Tricky Intros, Tough Venues, and the DJ Skills That Keep Crowds Moving

Season Six opens with a true DJ gauntlet: impossible song intros, broken grids, and venues that think bass is optional. We start by dissecting one of the hardest count-ins in rock history - The Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up - and break down how phrasing, hi-hat patterns, and cue-point choices determine whether your floor lifts off…or looks at you like you’re insane. If you’ve ever had a track refuse to land on beat, this segment is your new cheat code.

From there, we zoom out to Spotify Wrapped and the gap between what DJs love and what their data says they actually play. Cocktail playlists inflate your minutes, client requests warp your genre map, and yet trends emerge: Teddy Swims for tone, Giveon for texture, Boy & Bear for mood, and the Nashville storytelling that keeps finding its way into 2025 weddings. We turn those insights into real programming ideas for dinners, corporate events, and mixed-age dance floors.

Gear Corner brings a small upgrade with a huge quality-of-life payoff: the Gator tripod shelf that solves cluttered ceremony setups and keeps lav receivers, remotes, or iPad notes clean and elevated. And then comes the high-stakes part: venues with hard dB ceilings, meter-triggered shutdowns, or outright bans on subs. We walk through red flags to spot early, questions to ask before signing, the parking-garage wedding that pushed every limit, and why being honest with couples about volume rules is essential to protecting your reputation.

If you’re a working DJ who wants better mixes, smarter setups, and a roadmap for sound-restricted venues, this episode gives you tools you can use this weekend. Share it with a DJ friend, subscribe for more weekly takeaways, and drop a review with the hardest track you’ve ever tried to count in.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

What's up and welcome back to Beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. I'm Brian B., one of your co-hosts, and this is Joe Bunn. Yes, it is. Welcome to a new season. Season six. I'm proud of us. We're doing it. I'm proud of us. Right before Christmas, we're starting a new season. We're batching it out. That's right. Today's batch day. This drops December 24th, so I'm sure everybody uh who is in the DJ world like myself is probably running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to get some gifts. Do you do that stuff early? Are you uh where are you at in the Christmas gifting? You know where we are early.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

You know where I am now. Colin, my oldest son, has bought at least eight to ten things and sent them to my house. So he does his own shopping. For himself.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

For himself.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

So using your card.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Okay. Is there a limit? Is there a limit to? Yeah, yeah. I gave him.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

I don't want to say the limit because people I don't know if people are gonna be like, it's too low or too high. I just don't want to say the money. Yeah, he has a budget. So I give him a number and then I'm like, and he and he'll keep a little spreadsheet of what he's ordered. And and he, like I said, he sends it to my house, and then I'll wrap it up and then put it under the tree, and then he's gonna get it.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

That's solid. So he knows what he's getting.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

He does, but I think a lot of times he just kind of forgets. You know, um, Davis uh only wanted stuff for his car, so I got he wanted his car tinted. So he got his car tinted. Already. Already, yeah, yeah. Early, early gift. Early gift. And then he'll get like a jacket or something.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

And you have to go get that, or he orders similar to same thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

He'll order it on my card, send it, and then I'll wrap it up. And then what are what is on the Joe Bunn wish list? The Joe Bund wish list, honestly, man, I I've said this probably since I turned 35. If you want it, you're gonna go get it. If I wanted it, I already got it.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

I'm the same way.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

I don't, I I just want to be around my friends, around my family. I want to enjoy some time off. I want everybody to be happy and get along and eat some good food.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

And And is the girlfriend like this too?

SPEAKER_01 2:19

Yeah, man. She she she doesn't well that she's she's hosed, right? Because she's um December 17th birthday. Oh, got it. December 17th birthday. That's the worst. And what she she doesn't really want anything either. What we did last year, and I think we're do what we're doing this year, is just saying we're gonna go on a trip in 2026.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

And where have you determined?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

We haven't gotten that far.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

But uh it's probably gonna be Italy or Spain. Oh, okay. Uh I'm definitely going to Australia next year, whether she comes or not.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah. Um sick.

