Learn How to Say No

Welcome And Raleigh Catch Up

SPEAKER_02 0:17

What's up everybody? Welcome back to Beyond the DJ Booth. I am Joe Bunn. That right there. Brian B. It's Brian B B B. B. And uh we are the private event DJ podcast de jour. De jour.

SPEAKER_03 0:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Of the day. What does that mean? Of the day? I don't know, actually.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

I think it is de jure. De jure. De jure, soup of the day. Yeah, soup of the day. Okay.

unknown 0:43

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Recording this from Raleigh, North Carolina. For those that were curious where the lab or the stew is. We're in Raleigh. Yeah. You like it here? Yesterday I flew home from uh Florida where it was 80 plus degrees. And it was like 40 or something. It was weird.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

It's freezing yesterday. Today seems nice. It's it's nice, but not great. Not great. Hey, what um, do you like it here? I love it here. How long? Three years now?

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Three years. Three plus? Twenty-one? Oh no, twenty-two is when we got here. No, twenty-one. That's five years. Oh my god, it has been that long. Ain't no way. Yes, it has. Was Annie born in Raleigh? Oh, yeah. No, no, no. She was born in 2020. She celebrated her first birthday here. She was born in the middle of COVID in New York City. So it must have been 22, 22, three years. Four years. She was born in COVID during New York. During COVID. In New York City. Yeah.

unknown 1:36

Damn.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Terrible time.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Terrible time.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

But no, we love it here. Um yeah, everything's great. Love it. I'm glad. I'm glad you moved here, man. Yeah, it's been fun. I've been doing the networking thing. Yeah, you have. Uh getting to meet some people at some of these this entrepreneur dining club, which I'm actually really liking. I didn't think I would like it.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

You've been twice now.

SPEAKER_00 1:54

Three. I'm a threefer. Look at you. Free timer. Coming out of my bubble.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

You're way out of your bubble, bro.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

I don't really like that stuff, but I I I'm enjoying it. So let's uh thank some of our Patreon members here. Okay. Let's do it. I'll let you take that first name.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Oh, wow. I got it. He even spelled it out. Did he? Yes. Shout out TJ Kaapuani. Shout out TJ Kaapuni. Kaapuni. Kaapuni. Shout out TJ Kaapuni. He's gotta be from Hawaii. Hawaii or like a Polynesian island of some sort.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

Who's the next one we got? Patrick Gray. Take that easy one. And then our boy from Maui, Joy Joe Cortez. I love Joe Cortez. He's awesome. Underrated DJ, by the way, in my opinion. Okay. He's an incredible mixer. Scratcher. Okay. I dude. I would watch him, speaking of COVID times, he would do the live stream. Oh, yeah. Dude, this dude would pop off. I'm like, everybody on that island's probably will listen to this guy. Because he was just like getting comments galore. Never got shut down on his stream. I'm like, how you doing this, bro? Like, are they not watching it? I mean, he would be going, it's Hawaii time.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

So it'd be like three or four in the morning, and he's just going strong. I mean, maybe the censors aren't big at three or four in the morning, maybe. I don't know. He was crushing. So shout out Joe Cortez. I would love to see him, by the way, at the DJ Collective. Me too. Because we got about four more days when this drops before our price increase. Price goes up.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

June 1st. I don't know about the conference at Jani. Brian and myself do. We've been doing it for years

Patreon Thanks And DJ Collective Plug

SPEAKER_02 3:26

now. We've done it all over the country. But now it pretty much lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, and it's the DJ CollectiveOfficial.com. Get your tickets before the price goes up. It's going to be November 16th and 17th, right here in our hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, at a very cool wedding venue called the Maxwell.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

So, you know, I did some wedding shows at the beginning of the year. Actually, I shouldn't say shows. Show one. Yeah, I remember kind of helping you out with that. Yeah, you got it.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

I got you a banner. I got you my sign guy and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Yeah. Um, but the one negative that I wish I could redo was I sent them a QR code that went to my website. Okay. Okay with the contact form, which was very cumbersome.

