ilia:

We don't have it for this list and we'll probably bring it up on a different. You know DJ Pet Peeves but like a DJ Pet Peeves segment. But a lot of these places won't let you bring your own gear.

Nino:

Yeah, they won't allow it because it's a DJ company actually doing so they're setting up for failure and they won't let you bring your own gear.

Ilia:

It's terrible.

Nino:

It's terrible.

Ilia:

Yeah, so what are you thinking?

Nino:

What can you do, right? You kind of just have to go with it, right?

Ilia:

Number six. Number six Lack of communication from event organizers.

Nino:

okay, you know a lot about that, you go yeah, when it comes to, like, uh, weddings and stuff. I don't like it when they they don't like talk to you about certain events that are going on. It's like they bring it up last minute like a surprise oh, we're gonna have this here and you don't actually have the song ready and prepared right. It's like oh, so you're like on your toes, so it's.

Ilia:

It's happened so many times to me that it's I could have prepared well for it right, and there's just so many things, so many different things related to being organized and and having proper communication with the vendors, event organizers, um coordinators that if you don't have that set in place, the whole, the whole event, the whole, the whole gig, um the quality just diminishes. Yeah, it's not nowhere near as good as it could have been.

Nino:

It goes back like the time is. It could have been like on track. Everything could have been on time.

Ilia:

Everything could have been smooth, Very smooth. Certain requests from the event or the event, the clients, whether it's a wedding, a birthday party, maybe a club night or something could have been fulfilled properly or fulfilled altogether. But again, when there are not, there's no organization, the event organizers, coordinators, whatever you want to call the people in charge, when there, when there's little to no communication, it makes it really hard working.

Nino:

Yeah, Right. Communication is key for for vendors and wedding planners and and venue management yeah, number seven people who lean over the dj booth.

Ilia:

Oh, do I hate that. This should have been number one oh my gosh.

Ilia:

Remember how many times people have leaned over my facade and just over like tipped it over I myself thought the facade was like when I saw it from it's like a, it's like a barrier, right, but I thought it was like a table, right, yeah, but still, even if it's a table, you don't lean over. Well, you know. So how did I find out? By going to the other side when I first ever saw one of those things. Right, but those drunk people don't think about it, they don't, so they lean on it, they lose balance, and then you're like, oh, my gear yeah, be careful, please.

Nino:

Uh, it's supposed to be like a barrier to for everyone else, like stay away, almost right, but they don't like a stop sign exactly make a u-turn.

Ilia:

Um, that, uh, the one we did up north. That barrier was gone, non-existent. We did a lot of things up north, but like you know which one I'm talking about.

Nino:

Yes, I know that barrier was not there no, they just went around it and they're like hey, around it over and under it.

Ilia:

It was not like I had to. I had to like, put it back together yeah, some people would like.

Nino:

And then like, oh, catch it right, and our equipment isn't cheap, so it's we're like on our toes, like, oh my gosh, be careful please. Or and then like, oh, catch it Right, and our equipment isn't cheap, so it's, we're like on our toes, like, oh my gosh, be careful please.

Ilia:

Or else, and then you can't focus on what you need to do. Right, and luckily, I was there, but if I'm not there now, now it takes away from your yeah, exactly right, from like like you're starting to get pissed at these people. At some point you got to be professional, but at some point it's just like they're taking too much the fun out of the whole gig.

Nino:

Right, they're not respecting you. Yeah, yeah, you can be. You can be drunk and still have a good time, but please leave the dj alone.

Ilia:

Let him do his job, just dance yeah, I'm okay with people talking to me. Yeah, I I'm very sociable, right, like, I like people approaching me, but know when to approach a dj. Right, and don't tell me, oh well, I'm not a dj, I don't know when, when I can approach you. If you see me doing something and I'm super focused, probably don't approach me at that point, right, yeah, um, if you see me just like dancing and like hanging out, then you know that happens for like 30 to 60 seconds.

Nino:

Yeah, that's a good window I appreciate the, the people that when they see me mixing or doing something, they wait. I'm like they wait until I'm done. It's like I'm and then they, and then when I'm done, then I'll go talk to you, right? If you have a request or something, I'll talk to you.

Ilia:

I appreciate those people they're kind of like bystanders. They're standing there and and they know, you saw them. Yeah and yeah. Like let's say let's say you want to speak to a cop about something, do you have to be a cop to know he's busy? No, no, you can tell. Let's say you want to speak to a programmer, can you tell it doesn't matter? You can tell a person is busy, it's focused on something, right, it doesn't matter you can tell a person is busy, it's focused on something, right.

