edmonton wedding dj

Edmonton Wedding DJ Soundsations Plays in Rocky Mountain House

2011-09-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time since I posted anything to my blog. I've been busy with DJ work but managed to get some photos and video at this last wedding. Here is a video from the wedding I did last Saturday in Rocky Mountain House Alberta. It was a blast!

Year End Charts - Most Requested Songs of 2010

2011-02-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged for a few months, I guess I got distracted over the Christmas season. I came across this info recently and thought it would be useful for those people planning their weddings and needing some help with first dance song ideas and so on.

http://www.djintelligence.com/charts/DJIntelligenceMostRequestedAll2010.pdf

This is a compilation of most requested songs in various categories and includes:

• Top 200 Most Requested Songs
• Top 200 Most Requested Pop Songs
• Top 100 Most Requested Songs of the 2010's
• Top 100 Most Requested Songs of the 2000's
• Top 100 Most Requested Songs of the 1990's
• Top 100 Most Requested Songs of the 1980's
• Top 100 Most Requested Songs of the 1970's
• Top 100 Most Requested Songs of the 1960's
• Top 100 Most Requested Songs of the 1950's

• Top 50 Most Requested Bride & Groom First Dances
• Top 50 Most Requested Bride & Father Dances
• Top 50 Most Requested Groom & Mother Dances
• Top 50 Most Requested Bridal Party Dances
• Top 50 Most Requested Bouquet Toss Songs
• Top 50 Most Requested Garter Toss Songs
• Top 50 Most Requested Cake Cutting Songs
• Top 50 Most Requested Wedding Introduction Songs
• Top 50 Most Requested Last Dances
• Top 50 Most Requested Money Dance Songs

I think it is all compiled from feedback from American DJ's, but looking it over I would say they are very similar to what people are requesting here in Alberta.

Soundsations October update

2010-10-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

Soundsations your Edmonton Disc Jockey has been busy in October with weddings and school dances.

I have been to the hanger in Fort Edmonton again and to the Edmonton Coast hotel in Sherwood Park for weddings. The Sherwood Park wedding was quite a crazy party. They really came to party and dance. It was lots of fun.

I've also done two school functions. There was a harvest dance at McLeod school and a Halloween dance at Mt. Pleasant school. These were also great successes. The kids had a blast at both events.

I've taken a break from bringing my camera to dances for a while, but I plan on getting some shots of upcoming Halloween and Christmas dance action.

Soon it will be time for Christmas parties. I've got to start psyching myself up for hearing lots of Christmas music again.

Soundsations wedding in Sherwood Park

2010-10-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's a little late, but here are the photos from the last wedding I took pictures at. This one was out in Sherwood Park Alberta at the OLPH church. This one was a really fun dance. I've done a few other weddings and a fundraising event since this one which I didn't take photos at.

I've got two more weddings and a a few other events yet to do in October, so I'm keeping busy right up to the Christmas party season.

Trying to keep dry in Fort Saskatchewan

2010-09-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

Last Friday took your Edmonton wedding DJ Soundsations to Fort Saskatchewan and I was back at the Royal Mayfair club for Saturday.

The Fort Saskatchewan wedding was in a tent in the couples back yard. The weather was awful (rain) but everyone had a blast under the tent (see the video above). Saturday of course was great too, but I forgot the camera so no video this time.

This weekend takes me to the hanger in Fort Edmonton park again. Stay tuned.

More and more weddings

2010-09-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well, your Edmonton DJ Soundsations has added another hand full of weddings to his resume since the last posting. Lets see... where have I been? The River Cree Marriott again, The Edmonton Golf and Country Club, and The Killam Community hall in Killam Alberta.

