The Magazine For Today's Mobile DJ

This is the 4th part of our series of Taffer's Teachings, exploring the 5 Musts of Business.  We continue with Great Value. Great Value. Value is a buzzword that is OFTEN thrown out willy-nilly. In the book Jon discusses the difference between “absolute value” vs “perceived value”.  Absolute value is the simple price comparison between two products or services deemed the same. Perceived value, according to Jon, is the result of your quality, experience and business dynamics. Your pricing has a great deal to do with your perceived value. To increase your perceived value you MUST cause not just an emotional CONNECTION, but also an emotional REACTION. Too often a business will see themselves ... [read more]

All right. A little Serato, a little DJ during Scratch Live, but the same principle holds for Serato DJ. If you look up here, I've made a mistake, I have marked cue points out of order and I don't know if you've ever done this, but I've suddenly gone to Q2 and made it for Q3 and Q1 is suddenly Q4. So a lot of people say, I've got to kill them and then go back and redo them. Well, this is going to be an under a minute tip, because if you take your mouse like this and you realize you want this one first, drag it. I hope you guys can see this, try it again. Drag it up and it switches. So you can switch the cues all day long, make them any direction you want and what'll happen is it'll light up on the controller you're using on your cue markers in order. So if you're going off colors, if you're going off controller, it's a great way to do it and again, you just simply put the mouse, push up ... [read more]

Not that long ago I found myself in Times Square at the M & M Candy Store.  I was awestruck at how many items were in that store that were branded with the M & M logo and what they had created out of their brand.  There were mugs, hats, keychains, candy dispensers (OF COURSE!), you name it. I began to think about branding and marketing on a deeper level.  M & M candies are just a bite sized piece of chocolate. You put it in your mouth, you savor that taste of chocolate and it’s gone in mere seconds.  What we provide as DJs, as Master of Ceremonies, as Event Professionals are memories. Those memories last a lifetime, and are some of life’s most imp ... [read more]

When it comes to DJ dance floor lighting, there are a wide variety of opinions on how much a DJ should bring. Some DJs say you should not bring a lot of lighting, while others may bring a ton of lighting. Yet others may bring no lighting at all unless the client pays for it. I've seen a variety of setups and there is no 100% correct answer, honestly. How much lighting you bring should be a decision for you and your client. You certainly need to ask your client what their expectations are, what their vision is, etc. One thing you don't want to do is assume you know what they want! Sure, you may bring the exact same setup to every gig, but should you? For our company, Austin's Best DJs & Photo Booths, we do not bring the same setup every time. Let me explain why. We always check in with our client and ask what their vision is. If they are looking for an elegant wedding, a ton of ... [read more]

First, I would like to apologize to any disc jockeys that actually are lawyers. This blog isn't really about you, but it does pertain to you. There was a good discussion on one of the several thousand DJ forums I belong to about DJs offering legal advice or stating something is against the law without offering any proof. These strands start off innocently enough with someone posting a question about the rules on using a particular piece of gear at an event or about music, files, streaming or sharing. The strands quickly devolve into regional DJs stating how one can or can't do that in their market. A good example: cold sparklers. These things are really popular, but some towns and states outright forbid them indoors and other s ... [read more]

This is Part 3 of Taffer's Teachings focused on the 3rd of the 5 Musts For Business with Quality Service. Quality Service:  Do you send reviews out about your service? What is the feedback like? What’s your success ratio? If you have 1 or 2 negative reviews out of 100 events…you can probably live with that. Do you want it? No. Look at those areas of constructive feedback and see how they can be improved. I would STRONGLY recommend not just waiting until the end of the sales cycle with that specific client however. You need to have touch points with your client throughout their sales cycle with you to determine if you are meeting their needs or exceeding their expectations. You can do this via a quic ... [read more]

All right. It's me, DJ Jay here, DJ tips in under a minute, going a little long today. We've got a situation here, we have laptop, we have hard drive, but while this is being used with the two USB ports, you have a controller, I realized I have another track and another hard drive. So I'm going to show you what I do to get around the issue of how do I hook up another hard drive to that laptop? Because for me, if I'm in the middle of mixing and playing music, I don't want to stop. So one of the best cables I've ever bought is that one, it's RCA's to mini. If you do not have this, you need this. So I'm going to plug it into the other computer here and what I'm going to do is I'm going to take the song, I'm going to bring it up to the player and then I'm going to play it from there. So there's the track. What'll happen is that'll then come up here to the channel and I'm able to play a trac ... [read more]

Los Angeles, CA, August 13, 2019 — Roland, a leading manufacturer and distributor of electronic musical instruments and professional video products, announces the DJ-707M DJ Controller — a four-channel, four-deck Serato DJ Pro controller engineered for the perfect balance of functionality and portability. DJs searching for more than song mixing now have tools to manage complex event audio requirements, all-in-one with the powerful benefits of a portable live sound audio console, loudspeaker management system, and fully-fledged performance DJ controller. The DJ-707M will be available in the U.S. in August 2019 for $999. Designed in consultation with leading event DJs, the DJ-707M is built to efficiently manage the ... [read more]

(TORRANCE, CA) August 8th, 2019: If you’ve been eagerly anticipating a Serato-compatible version of our pro-grade DDJ-1000 controller, good news: The wait is over. The 4-channel DDJ-1000SRT inherits the layout of the DDJ-1000, which feels familiar to a CDJ+DJM club-standard set-up. All the same professional features are there too, including low-latency, full-size jog wheels from the CDJ-2000NXS2 and the slick MAGVEL FADER for tight scratching. Concentrate on the crowd, not your laptop, thanks to color On Jog Display, which gives you important track information in the center of each jog wheel. Build excitement on the dancefloor and create massive transitions with 4 Sound Color FX and 14 Beat FX. And with 16 Multicolo ... [read more]

We continue this week with the follow up to Be Flexible.  One time I showed up at an event to perform a speaking engagement and we were moved to a completely different room, it snowed the night before so everyone coming in for the event was delayed due to the weather and traffic.  I quickly realized that we would NOT be starting on time and that we’d just have to roll with it. If I had stayed in my head regarding everything working against me then I wouldn’t be able to live in the moment and truly deliver my presentation and content for that audience.   What’s a key for living in the moment and practicing patience?  Being prepared ... [read more]

Eye Candy for Your Crowds: Lighting and More I'll cut to the chase (get it?)... This Lighting Issue contains an in-depth look at the evolution of DJ lighting by Kevin Freese, along with expert advice on building a new lighting setup or adding to what you already have. A lot of illuminating info packed into this one. Enjoy! ~ Dan Walsh, Editor-in-Chief PS: Hope you like the new logo. Look for more exciting changes to MB, coming soon... ... [read more]