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Yeah. So that's where that is. And then for her birthday, I usually just we will usually go out to dinner and then we go to like one of two jewelry shops and get something not crazy, like small. Right. A little necklace or you know, a small ring or something like that. That's what we did last year, and that's what she prefers.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

So those Christmas birthdays are tough. So anyway, though, everybody that celebrates, Merry Christmas to you. Seriously, take some time off. Enjoy your friends, enjoy your family, put away your laptop, put away all your work shit at least for a few days, and then enjoy yourself and enjoy your people you're around.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

So, speaking of friends, yeah, let's shout out some of our back room members.

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Dude, that was good. Oh no, that was really good.

Family Gifts And Travel Plans

SPEAKER_00 3:36

I'll hit the first one. Nick Nystrom, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 3:39

Yeah, that's your boy.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Dude, he came to the DJC. Um we've been friends for a little bit, like online friends, and it was great to see him in person.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

And he always got a great attitude. Dude, his attitude is outstanding. His energy is through the roof. Right. He's out there in the lawn on those beautiful, you know, North Carolina fall days. They were making videos. Videos of making mixes. Yeah. He's hyping people up.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

And I feel like he really you can just tell he enjoys the craft. Like he's always wanting to learn, always wanting to get better at it. He loves it. And uh just good dude.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

So next out Nick Nystrom.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Next one, you got this? Shout out Nathan Jones. I know Nathan Jones. Where's he out of? I can't remember. All right. Shout out Nathan Jones. DJ GWS. Now, these names, they they can sign up as hello if they wanted to, and we have one of those. Oh, we did coming up. So I I don't know where you're from. I don't even know who you are, really. But GWS.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Shout out, and I know Ben as well. I can't remember where Ben is. Ben Gersham, what's up? Shout out, Ben. So again, thank you guys for being uh members of the Patreon, being back room members. Um, we have got tons of stuff planned, but we're always looking for feedback from you guys. And um big thumbs up and uh if you like the bonus content. Wink wink.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yes, absolutely. Well, uh, we got a new segment today. We're we're branding this a new segment. Okay. So let's roll the video. So this is one of my favorite things we did in the last couple of seasons, it's been this drum challenge. It was pretty great. I agree. And so we're bringing it back. Okay. We've got a different drum kit today. Different color.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

I'm I apologize, bro. I didn't know we were gonna need it again. I've got limited storage here. I we got the sticks. Eventually, if this becomes if this is gonna become a real thing, we have to get a real drum. Yeah, totally. We're gonna get a snare drum. We need to. Surely.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Um, so let me kind of set this up. This was a song that was on my request list that I had to mix in. Okay. I usually have no problem finding this, but this is where I'm gonna lean into your experience because you've been doing this, you've been on the game a while. So this should be so easy for you to be able to count this in and find the one. I feel like it's impossible. Like I have to literally cue it up further into the song to find the one. It's that bad.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Oh God. Worse than Whitney?

SPEAKER_00 6:00

Worse than Whitney. So the song is Do I need the headphones? No, yeah, you won't need the headphones. So the song is Start Me Up by the Rolling Stones.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

So uh Charlie Watt, to be fair, was the weirdest drummer you've ever seen. Is that who a drummer goes like this?

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Um I'll bring this over for you.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

So a drummer, you know, because I would play badly. So a drummer is doing, you know, three things at one time, right? Right. Hi hat.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

It's actually better than me. I can't do that.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

So hi hat here, kick, kick, there. Yeah, kick. He's going, he's going like that. It's the weirdest drumming style ever. If you ever watch videos of the stones, you're gonna look at because he's not doing this. Yeah, yeah. It it's it is bizarre. And he and people like think he was legendary.

SPEAKER_02 6:51

He's like a jazz drum.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Yes, it's it's so that's why I think this is gonna be so fucked up.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

So whenever you think the one comes in on this track, yeah, we'll give you a couple chances. I'm not gonna like it make you nail it on the on the first try.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Because it's it we're starting at the top now. At the top.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

He but also what's weird is he goes pop he he hits like a like an open hi-hat, then he snaps it.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Anyway, all right. So you got the track, Saquon?

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Yeah, let's go. You ready? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Can you turn it up a little bit more? You can get into the groove. You can get into the groove if you want to.

SPEAKER_01 7:35

You hear what I'm saying though.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

He goes, Okay. All right, you ready?