All the weddings were allot of fun of course. One highlight occurred during one of the ceremonies I was providing audio services for. During the middle of the vows one of the groomsmen just fainted to the ground without warning. He took out a whole whack of decorations along with him and managed to give himself a nasty cut on his eyebrow on the way down. This drew quite a gasp from the audience, needless to say. He was alright after some first aid attention and everything carried on as normal 10 minutes later. I guess he had been feeling sick all day. Anyways, the evenings dance was a big success. Sorry, no video of the fainting.

Here are a few video compilations from the action at a few of the latest wedding dances.

I have two more weddings to DJ this upcoming weekend.

Edmonton Wedding DJ Soundsations at the Royal Mayfair and the Palace

2010-08-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

Here is a video from one of the weddings your Edmonton wedding DJ Soundsations performed at last weekend. On Friday I was at the Royal Mayfair golf club and Saturday I was at the Palace banquet facility.

My camera flash was low on batteries on Friday and I forgot the extra batteries so no photos from that night. Both parties were a great success though. There was probably more dancing at the Friday wedding, but Saturday went pretty well too.

One difficulty at the Palace was that they had me set up right in front of the big drop down projection screen. They did have a slide show presentation, so I had to try to set equipment up so that it didn't block everyone's view of the screen. That's actually impossible to do, so that is something to keep in mind when planning things. I think the banquet facility should know better but it's kind of out of my control.

Two more weddings coming up this Friday and Saturday so stay tuned.

Edmonton Wedding DJ Soundsations Wedding season heats up

2010-08-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of videos here from recent Edmonton wedding DJ Soundsations recent events.

I have been busy every weekend with weddings. Most recently I have been to the Edmonton South Radisson hotel, the UofA Faculty club, The Derek Golf club, Caernarvon Community hall and the Calder Community hall.

Here is a view of some of the dancing action at a few of these weddings.

I'm getting many inquiries for 2011 weddings, so hopefully this means I'm

doing a good job and people are liking what they see. I hope you enjoy the videos.

Another great time at the River Cree Marriott

2010-07-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

July 3rd brought your Edmonton wedding DJ Soundsations back to the River Cree Marriott. It was a classy affair with a great time had by all. As usual the food and service was fabulous and once the dance started the dance floor was kept busy all night. I really liked the balloon bride and groom that welcomed the guests at the entrance (theres a photo of them in the video below). That's a touch I've never seen before. Check out the video.

Edmonton Wedding DJ Soundsations June 26, 2010 St. Albert Inn

2010-06-28T22:11:00.000-07:00

This past weekend brought your Edmonton wedding DJ Soundsations to the St. Albert Inn for yet another wedding dance.

This one was the party of the year so far without a doubt. Everyone was having such a good time that we went into overtime dancing until 2:00 am. I'll take some of the credit, but this was a great crowd that didn't need much prompting to get the party started. Everyone was very polite and friendly and most guests came to dance. There were lots of great requests made ranging from country 2 steps to old school rap and hip hop to polkas and I was happy to oblige.

As usual, I caught some of the action on camera and have made a short video compilation.

Graduations and wedding time

2010-06-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Your Edmonton wedding DJ Soundsations Music has been busy over the past few weekends having fun Dj'ing a huge graduation dance a small town high school reunion and a big wedding. The high school graduation had about 1500 guests so some extra sound reinforcement was brought in to really rock the joint. It was held at the cavernous Northlands Agricom. Needless to say lots of top 40 dance music was on the menu that night and the dance floor was given a real workout.

The next day I was off to the small town of Sedgewick Alberta about 2 hours southeast of Edmonton for a 10 year high school reunion. There was only about 50 guests at the small hall but we still managed to party like it was 1999 (actually it was the class of 2000, so pretty close).

This past weekend I did a big wedding at Fort Edmonton Park in the hanger. This is another huge venue. The hanger doors were open until about 11:00 pm so guests could hang around on the patio outside too. To accommodate this extra speakers were brought in to provide music inside and outside. This dance took awhile to heat up, but from about 11:00 till 2 in the morning we really rocked out. With all the extra stuff to pack up I didn't get home till after 4 am.

