Live Band vs. DJ – Making the Right Choice for Your Event - Ep #16

Get ready to hit the dance floor as we cut through the noise in the great debate of live band versus DJ! This episode is your ultimate guide to choosing the right beat for your event. We'll reveal the undeniable impact a live band has on the energy and engagement of your crowd, but also discuss the unparalleled versatility a DJ brings to the table. As we navigate the intricacies of event planning, we'll spill the truth about the nitty-gritty details of set breaks, setup times, and how they affect your party's flow. If you're torn between the visual spectacle of live musicians and the endless library a DJ offers, we're here with the tips and honest advice you need to make the best call for your soirée.

This jam-packed episode also examines the behind-the-scenes logistics that can make or break an event. We'll discuss everything from the importance of having background music during band breaks to the swift adaptability of DJs who can keep the party alive without missing a beat. With our insider look at the financial factors, venue restrictions, and the secret to maintaining an electric atmosphere, you'll walk away with the knowledge to ensure your guests rave about your event for years to come. So tune in and turn up the volume as we help you navigate the crescendos and decrescendos of event entertainment!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

welcome back everyone to another episode of the clever dj with ilia and n.

Speaker 2: 0:21

This is episode number 16.

Speaker 1: 0:24

Yes, now, today we have a topic which we heard a lot about. People ask us all the time, when they book us what they should do, whether they should go for us or what we're going to talk about Now. Why is this a good topic for you guys to listen to? So this is good for people who are actually trying to decide between djs or a live band, and also it's good for djs who want to explain why they are better than the live band as an option, or why, maybe, correctly, you should actually go for the band and not for me, because you're not just trying to swindle someone out of their money. You want to make sure they're happy at the end of the day, right? You know the requirements and you ask them the right questions. You know what they want and, based on the answers, you know hey, you know what? I'm a great DJ, but it sounds to me like you're looking for a live band, and that's what this podcast is all about today. That's what this episode is all about today.

Speaker 1: 1:31

So, we have a little list here and whoa, it's not a little list. You wrote quite a bit, buddy, all right, yeah, we edited a little bit, but that's, yeah, let's, let's, let's uh deliver it in the most concise way possible. The pros of having a band, of getting getting a band, is it's live music, and sometimes live music can't be beat by anything else.

Speaker 2: 1:50

It can't be replicated. Yeah, being in a band myself back in the day, there's nothing like it, it's a different energy right, different unique. Yeah, it's unique, exactly.

Speaker 1: 1:59

And walk into a bar that just has really cool, like a really great pa system, and it's just, you know, playing from a recorded track or at least even has a great dj playing, and then walk into a bar where there's live music, the ambience that the, the energy is just it's, it's different, it's electric yes, I would.

Speaker 1: 2:24

And again, if you hate live music, okay, then you'd say, no, it's different in a bad way. But if you like listening to a DJ and you also appreciate a good band, you could tell how sometimes you just can't beat, you can't defeat like that sound. And if you're one of those people who just can't beat, you can't defeat that sound. And if you're one of those people who just loves live music really this whole list there's no point to continue here. Go for a live band as long as you have the money to pay for it. That's one of the points we're going to be covering. But yeah, that's pretty much that's the most important point. Live music sounds different and if you're going for yeah, that's pretty much the most important point Live music sounds different and if you're going for that, that's what you want, that's the vibe you want. Go get it.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Ability to improvise the delivery of the track of the song If you like the band that you hired, you will like how they improvise. For example, muse, a very, very amazing band. Their live shows, the way they deliver. Some of those songs are better than the way they recorded them. And they won. I forget what that award is called. They won so many awards for that, for the best performance on stage, you know, on stage, you know, and it sounds incredible. It doesn't sound like they don't go off key or, you know, mess up the, you know with the instruments.

Speaker 1: 3:54

They're just amazing live and true professionals yeah and if you like your, you know the, the band that you hired or the single person that you hired to sing or to play or to do both, then you will appreciate that their ability to improvise All right. And then you and I spoke about it before. What if sometimes they need to just like play?

