When The Client’s Daughter Hijacks The Decks

SPEAKER_04 0:17

What's up, everybody? Welcome back. Another episode straight from Raleigh, North Carolina. We've got Joe Bunn next to me. One of my co-hosts, the co-host, and myself, Brian B. Glad you're here. Thanks for listening. Hey, by the way, we got a great review from uh our boy Nick Nystrom. Yeah, we did. It was nice of him to leave that. Everybody needs to leave, uh needs to be listening to this if you're not a private event DJ. Yeah, he basically called you out and said, if you're not listening, what are you even doing in life? So, you know what would be really helpful is if you shared our clip from the Beyond the DJ booth Instagram, I would appreciate it. Or if you just take a share and put it on your stories, tag us that you're listening. We just want to get it out there to as many DJs as we can. And yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

All that apps now, if you're listening, you can just do tap the three dots and just share it to your story.

SPEAKER_04 1:08

It'd be great.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:09

And if you're not on Spotify yet, just letting you know that we now have it uh with video. So if you're looking to get off the YouTube and want to do it on the on the on the go in the car, you can do it on the surely it'll be on Apple Podcast by the time this drops. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

July 1st. Happy July.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

Happy July 1st. Damn, this is moving quick. This year. Always is. It really does. But this is my favorite time because we get a little breaky. Yes, sir. At the moment. Yes, sir. I'll be there. What are you doing July 4th?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Be at the beach. Are you going to be at the beach that weekend? Yeah, yeah. It's your weekend.

Welcome And Listener Shoutouts

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Shout out my boy Chris Gentry. Yeah. I love it. He's coming down there with me. Okay. That weekend? Uh that weekend. Wow. That whole week, probably. July 4th weekend. At the prime week. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:49

Because it's on a Saturday. This is dropping on the first on a Wednesday. Thursday, Friday. It's Saturday. July 4th. That's going to be mayhem down there. You better make some reservations. I do need to do that. July 4th weekend. It's going to be mayhem. Mayhem. Well, let's thank uh some of our backroom Patreon members. Yeah, shout out Gary Atkins. From somewhere in the U.S., I would assume. And then we got Michael Kennedy from Westbrook. Emmy is Maine. Maine, I think. Okay. Never been there? Have you ever been to Maine? No.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

I've always wanted to go to it.

SPEAKER_04 2:20

I wanted to go to Banger?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

I thought that's where Tara had that birthday party you wanted me to play.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

No, that was in uh Hampton. No, uh it was in Massachusetts. It was uh on the coast there. Maine in Massachusetts, it's got an M in it. It's got an M in it's kidding, bro.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

He goes, no. My stomach's growling. I guarantee it's coming through the microphone. I'm hungry as a hostage. We've been batch recording since 8 a.m. Yeah, crushing it. Crushing through it now. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

Well, let's hit our uh DJ Collective announcement. Okay. We uh are gonna today unveil a sponsor and also a speaker. Ooh. So uh the sponsor today that we're gonna shout out is Lead Excess. Yes. Led by Craig Loftus, who's actually a speaker as well at the collective. Yep. Great guy. You use Lead Access as well. Yes, we do AI um Responder. Responder. Yep. Helps you set meetings. It really does.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

You're a big proponent of it? Dude, our year I I know there's a lot of people complaining about this year. I've got a great year. We're having a great year. I don't know. And I'm not listening shout out LeadXS, shout out Craig Loftus. I love the system. If Randy Bennett can use it, God bless him, anybody can. He's not tech friendly. He's not um very comfortable with change of any sort over the years. And whenever I change something, I'm sure he's gonna shit on it. But we adapted and and adopted this system uh over a year ago. Yeah. And you know, the goal is it responds to leads from every single platform and basically is just says, Hey, I'm Sarah Jones. I work for a bun DJ company, and is just trying to get

DJ Collective Updates And Back Room

SPEAKER_01 4:05

them to book a meeting. Yeah, it's not trying to get you to book the show or give us money, it is trying to get them to book a meeting with a DJ. And when we get those meetings, I guarantee we're 85 plus percent to book the show. So, anyway, shout out Craig. Uh, do you know what he's speaking about? Is it AI stuff?

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Well, you know, funny enough, he did something last year and everyone's like, no, we want to hear about your product. Yeah, like tell us about lead excess. He's like, I was literally not trying to be like a uh a sales guy on it, but since everybody wanted to hear, he shifted halfway through his talk and started talking about lead excess. So it was great. So if you're not familiar with it, you'll get a I would assume he'd be working it in.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Anyway, go tickets. DJ Collective in Raleigh, November 16th through the 18th, www.the DJ CollectiveOfficial dot com. Jason, Jan I, Brian B, myself, a host of other speakers and sponsors and bringing in talented DJs. We're not gonna mention all those right now, but please like check out the website. This is going to be a community you're gonna be a part of for a very, very long time. You're gonna make connections and friendships here that are potentially going to change your life. And I I I don't say that I don't say that being a sales guy. I don't say that because I don't believe it. I can tell you that over the last eight, nine years that we've been doing this, there are plenty of people that will stand up for us unpaid and tell them that the connections and the the moments there actually change their career and possibly their life.