I am posting a video compilation of some of the action from the past few weeks for anyone that's curious.

Edmonton DJ Wedding Season is heating up

2010-05-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hello again.

It's that time of year again when your Edmonton wedding DJ Soundsations music starts getting out to a wedding just about every weekend. This past Saturday took us out to Hazeldean Community Hall. This party was a blast and really easy to DJ. not too much encouragement was required to keep the dance floor full all night.

Everyone was super friendly and lots of compliments on the music were received throughout the evening. Here is a short video compilation of some of the dancing action.

Edmonton Wedding DJ Soundsations Apr. 30 & May 1

2010-05-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

Edmonton Wedding DJ Soundsations was busy this past weekend performing at a pair of weddings. On Friday night it was the good old Blueberry hall just west of Edmonton. There was abaout 150 guests and soundsations was there to provide cocktail and dinner music before the first dance got underway around 9:00 pm. We were able to keep the dance floor pretty busy all evening, fitting in lots of standards as well as some more unusual requests.

Saturday brought us out to Cardiff Alberta for some more wedding action. The crowd was about the same size as the previous night, but this group really came to dance. Not much encouragement was needed from the DJ and lots of great requests were made and played. Everything looked great with the hall decorations and Soundsations light show.

See the video of some of the dancing action above.

Next Saturday Soundsations will be in St. Albert, Alberta for another wedding. I will report back soon.

2010-02-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

On February 13 Edmonton Wedding DJ Soundsations performed in Killam Alberta. It turned out to be an awesome audience. They really seemed to enjoy the music and kept the large dance floor packed from start to finish. The party didn't fade out as they sometimes do. The crowd stayed 'till closing time at 2 AM and the dance floor got busier as the evening went on. You can see from the posted video that a good time was had by all.

Killam is almost a 2 hour drive from Edmonton so after packing up everything, I didn't get back home 'till about 5 AM. I was pretty tired the rest of the weekend but it was such a fun show it was worth it.

I hope to be back to DJ in Killam again soon. Until next time...

Chris.

Soundsations Edmonton DJ at Marriott River Cree

2010-01-19T20:49:00.000-08:00

In my last post I mentioned that Soundsations (My Edmonton DJ Company) would be entertaining at the Marriottt River Cree in Edmonton for their staff party on January 10th. I am happy to report that the event was a huge success. The staff from the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald provided their services for the evening in exchange for the Marriott staff having served at their function earlier in the year. It therefore goes without saying that the food and service was first class.

Once the formalities were done with and that dance started at around ten o'clock, it only took about 30 seconds for the dance floor to get packed and it stayed that way right through to the last song. It was really a dream gig in terms of the crowds response to the music. There were so many requests, I couldn't possibly play them all in one evening but almost every song played was a request and they loved it. It really looked and sounded great with the lighting effects and the sound system pumping pretty loud and clear. I have attached a video made from some of the photos I snapped that night.

It looks quieter now in terms of the number of functions coming up (until wedding season kicks in), but I'm sure a few jobs will pop up.

'till next time ...

Edmonton DJ does Boxing Day Wedding and New Years Eve in Nisku

2010-01-02T20:43:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year. I am now recovering from the two events I managed to squeeze in between my last post and the end of the year. My Edmonton DJ company Soundsations performed a Boxing Day wedding at the Hotel Macdonald and a New Years Eve party at the Nisku Inn.

The wedding was a great success despite a late start to the first dance. Dinner can take a while at the Hotel Macdonald (it's worth it though) so late starts there are normal. The dance floor was kept busy after the dance finally started. I have posted some photos from the event.

The New Years Eve party was also a great time although it was a lower than expected turnout probably due to minus 30 Celsius temperatures outside.

I am looking forward to 2010 being as busy as last year with my first event scheduled for January 10th at the River Cree Resort (their staff party). Should be lots of fun.

