iPod Disco

dizziblonde

We didn't have a disco but wanted background music for the buffet, so rather than hire a DJ (I have visions of cheese, followed by visions of my stepfather's dancing - both nightmareish), we just took a laptop, decent PC speakers and set it up in the corner of the room with a nice mix of stuff like Queen, Genesis etc (oh's kind of stuck in the 80s where musical taste is concerned). Worked fine for what we needed it for - but like I say, we didn't have a disco and were using a village hall as the venue (sorry "community building" or my mum will get upset!).

spongebabs

dizziblonde wrote: »

(I have visions of cheese, followed by visions of my stepfather's dancing - both nightmareish),

That's exactly what I thought of when we considered DJ's, although obviously not your step dads dancing lol

faerie_girl

We are having a low-key registry office with a garden party at home after. Only inviting 14 people. OH will be sorting out his music system and we'll be moving some of the speakers outside. I'm going to start looking at the music we want this week so it gives plenty of time to download albumns and tracks. For us it would be daft getting a DJ. Our Best Man is an acoustic singer/song writer so he will be giving us a little performance.
If we were having a big event I am unsure of wether we would go for a DJ or not. It is something that we could do ourselves but having a DJ would take the pressure of us sorting out songs etc to suit the atmosphere. I like the idea that a PP mentioned in having a desgnated person who knows what they are doing to keep an eye on the music. I also think having it streaming through a laptop so its easier to pick other songs to be played than on an MP3 player so you don't get any gaps between tracks.

lucylucky

We went to a friends birthday party recently and he had the laptop streaming music from lastfm initially before he moved it onto his playlists

Worked well

velvetybubbles

Hi yeah we use in our pub for everyday background music as we have no juke box..and discos and karaoke background music all the time

Abbafan1972

I have never heard of this before to be honest. I'm not sure I would want this type of thing at my wedding. It would be fine at someone's house but.......

Each to their own I suppose. Just make sure your Ipod is fully charged, you don't want a flat battery on the night! :eek:

mrdunkleysexy

Coming from experience having DJ'd myself a while back I reckon an Ipod DJ could work if your having small numbers at your reception or party

Small numbers as in 20-40 people I guess.

Anything more and I would suggest a DJ.

A DJ can react to when people dont like a certain tune and mix the track into another before people clear the dance floor. Someone controlling an ipod just wont do with pauses and interuptions etc There are Dj's out there that are good PA's too on the microphone and will keep the crowd jeed up on the dancefloor (if thats what you want)

Whatever you do its your choice

Phyre_Faerie

Our wedding was last saturday and we did this kind of thing and generally it was fine.

What we did however was use a combination of Spotify Premium and laptop rather than use an Ipod. It is worth the extra £10 to do it. (so you don't get stung into buying 12 months you buy a spotify gift card for 1 month). Higher bitrate and better sound quality as the lappy has more oomph.

Sit and think about your playlist who will be there and most of all ask your guests what they would like to hear before the wedding. We're quite an alternative crowd so the first part of the evening was stuff like kings of leon/ foo fighters etc but don't forget the cheese. I did my playlist to go from rock into some silly stuff to get people laughing and dancing then into stuff like abba and grease and then some modern pop and dance music.

To do the job we hired from a local electronic shop speakers and a combined amp and mixer. You definately need a basic mixer. Ensure who ever picks up the equipment gets the shop to double check you have all the right leads and they tell you how it goes together. It took us 5 -10 minutes to find the right outputs and a visit from the shop owner to change the leads as the young lad gave us the wrong ones!! Nearly a disaster.

Don't let people touch the equipment (especially drunken brothers lol). Doing that left gaps in the music (towards the end) and check the tracks youve selected aren't extended mixes (10 mins of we are family isnt fun lol)
but do think about who youve got coming. I played a track for my mam which ended up being such an emotional thing for us. I also played things that I knew certain friends would really get and made them feel special. I mainly was able to stick with the playlist but also because I was on a laptop hooked up to the venues wifi (spotify premium lets you have offline playlists which is what I had planned for the wifi connection was an unknown bonus but check with your venue) and was even able to add tracks seamlessly.

We had the best day ever and was congratulated on my taste in music by many. I'd definatly do it again as DJ's seem to play their tastes (mainly R&B YUK!) which just is not ours.

It's worth noting that our wedding was small and intimate (50 people in evening)
and a DJ would be better for something bigger but to be fair if you can afford a 200 guest wedding £150 for a DJ should be reasonably affordable all in all the music cost 70 quid. 60 for equipment and 10 quid for the spotify pass. Added bonus with spotify too is you are safe in the knowledge your music is totally above board and legal. I was so impressed I'm going to take out a subscription.

Well that's all folks!

Phyre

Phyre_Faerie

ooh I need to change my signature! wheee!

Phyre_Faerie

oh the testing... some venues might demand pat tested equipment. All it is is a test to say the item is electroncally safe. All DJ's pat test their equipment it depends on if you are going to connect it with their systems which we didnt as we had our own speakers. Our venue was fine with that. Also beware that some places may have sound tolerances that they have to adhere to. Ask the venue manager once your set up if the sound level is ok.

That really is all now haha