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

You can hear it. It's good. Yeah, I can take you.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Now I got it. He goes, he goes, he opened the hat, then hits a kick. No, he goes, kick. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

And that's and when you hit that, that's the one.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

That's the snare. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

So count it when you're.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

No, the one to me is is that he goes kick. That would be the one. Okay. Listen to it again. I am I hit hold on. Sorry. I'm hitting the snare, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. That was pretty close. That was pretty close. One more time. One more time.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

I'm gonna keep the groove going. See, there's a one. One, two, three, four. See, once we get into it, it's easy.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

No, you you gotta skip that whole first part. You're right.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

But that's like such a legendary spot. Like part of it.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

It has to start from there. Right. I mean, like from the guitar? I mean, yes, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

So, how can you mix that in? I guess is my point. Like, I always try to figure out where that is. What is the guitar? Is that on the one? Is the guitar like when you were starting that? Where do you start that?

SPEAKER_01 9:04

No, I don't think I don't think they're I don't think they care.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

So you're just saying fade out, start gold. You would have to, yeah, you would have to.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

You come out of um something that ends cold. I'm I'm just trying to think of something, whatever, right?

SPEAKER_00 9:18

I didn't even look for it, but I'm sure there's you can't be a quantized version of this because that's just like impossible. Like I was sitting there for like two minutes trying to just like figure out how to get this on the one.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

I got it. You know who we're gonna give this to? I I think I know who you're gonna say John Hanna.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

This is a John Hannah Throwback Brothers special edition. It's tricky, it is crazy tricky. And as soon as you say start me up, and I go, nah, and but the song technically, as a as a DJ, you want it to start from there. Because that's one of the most iconic guitar riffs.

Backroom Member Shoutouts

SPEAKER_00 9:52

I agree. Yeah. So, but I was trying to go out of a song into this because it's up, I think it's like around 120 something. So it's actually a great tempo. It's a great tempo, but I could not find the one. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

So you just skipped ahead too.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

I skipped ahead. You had because I would have too.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

You know, unless you and something's fading out, and then and I'm definitely not one of those ones that is like you gotta mix everything.

SPEAKER_00 10:18

Like I you can definitely drop things cold, but for whatever reason, you want to give it one more try, one more go? Yep. One, two, three, four. See now we're into it. That's the only way. Like you said, it it's it's so the snare has to be on the two, then.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_02 10:41

It be because the one is really like the open hi hat. It's like spoon, pop.

SPEAKER_01 10:49

So it's not, it goes, it goes open hi hat, then he does kick it before he then snare. He goes like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Yeah, yeah. It's like jazz drummer. Anyway, yeah, yeah. It's all it's out there. Crazy, crazy. Well, there we go. Great song, though. And they were on a lot of drugs. So true, true, true, true. Facts, facts.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

All right, we can dispose of these uh uh headphones here. Okay. So the second piece of this so funny isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_01 11:17

It's hard, man.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Let's move into some music then. We're already into music, but we'll go into the Annie's playlist. Um, so Spotify rap came out yesterday. We are recording this, batch recording this. Uh, this came out, so I guess that would be on the third, December 3rd is when it came out. That was the first day it came out? Yep, yesterday. So uh today's the fourth, batch recording this.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Oh, yeah, sorry. I thought the the right it came out on the third, today is December 4th, and this comes out on the 24th. Correct. Merry Christmas. Go ahead.

Drum Challenge: Finding The One

SPEAKER_00 12:12

So I thought it'd be interesting to see what our comparisons are as far as some of the categories. So I had you screenshot some. We've got them on the screen here, and let's go with the first one here. This was crazy to me. Like, are you just literally like having this on 24-7? Like, how do you get work done? I'm I can't believe the disparity here. You're listening to 31,000 minutes worth of music. I don't feel like I'm not listening to music at all. Like, I'm listening to it a lot, I feel like. And only 8,000 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Okay, but also we've talked about this before. To be fair, remember how much time you're spending in the pools and stuff. True. I listen to a lot more just music as a pleasurable item.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

And also, you know, um, usually cocktail hour, Spotify's running dinner at a wedding another hour. You know what I mean? And that and this is minutes, not hours. So it adds up. Think of all the shows I've done this year. Think of all the cocktail hours that ran over to 90 minutes. Think of all the dinners that ran over to 90. I mean, so I use it for a lot of different stuff, but it it it is definitely on uh always in the car. Got it. Not a lot in the office. If I'm trying to focus, I can't. It it if it's on if I'm working like I'm really trying to grind on something, I may put it on quietly, but it can't have words. So it would be like um chill house. Or like lo-fi or like it's gotta be that type, very like Miami hotel lobby type. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