Speaker 2: 4:20

and fill the silence right Like play longer, loop it.

Speaker 1: 4:22

I mean sure a DJ can do that too, but it's different with a band.

Speaker 2: 4:25

It's different with a band and then when the front, the singers, when they sing they can also MC and talk and just cue the band in different ways that the live aspect is just great. So much more things, yeah, so much more things are going on.

Speaker 1: 4:42

Crowd interaction and keeping the dance floor full. I worked venues as a waiter, as a bartender, as a dj, where there was a band and a dj actually we'll talk about that too, probably at the end, and the way a dj fills the the dance floor and the way a band lives, fills the dance floor is different.

Speaker 2: 5:06

It's different, yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:07

Usually a band, just like it, invites you. It's not just one person there trying to lighten up the crowd, it's just, it's more, it's more interactive. Yeah, it's like pulling you towards that stage, right. It could also be like a show where nobody just really wants to get up and they're just watching the band. But if it's a good band, they'll know how to get you exactly your seat.

Speaker 2: 5:31

Yeah, right, it's just like the power of four or five people. That energy, the energy is just. Yeah, exactly, it's just. You can't help it, but just get pulled in and and um.

Speaker 1: 5:38

Another point here some bands include a dj for in between their sets. Now, that's a great combo. So they'll have that DJ who will play the music in between their sets because they're taking a break. Or maybe they'll just put on a playlist, like they have off their phone or something, or there's somebody who controls the sound and they'll have that. So you get best of both worlds. Best of both worlds, best of both worlds. That's, that's amazing. Yeah, uh, the cons will be lack of variety when it comes to music. So again, if you hired the band you want, the band you love, not really like a variety because you've got the music you want. But what? What about your guests?

Speaker 2: 6:23

Yeah, sometimes your guests won't resonate with what they play and they want something else, right?

Speaker 1: 6:29

And this doesn't mean that the band will know it right or will be the best at playing that type of music.

Speaker 2: 6:35

Exactly.

Speaker 1: 6:35

So what if it's a country band and somebody wants something completely different? What would be a good example? Completely different, I mean hip hop, hip rock, rock rock they could probably do it. But again, if it's a strict country band, like you know, the most country that gets, I'm sure they can do.

Speaker 1: 6:55

They can do rock, but it's not their strong suit maybe, yeah, yeah, yeah so blues jazz, right like it's just unless it's a really good bed, yeah, unless and again we're coming back, circling back to it's gonna cost you a lot of money to get someone like that. Um, that's the point. That's that probably should have been number one more expensive to hire, exactly because there are more bodies in a band.

Speaker 2: 7:21

You have to pay them. They have to make sure it's worth their time, so you're gonna be paying a lot more. You have to pay them. They have to make sure it's worth their time.

Speaker 1: 7:25

So they're going to be paying a lot more, so you can't pay them $1,500 or $2,000, because normally these more professional band members will want to get paid $1,000 to $1,500 each Each Right.

Speaker 2: 7:39

Depending on their reputation and how they play. Right yeah.

Speaker 1: 7:47

Venues, restrictions, sound limitations. I mean you deal with that all the time. One one of the places you go to uh has um a decibel meter that, uh, you can't go over the sound.

Speaker 2: 7:57

The the manager will literally come up to you and say, hey, turn it down, turn it down. And, yeah, it's just a stipulation that we have to adhere to now with bands.

Speaker 1: 8:06

Now, however, they can't really go quieter, right, rather than a dj can just lower the volume did you ever try the same, quieter like when you, when you practice? At home like you start cracking like it's just like some. Sometimes you just have to you have to let it out, you have to belt yeah and you can't like control the volume you can't, really you could technically if you had the sound guy and like, but it's like usually they're, they're cueing you rather than controlling the volume, right?

Speaker 2: 8:35

and then it's. It's about the energy too, like when you start lowering the volume, the energy goes down yeah, with the actual music.