SPEAKER_02 4:11

It was like too many fields, probably.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Too many fields.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

Yeah. Didn't get a lot of names.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

Didn't get a lot of names. I think that really boned me. Yeah. If you will. Yeah. Um what do you recommend? What do you for shows like this? Is there any kind of other system? Do you remember the fishbowl days? Like you would make a card?

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Yeah. No. Oh, that was one. Or just like they had to fill out a little slip of paper and put it in there. And then you would give away like a dildo or something. Not a dildo. I don't know why I said that. Like a free lighting or something.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Totally. Yeah. Then we started using the photo booth to do that. You know. Oh. Anyway. But what do you recommend? I'm in need of a better system than this if I do it again.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

I have done everything. I've done the fill out the pay, you know, literally paper, stick it in a fishbowl. I've done uh QR code to the back end contact page on my website. No

A Faster Lead System For Shows

SPEAKER_02 5:08

good. No good. No good. I've done even worse. I've done waiting for the show producer to send me the lead. No, don't do that. You're eight days into it. Right. You you're, you know, everybody else is already pinged all the people. Uh lately, the last one or two we did, and again, we do we don't do the the Catal Call ones. Catal call.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yeah, this is mine was a small one.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

Boutique, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Uh Raffleese. Raffleese. Raffle Ease. R-A-F-F-L-E-A-S-E from our boy C P at S start.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Raffleese. How's it work? Um similar system, but it is not driving them. The QR is not going to drive them to like a page on your website. It basically is the entire system. So it's collecting the leads.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

It in fact you can set it up to I mean, I was basically setting it up to message people before they even left the venue. Like whether it was a text blast or email blast, you could see all the contacts right there in one page.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:07

Like it it is just it's taking out all of the um How'd you hear about us? How you know all that stuff. Yeah, and all the yeah, it's taking out all the questions and making it all just one system for that is its only sole purpose. Is to get names and phone numbers, quite frankly, is to me, I think, more important even than an email address. Right. And an email address faster than any way possible. And you can set it up to do some of that follow-up before like absolutely before you left the show.

SPEAKER_00 6:37

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

It's just it's it's gotta be that turn and burn system, especially if you are doing those massive shows like at the fairgrounds where it's like and it's maybe you and just one of your other DJs sitting there trying to talk to everybody. Yeah. If you have a conversation too long or they're sitting there trying to fill out something too long, they're they're gonna walk right by you.

SPEAKER_00 6:55

Totally.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Yeah, and you've if you've missed a sale potentially.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

So do you put this like QR code on a uh a card that's sitting on the table?

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Yeah, I mean that I bought that screen for so many different options, it works great on that.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Like and then do you pay like a what a monthly subscription thing?

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Yeah, I don't remember the exact price because remember, I was telling you S Start's got uh instant spotlight, yeah. So I mean they have multiple products under the brand S Start.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

But you could you you know pause a subscription?

SPEAKER_02 7:26

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah, yeah. I would think so. Because I mean we don't do that many shows anyways.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Well, for us, yeah, it's usually quarter one. We go heavy, yeah, and then we wouldn't do it. Turn off for a while.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Okay. Interesting. All right, I'll check it out. What's it called again? Raffleese. Raffleese. Yeah. Okay, I'm gonna check it out. Let's hit the story time. Story time. So I'm not gonna name these planners, but there's somebody that we know. And um, so they hired me to do the main stage for what they called, I think it was beer, beers, bitters, and bartenders. They've been doing this forever. They've been doing it for a while. Right, okay. They hired me to do the VIP tent. Okay. This past weekend. Okay. Kind of vibes. In Florida. In Florida.