2009 Soundsations Edmonton DJ video

2009-12-19T16:47:00.000-08:00

Well there is only a couple of events left to DJ this year. Here is a video showing some of the action from the 2009 season. Soundsations provided DJ services at many events in the Edmonton area this year including lots of weddings, school dances, and Christmas parties. This video will give you some idea of what the set-up looks like and some of the fun you can expect to have at an event with DJ services by Soundsations.

2009-12-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas party season again and I've been busy DJ'ing at three different parties over the last two weekends. There's another two big ones to do next weekend as well. My Edmonton DJ service Soundsations does weddings for most of the year, so it's a nice change to switch things up a bit from the usual.

Above are some photos from one of the parties I DJ'ed at the Beverly ballroom at the Fantasy Hotel in West Edmonton Mall. This one was a big show with about 400 guests so I brought in extra speakers to cover the large room for dinner music and speeches. The other two Christmas parties I did were smaller affairs. One was at the Kingsway Legion Hall and the other at the Jubilee Auditorium banquet facility, both in Edmonton. The weather was terrible for the weekend of the last two shows so loading in and out was not fun, but the parties were all a big success, even though a few people stayed home due to poor road conditions.

I'm starting to get a lot of calls for DJ services for summer 2010 wedding season now, so it looks like next year will be another busy one.

Soundsations Fall Harvest Dance

2009-10-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Soundsations was busy doing a fall harvest themed dance at an Edmonton school. Everything looked great and the kids really got excited about the music and the lights. It was nice to work something other than a wedding for a change. Of course with this age group I had to play lots of Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift and so on. I always say though, I don't care whats playing as long as it's what the crowd will dance to. And that they did. Here are a few photos from the event (blurred so individuals are not identifiable).

Edmonton Wedding DJ at Union Bank Inn

2009-10-12T22:01:00.000-07:00

I've been busy the last few weekends with Soundsations . Two weekends ago I did the audio for a three day convention in Calgary at the Fairmont Palisser Hotel. That was an easy gig as I only had to show up with my music on the laptop and patch in. Then I played music in between speaking sessions and when presenters were brought on and off the stage.

This past weekend (Thanksgiving weekend) was another wedding, this time at the Union Bank Inn in downtown Edmonton. This was a great couple and once the dance started there was no trouble getting the dance floor full. They weren't ready for their first dance though until just before 11:00 pm. This didn't leave much time for dancing as we had to be done by 1:00 am. The hotel actually makes the DJ sign a letter promising they won't play past 1:00 am. They must have had some real unprofessional DJ's in there to have it come to making everyone sign a form.

Anyways, some things are out of the Dj's control, and the dance started real late, but was a blast while it lasted. The decor in the room was fabulous as well. I've attached a few photos. I have to check to be sure, but I think that was my last wedding for 2009. It's on to Christmas parties soon enough. Appropriate since there's already snow here in Edmonton.

2009-09-27T22:28:00.001-07:00

Last nights wedding was at the University of Alberta Faculty Club in Edmonton Alberta. It was another great success with a fun time had by all including me (the DJ www.soundsationsmusic.com). The bride and groom had allot of friends there as well as family and they didn't avoid the dance floor in favor of visiting and talking to everyone. The food is also always great at the Faculty Club which is a bonus.

The only tough bit was that the couple opted to do the cake cutting about 20 minutes after the start of the dance. The cake was in another adjoining room so everyone left the dance area. It was a little tricky to sway them back over to the other side, but they eventually came around again and the party picked back up.

There were lots of great requests, most of which I managed to squeeze in. Everybody including the bride and groom were quite polite and nice even while managing to consume a healthy amount of drink. I took a few photos to post. I didn't use any flash because I wanted the pictures to be somewhat blurred to avoid anyone being too recognizable.

2009-09-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Last post I said I would post some of my pics from Washington DC so here they are. That's my wife Sherri in the bottom picture with me.