Sure. I just thought that was an interesting disparity there. All right, go with the next one. So genres listened to. We're actually pretty darn close. I'm at 325. I think you're at what? 335? 338. Okay. So we're pretty close. We're listening to a diverse amount of music, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

I didn't even know there were that many genres.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

So speaking of genres, these are the top genres of for each of us coming up next. Yeah, this one's weird. I don't I don't honky tonk? What is that? I don't even know.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

I was just like, I don't I don't listen. I mean, there's only I don't dude anyway.

SPEAKER_00 14:14

It must be the only thing I can think of is that, and I don't even know if this is actually qualifies because when I make the playlist, sometimes I'm dragging in cocktail songs from the couples. Stuff I wouldn't personally listen to, but because the couple has it on that stuff, maybe it's in the well that's why our Spotify's and like Ashley's as well, because she uses it at the studio when she teaches it.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

It's all it's all tainted. Yeah, like it's it's not I almost need a separate account, yeah. Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

Would honky tonk be like Morgan Wildland?

SPEAKER_01 14:43

I I mean my Morgan Wallin shows up. Well represented. Yeah. I guess they've categorized him as honky tonk, but like I only like about genuinely about five country singers. Like to where I would go, hell yeah, I'd go see him or listen to his album.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Got it. Well, the oldies ones, like I don't listen to Oldies, but my couples may have had that. Oh, I know what folk pop is.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah. I mean, that uh other than honky tong, it's pretty spot on.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Yeah, yeah. Well, mine is not.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

I can tell you that much. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

House I listen to soft pop. No, I'm not listening to soft pop. I'm an it's tainted. Right. Acoustic country, oldies. Two, three, and four are definitely clients. I definitely listen to some indie music. I love some indie stuff. All right, next. So our listening age. Yeah. Based on that, that's what's weird about this age to me. Like if I'm listening to acoustic country, 24 year olds listen to this.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

It just doesn't make sense if you're listening to Oldies.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

I know. So both of us are at least we're listening to current stuff, apparently. Yeah. We're cool. That's great. Love that. Next. Uh, how many songs was this two? So this kind of goes with the amount of hours, or I'm sorry, minutes, but I'm you're way ahead of me.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

You're 1500 and I'm 3600.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

So can you guess? Could you were you when you saw your number one, did that make sense to you? 100%.

SPEAKER_01 16:00

I guessed it.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Okay, you guessed it.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

It was a quiz. Did you see it?

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Yeah, you could touch it.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Okay, go ahead and go to the next. So these are our top songs. Yes, sir. So you just went to their concert. I didn't. Is that why but you always I mean it could have ranked always of that?

SPEAKER_01 16:14

I always have them on.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

See, I feel like they're kind of an imitation of Laney, in my opinion. But I love Laney. But I'm like, why not just listen to Laney?

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Uh it is it's different, man. It sounds more Nashville to me. There's two lead singers. Like it it's it's different. It's different, but the same. It's the same kind of poppy, rocky, like perfectly written songs.

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Well, I've got a sample of energy. I got a sample of the song for people that haven't heard it. So if you want to hit this, his one. It's gotta get to the chorus, though.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Did you cut that?

SPEAKER_00 16:42

I think so. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Oh, should we go ahead and make you?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yeah, we can't. Oh no, that's a bat.

SPEAKER_03 16:48

That's a song I like cheese.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

That's me. Hit his. We'll cut this part out. Sorry, his is the next one. Sorry. That's from the top, though. I think I let it roll for a minute until it gets to the course.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

You know how to keep me waiting. You know there's a card that you missed.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I mean, I like the style, but I just feel like it's a cheap laney imitation.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Were they great?

SPEAKER_00 17:19

But were they first before laney? Were they a band?

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Probably about the same. I had to look it up.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Copy the formula, copy paste.

SPEAKER_01 17:29

It's chorus, and it's so like wordy, but it's so good. And this place was 5,000 kids going nuts.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

And it looks like it's different albums, this one in your number two.

unknown 17:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:47

Daphne Blue. So my number one was uh I I don't even know what the name of that title is. I just liked it because I like Teddy Swims in general. I like I'm surprised this is my number one. I really did not expect this to be number one, but I think it's just kind of cool. I like Giveyon is kind of a newer artist, I would think. Yeah. Anyway, you wanna hit that one? That was the one before this one.

