Issue 184 - July 2017 - Christmas in July

ISSUE 184 JULY 2017

WWW.MOBILEBEAT.COM

CHRISTMAS IN JULY GETTING AND PREPPING FOR HOLIDAY GIGS

PLAYLIST

CHRISTMAS IN JULY YO U, D I S R U P T E D......................................................... 6

It All Starts with a Conversation

By Todd Mitchem S O C I A L M E D I A K N O W H O W.. .......................................... 8

3 Social Media Hacks Inspired by the Jetsons

By Staci Nichols F E AT U R E . . .................................................................. 10

ADVERTISERS

Christmas in July!

By Joe Bunn P L AY S O M E T H I N G W E CAN DAN C E TO.. ......................... 1 2

Blizzard Lighting

www.blizzardlighting.com

7

Bose

www.bose.com

13

It’s Beginning to Look Like the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Carvin Audio

www.carvinaudio.com

9

DJ Intelligence

www.djintelligence.com/mb

11

By Jay Maxwell

Electro-Voice

www.electrovoice.com

3

Famous Stages

www.famousstages.com

15

From the Ground Up: A Finale (of Sorts)

Frankenstand

www.frankenstand.com

24

By Stu Chisholm

Innovative LED

www.innovativeledsales.com

21

Insurance Canopy

www.insurancecanopy.com/ dj-event-insurance

14

Mobile Beat Cruise

www.mobilebeatcruise.com

16

Mobile Beat Las Vegas

www.mobilebeatlasvegas.com

17

Great Gobos Made Simple

Odyssey Innovative Designs

www.odysseygear.com

2

By Ryan Burger

Photo Printer Outlet

www.photoprinteroutlet.com

25

F R O M T H E G R O U N D U P.............................................. 18

F E AT U R E . . .................................................................. 20

What to Do with Those Screens

By Steve Sharp E YE CAN D Y.. ............................................................... 22

Play Something We Can Dance To! www.mobilebeat.com/store

24

Are You Easy?

QSC

www.qsc.com

19

By Jason Weldon

RCF

www.rcf-usa.com

5

Stage Spot

www.stagespot.com

24

You, Disrupted

www.toddmitchem.com

24

T H E L AST W O R D.. ....................................................... 25

Publisher Ryan Burger Mobile Beat Editor-in-Chief Dan Walsh

Gear Editor Jake Feldman Circulation Manager Kitty Harr

Editorial Assistant / Writer Rebecca Burger Events Director Emeritus Michael Buonaccorso

TO ADVERTISE IN MOBILE BEAT OR EXHIBIT AT A MOBILE BEAT EVENT, CALL 515-986-3344 x300 OR EMAIL SALES@MOBILEBEAT.COM

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YOU, DISRUPTED

It All Starts with a Conversation TODD’S NUMBER ONE SUCCESS TIP FOR ANYONE WHO IS ABOUT TO SPEAK

By Todd Mitchem

T

he audience is ready, you have the microphone, and now you are about to open your mouth to address everyone. The question is, will your comments uplift the audience or prove to be utterly useless? This one tip could actually determine your success right from the start.

I have been a speaker now for over seventeen years. From keynote presentations to workshops, I have been in front of every type of audience you can imagine. Each time, I have used one simple tool that changes how I am received and perceived by the audience. Before I reveal it to you, so you too can also put it to work, I need to first discuss the difference between “professional” and “polished.”

You are, no doubt, a professional. You work hard to deliver a quality performance and presentation at each event and you are dedicated to the craft of doing this well. But all too often, as in the world of public speaking, a professional becomes far too “polished.” I define polished as that overly slick way in which an entertainer or speaker addresses the audience. They launch into an artificially smooth voice that sounds like it belongs in 1970s radioland, and nearly always start with: “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, how is everyone feeling tonight?” These over-used methods actually create a barrier between you and the audience.

It is this barrier that I will now destroy with one word: conversation.

For more than 17 years, Todd has coached executives on dynamic leadership, structural excellence, and strategic business applications at some of the top brands in the world, including Microsoft, Apple, Starbucks, Anheuser-Busch, H&R Block and more. His skill in helping corporate leaders and many others reach breakthroughs to greater success led to the creation of his new book, You, Disrupted: Seizing the Life You Want by Shaking, Breaking, and Challenging Everything.