Nino:

It doesn't have time to talk to you right now, right?

Ilia:

And it just, it's hard, especially for beginners. Like if you're a pro, like yeah, you can just make that transition happen, no matter what, right, but if you're a beginner, yeah, you have to concentrate and make this transition sound good.

Nino:

So if you're talking to the DJ, it's, it's. It's tough, it's hard to to juggle that at the same time.

Ilia:

Yeah so that's that um number eight clients or venues, uh, who micromanage the volume levels.

Nino:

Yeah, this is mostly for venues that have like volume restrictions because of of neighboring, like um houses that uh have that that are just by them, so they can't uh play too loud yeah, I, I learned that if you're by a lake, apparently the sound travels.

Ilia:

It does very, very well over the water. Yes, and like it's not like we're ignorant and we don't care about people, but like we're djs, we like music, we're there to make people laugh and dance and and enjoy, have a good time.

Nino:

Yeah, and sometimes you need a little louder for that you need it louder, like the bass and the, just the volume level for them to dance. Right it immerses you to feel the music right, and if it's at a low volume, everybody's okay. This is background music now. So it's yeah, it just it irks us, but sometimes we have no choice.

Ilia:

We have to follow what the venue tells us to do and yeah, and that also gets in the way of you know, making like hyping the crowd and everything that your. Your microphone has to be quiet too. Now, yeah, you can hear people over the music. Yeah, or like kitchen staff or it's, just the volume has to be at a certain level sometimes 80 decibels.

Nino:

And you know what, sometimes, just talking in front of this, in front of the decibel meter, is already 85, 90 decibels. So what are you supposed to do? Yeah, so, yeah, it's it. It sucks, but it's something that we just have to deal with sometimes.

Nino:

So uh number nine people requesting songs while you're mixing this is something that you talked about already, but yeah, it's exporter especially when you're right in the mix, like people coming up to you and just don't respect that right, because you're literally trying to keep the energy level on the dance floor. And people, somebody, if somebody's talking in your ear, you're like, oh okay, wait, wait.

Ilia:

You can't do two things at once, it's hard if, if you're djs, especially if you're beginners, you know that you have like one specific like point of entry where you start something and and then and then you have to finish it by a certain point and if somebody kind of like threw you off your game, it's gonna be really hard to catch up to that. Yeah Right, if you're, if you're a pro, you know how to like recover from it. Right but it's still hard.

Nino:

It is still hard, you never know. It's just annoying. Yeah, it's just annoying. So please don't do that. Please don't do that.

Ilia:

Number 10. Listen to the lyrics at a family event or anywhere where it's inappropriate.

Nino:

Why, like, why I've got this so many times? Is it clean? Yeah it's clean. No, no, I've. I've got requests for for this from a couples that especially like um, they don't, they don't. They don't want the clean version, they want their original because it sounds better, it sounds real. I'm like okay, but there's kids there and your grandma and grandpa, your parents, are there listening. It's so awkward for me.

Ilia:

I look unprofessional, especially when one of the instructions was oh, our grandma is very old-fashioned, yeah, and then you're asking for this yeah, you're gonna get some looks on the from from the crowd like, oh, our parents are religious, and then you're gonna like ask me for that because you're drunk and you don't care.

Nino:

Oh man oh man you should have known better.

Ilia:

You're the dj.

Nino:

I was drunk no, but you get this even beforehand like before, like like meetings and stuff like. No, we don't want any clean music, we want the explicit stuff because it sounds better. That's what they sound like it sounds better.

Ilia:

But but you know what? I don't get us wrong we love to play explicit music. Oh, we do, we do. It does sound better. Don't like playing clean music? I don't, I don't, it's just it's. It's annoying to try to find it. I need to like rearrange all my playlists because usually I play non-clean music, because sometimes it's not out there.

Nino:

It's not. They didn't make the clean music yet, especially if it's new. I'm like I'll sing it for you. Sometimes you have to turn on the volume. That's annoying man. But yeah, don't. It irks us, just not at family events. When they're kids around like f-bomb, f-bomb, f-bomb, and there's like a little johnny just running around the dance floor, I'm like, yeah, it's no, don't do it, don't ask us to do that, please.

Ilia:

I have so many ideas right now, mommy, what's up? No, all right. Number 11, late night set fatigue.

Nino:

Oh, you guys have gone through this for sure, that's not nobody's fault.

