How do you lot view background music? Do you think it is absolutely necessary? How long do you play it for?
I bought this up because I was having a real good chat with a future customer at the end of my wedding last night... He said it was great that I got people on the floor at the beginning of the night and in HIS opinion, his experience of djs is that they string out background stuff as long as possible and never work at getting the crowd on the floor before the last two hours! I repeat - that was HIS opinion.

My thoughts on "background" is that I only ever play it whilst people arrive. As soon as there is a decent amount of people in the venue, I stop it. You dont have to play loud music at this stage - aand yes, there will always be people who want to chat. BUT... lets say at a wedding... you will have people there who have attended all day.. have finished the wedding breakfast and actually want to dance. I think that if you are only playing for four hours or so, there is so much that you miss out on if you string out background and wait for the last couple of hours before you get the crowd going. Obviously, background music is fine if you are playing through dinner... but you, the dj can and will get em up before the last couple of hours..... Dont fall into the trap where you think people wont dance til the last part of the evening....go on... give up the background stuff and show your worth!

Like everything else about D.J'ing I play this by ear (pardon the pun). I think that at formal gigs it goes without saying that this is expected, at least for the first 30 - 45 minutes whilst people arrive. At the most formal gigs, some clients even go to the expense of having a string Quartet!, or once, A guy playing bagpipes!! .

I still use the Karen-Way of doing things at gigs with a lot of kids in attendance, namely dedicating the first 30 - 60 minutes to entertaining them, whilst the adults chat and prop up the bar. It seems to work well.

Personally, I've found that very few adult discos work directly from the word go, drink and food often has to flow first, unless your working a club.

I do feel guilty playing background music and shuffling around on stage waiting for people to arrive, and so even entertaining the youngsters at the start, makes me feel like i'm justifying the pennies.

Hi

A lot will depend on your crowd, so flexibility is the way to go.

If we're due to start at 7.30, we generally arrive about 6.30, get sound sorted so we can have something musical by about 7.00 pm, there's now something goin on while the early birds arrive and we can get the lighting sorted.

Once we're all set, we turn the volume up a notch so folks get the idea there's a disco in the building, still keeping the volume managable as folks are arriving and want to chat.

If it's an adult party, I use this first hour or so to invite the less dance oriented requests, eg, dido, red hot chilli peppers etc.

Then I just tend to see what happens, invariably though folks dont' wanna dance until they're stuffed with grub and booze.

Occasionally you'll get the party where they wanna dance from the word go, but it don't happen often.

I've got a gig coming up in the next couple of weeks where they've specifically asked for background easy listening music until after the buffet.

Like I said, you got to go with the flow and be prepared to either crank it up a notch or two or keep it eased back.

Darren

I do similar to Chris, if theres kids in use them. entertaining them seems to make the adults happy...

But as we all know a lot of this job comes down to timing and the abillity to read the crowd. Sometimes starting early works but others it doesnt.

Some interesting points here.......I agree it doesn't always pay to kick off to early but its nice to have a good start on the night before the buffet.

Going back to weddings when taking disco bookings and discussing music I always mention to the bride and groom that it tends to work best for the first dance to be between 45 min to 1hour 15 into the night. Once on with that you have the focus on the dancefloor and can invite guests to join the bride and groom for another slowie, etc then move into more upbeat stuff.

I am with Darren on this!

Play it as you see it.

I only play background music over a dinner - or before a dinner - or when people are arriving (say first 10-30mins) . However saying that i wouldnt start a normal party with the YMCA but build into the cheese gradually!
If there is a dinner then slowly building up the tempo/style so people are ready to hit hte floor as soon as coffee comes out is what i usually do!

...but it begs the question...... who concludes that people wont dance until they are full of booze or food? I bet most of you will agree that the best gigs are the ones where you report back "they danced all night!". Ive always maintained, tthat - especially at weddings, play to the kids first, then the duffers who like their rock n roll and sixties..... because these people especially dont need an alocoholic crutch to hit the dance floor.

Ive got to say that I used to be under the impression that people wouldnt dance till after the buffet - but after having tried the above format for at least the last five years, not only has it been seen as a great positive by the guests... but it has increased my work load dramatically. Just because you play an early 60s set doesnt mean you cant do another one later on. Play the right music at the right time and you will get people on the floor all night. Bear in mind, if you are playing a love compilation or slow background disc.... nobody is gonna want to dance while you are playing it! As I said though, if you are playing through dinner, then obviously you wont expect people to get up... but give my little formula a try next gig you do...... I guarantee they will be up! Kids, duffers, then a little bit of everything else! Try it! Put the effort in and you will get the desired results!

Another little tip about music during the buffet... If you have 100-200 guests then they really dont wanna stand in the buffet queue.... tell them just before you announce the buffet that you will be playing xxx genre of music, so if they dont want to queue, stay on the dance floor and wait til the queue goes down... works very well indeed!

Hi

This comes back to what I was asking on another thread. it's all about building the atmosphere.

Starting off with stuff like Dido, and and other slow to mid-tempo stuff, and slowly creating a bit of musical tention and, hopefully, building some anticipation in your crowd.

Every gig is different so the flexible approach and the ability to judge what to do nxt will win through.

right I'm starting to repete myself now so I'll shurrup

Darren

Good topic.

Again I play it by ear, or see how the evening is going. By playing kids stuff the time goes quicker for you as well, and at least you are working, that said, there have been plenty of times when the B&G have only wanted background music until the buffet.

As a matter of intrest how many people offer the 'background music' service, I will offer to set up a speaker or two and play background music during thier meal, it takes 5 minutes to set up (That XLR ro 3.5mm stereo connection did work Gary !) by just plugging my laptop straight into my speaker, or if they require a mic (at extra cost ) a mixer and speaker(s), then play background music all afternoon, and being via the laptop I don't need to stand there and change CD's. I offer this service for £50, whether it is 2 hours or 5 hours, as I see it I am not really 'working' by doing this, and in the cost of things for a wedding £50 is nothing, but it is worth it to me.

Me being a newbie, I have not had that much chance to try out different things. Up to now I've played background music till there's enough people in the room that I don't feel like a plonker when I burst into my "Good evening" etc.

Now I'm going to ask what to some will be a really stupid question.