Speaker 1: 8:42

Usually live bands are loud Loud and live right. Yeah, More complex logistics compared to DJs.

Speaker 2: 8:52

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 8:53

Like you can tell when a band's on stage. All these wires, all this gear on stage, everything that's, and there's not just one mixer, no, you have to wire them all up, all up with with microphones.

Speaker 2: 9:09

The the drummer has to be wired up every all the singers all the mics, yeah all the mics, even sometimes even like the guitarist or keyboardist has microphones as well.

Speaker 1: 9:20

So there's so much little details that you have to yeah, mics, effect pedals, uh something's more than one per per person. Uh mixers um lights, everything, yeah, just that much more to set up um that much more to go wrong as well.

Speaker 2: 9:38

Yeah, right to fail yeah and um.

Speaker 1: 9:42

That brings us to the next point, which is there's no space for a band. Sometimes you require an entire stage.

Speaker 2: 9:52

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:53

And a sturdy stage that is to have three, four, five people standing on their, maybe stumping their feet and having all of that gear on stage safely Right.

Speaker 2: 10:09

So some space requirements, right.

Speaker 1: 10:12

Some venues just won't won't allow it due to the lack of space. Um, I mean, maybe you could uh move a few tables and stuff, but at the end that you need a stage usually yeah always uh next, what do we have? Next, uh, some bands are genre specific and can't cater to your crowd or musical tastes. I mean, we kind of already spoke about that. Right, if you're looking for hip-hop and it's a, it's a um so basically, lack of variety of yeah, it's a country band, right so I would, I would.

Speaker 1: 10:47

I would be interested to hear what, uh, what a country band will sound like if they play hip-hop. Hey, like hip-hop, but hey, can I get some biggie smalls? Yeah, um, but um, yeah, like we kind of already covered that. Um, what a very important point is bands need to take breaks and can't play for extended periods of time.

Speaker 1: 11:10

I almost never saw a band that just gets off stage and there's no music in the background, because if it's not, the band and the venue will play something yeah but maybe you're very let's use the word uptight about how you want the music to go and you're not okay with just some regular playlist in the background, uh, unless you could maybe speak to the whoever controls that music ahead of time. Hey, I only want these songs in the background, um, but you'll have to put up with it. And you know what? What happens sometimes when there's a small break, the crowd just the crowd just ends up sitting down and it's hard to get them back up yeah, that's the problem.

Speaker 1: 11:47

When having breaks it's, you have to build it back up yeah, so it's the same thing like when it comes to djing as well again so if you are a person who just wants to continue non-stop for two or three hours, a band may not be for you. They'll have to take a break, more than one break, lots of breaks actually, sometimes yeah and now it's not one person who needs to eat and drink.

Speaker 1: 12:07

Now it's three, four or five people, usually, unless you have a single person. Show right, yep, all right. So what do we have left here? Set up and tear down time. Set up and tear it on time will be usually longer, longer and can cost you more, as staff has to stay behind until the band leaves the premise.

Speaker 2: 12:29

A lot more gear, a lot more people. Yeah, a lot longer Heavier gear.

Speaker 1: 12:34

Yeah, and honestly again, I worked where bands had to set up and tear down and I know that some venue owners, some managers, whoever's in charge of that, will charge the bride and groom or whoever has their event. If people don't leave by, let's say, 1 am, I'm charging you for another hour because I've got to pay all my staff or a certain part of the staff. Somebody has to stay behind, so I'm charging you for another half hour, another hour, um, and they're strict about it and they're still getting business. So maybe that's just standard. I guess I wouldn't do it. But at the same time I don't own a venue. So I don't know, maybe, maybe that's the way to go. I would not do it, though that's going to leave a bad taste in someone's mouth For sure.

Speaker 1: 13:24

So that's it. That's it for the pros and cons for bands. We can come up with another 10, 20, 30. But just to give you an idea, right, pros of having a DJ Cheaper, more affordable to hire, obviously. I know a very expensive DJ that you could hire for $1,500, $2,000, $4,000. It depends what you want, yeah, right, and depends also when. Sometimes you're a lot busier and it'll be harder to get you, so it'll cost more because you have so much business.