We had a great time. The helicopter flew right over our head and landed on the lawn of the white house as we were passing by. Pretty cool.

Since we came back I've Done two Soundsations weddings. One at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton and one at the Executive Royal Inn in Nisku. So two royal weddings (not funny, I know). Anyway, they both went very well.

everyone was very nice at both events, and the food was great in both cases. The dance floor was well used and I got some really positive feedback from the bride & groom and guests.

This coming weekend I'll be DJ'ing another wedding dance at the U of A Faculty Club in Edmonton. That means great food again of course and I'm sure we're going to have a great time.

Soundsations in Viking Alberta

2009-09-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Last Saturdays wedding wiped me out. It took me a day and a half to recover from the late night of DJ work in Viking. I only played music until 1:00 AM, but with pack up time and an hour and twenty minute drive back to Edmonton, it was 3:30 AM by the time I got home. Then the equipment had to be unloaded from the vehicle as it's not too secure if left in the van overnight.

I guess I'm getting older because I was dead tired on Sunday. Anyways the wedding dance was another successful Soundsations production. The biggest challenge from the DJ's point of view was that the groom and some of his friends were really into heavier classic rock (think Rush, Ozzy Osbourne etc.) that isn't so great for filling a dance floor. Of course I made sure I played a bit of their music every now and then. It got funny looks from some other factions of the crowd, so I made sure I announced that this was a special request from the groom. Nobody really danced during these selections, but sometimes that's alright and it keeps the rock fans happy. Luckily the groom was very nice and understood that I needed to DJ to the entire crowd to make the dance a success. I even ended up getting a tip from him at the end of the night which is always appreciated.

I'm taking a break this coming long weekend and I'm off to Washington DC. Hopefully I will have a photo or two of the U.S. capital to post on my next blog.

Working with a wedding coordinator

2009-08-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

I DJ'ed another Soundsations wedding last night at the Red tail Landing Golf club near the Edmonton international airport. It was a real barn-burner The dance floor was kept busy all night. There were no real lulls in the action, which is unusual. I don't think it's necessarily that I did any better of a job as the DJ than normal. It was just a really great crowd that was ready to tear up the dance floor. The couple had hired a wedding coordinator, so as the DJ I needed to work with her.

Most wedding coordinators I've worked with do a great job and last night was no exception. Everything ran extremely smoothly and relatively on time. I do find however that wedding coordinators will either have the attitude that they are there to work with you, or you are there to work for them. Obviously I don't have any issues with the first type. I understand though that there are lots of fly by night, unprofessional and inexperienced DJ outfits out there and this undoubtedly has shaped the way some coordinators have come to deal with the DJ's they work with.

I have lost count of how many weddings I've done. I would estimate at least 40 per year for the last 15 years. Definitely far more than most wedding coordinators in the business. Of course they don't know this and it would sound boastful to tell them. All I'm trying to say is that it's nice when you are treated as a professional and there is an attitude of working together to provide the clients with the best experience possible.

I said I would post some photos of my new lighting effect, so here are some. It did stop spinning about 3 hours in to the dance. So if does that again next weekend it's going back.

A new DJ lighting effect

2009-08-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I purchased a new lighting effect to take with me to my DJ gigs. It is a simple LED device from American DJ that pretty much simulates the mirror ball effect. I tried it out last weekend at a wedding dance (through my DJ company Soundsations). It works very nicely and saves me some set-up and tear-down time. When you DJ every single weekend (sometimes twice on a weekend) saving a few minutes is very welcome.

It puts out 34 spots of LED light and spins them around the room and can be run all night. Its much smaller than a mirror ball and less fragile. The bonus to me is I only have to set it up on its own whereas the mirror ball required setting up the ball and the pin spot at some distance from the ball (I actually usually used two pin spots) meaning lots of extension cords and duct tape.