SPEAKER_02 8:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Like what were you planning? Oh no, like more like indie, indie kind of stuff. I felt like that, bro. I did. I did prep it pretty well. And then um, they had me go on the main stage and they were having a lot of bands that were gonna be on Saturday and Sunday, so they always do Friday night DJ for two hours. So tougher than I thought, actually. Because the age is, even though it's 21 and over to get in, I got the southern people who want like, you know, sweet home Alabama type stuff and all that. Then I got the uh the the the Botox ladies who you know wanted to act cool, they want the Sabrina Carpenter. Oh Lord. And then I got the you know, your crowd, the brick houses, and the you know, play that funky music. You know, I'm like, so you know, thankfully I'm on a massive stage. Yeah, we can't

Declining A Low Budget Tent Gig

SPEAKER_00 9:02

really get to get to me. They're trying to show me the phone, but I can't see the font so small. I'm like, I don't know what you're saying. I'm just like hit the thumbs up, yeah. Okay, gotcha. Yeah. Um, but I got a couple cutthroats, you know, on stuff that some people were loving. Yeah, other people like it once alcohol is involved to that level and they're like drinking heavily, then they think they're the client when they're not.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

They're not.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

I just didn't think it was that fun of a show to play necessarily. But they wanted me to bring in some other DJs the next two days. Uh, not for the main stage, just to play in the tents, just keep some music. Now, these planners aren't the client necessarily, they are representing the client. Oh, I thought this was their thing. No, they plan it, they do it, but they are hired by the nonprofit organization that's running this. Okay, okay. They raise like three or four million dollars. Like it's a massive thing. So, over the course of this weekend. So they go, hey, uh, we'd love to get some more of your DJs. I go, okay, cool. Uh, what's the hours? We're thinking like uh 12 to 6. What's the budget? Ah, it's not great. What is it? 500 bucks? I go, you mean per hour? No, the whole thing. I go, uh, I go, I know I know you're not the client, but I'm like, that's tough for me to fulfill. And I'm like, I don't even want to bring you anybody. First of all, I don't want to ask any of my guys to work for that. But I wouldn't even want to recommend anyone because I know that it's anything at that level is not going to be good. You're better off with a Spotify playlist. 100%. So uh I put the text message exchange up there. Uh, because this went on for a while, and uh, so they they text me and they go, Wow, this DJ is horrific. My ears are for real bleeding. He's such a dork, too. Where's Brian B and Joe Bunn? Hey, so my my comment back to her religions are all unconceated. A little singer, and she goes, You ain't kidding. So I she these planners know us. Yeah, right. So that's why you got it.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Right, we're not naming their name.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Right, okay, I got you. But uh, my point was I could have taken this gig and probably recommended somebody's crappy to do it. But it actually, I think at the end of the day, when if you run into this scenario, it actually helps you to decline it. Because guess what? Well, how did they get these people? Where did they get these people? They found somebody. They found client or the girl. Who knows? I don't know. But I can tell you what, it didn't reflect well on them, right? Didn't reflect well on the client, right? So I think sometimes it's better not to like lowball yourself just to take it on and let it fail because you will get the call eventually.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

Oh, that the the 2027 version, they'll go, okay, we're gonna do Brian on this VIP and then this guy. And then Brian, we need some of your guys to come in at whatever. Uh 200 an hour, 1200 bucks. Yeah, somebody would have taken that gig. Yeah. 1200 bucks. Yeah. I mean, to to background it.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

The amount of money that they saved was not worth this.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

No. And this lady knew. Well, I wish I I I wish we had even more detail. Like, my ears are bleeding. Like, I mean, does that mean like the music is bad? The sound quality is bad. I think it's both.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

The quality. I I have a feeling that this DJ played like like it was his show, you know, like a headliner type show. And you're like, you're in a tent, bro. Like, read the room. But did they have to bring in gear too? They had to bring in gear. Oh shit. And he probably had some trash gear. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:30

Not good.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

So, anyways, I thought that was kind of funny. Great. But just a great uh learning opportunity to do that. Sometimes taking saying no is the move. Absolutely. Because I wouldn't have gotten that text if it was good. Right. Right, right, right. So uh you had a gig where you just did a whole Latin set. Talk to us a little bit about this. You Latin.