Speaker 1: 14:05

Saturdays are usually our peak days, right Saturdays, and then Fridays, and then the 1500 is from what I've seen, because you showed me your contracts and stuff is almost unheard of. It's only if it's like grandfathered, you know, from a few years ago and you and you're close with that, with that venue, and it's in-house and it's a simple setup and it's close to home. Usually it's at least at least 2k at least, and um, but that's that's a lot, very cheap, but compared to a band.

Speaker 2: 14:35

Bands charge up to what? Sometimes four thousand dollars or five. I've seen bands up to twelve thousand. Yes, for really good ones depends who.

Speaker 1: 14:43

And that's the thing. Like, do you really want to get that live sound and then 10 of these cons or whatever? Like, if you want to minimize the cons and you want to get someone who's really good, then you're gonna have to pay the price. It's going to cost you some money. A dj, as long as he or she are a good dj, and uh, it's uh, you know they have by good everything. I mean, it's it, it goes. It goes without saying. They have the good. They have all the music you need. They're emceeing, like. They have good gear, like lights and all that stuff. That that's it. You got everything for much, much cheaper. Next, instant access to all music. That's what I just said. They have access to everything. You don't have to wonder do they know the song or not? And even if they don't, you can get it on the fly, adaptable to the guests, and can read crowds. I think a band can read the crowd too but it's not as adaptable as a DJ.

Speaker 2: 15:46

They have more wider variety of music, so it makes it more just more crowd friendly that way yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:54

Yeah, I think for a DJ it will be easier. And again, we said that this is the average situation. Right, you want a band that can read a crowd very well and adapt? Okay, you're gonna pay a lot of money. That band is really good. Yeah, that's not a feature in a band that is really easy to come by. A more obvious feature is that they have a good selection of music for their genre and they have, you know, good set of lungs and they sing very well. Now, emceeing like hyping the crowd. That's not normal for a band to have, at least from what I've seen. Um, they do it through their music, but that's it. Um, that's very important. Mixing music seamlessly. That is something that we spoke about before. There's no breaks, so, whether it is you got to eat or go for a bathroom break, and even between tracks, there are no breaks, because that's the whole point of transitioning.

Speaker 2: 17:01

No, they're there All right, yeah, but then again there are some good bands that can transition well as well.

Speaker 1: 17:10

Yeah, the song ends and the next one starts right away. Yeah, yeah, and it kind of gives you that second to kind of like adjust your ears because it's loud, right, and then you start again Again.

Speaker 2: 17:21

you're going to pay more money yeah, even more so.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Once again, the standard is not to have that. The band will stop. They'll talk amongst themselves hey, let's do this track and this one. Okay, cool, they'll set up, they'll tune the guitar. You want somebody who does it all on the fly or have has another guitar ready on those like stands that they have there. You're gonna pay more money now they're bringing more gear yeah exactly, there's that um adjustable volume levels. That's what we spoke about when it comes to, the decibel meter.

Speaker 2: 17:50

That's one meter, so djs are a little bit more uh like lenient to that, you can. They can just turn down the volume. Well, bands can't really adapt much.

Speaker 1: 18:00

How often do you have to do it? How often are they telling you to turn it down? I was never told yet.

Speaker 2: 18:08

A few times. A few times Because as the night progresses, your music just gets louder and louder. It's just a thing.

Speaker 1: 18:16

I was told by the actual person who hired me that some people think it's too loud. It wasn't. I promise you right now, it wasn't too loud. It's just not their type of uh, it's not their type of music right, it was it.

Speaker 1: 18:29

It was just a corporate. There were like so many different people there looking for for different sound, different things and some of the music was just too much for it was just too loud for them, right. But nobody ever came up to me like, oh, your music is too loud, the neighbors are complaining, or something like that. Yeah, yeah, um, what else? Venue space and we spoke about that with respect to bands all you need as a dj is like corner, even if you have like a beautiful facade.