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When you take the stage, the dance floor, or simply start to address an audience, you are having a conversation. Yet, as I outlined above, many DJs tend to overuse the polish of their work, thus stopping a dialog. What audiences crave is an authentic tone and to feel like a real person is talking with them, as in a conversation.

The best way to begin to address this for your next event is by imagining that you are having a party at your house. As each individual guest knocks on your door, how do you envision yourself answering the door? Do you open it and in your most polished DJ voice say, “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to my house party. How are you feeling tonight?”

NO! In fact, if you did that, I would guess your guests would turn and sprint home. Instead you simply answer the door and say, “Hey. So great to see you. Thanks for coming. We are so glad you’re here.” You would address the people at the door as friends, in a tone that was conversational. And that is my one secret for you to get control of your next audience. Just have a conversation.

Now this is harder than it sounds. First you need to unlearn the vocal polish you have spent so much time perfecting. Here are three tips to unlearn the polish and engage in the conversation.

• Practice the Party: Leverage the example above and the next time you talk to the audience, address them as if they were all invited to a house party of a close friend. Make it conversational and fun, rather than scripted and polished.

• Talk to Individuals: Often a speaker or a DJ will look over a crowd and speak to the air. Instead, look directly at people. It is in their eyes that you find a connection and a conversation. Remember that old saying, “Look them in the eyes.”

• Stop Begging: Get rid of the word “please” and stop asking questions you don’t want answers to. Please equals begging to an audience. And they can say “NO!” “If I could please have your attention” is the kind of useless phrase that can have an audience saying “NO!” in their heads. So drop it.

Other traps are phrases like, “Can I have your attention?” or “Who is ready to have some fun?” Again, these are phrases that fail. Instead, replace them with something like “Hello everyone. Focus your attention here. We are about to begin and, before we do, everyone make noise on three. 1, 2, 3.”

The bottom line is that being a professional means you are able to truly connect with your audience and, to do that, you MUST engage in a conversation with them.

SOCIAL MEDIA KNOWHOW

3 Social Media Hacks Inspired by the Jetsons

you want to post to and customize as needed (for example, you might add hashtags to Instagram and Twitter but not to Pinterest).

By Staci Nichols

Most of us only DJ once maybe twice a week...what do we post the rest of the week when we are not live at an event?

How about re-sharing older posts? Of all the hacks on this list, #3 is by far the

R

emember how “The Jetsons” had that automated kitchen?

Well, that's going to be you with social media from now on! What if I told you you could do all your social media posting in just one day out of the month and spend the other 29 days not worrying about it? You just need the right tools.

Please step into the Jetson's social media kitchen with me now...

DJing an event, I will generally post twice to Instagram—one that was scheduled and one on the fly at the event.

#3 AUTOMATICALLY RECYCLE OLD POSTS

#1 AUTOMATE YOUR POSTS Yep! Just schedule your social media posts the same way you can with blog posts or calendar reminders. Check out, for example, one of the most popular and established social media automation platforms, Hoot Suite, to see what's up. In a nutshell, you connect your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest accounts to Hoot Suite. On your dashboard, not only can you see all the comments, retweets, and likes you need to respond to, but you you can see feeds of specific hashtags you are following and leave your own comments and likes on others' posts...right from the Hoot Suite dashboard. And automating your posts or tweets is as easy as clicking a few buttons on the Hoot Suite calendar.

I use Hoot Suite to schedule about 90% of my Instagram posts and have used it to post a “Song of the Day” on Twitter.

I have a folder where I save interesting memes and photos that I see, then once a month, I go into my folder of saved images and schedule at least one a day for Instagram. On days when I'm actually

#2 USE AN AUTO-POSTER FOR YOUR BLOG

I'm going to assume, boys and girls, that you know you should be sharing all of your blog posts to your social media accounts. If not, now you know. Instead of doing this manually (boo!), you can install a Wordpress plug-in like S.N.A.P. (Social Networks Auto Poster by NextScripts).

S.N.A.P. will not only automatically publish your post to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest...but it will post to about 15 other sites like Tumblr, Xing, and Linked In. The more sites linking back to you (i.e. backlinks), the better this is for your search engine ranking.