Ill try to get some photos of it in action at this upcoming weekend's wedding to post.

Another great dance with a few challenges.

2009-08-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

Last night I played DJ again through my mobile DJ company Soundsations at the River Cree hotel in Edmonton. It turned out to be a fantastic dance with lots of action on the dance floor until 1:30am.

The bride and groom had hired a wedding coordinator who did a great job of having everything organized and kept things running pretty smoothly and on time. The only snag was that the couple had rented a screen and projector from me for a slide show and there was absolutely no space left in the room to set it up.

I had to have the banquet staff rearrange tables to make room which is not that easy for them once they have everything set up already. This led to another challenge in that where the projector ended up in the room was quite far away from my DJ console. This made running an audio cable to the presenters laptop difficult.

Of course everything got worked out in the end and all went well. This does reinforce for myself the need to let customers know that they need to make sure their venue knows the set-up requirements for their event. Also customers need to know audio to be patched through the DJ sound board should not be 100 ft. away from the board. I always mention these points, but sometime to no avail.

Handicapping your DJ

2009-08-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post a few thoughts regarding the advantages and the disadvantages of brides and groom creating their own play lists for the DJ. I'm thinking about this because I did a Soundsations (my mobile DJ company) wedding dance in Edmonton a few weeks ago where the couple had provided me with a list of about 20 songs that they definitely had to have played and about 10 songs or so that they didn't want.
Normally when I meet with a couple at booking time I tell them that, of course you are welcome to put together a list of must play and do not play music. After all, It's your big day and you're the customer. I usually also say though, I can only play so many songs during a four hour or so dance, so if your list of must plays is huge, I have no flexibility to play other guests requests. Also, if what you have listed isn't working, I don't have as much flexibility to try and read the crowd and play to them. It could be that you don't care if the dance floor is busy, as long as you're hearing the music you like, but that isn't usually the case.
I also warn couples that chances are someone will request the very songs you've asked not to hear. These may also very well be the exact songs that would get the dance floor busy, even though you might cringe when you hear it.
An experienced DJ that has performed hundreds of dances knows what the average mixed aged crowd will respond to. They will also be able to adjust what they are playing based on requests and a little trial and error. Dictating a huge must play list to the DJ severely handicaps the DJ's ability to do this. It is also quite awkward for the DJ to have to tell guests "I'm sorry, the bride and groom don't want to hear that song.".
In the end of course, the customer is always right. but if close to a 500 weddings worth of experience is worth anything, my advice would be that if you have music you definitely have to hear at your dance, give the DJ a list of no more than 10 songs or so. Also keep your do not play list to a couple of songs at most, or even better, tell the DJ only to play them if requested.

2009-08-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess a year and half is a long enough break from blogging. I should get back to it. So here we go.
I've continued to be busy with my DJ company Soundsations. I've lost count but I've worked either a wedding or some other type of function pretty much every weekend since my last blog. Of course I've taken a few weeks off. We took the family to Hawaii, and a few other smaller vacations.
I have also spent some time updating the Soundsations website. It is now a flash based site so it looks a little fancier, but I still tried to keep it simple. I also updated the music library which is now approaching 500 pages.
Anyways, I have to run now, but I will be posting regularly now (I mean it this time!).

Wedding Slide Shows

2008-02-18T13:45:00.000-08:00

In the last few years just about every wedding reception includes a slide show at some point. Slide shows can be a very entertaining and memorable part of a wedding reception, but I find that more than half the time there are annoying technical glitches that pop up when trying to present the slide show at the reception.

As the DJ I am always involved in the slide show at least from the audio side of things and sometimes to a greater extent. Having seen many technical challenges with wedding slide shows I thought I would list some things I've learned that are good to keep in mind.