Ilia:

It's just set fatigue right. It just sucks when that happens.

Nino:

It sucks Well, because you've been there all day, right? You've been there for like eight, nine hours already, and now it's time to dance, to do the dancing. Sometimes you haven't snapped out of the dinner mode, right?

Ilia:

Sometimes you're a robot and you're still in that mode when the dancing starts, you have to wake up and just be energized so everybody else can get hyped up. Try not to inhale your food and you'll feel better yeah, so you won't feel sleepy, right I never saw someone eat that fast bro, I gotta do it though you eat steak like you eat pasta it's gone right.

Nino:

You turn your head for one second and it's like where'd the steak go? It's crazy because are you as a dj? You have to be ready, prepared.

Ilia:

There has to be a guinness record that you beat in terms of going to the bathroom and eating. Yeah, tell you, you're out, you're out of, you're in and out of the bathroom before the door closes. I'm not even exaggerating, I'm gonna.

Nino:

You know what I'm gonna take a video one day and we'll chill.

Ilia:

I don't want to tell you, so you will like be as authentic as possible and just like recording.

Nino:

Or see me take a video of me eating. It's how fast I eat, right?

Ilia:

Seconds.

Nino:

But it's just a thing, right? But it sucks to have late night set fatigue. Sometimes you have to just hype yourself up right? You want to get everybody hyped up, so you need to be hyped up right. Do what you got to do. Drink coffee no-transcript, right, so you gotta be high and you know that.

Ilia:

So you know you gotta wake up and sometimes it's hard, but it's hard. Just find what works for you, right? Yeah, yeah, um, slap yourself, wake up, wake up. Yeah, that's my job, wake the f**k up, all right? So, um, number 12 people using your dj gear as their own desk for their stuff man, yeah, as their own. Like, let's leave everything here.

Nino:

I'm dancing it's terrible because sometimes, a lot of times, I have the facade but it sometimes it doesn't work. The last gig I was at the wedding is like I had the facade around me but then at the end of the night I I had like 50 drinks inside the DJ booth. I'm like how did this?

Ilia:

get there, like if you put the phone there I'll be like fine, hopefully they take it soon. But the drink Drinks Come on. I almost want to put a garbage bag bin beside me and every time there's a drink, just throw it in there.

Nino:

Or sign right.

Ilia:

No drinks on thej table or on my subwoofer, because they're gonna read that right. Yeah, no, like. Oh wait, there's a sign here.

Nino:

Sorry sir, sorry sir, but yeah, it's very annoying, very annoying. Yes, we have. We have facades and tables and boots for a purpose to, to look the part right, and we don't want, like um, drinks around our equipment because we're scared it might spill too expensive, expensive gear.

Ilia:

You don't know how much we spend on gear yeah, so please don't use our dj booth as your personal storage space yeah, that's good.

Nino:

That goes for purses, bags.

Ilia:

Yeah, pretty much anything umbrella, yeah, drinks especially, and food, yeah, um, and then they leave it there. So now that's like a like a cooler, like you know, the when people like gather around the cooler, like the water fountain, yeah, exactly. So now they're all gathering, they're eating and drinking and I mean I like the company, but I'm stressed out. Yeah, that something's gonna fall on my gear or on me.

Nino:

It's happened before, too right, and when happened so many times? One person puts down a drink and everybody sees it. Oh, it's just an invitation for everybody else to put their drink down, right? So, uh, please don't do that.

Ilia:

Number 13 getting bumped or pushed, and not once or twice, but constantly, like people don't respect your space and understand that you're doing something and that all of your gear is there. So getting bumped or pushed um, and also you know kind of people hitting your table in your facade. So one of those, like you know, like close contact situations when it's too, when it's too crowded, and they didn't think about where, yeah, it's going to be be set up yeah, it's tough when you're set up in a weird spot and the people are passing by, like the.

Nino:

The waiters, or sometimes the servers, have to go behind you to get through to the other side or something, because they don't want to pass the dance floor.

Ilia:

Yeah, you have to go behind the patrons or, like it could be, the people working.

Nino:

Yeah, it sucks, but when they bump you, when people bump you like gas and stuff and it screws up your mixes, they're like oh, come on man, it happens it happens a lot right, so it sucks, yeah, and sometimes we have no control over that.

Ilia:

So yeah, sometimes you don't, and that it just stresses you out again your gear and the performance right?