SPEAKER_02 12:47

I um Gringo Joe? Gringo Joe, the the the king of uh not being good at Latin sets um had a couple for the set Oh set. Set set. It was a set. Okay. It was about a 40-minute Latin set. So dancing opens at uh Where when you say Latin, where are they from? They're American born, they live in Miami. Okay, right. South Carolina. The wedding was at because West Coast Latin is different than East Coast. When I look at the I'll I'll show you the set list. In fact, I might even put it up. In fact, he laid it out. And and because I said we had our final planning call. He goes, hey, don't forget, this is the wedding where we're doing the Horaloca. You know, it's about a 45-minute set of just Spanish music right in the middle. And I go, and even the before the planning call, like when I booked it a year ago, I remember him talking about it, and I go, So you don't, are you sure you want it like as this? And he goes, This is the way we do it. Like, this is the way we want it. And I'm like, if that's the way you want it, that's the way we're gonna do it. Because I was like, because I could space these songs out. He's like, nope. All right, middle in the middle. And I go, okay. So were you familiar with any of these artists? A lot. So that's what I was gonna tell you. It was let's call it th 13

Planning A Strong Latin Set

SPEAKER_02 14:03

to 15 songs, something like that. And I made it so every other one was like a danza cadura, gasolina, um Despacito wasn't on there, um, uh Shakira, yep, it's gonna lie. So it wasn't one particular of a pit bull. I mean, I'm sorry, pit bull was one of them, but it was a lesser-known pit bull, and then two bad bunny songs. So it was Puerto Rican's, Carol G, I think is Colombian. Yeah, um uh Shakira is Brazilian. She might be Colombian. She's Colombian, I think. Yep. Um there was definitely uh a merengue, that's is that Mexico? There was definitely a salsa, Mark Anthony, yeah. Like that's that that's five different countries.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

Or so it it didn't follow one country, it was just Spanish speaking. There are different genres, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it was a lot of echo outs. And there was, and then I marked on Cerrado, I said, listen, man, the main thing I don't know about the many Spanish songs are I don't want to mix out of something that people are gonna be pissed off about. Right. Help me. And he goes, and he literally wrote out the list of songs, and he was like, This needs to play to the end, this you can dip after two minutes, 25 minutes. And was he right? And he was spot on, dude. Wow, and so and and you know, so it wasn't really beat mix so much as it was just like get to that program, blah, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

And then so he when you say he mapped it out, he didn't say song one into song two.

SPEAKER_02 15:33

He's just telling you, but the way he laid it out was pretty much how I was gonna lay it out because he goes, think about it like the songs you know, like you as Joe Bunn, and think about the songs that like Spanish people know. Yeah. So if you go like every other song, you never lose the dance for. Right. And Saquon, and and I was in a weird spot, up off to the side, kind of risen. Yeah, nowhere near the dance war. And Saquon was out there, she was like, It is lit out here. Wow. And it was, I mean, it did not go down for two hours and 40 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

I always think to myself, though, like, if it does do well, like do I want to get those referrals?

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Right, right. I know I want to do this again. A girl came up immediately. The last song played, and she's got her hand out. Can I get your card? Yes. Do you travel? Yes. Where are you? And she said, New York. And I'm like, if I gotta come to New York, I'm come, I'll come to New York. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, and again, uh for 45 minutes like that, where where it was pretty much laid out. Yeah, that helps. It helps.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_02 16:30

I would not, I wouldn't have tanked it. I just wouldn't have known that there were those six, there was uh DJ Lazar Party, you know that song? It's super fast. Yeah, they were like, this is like the Miami anthem. You have to have this. In fact, I had it queued up. You ever have this happen when somebody comes up and goes, and I go and I and I look and I took his, I took my fingers to his face and I go, and I pointed to the screen.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

He's like, Yes.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah, that's awesome. You know what I mean? So I was like, the guy had me dialed in, but it's awesome. Whether, and and again, that would happen for me, whether it was uh Nigerian, yeah, Ethiopian, Indian. I'm going to be dialed in so well on this alternate list that I don't know these songs for before I go into that show. Yeah. I ain't going in there just trying to pull Bollywood songs on an Indian wedding. I don't know that stuff. Yeah. Anyway, so it was killer. Ramsey's came out. I played Jump Around. That's a sweet one. The UNC mascot.

SPEAKER_01 17:26

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

People went ape shit. Got it. And he came out there and he danced for a good 30, 45 minutes. Yeah. Hot as shit, I bet in that suit. Holy shit, I bet it was hot.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Now, is this the actual mascot? Yo, yeah. So he must get paid well to do these at weddings? I guarantee he gets a couple thousand. Wow. And then you think he how many weddings do you think he's doing a year? That's a great question, man. I mean, I And how does he do it in basketball season?