After installing S.N.A.P., there DJ Staci Nichols is based in San Diego and will appear a field specializes in spinning “country fusion,” at the bottom of Latin/Spanish, and mainstream music. your Wordpress Her know-how has appeared in San Diego Style Weddings, Offbeat Bride, blog post page Wedding Planner Magazine, and Book listing all the More Brides. She offers consulting at available social WeddingBizConsultant.com or check out media sites. You her DJ biz at SanDiegoDJStaci.com. IG/FB/ check the ones Pinterest/Twitter: SanDiegoDJStaci

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easiest as you literally do not need to do ANYTHING after you set up the Wordpress plug-in (I recommend Revive Old Post).

Revive Old Post works with Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, and Tumblr. You can set how often each platform re-posts, how old the posts must be before they get recycled, and which types/categories of old posts should be used.

All social media platforms reward you for posting consistently and often. You'll show up higher in search rankings, draw in more followers, and better engage existing followers as well. Does Google care or even know if what you are posting is automated? Apparently not.

Let me throw in one more bonus social media hack: Have a master list of “Tweetables” or “Quotables.” Basically, each time you write a blog post, copy and paste any “tweetable” sentences, ideas, or tip. Start scheduling these babies to your Twitter and Facebook using Hack #1.

Better yet, write the quotable on a wedding picture or DJing picture as posts with images do better than text-only posts.

FEATURE

Christmas in July!

GIVE AYOURSELF THE GIFT OF HOLIDAY GIGS & GIVE CLIENTS THE BEST EVENTS

By Joe Bunn

I

t’s hotter than the third level of hell here in North Carolina, but we are already thinking about holiday parties. Why? Because clients are beginning to realize that they need to book them now to get the best venues and vendors for their upcoming corporate events and other celebrations. Let’s break this article down into two parts. First, marketing to get these shows, and secondly, what you need to know to make them a success once you actually get there.

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PART 1: SECURING YOUR HOLIDAY GIGS Before I get too far ahead of myself, let me mention this. In January of this year, as soon as I felt like everyone had recovered from Christmas and New Year’s Eve, I sent out emails to every single corporate client that we entertained in late 2016 to ask if they would like to go ahead and re-book their same DJ for 2017.

Right off the bat, over 50% of them took me up on that offer.

REACHING HOLIDAY CLIENTS BY EMAIL...

As I’m writing this, it’s mid-July and as soon as I came off vacation from the 4th of July, I started working on marketing pieces to get the rest of them booked, as well as add some new folks.

The first thing I did was export (from my CRM) any corporate or private event (non-wedding) leads that came in over the past year. I exported ones that booked and didn’t book. I also made sure that all of the corporate clients we have worked for over the past couple of years were in there. Once I did the export, I imported that CSV file into Mailchimp (my preferred mass emailing program), and then proceeded to send out a professionally designed, short but sweet email to all of them. It read something like this, “Dear XXXX, It’s Christmas in July! Have you started thinking about your upcoming holiday or winter events?

Now is the time to book to make sure you get an awesome DJ to rock your event. Please email us back or give us a call at the office to get pricing information. We look forward to hearing from you!”

...AND ALSO SNAIL MAIL Call it old school, but a good old fashioned postcard or letter still gets us some solid bookings every year. Remember that export you did? When you do that, make sure to include their mailing address. (You do always get that physical address from folks when you send them a contract right? Make sure!) You can then import that file into MS Word (under Tools>Labels) to create mailing labels to stick on your letters or postcard and save yourself a lot of time vs. handwriting them. The postcard or letter basically says something similar to what I wrote in the Mailchimp email. It’s just another way for you to get in front of clients. It shows that you REALLY want their business and notifies them that NOW is the time to book. It’s important to create a sense of urgency. Plus, filling up your calendar early is going to take some of the pressure off you, knowing that you’ll have a ton of cash to buy your kids (or yourself ) some serious gifts over the holidays!

as at a corporate event, there are many “bosses” even though you may only have one point of contact. That’s a lot more folks that are going to think they know more than you do about music.

As always, if it’s around Christmas, and you’re going to start the cocktail hour out with mellow stuff, make sure to check and see if Christmas music is OK to play. Some HR departments won’t allow it due to religious diversity within the company. For the dance portion, a good idea is for your point of contact to generate a playlist from the staff before the event. They can simply give everyone the link to your music planner and share the password and username with them. Of course, this can backfire if the list gets too huge or if only a few people participate, or if they only like one genre of music. However, I still like a good starting point vs. just going in and blindly tossing out songs to see if guests respond.