SPEAKER_04 5:31

And a lot of them? I totally and a lot of them aren't at other shows. These are people who are for the very first time are given it a chance at a show. I would say maybe 80%. That's that's not uh a hyperbole. Yeah. Have not been to a show before. Yeah. So these are brand new people that you're meeting that are trying to, I mean, they're giving up a pretty penny to come to the show. Sure. And they want to be a part of a cool community, and I think this is it. Hey, real quick, Joe, should we explain the back room or just let people figure it out? I think we should explain. All right, it's our Patreon. We call it the back room, a community for you, our listeners, the booth heads. And if you're not in there, you are missing a ton of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Things like bonus episodes, exclusively recorded monthly for backroom members. Plus the tracks that we pull that actually work for the events when we play them and when you play them. Early bashed episodes, giveaways. Look, we have the good stuff there, not junk. We're not gonna email you some sticker.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

And it's $19.99 a month. For now.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yeah, for now. Go to patreon.com beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. Again, Patreon.com slash Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

Join us and our booth head community in the back room. Let's hit it off the record.

SPEAKER_05 6:44

Uh, off the record, let me talk my sugar honey ice. They throw a shade while I'm sipping on this ice team. Don't care if you hate or like me. You know why? Cause that's just how I see record off the record, off the record, off the record. Say it with your chest, got a microphone, check it. I'm gonna say what I want to say. It's right time to write and ready. Get out the way.

SPEAKER_04 7:13

All right, man. So I did this event uh a couple weeks ago now. Oh boy. Super high end, very, very high end. Um the bride was older, groom was older, you know, doing well. Yeah. And uh I the the playlist was very tricky to navigate. I felt like I was one of maybe a few DJs that could have pulled this off.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

They were I I leave events sometimes and I look at him and I go, uh uh uh somebody else would have fucked this up.

SPEAKER_04 7:42

Totally. Yeah. Um I was actually some good friends of mine were in the running on this show, and I I don't know, somehow beat them out. I don't really know why.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Um, but regardless, the By the way, on that digital graffiti show that you booked me for, you did put me, I'm not gonna say who they are, you did put me against two aces and I won out. You did. And I'm less I I'm more experienced, older, but not nearly as handsome. That's true. And I won.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

Yeah, you did. And I won. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Anyway, uh go back to the case. One of the guys messaged me, he goes, You fucker.

SPEAKER_04 8:21

Anyway. Uh so bride tells me uh my daughter is in her 20s.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

The daughter was in her 20s.

SPEAKER_04 8:29

Yeah. Okay. Um, DJ. Uh-oh. And she's uh helping

High End Wedding Playlist Tightrope

SPEAKER_04 8:35

me with a playlist. Uh-oh. Never good. And I I get the sense that the the bride goes to Coachella or those type of festivals with her daughter to bond. Okay. So she's like, I don't want the standard wedding stuff, you know, which is fine if you really have the crowd for it. And I've been getting more and more that are taking more risks and not going wedding-esque. Okay. But you gotta know your crowd. But and I'm thinking to myself, you have a lot of 60 somethings, I'm guessing. Friends of your age peers. The bride was that old. Yeah, in their 60s. Is it second marriage? What? Yeah. Nah. Yeah, that girl was in her 60s. Nah. I'm not joking. She looked like she was in her 30s. Like, I mean I think she wasn't that, but yeah, I know. She's 60s. Yeah. Uh she, for everybody else, was at your show the night before. Right. I guess just hanging out, partying. Yeah, partying. She's throwing down. Oh, throwing down. I saw her for a hot second.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

I go, yeah. I go. If she's going to Coachella, I can only imagine.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

She throws down. Yeah. But I I she came up to me and goes, Are you Brian? And I go, No, no, he's around here. And I'm like, She saw my face. I know. And I'm like, how the hell do you get us confused? I have no eyebrows or hair. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:45

Wow. She thought I was you. Are you you or me? Wow. That's insulting, dog. Yeah. I mean, but you were playing well. You must have been playing really well. I was playing well. So, anyways, she goes, My daughter is going to help me with the playlist. And gave me a massive do not playlist. Like, massive. A lot of artists, a lot of. And the weird part was there was still some mainstream stuff in there that, like on the okay to playlist. On the okay to playlist, which was throwing me off.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

Because then I'm like, now I'm second guessing. Yes. I'm like, it's not like it's all hip-hop that they're saying no to. Like, there's some hip-hop in there. Right. Very few. And I and then and she did literally said no hip-hop, but then she had like, yeah, by Usher on there, which I guess, I don't mean, is it hip-hop? Is it not? I don't know. Whatever. Uh, there was a couple others like that that were kind of iffy. I'm like, I don't even want to go down that rabbit hole. It's not in the must play. Yeah. Why do I need it? If they're saying, unless I absolutely had to go shift gears and need to go there. So, anyways, I'm playing the show. It's going fine. Okay. Um, and the bride's out there. We do like a they did the bartender comes out with like does like a sparklers thing with the drinks and the whole thing. Yeah, like a bottle circuit style. It was cool. Yeah. Comes out. I got Dobby on Sacks jamming out. And then um, and I asked the bride, she's standing right next to me. I go, hey, is there any songs you want me to play? I've been playing, by the way, this I started at four o'clock. This was a roving cocktail dinner. There was no real formalities outside of a first dance. So I'm mixing my ass off from four until 10. Right. Six hours straight. Right. I go, is there anything that and I played primarily off this list. I mean, I haven't really deterred detoured too much. So I said, Hey, is there anything that I haven't played that you want to hear? She goes, No, you're doing great. Just keep it all upbeat. I'm like, great, whatever. So one of those tracks, or one of the artists that she had on her list, which is not, it's kind of like Fred again, where like people put Fred again on the list. It never goes off for me. It's always a great listening track. It's great for that, but for the dance floor, it always falls flat. Even his top records, they never do well for me. And maybe it's me, maybe it's the way I'm mixing it in. I don't know. Sophie Tucker's on there. And Sophie Tucker, okay records, but they never pop as much as you think they would. So she tells me, after like, uh, I get this note, like literally right before we're about to start, that she wants us to be the first song out of the gate for open dancing. They're going from the first dance into the just crowd, and I go, originally she had murder on the dance floor.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Okay. Great.