SPEAKER_02 17:49

He can't. Right? I don't think he would be able to take it in basketball season. Probably not. But I mean, the mascot. I mean, we don't play a ton of Saturday games, do we?

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Well, okay, I'm just thinking of basketball, though, but what about football and all the other sports that are out there?

SPEAKER_02 18:02

There's no way. Maybe it's an off-season.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Must be.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

But that's a long off-season, though. I guess what is going on? It's baseball right now. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

So that's probably what it is.

SPEAKER_02 18:10

Basketball ended in March. Football doesn't start until September. March. I mean, it's prime wedding season. Yeah. He can probably hit it pretty hard.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

And I don't know the answer.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

And I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Does the university get it get money? Does he, does the kids get it? I didn't know you would be able to keep the mascot outfit. Take it with you.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

Bro, he was he's in there sweating his ass off.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 18:29

And did you meet him without it? Nope. So you don't so you've not. I don't want to spoil the yeah. Yeah, I don't want to see him unmasked. But he did come in as a civilian and then they had a little green room for him. Oh. And then he changed into his suit, and then he came in there and just and I'm like, and I like stop. I was like, ladies and gentlemen, we have a special guest tonight. Everybody makes some noise for Ramsey's. Jump around. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

So do you not play there? Then do you go from that into the fight?

SPEAKER_02 19:01

They want to jump around.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

That's all they want.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Yeah. I could have played him out of the room, probably on the fight song, but I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

So but he only comes in for one song?

SPEAKER_02 19:09

No, no, he was there about 40 minutes. Took pictures with everybody. Oh, okay. But he's only dancing for one song. Oh, he started the swag circle. Oh, wow. I mean, he's out there, bro. He's doing it. Sweating his ass off.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 19:21

I loved it. So, how many weddings a year do you do when you have Ramsey out there? I I I see him at least once a year. Randy sees him at least once a year. I mean, he's out there. And Tuffy, too, the the dude from um State, the wolf.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Or whatever his name is. I don't know. I think his name's Tuffy. That's a stupid fucking name. Well, Ramsey's isn't that much. No, Ramsey's is a cool name. He's a Ram. Remember, because the Tar Heel doesn't have a logo. Yeah. I mean a mascot.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

I mean, a tar heel can't be a big foot on it.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Well, Tuffy isn't really a thing either. That's just a name. I don't know. I think the whole thing's kind of lame in my life. Nah, it's awesome. But I guess if you go to the school, it makes sense. I mean, yeah, they met there. They, you know, they fell in love there. Like, it's part of their history.

SPEAKER_02 20:00

All right. Well, those are good.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Sounds like a good gig.

SPEAKER_02 20:02

Yeah, it was good. It was a great gig.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

All right. I killed that shit. Well, let's roll into the gears corner.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

Uh-oh. The gear's here. The gear. The gear. Is here. Is here. Is here. Is here. Is here.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

So, dude, I uh trying some new tech, trying some new things. Mr.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Fucking big hair, big Mr. Perfect Hair, big headphone. Yeah. Finally gonna move into the new year.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Now, the the reason why I'm moving into it is because I have to play with a drummer for the next two. And I'm worried about my hearing going the guy's right behind me. On horizon. Full kit. Full kit. Full kit. Full kit. And I'm I'm just like, I don't want to blast my ears out. Yeah, no. And so he, I don't know. I I'm assuming he's gonna be miked. Um, but my question was about how to protect my ears. Yeah. So I was looking for some in-ear stuff of like, I still need to hear the stuff. Yeah. So I'm like, I'm gonna test this the night before.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Or I'm sorry, a couple gigs before. So I asked you for which in-ears to get. Yeah. You gave me these Amazon pieces here, which they look kind of cool.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Yeah, they're they're um for what they were.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

I wore them for like a day. Yeah. They did not feel comfortable after a couple hours.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Now keep in mind they're not molded. They're just yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