SPEAKER_03 18:08

Are you even real? Fucking crazy. The chorus is the best.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

This is the way it sounds all like I'm calling terror on.

SPEAKER_03 18:33

Supposed to be true.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

This part.

SPEAKER_06 18:43

It just kits me. That's that's fucking good.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

That needs to be in Mike Balter's book.

SPEAKER_06 18:47

It really is.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

Here it is. Shout out Mike Balters. That's good. Uh any of these other ones stand out to you at all? Um, what's number five? For me.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

On yours, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Yeah, Southern Sun. Uh, you know, I just this came up on my Spotify Discovery, okay, and I really liked it. I actually have a sample of it. That's a great call out by you. I'd love to hear that. Will I like it? I think you will.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Hear that, Saquon. Uh, Southern Sun, Boy and Bear. Yes, to the music. I gotta hear the guy's voice.

SPEAKER_04 19:24

Sit out there in the cover in the baskings of a holy night.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Wait till the chorus. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 19:32

And I was lucid.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

It's not what I would ever gig to, but I just like listening to it.

SPEAKER_04 19:43

I'm thinking who is like what it's up to. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:50

I love the chorus though. It's just the vocals are so Yeah. Great. Yeah. I like this. Annie's well represented in here too. Number three and four were her favorites. Yeah. So she she was playing those on repeat. And again, I'm not a big Teddy Swim's huge super fan, but number two, I'm surprised as well.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

So you got the band Camino number two. I was not familiar with this Mumford song. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Is this not the new album? Newest album, the title track, the first song on the record. So and and to be fair, man, I didn't love the album and I love Mumford. I went and saw Mumford this year, and um I think they opened with this actually. We actually have a sample. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

If you're not familiar with it.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

Bloodshot dreams underscore.

Mixing Start Me Up Without A Trainwreck

SPEAKER_00 20:44

I mean, they always sound the same, which is great. I like it, I like it. Very formulaic. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Now we're just hits.

SPEAKER_01 20:58

And dude, the video, like, it gives me kills. They the whole video was just all these people sitting in a room. Yeah. Super fans, I guess. Okay. Like in a white, you know, studio, and they basically put headphones on them and let them hear the song for the first time. Wow. And it was their reactions. And Mumford had been gone for several years. Right. And every some people were crying. Some people were it was powerful, dude. I mean, it was people, you know, people were like, oh, they're like they're back. Like this is the sound that we wanted. Right. The album didn't hold up. And Morgan. Dude, this is, you know, what's funny about this, dude? Number one, I'm not a big country fan. I know people think that everybody in North Carolina is just a redneck and loves country, but I I don't know, man. Something about this album just kind of had me in a chokehold, and it's crazy long. I think he has like 30 songs on it. Wow. I don't even know that I've ever truly gotten to the end. But about the first 10 or 12 songs are probably the most, you know, and nobody, none of these guys write their own stuff. I mean, there's people that just sit in a room all day in Nashville and write these songs for these people, but God, man, they're just that good. They're that well written. You can we were talking about Nas last night and how he's just a master storyteller. Like, I feel like he's selling these songs. Totally. You know, he was on the voice too, right? Yeah. I've seen those clips. Crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

Oh, William Waller? Yeah. Like uh got cut. Anticipated? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Yeah, like a young, you know, a young version of him. Yeah. And uh, what's his name? Benson Boone. He was on there. Totally. Or one of those, I don't know, it's the voice, American Idol, whatever. Totally.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Anyway. Well, there's one more category. Okay. Um, so you didn't you didn't have one. You didn't have any. I didn't it didn't even show up. It didn't even give me that screen. Doesn't listen to one podcast, not even our own.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

And dude.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Meanwhile, uh, you know, I don't even listen to Joe Rogan that much, but his are so long that for when I'm doing long drives, I'll put one of his on. And so I think it's calculating minutes because there's no way I'm listening to maybe I probably listen to like two or three episodes of his the whole year. Right. But they're mad long. They're like four hours long. What? Well, I shouldn't say four hours.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

No, they're always saying it.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

They're like two, at least two. Okay. And then good hang. If you're not listening to You love that, I love it, dude. It's so good. I like game. Yeah. Um, and then of course I'm checking ours, you know?