Speaker 2: 19:06

At the minimum, we require at least a four-foot table. Yeah, that's enough for our gear, so you can literally just put us in the corner.

Speaker 1: 19:13

Four feet Not much space at all. Maybe six feet with a facade and everything else, but that's it so we're very venue friendly compared to a bed now, a guitarist will probably need a bit of a clearance between left and right wherever they're standing, their amplifier.

Speaker 2: 19:29

Yeah, that, just that one person moving around like dancing and stuff. So yeah, just that one person is like about four feet exactly, and then there's like the space between the like, so multiply that for four or five people too, and again, it could be a band like a two-man.

Speaker 1: 19:44

Two-man show could be, like a guy and girl like, but normally the bands are multiple, multiple people. We're talking full beds. Yes, um quicker setup. Quicker setup and tear down times.

Speaker 2: 19:59

So much quicker one. One person with their gear compared to five or four.

Speaker 1: 20:05

Of course, it's just no brainer I've seen you set up as quickly as 20 to 25 minutes, and not not just the controller and the speakers.

Speaker 2: 20:13

There was there was a huge.

Speaker 1: 20:16

I, I need, I need to. I need to upload a photo one day of the dolly and everything on it.

Speaker 2: 20:21

Oh my God, I don't know how that stuff doesn't tip over, or how they didn't give in, yet that dolly has made its money over and over, thousands of times over. You need to replace one of those wheels.

Speaker 1: 20:34

Every time I go with them and I pull it and the wheel is like it's wonky now man, it still works man, so you know, until the wheels fall off, literally yeah, with your like ten thousand dollars worth of equipment right on it that was an expensive dolly I had no idea how much they cost until I started looking into it.

Speaker 1: 20:54

Uh, all right, oh, home depot came through. That was a good deal on that one. I love that Dolly DJs can play longer, for longer periods of time. So again, you are not singing, you're not playing an instrument really. So you're good, your stamina is there. You need to relax and have a glass of water, but you have more control over how long you play before. You need to relax and have a glass of water or something, but, like you're, you have more control over, um, how long you play before you need a break, exactly well it's less exerting when the dance comes, we tend tend to not take breaks it's just straight right.

Speaker 2: 21:31

Well, a band if they're doing the dance, they have to take breaks in between, and then there's a dj playing in between too as well. So with a dj, they can just play straight Four hours, five hours straight.

Speaker 1: 21:41

Yeah, non-stop, and there are small breaks, announcements and stuff like that, but not like a break for a band. Five, 10, 20 minutes, it depends right.

Speaker 2: 21:50

It's very physical for a band to play and stuff too Sing, wow, that takes it out of you. It's tough. Yeah, less interactive compared to a band, compared to a band again.

Speaker 1: 22:06

We, when we wrote this down, we're like really, because djs can be very interactive, but compared to a band, a good band, right, yeah, it's not going to be the same yeah, like bands usually will, the front singers will pull people up and interact with you, like sing to you and stuff.

Speaker 2: 22:25

So it's I definitely don't want to do that, a dj can't do that right, you can't it's kind of frowned upon to come to the dj booth like that, like a clown um so a lot less interactive when it comes to certain deliveries of that performance right, uh, not as original.

Speaker 1: 22:42

Everyone hires a dj. Everyone hires a dj like almost everyone out there, no matter what kind of event. So when you say, hey, I'm going to have a live band at my gig or at my show, at my wedding, yes, there'll be the people who are like I hope it's a good band. But it's more exciting usually.

Speaker 2: 22:58

Yeah, you don't know what to expect If you have the correct band.

Speaker 1: 23:00

Yeah, all right. So just a couple more points left here. Not your DJ of choice, and what I mean is you may come to the venue and say, okay, we have this DJ, we want to hire him and they don't. They don't allow it. They have a resident DJ or resident DJs.