So I was like, mm, I think I'm gonna uh see if it's

In-Ears And Hearing Protection

SPEAKER_00 21:26

a back or they return. No, they're gonna be a backup. Okay, that's what I use them for. Yeah. Yeah. So then I was looking around and did some Google reviews and found the Sannheiser kind doesn't have that look of the mold like that one does. Yeah. This is more just whatever. Um these look a little different here. Hold on a second. So it's just like, you know, they still have them in there. And the these little things can come out, just like your AirPods or whatever, they can be different. Adjustable tip. The tips. Yeah, the tips. Tip. Tip. So anyways. Um Um, I used these this weekend. And for the first time. Go on. Directly into the mixer. Directly into the mixer. No pack. Okay. Um, I I it's gonna take some getting used to. Interesting. Um, I don't know if it's my OCD-ness. Uh I like having I don't like one ear getting blasted and the other one being exposed. Like I need it to be even. I need it to be even. Well, because when I'm turning it off, um Oh, are you were you wearing both of them in your ear? No, I use one. Yeah, I was trying to. Uh-huh. And that's the other problem I ran into. Yeah. I'm like, I maybe I'm old school and the mixers I used to play on back in the day, they would have split cue. Split cue. They still have, you can still pick it, but it's not a split. It's in both ears. You have the mains and the I'm like, why would you ever want that?

SPEAKER_02 22:44

No, no, I wouldn't want that. But I think it's maybe the do that too.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

It it throws me off. Me too. You gotta have the split cue. I I don't understand why you wouldn't make a mixer like that anymore. I don't either. But that's the yeah. So now everybody has it in both. So I ended up taking, I mean, but I will say this, uh, because when I played with a musician recently, it I didn't have the in ear. And I remember I the next day, my ears were like ringing.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:09

And I'm like, man, that's not.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

You don't have tinnitus.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

No, I don't. Your ears don't ring on the night. No. But they were ringing that night. I was like, I think I'm lost some hearing here, possibly. Because I was like, this was loud. And I had a monitor, yeah. So I'm trying to overcompensate. Right. And so I'm like, I gotta try this. And I and I will say it felt great the next day. And even that night, no ringing whatsoever. Yeah. Because you really you can't turn it up much because it is in your ear.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Yeah, yeah. It'll blow you out.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

The Sannheisers, I was really impressed with the hearing the bass in it and all of that. Um, but I wish it was a split cue because I like to have both of them in. I know.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Personally, I bet there's a little we we can go down the rabbit hole. I bet there's something that can come out of it and you can split cue it.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

That would be my only complaint.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

You remember that little box that we bought with it had like XLR and one in, yeah. Kind of attenuator knob.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

I'd love to figure that out because uh the if you do put me on. Yeah, that was my only complaint, but I can tell you that I it'll take a little bit getting used to, but I think it'll be a game changer. I the other novel, uh, what do I want to say, kind of uh more vanity side of it? My hair was in great shape. I know, you know what I mean? No headband, no big ass headband. No, look clean. Clean. In fact, someone actually complimented that. He's like, look at that guy. He's got no headphones, no headphone, no headphone, Chris. But he could see it like coming in there. I was like, mmm, interesting. So what do you think that those high sandheisers go for, by the way? Oh man, I bet those are expensive. 149? 109 on Amazon. Okay. I'm sorry, not on Amazon. I got it through a dealer. So, anyways, just something to consider. Thought I'd throw it out there. We'll put the link on it.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

I think what I'm gonna do, you know, I went to the um audiologist and got my ear mold made. Mine are custom made. I think I'm gonna make and I dropped the right one. I think I'm gonna call Ultimate Ears, get another pair made, left ear sound, right ear open like 50%. Can they do that? I So it'll just be an ear plug.

SPEAKER_01 25:05

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:05

But I need to hear, like, you know, Mother of the Bride comes up to make a request. I I usually can get mine out quick.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

But like if I could just turn my head and still hear.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

So wait, you keep it in so you're hearing it in both the Q and both ears?