- Most slide shows are created using PowerPoint (as opposed to more professional software such as Adobe Premiere etc.). When you insert pictures, audio and video into PowerPoint projects and then run the slid show from the project, PowerPoint looks for all the files wherever you have told it to find them. If any of those files get moved, renamed or deleted by accident, PowerPoint will not be able to find them and your slideshow will not work as expected. Not many people seem to know this, but you can save a PowerPoint project as a PowerPoint presentation (.pps). Just look in the Save As options in PowerPoint. With this option, all the files you have included in your slide show will be compiled into a single file which will run as a presentation on its own. Now when you are ready to show the presentation you don't even have to open PowerPoint. Just click on the .pps file and the slide show runs.

- Another thing often not considered is where to project the presentation from. I can't tell you the number of times I've arrived to a venue to set up and someone comes running up to ask me if they can run the sound for their slide show through my DJ system. The only problem is the projector and laptop are on the other side of the room 150 feet away from my console. I can handle about 50 feet away maximum. So, if you want to run audio for your presentation through the DJ's system you need to think through where you're going to be set up. It's probably best to get a hold of the DJ and coordinate this before the day of the reception.

- If you are running the presentation off your laptop, be sure to deactivate your screensaver and set your computer not to go to sleep. I've seen more than a few presentations end early because the presenter's computer went to sleep and they couldn't wake it up without entering their password.

- PowerPoint doesn't give you the option to fade out an audio track or mix into the next audio track. When you have included frequent changes in music in your PowerPoint presentation, it can get quite annoying to hear one song abruptly ending a third of the way through and another song starting. I would recommend using a third party software such as Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio) or shareware (such as WavePad by NCH Swift Sound) to make fades and other edits to the sound file.

- A great alternative to using PowerPoint is to use Windows Movie Maker that comes free with XP and Vista. This allows you to do just about anything you could do in PowerPoint, plus you can cross fade audio tracks for nice smooth song transitions. It is very easy to use too.

- Wedding slide shows ususaly include lots of scanned photos of the bride and groom growing up. It is a good idea to crop all of your scanned photos to the aspect ratio they will be projected at. I have seen many presentations with all the photos at a 3:4 ratio, then run from a laptop set to a widescreen ratio. This results in distorted or stretched out images.

Anyway... These are a few tips that come to mind from what I have seen in my work as a mobile wedding DJ in the Edmonton, Alberta market. I also produce alot of presentations for my clients through my company Soundsations ( http://www.soundsationsmusic.com/ ). To check out a few samples see:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-5742049913549686282

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=5634730623818632937

Getting the balance right

2008-01-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

Wow... Last night I Was the DJ for the Hotel MacDonald 2008 staff party in Edmonton. They had a Casino Royal theme. I have disc jockeyed at events with casinos running at the same time as the dance and have usually found that two things happening at once like this can create a challenge in holding peoples interest.

This was not the case last night though. They partied like rock stars right out of the gate. The dance floor was packed from start to finish. I almost had to hide when it was time to stop because they wanted to keep on going. I was also thinking they might be a more conservative crowd, given that the Hotel MacDonald is by far the most prestigious Hotel in Edmonton. When they were naming some of the famous guests they had in 2007, they went on for 5 minutes and could have kept on going and going. I have done numerous weddings at the hotel through my disc jockey company Soundsations ,where budgeting was not even an issue at all for the couple. Of course, the staff and their guests were not reserved in the least.

The other challenge was that a good percentage of their staff are from foreign countries with a lot coming from Latin countries. That's why I titled this blog "keeping the balance right". When you have a mixed culture crowd to this extent, it can become an ugly battle between the various factions of the guests if not handled carefully. I had to make sure I played enough Latin music to make one half of the crowd happy and enough top 40 and so on to satisfy the other half. Also I had to go back and forth at the right rate so neither side had to wait too long and end up felling neglected. Luckily it was a very tolerant group last night, and for the most part they really enjoyed each others music.