Nino:

yeah, um number 14 playing outdoors with unpredictable weather I'm shaking my head because it's happened so many times like, tell them about the mac story, macbook story. Man, like I was outside doing a ceremony and, um, people don't understand. Like it's not just rain that we're fighting with, it's, it's direct sunlight on our gear, right, not on even the speakers, on our macbooks, because our macbooks or our laptop is the heart of their system. So it only takes 15 minutes of direct sunlight for your, your macbook to or your laptop to overheat that's all it takes and then it starts getting funky the sound. So I've been in that situation so many times. People don't understand that we need it to be covered, right, we need shade to keep everything cool and working properly and sometimes our own gear.

Ilia:

Like our own, um, what is it called? The thing I got tent canopy. Yeah, um, I forgot the word uh. When you want to bring your own canopy, they'll say, oh, that's too big for that uh venue. Or like, oh, that's that's not gonna go with. Like our you know our decor, decor. So think about something that's gonna protect me and my gear or be be prepared to pay for any damages. Yeah, and that's not unrealistic. I'll bring my own stuff, but now you're telling me I can't you know so come on yeah you have to think about your event.

Nino:

It's gonna make it smoother, right? We don't want any problems to go to happen at your ceremony because it's important.

Ilia:

I have no idea how you save that macbook.

Nino:

That macbook has been through so much oh my gosh man, the rain just poured down on the actual keyboard and it wasn't working. When I had to, how did you dry my ceremony? I had, I had a fan blowing on it just to dry it, but it was during the, like the dinner. Oh man, that was. That was so like. I even asked the venue owner for them if they had an extra computer, because I was. I was gonna re-download, serato on it and put on my. I was like it was so stressful but it was tough. It was tough but I still had. I had mixes. I had a backup on my phone. I had mixes on my phone so I was playing that through the the system while I was trying stuff. But you know, I couldn't have kept that going throughout the dancing man.

Ilia:

It was, yeah, that's so stressful you got lucky with a computer man. You gotta, you gotta change that one. I do, and the charge? The charging cable is hanging by a freaking thread. It's frayed and stuff and you kind of have to flick it so it starts working. I don't know what you're doing, man. No man, it's still working. You're talking about my laptop that doesn't have a battery?

Nino:

Yeah, yeah, I got to change it soon. Anyway, it's tough when you have thousands of songs on your actual laptop, your actual laptop, and you have to transfer everything. Such a large business.

Ilia:

Yeah, you have a lot of stuff to do, but it's been a year. Man, come on, let's go. It's been more than a year, I have no excuse. Uh, by the time you you're ready, there's gonna be, like on the origin, m6 or something. Yeah, an m6 chip. Oh man, yeah, all right, number 15. I'll take out my mic for that, because I'm gonna hand you my mic.

Nino:

What are you doing, I'm stuck with it and I'm back um no feedback from the crowd, so so it's like when you, when you ask them to, when you ask them to go, um, when you're playing a song you want them to sing along to, like the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire, like that part, when the middle part, when this is I love Sokka, I love Sokka, and then no reaction. I love Sokka and then no reaction. I love soka, it's just nothing right. So they, they don't react at all. It's like what the heck?

Ilia:

and um, you know I'm just gonna do this, let's just hold it, yes and and. And. You know you'd think maybe I just suck, maybe I just can't hype them up, but normally, if you know you've done this so many times and you're like I love Soca- they usually would sing along with it, right?

Nino:

It's one of those call answer ones. It's very, very popular, right? But they don't. And it's like, oh, and you're thinking, okay, what am I doing wrong?

Ilia:

There's so many songs like that and you've done it so many times and always been very successful, or almost always. So you know something is probably up with the crowd, not with you.

Nino:

Yeah, yeah, sometimes you have those crowds that just don't react or anything, they don't dance.

Ilia:

More reserved. They don't dance More reserved and that's also on you to know. Yeah, I'm not saying we're not saying that, what's wrong with these people. It's just that something that we like as DJs, these are our pet peeves, so you know, we like it when we can interact with the crowd.

Nino:

That's why we do this right. Of course we love doing this, of course, right. So that's why we live. So that's that's why we live. We live to do events and make you dance and make you, like, sing along, right. So I feel like I'm on a newscast, like, should I take mine out too? We're done all right.

Ilia:

Well, thank you very much for uh joining another episode of the clever dj. My name is ilia my name is nino.

Nino:

Thank you guys. We'll see you in the next one. See you in the next one. My name is Nino. Thank you guys. We'll see you in the next one. See you in the next one.