More than likely, there are going to be some stops throughout the party where you might be asked to introduce the CEO and let him/her say a few words. You may also be asked to MC a game or even a “Secret Santa” type of event. Just make sure that when you advance the show with the client, you get a good idea of the flow of the event. Just as you have a timeline for your weddings, make one for your corporate events and make sure that it gets filled out prior to showtime, even if you have to do it for them when you have your final phone call/meeting with them.

Combining some inexpensive marketing with the ability to rock the holiday show, you are sure to get their business year after year. Good luck and Happy (early) holidays!

PART 2: ROCKING YOUR HOLIDAY GIGS OK, so you’ve booked the show, you’re at the event…now is your time to shine! Corporate events are much different than weddings. A wedding is all about the bride and groom, whereas

Joe Bunn started his DJ career over 30 years ago. His company has four offices and now does over 1000 weddings a year and another 400 private, corporate and charity events. He still DJs almost every weekend, but also helps other DJs grow their businesses as a consultant, writer, and speaker. Visit www. djjoebunn.com to learn more or purchase any of his products.

WWW.MOBILEBEAT.COM • J U LY 2 0 1 7

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PLAY SOMETHING WE CAN DANCE TO

It’s Beginning to Look Like the Most Wonderful Time of the Year UNDERSTANDING THE VARIETY OF CHRISTMAS AND HOLIDAY MUSIC

By Jay Maxwell

W

e’ve all had the experience of someone coming up to us at an event to request that we play a particular genre of music. The person might ask for some dance music, some country music, or some rock and roll. Of course, the problem is that these categories are too broad to fully understand exactly what music the guest actually wants.

If someone asks for some rock and roll, does he want a Beatles’ tune, early Madonna, or a Tupac song? All these artists have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so any of them might be considered rock and roll artists. Of course, most DJs would not categorize all three of these artists as rock and roll.

Only the Beatles would be rock, while Madonna would be dance, and Tupac would be Hip Hop. Rarely would a DJ stop there in separating the music. Typically, there would be several categories of dance music, with Madonna going into a different section than the Bee Gees, for example.

However, when it comes to Christmas music, the typical response is to lump all the holiday tunes into one category. But, Christmas music, like non-holiday music, needs to be placed in certain categories because some songs are best played during

the social hour, while other Yuletide favorites are best heard during dinner.

Taking inspiration from the classic sing-a-long “The TWELVE Days of Christmas,” the songs comprising this article’s list are organized with 12 songs from four categories of Christmas tunes.

Two of the four categories, the social hour and dinner music, will be played at almost any function in December. The main difference in the two categories is the tempo of the songs, with the faster-paced songs suggested in the social hour and the slower ones saved for dinner. If the client wanted only Christmas music played during either the social hour or during dinner, the music from either list would not last for the duration. However, these songs should give an indication of the style of music that would set a festive tone during the early part of the event when people are arriving and a more casual feel during the meal. One characteristic of both lists is that no one should object to the message of these songs since they are purely secular tunes. This can be important for many company functions when those coordinating the party do not want to offend anyone’s beliefs.

On the other hand, there are events where songs about the true meaning of Christmas, music describing the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, are appropriate and expected. From a personal point of view, I am a Christian and teach at a Christian university; therefore, any event that I DJ for the university would have many of the songs listed on the sacred list played during dinner. Though I unashamedly state on our promotional literature that we seek to honor God in every business transaction and operate using timeless biblical principles, I respect other people’s views as well.

The final list of twelve songs contains some of the very fun, perhaps cheesy, selections that even children love. These standards are must-haves for any event around the end of the year; for a kids’ party or if children are invited to the function. The downside to all the songs on the lists is that they set the mood for the evening, but do not typically get people on the dance floor. That’s why the most difficult part of the evening DJing a Christmas party is to know when to transition from playing the holiday favorites to playing dance music. One sure way to know when to switch styles of music is when someone shouts, “Play Something We Can Dance To!” LISTS ON NEXT PAGE...

Mobile Beat’s resident musicologist since 1992 (issue #11), Jay Maxwell runs the multi-talent entertainment company, Jay Maxwell’s Music by Request, LLC, in Charleston, South Carolina. He is also a professor of Business at Charleston Southern University. His passion for detail and continuous research of clients’ requests can be found not only in this column, but also in his annually updated music guide, Play Something We Can Dance To.