SPEAKER_04 12:11

Great track, great opener. Sure. Like, I think that's the one we need to use. Not the Sophie Tucker that starts at like 70 beats per minute and all of a sudden it goes into 140, but takes a while to get there. And there's no DJ edit of this, by the way. It's literally just the album version. It's a beat cut. Uh, I think it was called Best Friend is the name of it. So I plead with her. I go, listen, I know you want this song. I'll play it in the first couple songs, but like I think we need to go with Murder on the Dance 4, going from what you've picked for your first dance. I don't even remember what that track was, but it's a ballad. Uh-ish. Okay. Um, so no, I think it was a ballad, but it was still at like 120. Okay. So it kind of worked its way into Murder on the Dance Floor, which is around that level. So I'm like, it'll be an easier move. So I uh and she had like four Tuck uh Sophie Tucker tracks on the list, which I have downloaded ready to go. I play the uh Murder on the Dance Floor because she lets me do that and fills a dance floor. I'm like, thank God I pushed her to this. Veto'd it. Right. And third song in, she's like, Sophie Tucker. And I'm like, okay, I'm gonna get to it. I don't know how I'm gonna mix this in. I'm gonna have to just drop it and literally call it out. Right. Because this is gonna make me look like a tool bag playing this track. It doesn't fit with what we're doing. Right, right. So I drop it, I go, buy a request for you know, so and so the bride. I play it, clears the floor. It's just her and her daughter out there.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Uh oh.

SPEAKER_04 13:36

And now I gotta build a bat. You know, and and it's it's a hard thing because they're the client. She's the client. And if she was like, When you say clear the dance for you, I mean literally just him too. People were like, What? They don't know the song. So they're out. So they're out there. Now they're not, they haven't gone back. No, it actually was a good gig, believe it or not. It was this moment. That that moment.

SPEAKER_03 13:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:58

Well, it could have been that. So she so people clear, but they're not like off the dance floor, they're just like on the perimeter. And this is a massive dance floor, by the way. Yeah, yeah. That's another problem. How many people? How many people? 130. Okay. Go on with 150. Go on with the story. So I get I have to build it back. I play that one track, I move on. And by the way, we've got so now I'm about to. How much of it did you play? Just out of curiosity. I played in like 90% of that track. Because it was, they were into it. The two of them are into it. I'm not cutting it off. Right. You know? Yeah, yeah. Then I mix out, go into something else, have to build it back. We build it back. We get it going and it's going off great. Okay. This is when I had that moment with the bride where I said, Hey, is there anything else you want? Let's just keep it upbeat. So I keep it upbeat. Uh, not even 30 seconds later, the daughter comes up to me. Who I realize who it was at that point because you know, by then she'd been out there dancing. Three sheets to the wind. I'd read it. Already. Already. This is no, this is two hours in. Two hours into later, right? Yeah. After they do the spark wars, all this stuff. So uh she comes up to me, she goes, My mom is really disappointed. I'm like, I literally just had a conversation with her 30 seconds ago, who said, It's going great, play everything up. But she goes, We had Sophie Tucker on the list, and you haven't played but one track. I'm like, My girl. You know, I got two more hours. We got two more hours to go. I go, it's definitely getting played. But I even asked if she wanted to hear that next, and she she, I mean, not that specific track, but if there was anything she wanted to hear next, it's coming. She goes, Well, I think you need to play it. And then I'm looking at her eyes glazed over. I'm like, okay, she's had some to drink, but this could be a problem if I don't drop it. Right. So I put it on. How old is she again? I'm sorry. In her 20s. Okay. And not young 20s. I'm gonna say 28, maybe somewhere in that range, right? Okay. So she comes up. Um, they start playing it. I play it. Pretty much a couple more people dance to the next Sophie Tucker track. Not a great response. It doesn't totally clear it, but like it's not many people. So I gotta build it back again. So then three songs later, she comes up to the booth. Now I'm I'm on a massive stage, by the way. Massive stage. She walks up the stairs and stands right next to me. And she goes, uh and and by the way, I'm on a clear tent. It's still light. And I got it on. You got so somber. So somber. Hooked. Yeah. I got it on light mode so I can see. Because it's uh, if I put it on dark mode, it's I'm not gonna be able to see anything. It was that bright. She looks at the software because she can't recognize it, and she goes, What software is this? She's like, Are you is this professional DJ software? I go, it's Serato, like the OG. Like, what are you what are we talking about? And I realize she's wasted at this point. She goes, so she's like literally putting her head like into the computer to go, what do you have? Oh no, dude. And I go, Do you want a DJ? And she goes, uh, do you have any headphones? Like, I'm half bored with it. Because I had the in-ears. I'm doing the in-ears now. Luckily, I have the headphones right behind me. I go, you know what? I got some headphones. You want a DJ? Stop. Let's go. She goes, What do you got? Tech house. What tech house you got?