When you mix in lots and lots of alcohol though, there's bound to be a few that forget about courtesy and tolerance and start demanding their preferences be played exclusively. This wasn't really a problem with the Hotel MacDonald crowd, but it does happen regularly. Is there anything the DJ can do to avoid this? I don't really think so. While we try to keep things fair and play a bit for everyone, all reasonableness can fly out the window for some when alcohol gets in the mix. Of course, if you appease the drunken too much, they will be back to try and monopolize the music all night, not giving a thought to the other tastes in the group. The DJ has to walk a fine line and it can be a difficult juggling act to try and keep this balance right. There is no formula for how to balance the equation, you just have to go with the feeling coming back at you from the crowd, and the more experienced I get, the more I find I am able to keep the mix right.

Professional Vs. Amateur Disc Jockeys

2008-01-07T08:17:00.001-08:00

With easy access to music thanks to file sharing on the Internet and the ability to rent a PA system for a few hundred dollars, it seems as though it might be a good idea to just have cousin Jimmy bring out his laptop and act as the DJ for the wedding. That would definitely save a few bucks. Besides Jimmy really knows his music. Well, in certain situations this might work out, but not using an experienced professional wedding DJ can be very risky.

I have worked as a DJ at well over 500 weddings in the Edmonton area over the last 14 years, and I have been a guest at many weddings were I've had the opportunity to observe other DJ's (professionals and amateurs) at work. Having a professional who really knows how to get people on the dance floor and keep them there will make or break the dance portion of your wedding reception.

More times than not I have seen the amateurs have a really hard time. First of all, no matter haw much music they've downloaded, they just didn't have the selection available to respond to all the musical tastes off the guests and to expand on the music that's really working with a given crowd.

I've also seen amateurs having technical difficulties almost every time. They are using rented equipment that they are not familiar with and generally don't get it hooked up correctly. If they do get that figured out they then have challenges using it all properly.

I think the main reason that a non-professional will fail is that the typical wedding will have a very diverse range of guests varying in age from children to great-grandparents, with musical preferences to match. It takes a lot of learning and experience to figure out what all these different guests will respond positively to and how to keep the balance between them all just right. So even though cousin Jimmy might really know his music it is likely that some factions of the audience will feel he his neglecting them.

I see many couples putting so much thought and planning (and money) into to the catering, decorations, wedding cake, dresses/tuxedos and photography but then trying to cut corners and save money on the dance portion of their reception. A typical wedding dance usually takes up to four hours or more of the reception. This is by far the biggest part of the whole reception, so why neglect it and leave it up to chance with an amateur? Go Pro is my advice.

2008-01-02T12:19:00.000-08:00

I'm trying out this Picasa Blogging feature to upload some of my DJ photos from a few different weddings I've done recently . Hopefully it works well and I can post a link to here from my Soundsations website so that anyone interested can get an idea what my DJ set up looks like.

2007-12-29T14:40:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

This is my first post on my new blog (or any blog as a matter of fact). I decided to start blogging so that I could have a record of my thoughts, observations and ideas related to the many events I DJ in the Edmonton and Alberta area throughout the year.

The vast majority of these events are weddings. I probably DJ at least 40 weddings a year on average, and have been doing it for almost 14 years, so I have seen lots of things at weddings that work and quite a few that don't. I have also done hundreds of Christmas functions and every other type of event you might imagine (I've lost count, but I've probably played at well over 500 events). I thought I would like to start keeping a blog of these for myself and anybody else that might care.

Obviously I have developed my own thoughts at what makes the dance aspect of a wedding more likely to be a success, but I do get to see lots of other things happening at weddings as well because I'm there from before the guests arrive for the reception until after everyone is gone. I am going to put a link to this blog on my website http://www.soundsationsmusic.com so anyone checking out DJ services there can link to the blog for my insights.

Anyway, I hope to be able to post to the blog often as I am bursting with ideas on this subject. I'll have to sign off now though because it's too hard to type while my 6 year old is sitting on my lap.