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PLAY SOMETHING WE CAN DANCE TO

12-Song Sets for Christmas SACRED

CHILDREN 1

FROSTY THE SNOWMAN

GENE AUTRY

2

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER

BURL IVES

3

JINGLE BELLS

TRADITIONAL

4

ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE

BRENDA LEE

5

YOU’RE A MEAN ONE, MR. GRINCH

THURL RAVENSCROFT

6

UP ON THE HOUSE TOP

JACKSON 5

7

TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

TRADITIONAL

1

SILENT NIGHT

TEMPTATIONS

8

SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

2

AWAY IN A MANGER

CECE WILLIAMS

9

JINGLE BELL ROCK

BOBBY HELMS

3

THE FIRST NOEL

JACI VELASQUEZ

10

HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS

ELVIS PRESLEY

4

O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL

NAT KING COLE

11

THE CHIPMUNK SONG

CHIPMUNKS

5

JOY TO THE WORLD

CHRIS TOMLIN

12

SPIKE JONES

6

IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR

JOHNNY MATHIS

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH

7

HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING

AMERICA

8

O HOLY NIGHT

MIRACLES

9

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN

NEEDTOBREATHE

1

CHRISTMAS SONG

NAT KING COLE

10

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM

STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN

2

BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE

JOHNNY MERCER / MARGARET WHITING

3

WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS TIME

PAUL & LINDA MCCARTNEY

11

ANGELS WE HAVE HEARD ON HIGH

THIRD DAY

4

WHITE CHRISTMAS

BING CROSBY

12

WHAT CHILD IS THIS?

CARRIE UNDERWOOD

5

CHRISTMAS IN DIXIE

ALABAMA

6

LINUS AND LUCY

VINCE GUARALDI TRIO

7

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS

CARPENTERS

8

CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE

DIANNE REEVES

9

THIS CHRISTMAS

LADY ANTEBELLUM

10

WINTER WONDERLAND

LOUIS ARMSTRONG

11

MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY

BONNIE RAITT & CHARLES BROWN

12

SILVER BELLS

BING CROSBY

1

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE

HARRY CONNICK, JR.

2

IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

ANDY WILLIAMS

3

LET IT SNOW

MICHAEL BUBLE

4

MY FAVORITE THINGS

TONY BENNETT

5

SLEIGH RIDE

DEBBIE GIBSON

6

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

BARRY MANILOW

7

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU

MARIAH CAREY

8

HAVE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS

HARRY CONNICK, JR.

9

HAPPY HOLIDAY

PEGGY LEE

10

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN

FRANK SINATRA & CYNDI LAUPER

11

LITTLE SAINT NICK

BEACH BOYS

12

FELIZ NAVIDAD

JOSE FELICIANO

DINNER

SOCIAL HOUR

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CHRISTMAS

FROM THE GROUND UP

From the Ground Up: A Finale (of Sorts)

By Stu Chisholm

I

t has been quite a while since the previous installment of my blog and mag series about the total overhaul of my DJ business, Stu & His Crew. One of the reasons I’ve put off any more writing is because things slowed down to such a crawl, there wasn’t anything new to report!

I had completely upgraded my playback systems, using HP Omen laptops and the (then) brand new Numark NV. I had completely refurbished my old 1996 Ford box truck, restoring its looks and operation to like new condition. I’ve overhauled my business plan, redone my logo (keeping only my name, albeit changing over to an LLC) and have been taking some steps to improve my performances.

POSTPONEMENTS AND DIVERSIFICATION That was exactly a year ago. If you also recall my article, “Meet The MRS” (MB, May, 2016), you also know that I’ve diversified my businesses into several different divisions in order to create multiple revenue streams. Over the “missing” past year, I’ve added one more, which is totally unrelated to DJ work: massage therapy.

Unrelated, that is, until now.

Since June of 2016, I’ve been attending the prestigious Irene’s Myomassology Institute. I graduated last month, have received my state license, and have even joined up with a local spa.

Precisely as it is with doing DJ work, my focus is on the client, and to help make said client’s life a little better. This is the main thing that being a massage therapist has in-common with being a DJ: we help people. To this point, all of my side business activities sprang from my DJ work; commercial production and special programs for aerobic dance studios were byproducts of the gear I had by dint of being a DJ. Writing, too, came from my 18

scripting and focus on English fundamentals. Even my firearms instruction was due to the sometimes risky nature of being a mobile DJ, carrying thousands of dollars in sound and lighting equipment late at night. But… massage?