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 17:07

I go, I got you know, tech house, but it's gonna be mainstream, you know, versions that have been tech house. I don't go deep. That wasn't on your list. It wasn't on our list, you know? So she starts searching for something. I think it was some chain smokers track. Do you think she had played? She supposedly was a DJ, right? So she gets on. I give it to her the headphones. I'm like, this is a perfect little breaker. And I go, uh uh what? And she's getting ready to go. So this wasn't pre-planned. No, she told the mom told me, hey, my daughter's a DJ. She may want to play. This is like early on in the conversations, but it never really came up that it was actually gonna be a moment. We never really talked about it. So I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna let her do it. Let her crash and burn. You know what I mean? Or let it rock. I hope she does great. Right. In either one. It's a win either way. It's a win for

Letting The Daughter Take Over

SPEAKER_04 17:55

me either way. Absolutely. So uh You look like a hero either way. Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

100%, 100%. Anti-hero.

SPEAKER_04 18:01

Right. So I go, uh, we load the track that she wants. She goes, hey, how do I how do I um get the beats matched? I'm like, ugh. We got the sink button. We got it. So I go, we got a sink. I go, we got a sinker. So I go, you can use the jog wheel, you know, kind of push it a little bit. And we got the we got the templifier. Yeah. Or we got the sink button. Whatever you want to use. Uh and she's trying to match it.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

It's not but wait, music's playing on people dancing while you're trying to coordinate this switchover.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

I say people are dancing. There's not it's not a packed floor. Go on. But I got enough time for her to do this. I hate this story. Go on. So she goes. So she so then I I could tell this isn't gonna be matched. So I get on the mic. I go, ladies and gentlemen, we got a special guest, DJ. Let's give it up for her. I don't remember her name, but whatever her name was. And I will say the crowd was supporting her because it's the daughter, right? Okay. Song isn't great. She's fist pumping like she's at Coachella, you know, whatever. And uh, I've got friends of the groom who are like, yo, can you play some like Bon Jovi, which wasn't really on the playlist either. But I'm like, nah, my guy, like, look, this is the daughter of the bride. We're letting her roll. And finally, like two or three songs in, you know, she, and by the way, I'm having to literally, she's like, What else you got, Tech House? And then so I'm pulling up songs because she's you know playing a five-minute version of whatever. And so uh I help her get these songs up. But she's not mixing them, she's trying. Okay, there it's crash and burn. She's using the filter, you know, the echo out, the the you know, just a lot of knob twisting.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Yeah, like diddling.

SPEAKER_04 19:35

And I'm just like, let her ride until she wants to quit. Yeah, you know, and then about 15 minutes in, this goes for 15 minutes, the set. Now, people are still following her, even though the mixes are atrocious because it's the daughter, right? And finally she looks at me like kind of glazed over. She goes, uh, I gotta go to the bathroom. And I'm like, Oh, I think you need to throw up. Uh-huh. Get the hell out of here. Right. We got a bar for her. So I'm like, We got a bar for. So I take the headphones off. She takes up. I don't see her the rest of the night at that point. I don't know what happened to her. She probably, you know, passed out somewhere, or who knows? But then I got to mix again, thank God. And I think people at that point go, oh, this is what a DJ is. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like they kind of took it for granted. Right. You know what I mean? I'm like, yeah, it only helped me. Yeah, right. So we closed it out strong, but I just the drunk wannabe DJs. I'm gonna call this. Right. Rough. You know, dude. There's a reason why we get paid what we get paid to do what we do. Yes. And I think that the culture with DJing has become a little bit the bar is so low to get entry level. Yes, to think you can do something, and maybe social pops off. She's a good looking girl. I'm not gonna deny that. Yes. But I just was like, wow, I this is the first time I've ran into this where it was like train wreck city. Somebody who's not playing just one song, not grandma playing one little scratchy scratchy, but like a 15-minute whatever of songs that she probably hasn't mixed together before either. No, she didn't set herself up well by giving me any tracks that she knows.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

I have a feeling she's a record boxer too. Probably. I don't know. If she didn't know what Serato was, she's either virtual DJ or record box.

SPEAKER_04 21:13

So I don't know if you would have done anything different, but that's my uh I don't know that I would have been so brazen to go. You want to play? Oh, dude, what you came up like with face in the computer, like I couldn't even see like what I wanted to play next. I'm like, take it over, my girl. Take it over.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

I think it's brilliant. I think it's brilliant. I mean, it's ballsy, but it's brilliant. Yeah. And in the end, like you said, you come off as the hero twice. Yeah. You come off as the hero that let her do it. Yeah. And they have all this footage and video and photo. Yeah. And then you come off as the hero to like save a destroyed set. Right. And go, oh, restore faith in humanity and and in DJs that know what they're doing. Oh, wait. Like that was I almost broke my back dancing to that too. Hey, this guy's really clean. Right. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 22:03

And we're talking Bravo. Not a million dollar wedding, but slightly under. Like this was a very high, high-end wedding in that area. Right. And I'm just like, okay. You know?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

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SPEAKER_04 22:59

Uh let's hit the crate finds. Oh, yeah. Little wedding dinner music. I think I'm gonna go first on this one and share with you some of my tracks. So again, these are dinner songs that if you're not playing, you may want to consider. So uh I'm gonna share some of these that are doing pretty good for me right now. This is uh Maggie Rogers, the girl that uh For Elf kind of made famous, right? Yeah, yeah. This is one that's working really great for me. It's came out in 2019, the Love You for a Long Time. If you're not playing this, low-key banger for dinner. Okay. Oh yeah. I think I texted you a picture

EventSync Workflow Fix

SPEAKER_04 23:43

of this because people were like singing along, nodding. My dinner's set. You did send me that. I'm like, dude. The chorus is great. Great song.