SPEAKER_02 25:20

I only wear one.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Oh, but you said you just pull it out when she's I do.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

But I'm saying, what if it what if I'm wearing both and the right one has no music whatsoever? It's literally just an ear plug.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

But I have it like they can they can make it like a certain percentage is coming through.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

So I'm not, it's not like dead air. Because I want to hear the crowd right now.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Oh, no, I understand that. I wonder if they can do that. I'm gonna assume they can. Yeah. Anyway. Question of the day. So let's hit the question of the day. We got a doozy today. You ready? Yeah, you read it. From Paul Paronello. Parinello. All right, 2526 from YouTube. Paul Parinello. Nick Spinelli made a video of the knot being sued by clients due to fake or spam leads. Could you please dig into this topic and tell us what you both are experiencing and what other DJs are experiencing? I'm advertising myself and get at least two or three fake leads a week. Look forward to you bringing this up on an upcoming podcast. You want me to start? I do. I'll start. Uh, I mean, obviously, I see this stuff all the time on Facebook groups. I will just go ahead and uh you know caveat this with um, because this is the first thing people are gonna come from a head at, is like they do hire me. Um, I'm not paid anything, but I am on their education team. Uh, I think Joe is too. So uh that is a non-paid position, by the way. We don't get jack crap for that outside of just wanting to help the industry. Um, it's actually completely unrelated to the advertising whatsoever. It's a completely different team that runs that uh internally. So let me just get that out of the way and say that that's the case there. But that wouldn't uh that wouldn't make a difference for me as far as how I'm gonna reply to

Fake Leads And The Knot Lawsuit

SPEAKER_00 27:14

this. I will say this that I know the people who are making the decisions in the advertising situ uh area personally. I know their character pretty well. And my take on this is that there is a lot of uh what do I say, uh ex-employees that might not be um giving you all the information, probably. And so I I'm gonna trust the the not folks in what they are doing with the people who are in place there. And yes, do I get some fake leads? Absolutely. I'm not gonna say I don't. I definitely get some, but I don't think that those are necessarily what I'm finding on the fake leads is that these are bots, is what I'm finding. And they have put a ton of money. I know uh we both know Tom, who is somebody, and I think this is what helps me is that because I'm on the inside, if you will, as soon as I get something like that, I send it right to Tom. I forward it to him. He says, forward it to me. Yeah. And my other contact there says, forward it to me so that we can deal with it. Because we don't know unless you know you tell us. They have spent an incredible amount of money trying to whittle that down. Right. But I probably get two or three fake leads a month. I'm gonna say Can I ask how you know it's fake? Because as soon as I well, one, I can look at the email address because it actually does show it now. Uh-huh. Uh, and it doesn't look like a real one. It's like at Yahoo or I mean it is a real address, but just the names of it looks fake. The way that they're wording the email also or the message in there doesn't seem real. Okay. Like, hey, um, do you take credit card? You know, like those kinds of things. Like you would get anywhere. Yeah. Now, I'm just speaking from somebody that if this was my business, yeah. Why would I ever want that? Uh people are gonna crap on me all day long for this. So I'm trying to rectify it as quickly as I can. There is just a lot of ways that you can get through it, get through it, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:12

So it's the same way Nike's been trying to stop robots from buying sneakers for the last 10 years. Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:18

Or there's some kid in Twitter, yeah, or or X, I guess, all the different things. Um, does it happen? Absolutely. And I don't think that they would be around this long having done this to customers, they would have been found out. Like it would have totally come out. This is a select group. And by the way, anything that you read online or anything that you see that's marketing this or making a big deal about this, um, they'll never they never lead with they lead with the sizzle of the headline of like the knot is getting investigated, right? Nothing's been proven at this point. Nothing. So everything is hearsay. The knot can't say much about this publicly because they're in a lawsuit. Like, people don't understand that. Like, if you are the person who's getting accused is always on the wrong side of the stick because they cannot defend themselves because they want it to wait to go to court. If they play all their cards and say, this is why it doesn't do this and this and this, you set up the other side to be able to try to figure out a way to counter that. So anytime you're accused, you can't literally say anything because your lawyers are gonna advise you against that. Wait till court plays out. And this has never even been brought to court at this point. So anybody who is, and no, no offense to Nick Spinelli, but like, you know, he's got his thing with his his YouTube channel. It's about the clicks, it's about he wants you to watch this stuff. It helps his channel. I'm not saying that's his only reason for doing that. No, but if you wanted to be a YouTuber or you wanted to be on social, you want the clicks. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah. And these people that are bringing this suit, I can tell you, because I've talked to the insiders at the knot. Again, it's one-sided. Okay, I haven't talked to the other side. I'm sure there's somewhere in the middle somewhere, but I just believe my people that they would not stay at a company that's associated if they knowingly knew that someone was doing this. They just wouldn't do it. Their character speaks for themselves, and I know them well enough that they would not stay at the company. That's just my own take.