PASSION STRIKES Separate and apart from being a DJ, I belong to a number of social groups. You know the type: Meetup groups where likeminded people come together over hobbies, politics, games or just about anything. In my particular group, one friend was having some monetary difficulties. Rather than bothering family and friends for loans, or doing some GoFundMe-style scheme, she offered what she did best: massages at a discount. To help her out, I bought one. And that’s when the proverbial light-bulb came on!

The more she explained, the more I wanted to know. Just as in the early days of learning to be a DJ, my fascination grew into full-blown passion. At 58-years-old, I took out a student loan and entered school. And it was the most fun I’ve had in years! Having gone through the training (and, as with DJ work, learning never truly ends), I now fully return to my DJ business with a new weapon in my arsenal: the couples massage.

CONVERGENCE The final phase of my DJ business relaunch is marketing and, of course, boosting sales. While I’m sure I’ll have a whole bunch to write about as I delve into this aspect, the one thing I’ve never heard of being offered by a DJ company before is one of the best bonding experiences a couple can have! Imagine, if you will, the day of the rehearsal dinner. With the “big day” just hours away, nerves can be frayed. Tensions may

MOB I LE B EAT • JU LY 20 17

run high. Expectations create pressure, which can lead to a couple feeling run down, at the very least, or downright ill.

What, then, could be better than a couple’s massage? With my mentor, or one of my Irene’s massage family members, I can now offer my couples the relaxation and calming that a truly great massage can provide. And because they can go through it together, this can strengthen the bond between a new bride and her groom.

We sometimes spend a full year or more building a relationship with our wedding clientele. We work closely with them to plan and execute one of the most important days of their lives! Over that time, we build trust. We become more than just another vendor. A bond is forged. So this new passion of mine affords me the opportunity to extend that bond over many years! A good couples massage before a wedding, or perhaps a “welcome home” massage upon their return from their honeymoon, could turn into a monthly, or even a weekly repeating event. Not only can what might’ve been a $12K or so sale be converted into several times that amount over the years, but I can also add new names to my list of good, personal friends. How can one measure that kind of value?

THE END? This has been all about learning. As we all know from our DJ work, there is always something new that is worthwhile to learn. This holds true for everything in our lives. With just a small sliver of creativity and imagination, we can find ways to bring our talents and abilities together with our DJ skills to offer something truly unique to our clients and enrich ourselves in ways far beyond the monetary.

Is there something you do that could be tied-in to your DJ universe? Or perhaps you have friends whose skills could be tapped to meet your clients’ needs and extend that relationship far beyond the one-time buy. Bring those passions and/or resources together and maximize your efforts and client relationships.

Until next time, safe, and prosperous, spinnin’!

Stu Chisholm had been collecting music since he was about age 8 and began his DJ career in 1979. After a stint at the Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts, he studied the DJ arts with famous Michigan broadcaster Bill Henning, interned at Detroit's rock powerhouse, WRIF, and later added voiceover work and club gigs at Detroit's best venues. He has shared his extensive DJ experience through MB columns, as a seminar speaker and through his book, The Complete Disc Jockey: A Comprehensive Manual for the Professional DJ.

FEATURE

What to Do with Those Screens DJS AND MUSIC VIDEOS, PART 2: CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS

By Steve Sharp

I

find it sad that the heyday of music video (creatively and in popularity) happened LONG before it was relatively easy and practical to manipulate or even simply MIX music videos, as DJs do with music. Now that it IS possible, it's now RARE that music videos seem to generate the kind of excitement they once did.

COMPUTERS HAVE CHANGED EVERYTHING

you want to bet that soon you're looking for the ONE video that's on a series you're not subscribing to? Investigate it, and take a look! You can also add on packages of special issues, with music videos going back as far as the ‘70s. Many of these titles continue to be the very backbone of my music video collection. Promo Only has gotten more involved in recent years with providing DJ-friendly edits. Go for the biggest package, and buy an external hard drive to store it all.

Smashvision. Smash offers daily updates, and a huge catalog, available 24/7. The quality is always on point, and the vast majority of releases are in multiple versions: clean (lyrically), dirty, xtendz and snipz (DJ friendly intro and outros). Smash seems to respond very quickly in getting the new releases posted ASAP. And their catalog titles are not a separate package or purchase. Navigate to them, and you can start downloading.