SPEAKER_02 23:54

What's this song called again?

SPEAKER_04 23:55

Love you for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

I felt the feeling.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

The chorus is kind of moves. I either played this for somebody's first dance or their private lesson. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:08

Oh, that's just the thick of patience. Like all of it's great. You gotta have it in the rotation. If you're not playing it for dinner, great song.

Dinner Music Crate Finds

SPEAKER_04 24:21

Thank crosses over with every generation. I've had nobody give me any looks. Track two. This is uh coming off the heels of Coachella. One less lonely girl. JB. If you're not playing this for dinner, you should. Came out 20 2009. My boy B.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

So many pretty good.

SPEAKER_04 24:43

Dude, this has become almost as big of a song as Backstreet Boys. I want you back for dinner. Could you play this during dancing? I didn't even try it. But people are singing at the top of their lungs every time this part. I mean, I hear them at their table singing the song. Massive track for me right now. Okay. Uh track three, kind of a throwback, but also kind of a cool cover. This is uh Baby Come Back. This is the uh player cover. Yeah, play it to you. Party Pupils with Mayor Hawthorne did the vocal. I love that guy. Great track, and it's in a nice tempo. Yeah. This grooves just came out like a couple weeks ago. But they made it cool. Yeah. The claps are current at the beach. Feels like current and not dated. Did you see the clip that Mayor Hawthorne did when he was promoting this? He's walking his baby in a stroller and he lets the stroller go and he goes to get it. The beat never go with its gold. Solid, solid, solid.

unknown 26:07

And I just can't be without you.

SPEAKER_04 26:11

New release came out in 2026. This one you probably don't know, but I'm gonna share with you anyway. Is Saquon doing the fade or do you do the fade? I did the fade. Nice. Collect 200 is the name of the.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

What?

SPEAKER_04 26:21

The name of the track? Collect 200. Okay. By the artist Collect 200. Kind of random. Random. 2025. This is a great track for me. It's been working really well. I thought I'd just share it if you're not familiar with it. Go for it.

SPEAKER_01 26:35

Little pan flu. Yanni? Jason Yanni? It sounds like that jungle track I played for you earlier.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Twist it, twist it, twist it, no.

SPEAKER_04 26:51

I don't think it has to always be something that's on the nose that people always know. It's kind of nice to throw them a little curved ball that they're like, I can groove you to this.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

I love to hear music I've never heard. I mean, like and if I was in a dinner or cocktail and I heard something, I'd be like, what is this? Maybe I want to d with the Shazam, the old Shazam.

SPEAKER_04 27:13

Again, good groove, not over aggressive, just a great chance.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Filthy. You play this turn to end there then?

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:23

That much tempo. Yeah. That much speed. Oh, yeah. Okay. It's not too aggressive. I'm gonna take you up on something that you offered yesterday. Come on, come out. I'd like to come out. All right, let's do it. Let's do it. In either June or July, if you have any shows. I got some shows.

SPEAKER_04 27:35

Got some good ones. Oh. Uh, yours tracks. I mean, even if it's on the road, I'm coming, I'll come with you. I just fly. All right. Yeah, yeah. Let's do it. All right. You turn me on to some good ones here. You put some aces. Okay. So your first one here, Mary You're Wrong by Wilder Woods 2019. Not familiar with the artist? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

It's your boy, Bear Reinhardt from Need to Breathe. It sounded like it. Yeah. It's like I knew the vocal. Yeah, yeah. Side project. Great song.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Yeah, great song.

SPEAKER_02 28:04

If you're thinking I would ever vocal.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Immediate download. Woo! I had to get it. Wasn't familiar with it. Now you know.

SPEAKER_02 28:24

If you're thinking I would ever want to leave.

unknown 28:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:28

Not familiar with this next group? Okay. You had it uh Wild Rivers?

SPEAKER_01 28:33

God, I love them, dude. It's a duo. No, it's a trio. Trio. Two guys and a girl, and they trade vocals. Yes. Thinking about love? Oh god. Great track.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

It's kind of like a light went off tonight. That's it, don't give me up.

SPEAKER_04 28:48

Is this like every wedding or like a good chunk? Like when do you put these two, like the last two in?

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Just when you stitch it on.

SPEAKER_04 28:54

Because I can't imagine these. I've never heard of these artists. I'd be like, no, I know that.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

I'm just saying, like, like you just people are eating amino. They're just I'm just up there just pulling songs kind of that I like. Because think about it, man.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Like, I'm on the road with a change of vocal. Oh, yeah. You found some mail with no rocking.

