Hiring a DJ is easy, right?
Just open the yellow pages and pick the one with the biggest advertisement or the highest price or the cheapest price. Wrong!
Just as high prices alone does not necessarily mean good professional service, and neither does a big ad. There are several big DJ companies around that spend a lot of money on advertising. They can afford to because they reserve many jobs for hundreds of dollars an hour and they sub-contract to other smaller DJ companies. Some of these DJs are good and use professional equipment. Some dont.Is your event worth the gamble?
The following are some questions that you may want to ask before hiring a Disc Jockey:
-How much experience do you have in performing in this type of function? There is no substitute for training and experience.
Hiring a DJ with past experience and professional training is a plus.
-Will you use Professional Equipment? There is a big difference between home audio equipment and professional audio equipment. Professional audio equipment is designed to be reliable and rugged.
-Are you licensed and insured? The fact that a Disc Jockeys has taken the time to insure and apply for occupational license for their company demonstrates that they are serious businessmen or women; and run it as such.
-Can you provide a written contract and references from previous clients? It is extremely important to have your contracts in writing. All terms of the agreement should be in writing to avoid any possible problems. The DJ should also be able to provide the names of previous clients for references.
-Would you be willing to discuss musical selections ahead of time? Are you willing to play requests that are suitable for your type of function? Special requests should never be a problem and the DJ should be willing to play them when appropriate. When playing at school events, the type of music played will be different than what is played in nightclubs.
-The DJ That I talk to, is he going to be the one that performs the job? With multiple systems companies, they over-book events and send their better DJs to perform at better paying events; with the single operator DJ, the one you talk to is the one who will perform at the event.
-With Michael McDuffie the answer to all these questions is Yes! |