SPEAKER_02 31:14

Um, Paul, I mean, I, you know, I'm uh I am with Brian. I'm an educator, unpaid, just helping people out. I don't remember the last time they asked me to really go out and do, you know, a seminar for them. Um, but I'm on the calls and you know, I'm quote unquote on the inside as well. I'm also a a buyer. I mean, I I w every one of our six offices advertises with the knot. Do we see spammy things come through every once in a while? Yes. Uh every system, every every avenue, even the own contact page on my own website says it sees those people come through sometimes. So I think that there are outliers that get into contracts with the knot, probably bite off more than they can chew, especially on those featured or experienced listings or whatever they're called, that are paying $800, $1,200, $1,500 a month and you know, are not getting the leads, or even worse, getting the leads and not converting, that are probably stirring shit up as well, you know, because you can't you're in a contract, you know. You can't get out, yeah. Yeah, you you bit off this, you know. You wanted the spotlight feature listing or whatever they call it now. And if you're not getting the leads or you're just not converting those leads, it's hard to pay that off. Yeah. And I I just don't buy it, man. I I I don't I I believe that they have good intentions. I believe the platform is good. I've been a not wedding wire person, whatever it's called now, for I mean, I remember speaking at the conference in in DC at Weddingwire World or whatever they used to call it 10 plus years ago. Right. I I mean I've been a supporter for a long time. I probably always will be. Do we still do the featured or spotlight listing anymore? Absolutely not. We have probably the most basic package there is. But that's because I've been in the game so long now. I don't need that to be successful. I have referral sources from the vendors, the clients, the bridesmaid that was at the wedding last Saturday. Like, I just I don't need online advertising like like I did 20 years ago when I first started.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

I was gonna say two more things to this that uh to your point. Some markets, this doesn't work in general. I I agree. Or one or the other may work. It could be a wedding wire or the knot. Right. Ask. Ask the people who are in your market. I will tell you that in the destined Florida market, this does not work because it is such word by mouth, they always book the uh the venue first, planner second, or it's the other way around. And that controls the list of names that they give out. It's completely word by mouth, uh word uh word of mouth that the vendors get selected.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

So running ads on this, they might get you might get the request, but as soon as they hire the venue or the planner, that list goes away. And it never worked for that market. Now, when I was building my own personal brand out of New York, I tried to do this and it worked for a while, me paying as an advertiser until it got to um uh a $5,000 price point. Once I hit $5,000, yeah, the leads didn't work anymore. They didn't have the budget. Now that could be just that market, I don't know. Yeah, but I have to say that there could be other things that are making this happen. Yeah, I get that, man. So, Paul, I would just say, man, um, I I don't think that they are doing you dirty on this. I don't either.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

You just gotta buy it.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

You gotta route it out. I would also suggest that you just email your your rep and say, hey, look, here's two or three leads I've gotten that are fake. Yep. And have them get back to you with what what they're doing to combat that. That's what I would suggest.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Very last point, Paul. Whatever you do, make sure that people that are filling out your contact form or whoever's taking your inquiries, make a list of where your leads are coming from. And if you get to the end of this year and nothing came from there, get out of it. And and didn't book from there, then get out of it, man. The ROI is not there, right? And then you'll truly know.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

All right, put a bow on the sink. Let's thank our sponsor, DJ Event Planner. If you're looking for a CRM, they're the only ones you need to go to. Check it out, DJEventplanner.com. We'll see you guys on the next episode.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

Thanks, y'all.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Peace.