SPEAKER_04 29:18

Great dinner track. I mean, that screams dinner to me. Thank you, bro.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Thank you. Finally it done. I've crossed over to Brian B's territory. The harmonies are good. Yes, they go crazy. Um, any wedding, man, honestly. Like, because again, you're just it's a vibe. It's a it's a you know, people are eating, they're talking, they're, you know, they're they're getting ready for dancing, but I'm just trying to like give them something different. I'm trying to play stuff that I like. Yeah. I mean, selfishly, yeah, because I know the rest of the night is stuff that I've played to death, maybe. So it's a it's a little bit of selfishness.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

Okay. So we got uh Latch, the acoustic version, Sam Smith 2015. I love this. I have so many edits of Latch. I kind of hate to waste an acoustic version. I see what you're saying. But I like this version. Yeah, especially when it gets the course. I don't like this part. This part's weird. It's a little wailing. Whiley. This part is my favorite part.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

That's the best part of the song. Before Sam went weird, the inflatable suit. That's the best part of the song.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

Beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 30:39

Nice job, Sam. Then you got the cover of Dancing on My Own. Woo! I've I've always played it. Me too. There's actually a I think a TSD version, maybe? Yes, there is. That I love to play during dances.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Great.

unknown 30:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

But this is a great dinner single, too. This is one of those that somebody usually comes up and like this for myself.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

I'm in the corner. Why do you keep it?

SPEAKER_04 31:04

So you play like this kind of slower stuff a lot more. It's like all these are pretty slow during dinner ending.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

I'm right over you. Interesting.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

Now, as I see dinner ending, I'll start to increase the tempo. But a lot of the majority of it is this.

SPEAKER_02 31:18

I'm giving a mile. I'm giving the guy.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

We've done the first hands. Welcome. Maybe a blessing. Maybe the couple says something. Ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna, you know, we're gonna eat a little bit, we're gonna drink a lot, we're gonna have a great time tonight. And then boom, Saquon hit the track. Like as I'm saying the last word, he's starting that. And then it just kind of rides. I might walk out, get a little tasty, uh, a little burnt piece of salmon or something, and then come back and you know, and then like as as I said, as I hear the people start talking louder, yeah, as I see the you know, the um mood shifting towards like I'm ready to dance, yeah, I'll start to pick the tempo up. So I don't want to say the whole crate is like that.

SPEAKER_04 32:09

Right. My move is to go to your similar announcement that you just made, but I feel like if I were to play a slow song, like that would be like a such a shift from like we're gonna have a great night. And it's just like kind of slower. So I usually go with like I don't know, uh, I mean, literally could be could be uh literally as heavy as Luke Skywalker. Like James Brown, I feel good. Like that heavy of a no, I'm not gonna play that the entire dinner. I'm just saying, or I know Move On Up, Curtis Mayfield, like that kind of stuff that crosses generations, but like is upbeat, like in the 150s or whatever. And then I'll play that for one or two tracks and then go slow. As they're bringing out the first chores, just to like start dinner. Because I feel like it kind of leads with the announcement.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

You know what we did the other night that we uh uh a Brian B classic is um we were playing uh stingers as the toasters were coming up. Oh, that's smooth. Your boy was your boy was on the board running through that list that you gave me, and it definitely uh made a difference. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 33:10

Of course. Well, those tracks will be up in the Patreon. Brian B here. If you like the music I share on our podcast, just know I'm holding back a bit. The real stuff lives on my personal DJ Patreon. This is where I put all of my exclusive edits, my curated lists, the exact tracks I'm pulling from every pool, Patreon, band camp, and private email lists that I subscribe to. I'm doing all the digging so that you don't have to. Just the stuff that makes people go, yo, this DJ is different. So if you're tired of playing the same old, same old, go to patreon.com slash DJ Brian B official. And if you want a little more access, there's a VIP tier with coaching and some extra perks. That's patreon.com slash DJ Brian B official. So uh we got a lot of questions on sales. Yeah. So I I mean it's always sales, marketing, yeah. Pretty much the biggies, operations, right? It's never dies. It never dies since the beginning of the DJ's vault. I put three of these questions in here. So we're gonna run through them quick. Quick. Um speed round. Oh shit. Yeah, and this clip made me I thought this would set up the topic perfect. Okay. Arriving at the client's house.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

I love it. We think we're not dying.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

Walk up to a mansion.

SPEAKER_01 34:35

How many times has that happened, man? Oh, multiple times.

SPEAKER_04 34:37

It's like happened to me a few times, too. I'm like, yo.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

The other video was even better where the girl came riding in on a gondola. You remember that one?

SPEAKER_04 34:44

The the father, then there's also one where the father and daughter are on a scooter going to their first dance.

SPEAKER_02 34:49

I've seen so many of those.

SPEAKER_04 34:52

So um, I these are some big questions here, but this is from Richie Steadman, our boy. He goes, you know, raising your price is based on the quality of work uh being upgraded, as opposed to so many DJs that I hear about who are charging more next year than they did this year just because it's a new year. It's not a bad plan, but there does reach a saturation point where you have to say, This is why I'm worth more than I was last year before the price raise. Can you be specific about how you would address something

Pricing And Sales Call Strategy

SPEAKER_04 35:21

like this?

