I am thinking of pre-recording a CD of chilled out music that I can put on during the buffet as background music and leave for 30 minutes or so.

I thinking along the lines of Zero 7 (probably destiny), summer samba - Bebel Gilberto, lebanesse girl - Thievery Corporation, possibly By the River - Groove Armada.

Has anyone else done anything similar or has anyone got any wonderful ideas for tracks that I should consider

I have done a 60 minute tape of a few light reggae tunes, and various non-offensive tunes from the charts, 70s and a couple of 80s tunes thrown in for good measure.

I like to always get people's feet tapping during the buffet....After all I don't want to appear like i'm djing at a wake!

If it's a mixed age function I would also put in a few of the more upbeat big band songs - many of these are familiar with the younger generation as well after Robbie & Westlife did albums (don't normally play the Westlife versions though)

Supradave, 'ambient chillout' goes down really well as background. I get a lot of people asking me where they can get the CD I have just played.

There are plenty of pre mixed chillout compilations which are brilliant for this.

Chilled Ibiza - this is one of the best

The Blue BarThis compilation is superb, and you can find this occasionally on ebay

Also, there is excellent material on the Cafe del Mar series of CDs, one of my secret weapons is an early Savannah CD which I cannot find anywhere on the interweb thing

The chilled Ibiza material was the type of thing I was thinking of.

Some good tracks on that Cd that I intend to dig out (Kinobe and Moby) plus I like the idea of some reggae, I might see how a Bob Marley track fits in with it all.

I heard a neighbour playing a reggae version of Imagine (the old John Lennon track) a couple of weeks ago, I may go and knock on their door to find out who was doing it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I know this sounds really bad but i use the Pop Idols swing album, was a great buy at £2 and had comments from people say that they even liking it!!

I also need to do this as I still select and play buffet music "live". Although I strongly believe this is the best way to fit the mood, it would be nice to have the option of a pre-recorded set.

Personally I would record a whole CD's worth (80mins). If you only need half an hour, then you only play half an hour of it.

The one tip I would give, is start with the more mellow stuff, and work towards the more foot tapping stuff, so that you start to get people in the mood for when you start playing.

Don't know why, but i have always played, during the buffet, the type of tracks which people like, but won't dance to...thats just the way i work...

That's how I feel it should be.
Don't waste your better tunes on the buffet, but do play stuff most people will know and find pleasant to listen to.

That's what it's all about isn't it?

The buffet is also a good time to slip in those requests that you just know will kill the dancefloor if left until later - you might also have the bonus of the person who requested it dancing on his/her lonesome.

On one occasion I did make a judgemental error in that a song (can't remember what it was now) had people dancing in the buffet queue as well as on the dancefloor so I played it again later

I carry on as normal, and try to keep as many people dancing as I can

Im with Ian on this one, if they want to get something to eat that ok, but i will just carry on ! Not everyone wants to stop and why clear a dance floor then have to start all over again??

I don't recall that ever being a problem, actually.
I've always found the buffet to be a perfect divider between modern charty crap for the teenagers and the 'real' music, if you get my drift.