I'm old school I don't get it (DJ using IPod) *

I've had the displeasure of seeing a similar set-up twice in recent memory.

Once at my kid's "spring fling" (a yearly outdoor event at their grade school) and again at a local mall.


In both cases, the result sound was beyond horrible. In both cases,
the person running the sound turned up the volume to a level where
the noise to signal ratio (sic) should have been apparent to all - but
apparently wasn't because people didn't seem to be listening.

It would be easy to blame the MP3 files - but I suspect the big culprit
was the soundcard output from the laptop.


What's disheartening is that I'm sure that the people who showed
up with laptops and speakers were paid a fairly large sum of money
for doing a horrible job. I didn't care about the money spent by
the department store in the mall - but it did bother me that my
kids' school wasted money on a horrible MP3 jock.

 

Really. And what data do you have to back up your statement?? I notice you skipped right over answering my questions.

------------------------------------------------

Consider the following statistics:

The average cost of a wedding in 2002 was over $22,000.*

The average cost of a reception in 2002 was over $7,000.*

72% of all Brides say they would have spent more time choosing their reception entertainment.**

Almost 100% say they would have spent more of their budget on the entertainment.**

During wedding planning, Brides say their highest priority is their attire, followed by the reception site and caterer and that the reception entertainment is among the least of their priorities. Within one week after their reception, 78% of Brides say they would have made the entertainment their highest priority!**

When asked, 81% of guests say that what they remember most about a wedding reception is the entertainment.**

65% of all couples that chose a band to entertain at their wedding reception said, if they had it to do over again, they would have chosen a disc jockey.**

*source: "American Wedding Study 1990-2002"
**source: "St. Louis Bride & Groom Magazine in 2003. Sources include: Simmons, 2001; USA Today, 2002; National Bridal Service, 2001; The Knot, 2002; Brides Magazine, 2001."

---------------------------------------------------

Pay extra attention to the FACT in BOLD above.

It is very clear that you have no idea what you are talking about.

It is very clear that facts, as well as how much work goes into a successful wedding reception, are concepts that you just can't grasp.

It is also very clear that the only reason you are posting in this thread is to drag it DOWN to your level. Bitter and ignorant is no way to go through life.

 

I agree. I recorded my own tapes for our wedding, and had a kareoke guy as well. I gave him a play list of what was on, with the breaks outlined for him to do kareoke songs. Saved a few bucks and had great music! How many weddings have The Cult and Ac/Dc!

 

I don't understand all of the vitriol directed at DJs.


It's an honest profession. The cost relative to
a live band is typically less - but it's extremely
unfair to assume "why?" someone would choose
one or the other.


I never went through this.

My wife and I eloped. About three months later
we took some close friends out to dinner at
a restaurant - and I have fond memories of
that evening. It was something LIKE a
reception... but minus all of the hassles


My main beef (as noted above) is when someone
expects to use the analog output from a laptop
(and then controls the volume using the slider on
windows).

If someone is going to use a laptop to avoid
dragging around a bunch of discs, he or she
should at least have the decency to get a
digital output and run it into some sort of
receiver or pre-amp where volume can be
adjusted properly.

 

When a friend of mine and I use a laptop for DJ, we do use the analog line-out and put it into the mixer via RCA cables and control the volume with the mixer's sliders and gain controls just like everything else. A good laptop can go a long ways. When my boss uses a laptop, he does the same thing.

 

Around 1997, even before I remember seeing things where PCs on the
internet could automagically get song title and artist information , I got
excited about being able to type in the artist and song information
on my work laptop - and I started putting some CDs on my computer
with the idea that I could connect it into my receiver - and use it as
an (auxilliary) uber component...

My excitement quickly dropped after I tried it. The sound was
abysmal.... nothing like what I got when I hooked a CD player
to the same spot on my receiver.

I did some reading - and I quickly understood that the output
(and input) jack on a computer are mostly there for convenience.
Imho, there are some serious problems that are easily noticed
if you try to use a PC to send sound to something above and
beyond little baby computer speakers....


I don't fault people for using a laptop - if the person who hires
them doesn't seem to care - but I would absolutely, positively,
100% guaranteed refuse to hire someone who used the analog
output from a PC soundcard at an event I sponsored. I've
heard too many good examples of bad sound to look the other
way...

I'd consider someone who used a digital output from a
computer - but I'd want to hear how it sounds (at loud
volumes) before I commit money.

I do realize - my opinion may be in the minority with
respect to most people.

 

Just to clear... I want to make sure I describe what I considered
abysmal.

It was roughly the same sound you get when you take one of
those big "boom box" radios to the beach or to the pool and you
try to crank the volume so that everyone within fifty yards
can hear the music.

Yes - I can tell what song is playing... and maybe if I'm doing
something else at the time - I don't care... but its definetly
not the kind of sound I would expect from someone who is
being paid to provide music.

 

You can get that sound using cd players and/or turntables. The (audio) levels should be mixed right otherwise the sound will be muffled. Sometimes people have the Spinal Tap mentality and try to push the levels as far as they go - resulting in a clipped or over-modulated sound.

Not anymore.
We use PCs at the commercial radio station where i work (there goes my forum cred.) to broadcast everything. We use wavs for most of our music and commercials (sometimes we get our music and commercials via mp3 - and there is a difference in quality - i can tell, but the average listener probably won't - not that i'm assuming but... ok, maybe i am... ). Granted, the station's soundcards are a wee bit "bigger" than consumer-type cards, but not by much.

Even the public/university station where i volunteer uses a computer's soundcard output to playback public service announcements and station IDs with mp3s (and that soundcard is consumer-level). New music will sometimes come in on mp3s too but they're burned onto cds for cataloging purposes.

If everything is connected, mixed properly and amplified right - there really shouldn't be a noticeable change (except when the bitrate is horribly compromised).

 

I'm not a DJ, but that song is on my iPod. But wait, I had the 45 back in the day, so I'm off the hook?

And it's the Rhino 25 Disc "Have A Nice Day, Super Hits Of The Seventies" collection, thank you very much.

 

Do you take issue with the term "Disc Jockey"? You still need more than a disc. Same thing, no?

 

You just ended the discussion right there. All Tull could do was come up with the 'save a buck' cop-out to save face, as he knows his repertoire is limited.

-Aaron

 

Gotta weigh in here.

DJ and live band...two entirely different mechanisms and TALENTS, both aiming at the same goal...to entertain the audience. I am fortunate (or unfortunate) to have a little of both talents. I've DJ'd weddings/bars for 20 years and play bass, keyboards and guitar (not very well mind you, but OK enough to play for people)

The hours of practice, sweat, trial and error of playing live music makes the live band thing a more "noble" undertaking, and yes I'd much rather be a great musician than a great DJ. However none of this means a hill of beans to a crowd who just finished their chicken cordon bleu and wants to dance to "Who Let the Dogs Out" for the 400th time.

I don't like the "DJ" music...never did and never will. After gigs I can't wait to get home and play something I like. But reading a crowd, pacing a crowd, mixing genres up back and forth and keeping them interested in what's being played absolutely requires "talent". A band sweats like hell in order to present their music on stage, and is very limited to what they know. The audience is "stuck" with that. A DJ has a whole other set of challenges because he/she does NOT have those limitations! You can have almost any song ever recorded in history at your fingertips. One of the challenges is to know what to play, when to play it, what to avoid like the plague, and know that all of that changes next week!