SPEAKER_01 35:22

I'm gonna give it quick because I've read this one actually when it came in from him. Um there there's nothing wrong. In fact, uh there's everything right about raising your prices a little bit incrementally every year. Uh a fucking banana doesn't cost 99 cents, you know, anymore. It's you know, $1.10. I don't, I don't that and it's gonna be $1.25 next year or whatever. Everything goes up, right? Everything should go up. What you're asking about and what you're talking about is what Brian has talked about ad nauseum on this podcast that if you're going to go from Joe Bunn, Mr. $5,000 to Brian B. Mr. $10 to $20,000, you damn well better back it up. Right. And you got to do deeper dives on the planning, deeper dives into the couple, play the research the music, let the daughter put on the headphones. Like you you have to go so much deeper to hit that five-figure plus plus mark into your entire process behind digging for music, planning with the couple in advance, planning with the couple two weeks before whatever your final meeting. Everything that he does is so much more than I give and offer my couples. And there's nothing wrong with it. And there's nothing wrong with that. Exactly. I don't think I have the time or patience or energy to do that, and therefore I don't believe that I can ask for that paycheck. He does.

SPEAKER_04 36:52

Right. I'll just say that uh to your point, there is a saturation point because at some point when you go up incrementally little by little which you should, I I'm not disputing that, but there comes a point where like you hit the top end of that tax bracket. Agreed. And then you start to piss people off because you're like, why is he going up another hundred dollars or whatever the case may be? So you do you sh if you really want to make big jumps, which I like to refer to them as small as opposed to small jumps in pricing, you do need to have something to uh hang your hat on as to why it's worth this price. And that allows you to make the bigger jumps. You're always only gonna be able to make smaller jumps at the saturation, uh, you know, on a new year situation. And I also do think that there's something to be said for uh fishing as opposed to getting what you need. Like you when you are fishing trying to see what you can get as opposed to what you need, there's a huge difference because you go from uh what I would say persuasion to conviction. It's a totally different game. When I'm saying like this is what I need to do my best work, there's conviction behind it because I know it's what I need. I'm only doing so many shows to get what I can do for this and what I want to do, I have to make this amount of money. And there's not me trying to snow you. Like, there's no more, I'm not trying to get any more than that. I'm trying to get any less. This is what it takes to get me to do what I need to do. And what's great about that is it's like completely coming from the heart. It's real, it's not anything that I'm um, you know, just trying to put a fishing pole out to see if they'll bite. And so many DJs go to the fishing pole method and they don't have before, and I didn't get it.

SPEAKER_01 38:27

Right. You have to have a come to Jesus meeting with yourself and look at every single element of your process down to what you send out. We send out of a less than five ten dollar emergency kit to all of our couples. Right. He will send out a fucking iPod that he's restored with all their favorite songs on it. Like I mean, it it's that kind of service, right? You have to look at it from what is my gifting to what is my music curation to what is my planning to what is my delivery of the show, how how's my appearance, my gear, the musicians that come with me? Like top down look at everything you do and then skyrocket it, elevate it. And if you're not willing to do that, then don't ask for the big paycheck.

SPEAKER_04 39:10

I'll also say, too, that I think the other caveat here could be your life situation, right? Sure. Like saying what you need could also be like, hey, I just added another kid to the mix, I just bought a house. Like my rates have to go up a certain amount for me to continue to have the lifestyle that I want to have. Maybe, maybe. I mean, obviously to make it on a personal level, right? But I mean again, if you're gonna make the hyper jump, right. I totally agree. But I'm just saying you can still have conviction and move up incrementally if your life has changes, and that's just what you need to have.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Ryan's talk about that before on here, man. So and he had a business coach that that basically pushed him towards that. Yeah. Sean Lowe.

SPEAKER_04 39:44

Shout out Sean Lowe. Show shout out Sean. Let's hit the next one real quick. Uh part two. What are the top five important things that you make sure to do in every sales call or sales meeting? Uh we're not gonna go to the sales pitch, but um, what are your mu five most important things to hit on on a sales call? Do you have would you is there anything specific that you try to hit on? You just do the PowerPoint, right? It's not a sales pitch, man.

SPEAKER_01 40:07

I mean, it's just Right. I don't I don't need if I'm doing that much selling, they're not gonna buy. In other words, like it it it they're pre-qualified before they get here. Okay. They know the price, they know me, they know this company. This is like a meeting. A formality.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Right. I there's no hard selling going on on that call. It's more of a if anything, man, it's just an education platform. Right. Here's here's some things to think about. Here's some things about the company and my own. I'll put that in your top five of at least or one. A little bit of history of the company then is one of them. Um you know, what what what um what else do I talk about? There's a couple stats in there where I talk about how people that have gotten married uh wish they had spent more money on the on the uh entertainment.

SPEAKER_03 40:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

How 81% of the guests remember the only thing they remembered at a wedding was the entertainment.

SPEAKER_03 41:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:01

So a couple stats and I show them a few pictures of a couple of add-ons. Yeah. And then I wrap it up. Right. Hey, can I send you a contract? Can I have the office send you a contract? I love it. Do you have any questions? Like, there's not a lot of sales tactics or psychology or any of that stuff. What about you?

SPEAKER_04 41:20

I couldn't come up with five.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

I came up with three. Right. And for me, I think the important things are this is how I work. Do you like this process? That's kind of one number. The biggest thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

So if they hate it, I was gonna say uh I don't want to go. It was like we were talking about earlier red flags and stuff. If I I can see if somebody got on that c that planning call with you and was trying to rush you through it, you'd be like, this ain't this ain't gonna work. Right.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

Second thing is I want to hear their vision for the day. Like it's really important to me to see if what they're looking for, if I can deliver.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

I definitely ask that. You guys are the age now. I bet you've been to a lot of weddings. What would you would you say you liked? Would you say you didn't like?