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Bro, so I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

Should we do something for the people who tag us? Because in uh, I know we put it on our socials today, which this episode won't drop for a while, but uh is there I don't know, something we should do for those that tag us, maybe put them in some kind of wheel of names thing or yeah, let's do it. All right, so if you tag us, again, this is December 24th, so it may be too late.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Can you will in on December 24th, will you still be able to see your wrapped? I would think so. Okay, well, if you tag if you post this screen shot and tag beyond the DJ booth and Joe Bunn and DJ Brian be official, yeah, then we will put you in a wheel of names.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

We'll come up with some wheel of names and we'll give away something. I love that. Okay. So again, if you got if we ended up if we ended up in your top podcast, yes, we said this on a bonus episode, but I don't think we said this on this one, did we? No. Um, sorry, we've been matching already. Yeah, kind of lost. But it's hard to crack into the top three, top two, uh, and even top one is impossible. So the fact that if we made any of those numbers, thanks for listening. We appreciate a ton, and um, we don't take that lightly. We're we're very appreciative of it. How long have we been doing this, Brian? 15 months?

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Didn't we start in September last year? Yeah. So if we've cracked into your top three, top five, whatever, we are greatly uh appreciative of you. Seriously, man. Thanks for listening. I hope you get something out of it. I hope you laugh. I hope you learn something. I hope you get some music stuff. Anyway, thank y'all. All right, booth heads, we made a move and it's a bold one.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

We officially launched a Patreon. We've got two tiers: one for$5.99 and one for$19.99. Basically, the cost of a coffee or a cocktail, depending upon how you roll.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Listen, this isn't some support us or we disappear kind of thing. You actually get some things that are useful that we think that you're gonna need to run your DJ business.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Like early access to batched episodes, bonus episode that we couldn't post publicly, maybe, and our weekly top 10 banger lists, songs that absolutely crushed at our events this week. You know, the stuff that you really want to steal from us anyway. But if you want to go deeper, jump into the booth backroom at$19.99 a month.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

That's where the extra love lives. Monthly prize drawings like headphones, merch, coaching calls. We've got Serato exports of our history, discounts on exclusive merch, and record pool hookups.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Backroom members aren't just listening, they're actually shaping what this podcast is going to become and probably making your DJ sets better in the process.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

So stop texting us asking what remix was that and get in the booth for real.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Patreon.com forward slash beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. Choose a tier, grab your spot, and let's keep building. Booth heads, you know where to go. Let's move into the gear segment. Okay.

Spotify Wrapped: Minutes And Genres

SPEAKER_01 26:04

The gear's here. The gear is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here, is here. I often post videos from events, and sometimes I'm just literally can pan the room, right? Yeah. And you know, just go, hey, like last night, I was like, all right, holiday season or holiday party season begins. Just pan the room. Sometimes I'm very intentional. I might shoot something on the glasses or with the you know, little Osmo that we use. And I'm showing like the ceremony rig, and and and I'll always seem to glance over this. And this is probably the most asked about item in my videos that I don't ever really talk about. And it's so simple and so basic. It's made by a gator that makes stands and other things.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

My wife would deny it just on the name. Okay. She would. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

As a Florida State Seminole, she would shit on them. Is this a music stand? It's it is it goes on a tripod, and this is where we either set the lavalier mics, the iPad. We have two of them on one tripod. One of them is holding the receiver for the microphone. I love that. Yeah. I need to do that. And then the other one is holding the lavaliers until we give them to the officiant and the groom. Or sometimes it's just holding the iPad notes, the program for the wedding. But like this thing, and we'll we'll put uh my Amazon link uh under the video or whatever, or it'll be in my shopping cart or what do you call it? Amazon shopping cart. And that link is always on the YouTube video. But it's just made by Gator and it's basically just a tripod shelf stand. I love it. It just clamps right on and super heavy. I mean, I got we have multiples of these. This this item is asked about every time I don't mention it. So now I'm mentioning it to you guys here.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