Smash really seems to understand the needs of DJs very well.

Xtendamix. While this service has been available in Europe and Canada for many years, after years of "coming soon", they're finally available to U.S. video DJs. I'm not sure what changed, or what took them so long, but they're here now. And they're definitely worth looking into. I've found catalog titles at Xtendamix that no other service seems to have.

HOW IS VJING DIFFERING THAN (AUDIO) DJING?

The major software packages today for DJs using music video I have a couple thoughts on this. are: Serato, Virtual DJ, and Mix Emergency (which piggybacks 1) In a phrase: eye candy. My Friday night residency is at a off Serato). Each have their pluses and minuses. My advice: Find club where the front room has a HUGE bar with video screen. a combination of controls, computer, and software that you're Go through the tall doorway, and you're on the dancefloor (with most comfortable with. Get something good, learn to use it, another video screen). There are several videos I play that AREN'T practice, and THEN take it out and play! hit songs, but the videos are quite entertaining to watch. At the Let's take a look at some service providers to help you get start of an evening, people aren't dancing yet, but they could be up to speed with the videos you'll need. I'm going to suggest you watching the video screens. USE THAT. operate legitimately. Please do the right thing and endeavor to 2) Be careful with the eye candy! While my previous anecdote get your music and videos legally. Music pools and video pools is from a club, where nudity, sexuality and profanity are perfectly operate by charging dues. Those dues go to the pools them- acceptable, many, if not MOST mobile DJ events don't have selves. For the most part, the record companies and artists do that kind of freedom, and you will NEED to exercise discretion.

NOT get the money you spend on your subscription. The biggest Unfortunately, unlike music, where there seem to be relatively mistake DJs in pools make (at first): thinking that they're BUYING clear FCC rules as to what words can and cannot be heard on the the music, per song or per video. “I'm getting too much filler.” radio, nothing similar exists regarding images. One of my rules You'd be paying the same amount if 200 tracks were released in a at school dances, for example: If anyone in the video is dressed month or if 30 tracks were released that month. If you get videos in a way that they could not attend this school in, I can't show you can't use...don't use them. that image. Keeping to this standard is far tougher than it might Promo Only: Promo Only has been one of the greatest sound. While the video pools try to help DJs in this endeavor, you resources for club and mobile DJs since 1992. Today, their POOL cannot rely on them and will have to judge it yourself. service releases music and So, music video for DJs can music videos, daily, weekly, be a very entertaining option, and monthly, in a big array but only if you put in the time to of packages, designed for a Steve Sharp has been entertaining Southern master software, hardware, provariety of clients and formats.

Californians since 1981, and is noted for his gramming, and performance.

They also offer attractive, extensive music knowledge and music video Hopefully the information I comprehensive subscription programming skill. He is also a primary DJ shared here will help you as you product demonstrator for Hercules. bundles. While it's tempting to enter the arena for the first time, try and get JUST the format(s) or if you are looking to improve you think you'll need, what do your existing service.

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EYE CANDY

Great Gobos Made Simple STAGESPOT’S GOBO CREATOR HELPS DJS PROJECT A PROFESSIONAL IMAGE

By Ryan Burger

D

Js are always on the lookout for new ways to raise the average dollar amount of their event contracts, while providing services that enhance their clients’ overall experiences. Along with uplighting, photo booths and other services, another great add-on is gobo projection, which has become a lucrative up-sell item, especially for wedding receptions, over the last ten years.

However, one aspect of providing this service may keep some DJs from diving in: The toughest part of doing gobo projection has been simply getting the gobo properly designed. Well, this is really not an obstacle, with the debut of the latest Gobo Creator from StageSpot online at StageSpot.Com. Eight years ago, Stage Spot debuted the first version of this service and, according to Erica Ritchie, CEO of Stage Spot, it was based on the idea that “I just need something simple. Just a few fonts and maybe some designs.” From there it progressed to serve DJs who said “We just want some designs that are pre-made that we can just change the names and dates and be good.”

Gobo Creator has now reached the level where brides can go in and design it themselves and send it to their DJ for updates, or the DJ can go in and design it and send it back to the bride for approval, with full clip art, font tools, curves, and more.