SPEAKER_04 41:56

Right. Um, and then the third thing would be uh I I always hit it like what is necessary to make this event successful. In other words, what gear do I need to have? Like I gotta hit that at some point. Like, how many setups am I doing? How long do you want me? Like the kind of the logistics, I guess you could say, slash um scope. Especially if you haven't been there. Yeah. So those are the my three things. I mean, I have to hit those on every sales call. Uh I couldn't think of anything deeper than that. Those are the three. But it really is for me less of a uh presentation and more of a listening and education process than anything else. Let's hit this next one here. From Cedric in San Antonio, Cedric Jones. Is it a bad idea to increase your price if your inquiries are down? Starting to think that there are too many DJs within the same price range as me. I'm right in that middle tier range uh in my market.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

Um, I don't think it's a bad idea to increase your price. Um I mean, it's always gonna be math. You know what I mean? I mean, more m less shows, higher price point, is more time with your family. Like, I I don't know how to explain it. I saw somebody commented under his comment wherever he posted this. He was like they were like, the the middle is the worst place to be. I can't remember, it might have been Mitch. It was Mitch. Yeah. And he's done a lot of sales books and trainings and seminars, and he definitely knows what he's talking about. I mean, to me, if if I feel like if if if that's you, Cedric, I would I would want to be whatever we would call between the middle and the high. You know what I mean? So you're not the middle anymore, you're between the middle and the high. Yeah. Because again, the high is Brian, right? But again, the high is gonna cost you a lot more time and effort and and money. And then the middle high you can probably get, which is even for us, I mean, this market, we're still probably middle high. I don't know who's higher, but maybe we are the high for this market. Right. I I I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

What what are your thoughts on this? I I a similar thing to Mitch. I mean, mid middle is not good when you're right in the thick of it. Right. So you got two. Options drop, capture the lowest, which I don't recommend because that comes with a lot of headaches. So push up clients, right? Push up. You want to go higher. And to be completely frank with you, Cedric, like the more separation you can have in pricing, the actual the easier it is to make your case, I find. Because hopefully there's enough experience and whatever else you have in your process to make it a differentiator that this is why I cost this and why I'm not that. The middle middle is the worst because now you blend in with everybody else, and then it becomes literally a price discussion. Yeah. You weed them out if you're on the bottom or the top. That's my my take on that. Uh let's go with the last one here. Marty, our boy. Do you two, me and you, prefer to sell photo booths as an add-on to your events to make the extra money, or is it the extra time, investment, and effort not worth the money? I think you could probably, since you don't really do photo booths, you do other things.

SPEAKER_01 44:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:58

Other add-ons.

SPEAKER_01 44:59

We do we I it to me, no, Marty, it was not worth the time, investment, or the money. So 10 plus years ago, I sold that division of Bun DJ Company to one of my DJs. His wife runs it. It's still booked under our company. They can book stuff under uh Classic Carolina or whatever they call it. And they basically make the majority of the money. I maybe, maybe make, I don't know, a hundred bucks um when they're added to our contract. It just to make the graphic and to hire the people and to take it out, blah, blah. But I mean, I bet he, I bet he makes between the the number of times we book it and the number that he books on his own, I I bet he makes six figures.

SPEAKER_03 45:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:40

You know what I mean? And it's allowed his wife not to work, and I'm kind of proud of that. You know what I mean? That I had a big hand in that. Love that. Um he always sends me a really nice Christmas gift, and you know, I feel like he appreciates it, and it's just not something I really want to do.

SPEAKER_04 45:56

Yeah. I think it depends on how your company's built. Yeah. You know, if you have a lot of add-ons and your company has the

Photo Booth Add On Reality Check

SPEAKER_04 46:03

ability, like a warehouse to do all of that, great. The way my company's set up, it doesn't work. Yeah. It doesn't work because I travel so much. I mean, I gotta travel with a booth. That's one more headache that could potentially go wrong if it's mishandled in the airport. They throw that thing around like a little pizza box. I'm in trouble. So I I don't like to do it. Um, I have one in Florida, uh, one of those uh salsas. Yep. And I rarely it only goes out if I go out.

SPEAKER_03 46:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:28

And I don't sell it that often. I don't push it. Yep. I probably booked five of them this year. Right. That's it. Unmanned. Unmanned. No backdrop. They know exactly what they're getting. Open air. Open air. And I tell them, I'm like, listen, if you just want this as a little piece to have some memories, great, but I'm not doing any backdrops. Yeah. There's no props. Yeah, no people. No. I'm like, it's it's just something that I have. Yep. I've invested in it. It's already paid for itself. But I don't like to push it. Okay. So um if they ask me for it, I'll do it as a solid, but uh, it's not something. It's always gonna come down to that.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

Transportation, staffing. Right. Risk. Risk, where do you put it? Do you want to invest in it? I mean, those things are expensive.

SPEAKER_04 47:08

Totally. Totally. Let's close it out uh on that. So uh you want to thank our sponsor and let's get out of here.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

Yeah, let's thank DJ Event Planner. As always, DJEventplanner.com. We appreciate you guys so much for sponsoring the show. If you guys are looking for a CRM to help run your growing DJ business, that is the move. We'll see you guys next week. Peace, y'all.