Speaker 2: 23:21

You can select between them and usually sometimes it comes with the actual package that you get with the venue. It's already booked in, so you have no choice that way. And usually sometimes it comes with the actual package that you get with the venue. It's already booked in, so you have no choice that way.

Speaker 1: 23:30

I personally never experienced anything like that. They'll say, hey, we have our DJs, but you can bring your own. But I know this exists. Yeah, it does, it does.

Speaker 2: 23:39

It's very rare, but it does exist. A lot of couples have told me oh, we have to go with the in-house because it's included. I, I'm like really.

Speaker 1: 23:43

I heard about going with the in-house because of their gear.

Speaker 2: 23:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:48

But that's usually also why the DJ? Because they want a DJ from their company, of course, because he also knows how to control the gear when he comes with a person. Of course. So at the very least you'll have to hire the DJ for $2,000, $3,000. And then you'll also have to hire a person from that company to to deal with a gear, because they don't want anyone else touching it because it's really expensive.

Speaker 1: 24:12

So now you're paying like a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars for the person who's dealing with a gear and you're paying for the dj. So, yeah, so sometimes you know what band and that's it. Yeah, again, we can talk about that point specifically for a while. But the last point here djs can't replicate a band. Uh, a band's sound and visual display that, that, that oomph that I bring, that a band brings not at all right, yeah, yeah, it's different.

Speaker 1: 24:39

This is this goes with the, the, the first, first, uh top point that we've talked about, like yeah, that's just nothing like a live performance it's yeah, but really everything here comes down to are you gonna pay appropriately, because if you don't, then a lot of stuff we said here you'll be like well, they said, if I do that, then I'll get a good band. Or, first and foremost, pay appropriately, because if you don't pay the right amount of money for a good band, a lot of these things you won't experience a lot of these pros.

Speaker 2: 25:13

Yeah, a lot of times you need to see the band in person too, if that's the kind of style that you like, too right, always check a band always check them out, right, they'll let you crash a wedding quietly from the sidelines.

Speaker 1: 25:26

Check them out, see if you like their vibe and stuff, right, yeah, yeah. But a DJ, it's just easier. It's just easier hiring a DJ, as long as you go for somebody who has a good reputation.

Speaker 2: 25:41

Reputation. If they're good, If you've seen them live, book them on the spot.

Speaker 1: 25:45

I feel like there's way more moving pieces to hiring a band there is, of course, which brings us, brings us to the last point. Why not both? Some venues literally offer you their in-house, uh, resident dj and or their band, and then you, you couple it with you know, your, you go back then you couple it with your.

Speaker 2: 26:07

Yeah, they go back to back.

Speaker 1: 26:08

Combine it with your DJ or band, whatever they don't have, yeah. Or sometimes, instead of paying for a very expensive band, you pay for a decent band and a decent DJ, and they know how to work together, how to not play the same music.

Speaker 2: 26:22

That's important not to play the same music. A lot of bands would get mad at dj for playing this stuff yeah a lot of them will coordinate with the dj too, to make sure they're not played.

Speaker 1: 26:32

I know some djs who've been coordinated with and they still played it and I'm like how can you look these people in the eyes after? Like you really messed them up. Yeah, yeah, so that's it really uh.

Speaker 2: 26:44

So if you can afford it, best of both worlds is the ideal if you want both band and dj right, yeah, as long as, hey, you know what, what we should forget to say.

Speaker 1: 26:55

A lot of people don't think about the guests. They think, oh, they'll love it for sure, because you love it. Think about it. Are your guests gonna like a band at your, at your, at your wedding or whatever it is event you're throwing, or a DJ? So if they will, then it's an easier, yes, it's an easier pick. But, yeah, this is a topic we can discuss for like hours. Yeah it is anyway.

Speaker 1: 27:19

Thank you very much for joining another episode of the Clever DJ, another one coming up in a week yeah, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2: 27:26

Thank you, see you in. Thank you, see you in the next one. Guys, see you in the next one.