Erica explained that while a large number of their clients would submit what they wanted and knew how to make the files that were needed to generate the gobos, many others needed a lot more work to get the best results. “[They would say] ‘Hey, I have this image, but I just need the dates changed.’ Or, ‘Hey, I have this picture of a peacock feather, but I need the names and dates changed on it.’ And all that seems fairly simple and straightforward until you get to, ‘Okay, where do you want the names and dates?

How do you want them centered? Do you want them arched? What font do you want?’ And then it gets a little more complicated.

“So this way they can upload that peacock feather and then just add the names and dates to it wherever they want in whatever font they want and whatever color they want. Depending on if all the questions got answered the first time (which never happens), it usually takes us two or three days to get something that makes the customer say “Okay. Yes. That's what I want.”

The process usually involves a good deal of back-and-forth between their DJ customer and the DJ’s client, as well as between the DJ and StageSpot. But the Gobo Creator system aims to make the the process as painless as possible. “So this way they can actually just do it all right there,” Erica says, “and then send it to their customer from there to look at it and approve or disapprove.

And then it's already in their cart and they can just check out. So it saves time on our end but it also -- hopefully -- speeds up a whole lot of the process on the customer's end.”

From that point, StageSpot takes the final gobo from their design system and they send it to Rosco or Apollo, who produces the gobo with the size of the fixture that the DJ uses. The whole process has been sped up on the design side, and the DJ and their 22

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client see what they are going to get in advance, so they get exactly what they want!

While I only tested the steel gobo portion of the system with the gobo that you see in the companion photos, this system works with glass and steel, as well as the StageSpot Cool Ink system, which provides plastic-based gobos for use only in low-heat LED projectors.

“With the increase of LED gobos people can now print their own,” Erica reports. But she explains that there is still good reason to go with professional reproduction: “The benefit from having

us get it done through either Rosco or Apollo is that we can get a true black on the background so you don't get that gray circle bleeding through from the light.

Because on a typical printer you can never get that true black.

And then we also add a layer of glass on either side when you get the hi-def version. So that way you don't end up with fading throughout the night and basically end up with a big white circle in the middle of your image by the time the night's over. But with LED fixtures we're able to significantly reduce the cost on a full-color gobo because you can get it in these plastic HD gobos.”

Erica and Kevin Richie, her co-founder have molded StageSpot into one of the industry's leading suppliers of lighting consumables and other supplies for professional DJ and lighting companies. One way they’ve accomplished this is by listening to their clients’ needs and responding to make their lives easier. Check them out at their website and see them in person at MBLV22!

www.stagespot.com

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www.toddmitchem.com

www.frankentstand.com

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THE LAST WORD

Are You Easy?

HOW WELL DO YOU FACILITATE YOUR TEAM’S BEST WORK?

By Jason Weldon

A

re you easy? We always talk about how easy we want to make things for prospects and customers.

But do you ever look at how easy you make things for your own team? How easy is it for your team to handle the day to day things that shouldn’t require you or the help from someone else? If your team was asked about the way you do business, would they rave about how easy it is or grumble about how damn difficult you make it?

A growing company is always going to incur some new red tape as it matures, that’s part of business growth. However, making things time consuming because you think it is “streamlining,” might not be the best bet. And on the other side of the coin, you may be too easy. If you are too lax, your team learns they can get away with doing whatever they want while you are pretty much clueless.

There is a happy medium.

Leadership has to be mindful of the red tape. Systems and scalability usually drive the change to a more corporate structure. While you remain master of the 30,000-foot “big picture” aspect of your business, your team likes to be nimble and be able to make 2,000-foot decisions on the fly. The right balance of proper, scalable systems and instance level decision making are key for your team to work at the top of their game.

I am a big proponent of giving your team a solid framework in which to function. They should know their boundaries and be able to make the daily, smart decisions. Good people that understand the system and have your end result in mind will do good work. Ambiguity, less-than-clear expectations and indecisive leadership are all things that can affect the framework and create less-than-ideal results.

One of the best ways to figure out if you are a little too tough is to simply talk to your team. And then listen to them.

Sometimes you don’t always know best. You’ve got your head way up in the 30,000 foot view. Listen to someone down at ground level and try it their way. You might be surprised.

Jason Weldon is a wedding business consultant who specializes in small to medium-sized companies that want to grow their business. His objective is to help guide people through organizing their thoughts and laying the groundwork for a better, more successful start-up. He currently lives in Philadelphia and is also the president of Synergetic Sound and Lighting, Inc. and DJ and A/V company.

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