And on let me guess the price. Damn it. Um, okay, go ahead. I'm gonna say Feel the quality first. Feel the quality. I was wondering if it was possible. Oh no, this is heavy. Yeah, it's heavy. This is good. You want it to be heavy. That's what I'm saying. Hold on. I'm gonna say$39.99. I think it should be$29.99, but I'm gonna say$39.99.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Okay, hold on. It can't be more than$50. Let's see. Stand by Gator Frameworks, microphone stand, 9x9 shelf,$26.99.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Okay. I was I was I was hoping it would be$29.99, so I'm close. Two-pack$49. You get a two-pack. A two-pack$49.2.99. So you get a little bit of savings. Yeah. Love it. It's amazing. Good shit.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Good shit.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Let's hit the question of the day.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Question of the day.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

Michael Copen.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

You want me to read it? Yeah, go ahead. I'm seeing more and more venues requesting that DJs sign an agreement in quotes when playing in their venue. It's almost always related to sound. Absolutely no subwoofers is the big one. Do you sign those agreements or do you explain that your contract is with the bride and groom and not the venue? That's from Mike Copen via Patreon. Shout out Mike Copen for being a member.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

You ever uh run of that here in Raleigh with some of the venues? Yes. Well, you we talked about the uh what's the place that we just had the Merriman win. Yeah. I mean, that's not subwoofer driven, but right.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

There is no agreement that I've had to sign, but it is implied that you're gonna follow the rules. Yeah. That you need to follow the rules and that there will be somebody roaming around the property at the property line, and you can't be over X decibels.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

Is there anyone that has an agreement that they've had you sign in the past?

SPEAKER_01 29:45

I don't want to say the name of the place, but I think so, and then we just banned it. Said you're not working there anymore. We did not verbally say that to them, but whenever somebody inquires through the website to that venue, Randy is instructed to say we are all sold out on that date. Yeah. So I it I mean, it and theirs is not so much, Brian, this agreement. I'm sure there is an agreement in place, right? But it is uh an installed sound system that I promise you, man, is do you know what a 70-volt system is? That's that's what they put in a restaurant. Like when you look up the ceiling and see those little Tweeters, that's what's in there. Wow. Like and and like I tried to stick like a wedge or a monitor or something under my DJ booth one time to subsidize it, got cussed out for that. Wow. It is so bad, dude. And people the whole time are yelling at you, turn it up, turn it up. There's nothing to turn up because you're playing you have to play through their sound system. Speakers in the top of this tent that are, I think, like 70 volt rated.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

And why do you think they've done that?

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Oh, the residential neighborhood. Ah, yeah. They're res and it's like, why did you open a place in the middle of a neighborhood?

SPEAKER_00 30:57

So if a new venue came online, they brought you this agreement that you've already been booked to play. They say, We need you to sign this. What are you doing? I need more data.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

I mean, like what am I signing? How loud can I play? You can't bring subs. I'm okay with not bringing subs, man. Uh honestly, man. I played 20 years of parties and weddings with two QSC K-12s. Yeah. And in fact, I told my guys at Merriman Wynn, I said, stop taking the Evolves, stop taking any of that stuff, take two 12s, take two ELX 200 EVs, take two QSC K-12s or 12.2s, just and put them on tripods, and it's more than enough for that room. You've heard how boomy it is. Right. We're playing to 125, 130 people. Just for just even something sub-related, just leave it out, man. Right. Leave it out.

SPEAKER_06 31:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:43

But if if somebody new came along and I wanted to play there, I need more data. Like, what are you asking me to sign? No subwoof woofers, I'll sign that all day. Right. But a a crazy, you know, hair dryer volume inside the building, you know, DB meter reading type shit. Where I've seen people lately posting stuff with a DB meter up on the wall in the venue. Have you seen that? No, I have not. That literally is like showing like if you're going over it. Yeah. I'm not, I'm not going to play there, man. I don't need that business. I don't need, I don't need that in this chapter of my career. And I certainly don't want to play at those kind of places.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Do you ever, if it's a venue you're not familiar with, ask the question if they have any of this kind of stuff? Or are you just assuming it?

SPEAKER_01 32:28

And I mean, that's the where that's where I get caught. That's a great question. Yeah, man. I mean, I think I would probably get caught out on that first one. Right. Because we're not asking that. So or, you know, one of our DJs plays there and comes back and sends into the group chat, hey guys, I was just at blah, blah, blah. And, you know, fair warning that they've got a music, I mean a noise problem.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

So I had one. This is, you know, I'm traveling around to do these events. Yeah, you are. So every venue, I'm not usually familiar with it unless it's in the Florida market. Right. You know, so there's one that I did maybe two or three years ago. I'll never forget uh Brock Barton came and shadowed me at this event. It was going to be in a parking garage. I remember in Miami. I remember that. Stunning video. Like if you look at the um what of it, the drone footage that came in. I mean, it they transformed.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

No, you were you were messaging me from there. It was incredible. And they chained together a bunch of like eight-inch speakers or something.

Top Songs, Bands, And Live Shows

SPEAKER_00 33:21

So the day I remember that the week of, they send a note to me, the planner does and said, Hey, listen, I just got this agreement from the the owner of this parking structure that um we can't be above such and such a thing. And the kicker for me was they had 200 people there. So, like, that's where it's the dilemma of like needing a subwoofer kind of kind of comes into it because it's not like to me that those people are gonna eat up that sub anyways. It's not gonna be as boomy as you think. Now, if you only had 50 people and you're bringing a sub and the room is boomy, then yeah, you're screwed. But I feel like it soaks it up when you have more people in there. And for 200 people, I was like, it's gonna sound tinny, you know, that's all I can tell you. So their solution was we're gonna hire uh because I wasn't bringing in the sound actually, it was a third party. So they had the sound company come in, and what their solution was to put a bunch of K8s all around the room. I'm talking almost probably 50 to 60 of these around the I'm not kidding. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, but I thought you meant like eight or ten. No, no, they're all because it's I mean it's a parking garage. This place is massive, like the floor is massive. So they have this all around, you know, linked together, all of these 80s or eights. So what happened was um I start playing. I'm like, dude, I I'm talking louder than the music is playing. No, and I'm like, this is fine for dinner, fine for a walk in, but when we get to dancing, can we go up at all? And he's like, This is the they had basically been instructed the the third party not to do it.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

So it wasn't necessarily no bass, it was there's a cabin of volume.

SPEAKER_00 34:56

Oh right, no, dude. So what was happening was we're on a parking garage which has no um walls, so you can just that was the thing, is it was it kind of can travel across, but we're hearing it from the other side way louder at some bar coming in to our event. And I'm like, wait, they can do it, but we can't? This is crazy. So if you look at that video, I still think I have it on my Instagram. There is zero footage of any dancing or any music because it was so terrible. Dude, that's and it made me look terrible. And I, of course, just like you were saying earlier, everybody's coming to you to tell you to turn up, and I'm like, you're handcuffed. You know, I can't do anything. That sucks, man. I hate that. That would be a place where I do it one time, yeah, never again. Right. They're on that band list for me.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

Yeah, absolutely, man.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

I probably wouldn't say I'm booked because in case what if they come back and they go, hey, we booked another venue and they really wanted you. Right, right. Yeah, right. But I'll just say, hey, that's just a place that um it makes it impossible to do my job.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Let me let me let me put one more tip out here. Here's the thing that you cannot do. And we we did this, and I'm sorry, we didn't. Randy made the mistake of doing this. And it was a learning thing, right? It was early on in his career? No, uh um, sorta. I mean, this was 10 plus years ago. I mean, yeah, but he was now I'm sitting here like second guessing myself if if it is wrong or right. You you decide, here we go, here's the scenario. Uh a couple comes in, right? And they this place that I just mentioned to you that with these shit speakers in the ceiling or in the top of a tent, right? They come in and go, uh uh, this was pre-pandemic when people used to come here and do their final meetings and they're and they come in and go, you know, we're so stoked. Um this was I uh I guess the initial console. We're so stoked. Randy goes to the presentation. Oh, listen, all we want to do is party. Uh you know, like uh we got guests from New York and right Europe and blah blah blah. Like we want to throw down, we heard you're the guy, you you know, we're ready to sign. And Randy was like, Yeah, that's not gonna happen there. Like he basically told them, like, this place has a severe noise restriction. You you there is no throw down banger, rager at this place. And they're like, What are you talking about? So they haven't been informed now, right? So they go back to the venue and they cancel their contract and it gets back to us immediately after the fact that we lost them that gig, or basically Randy did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

And it's not a place you want to be playing at anyway, but right?

SPEAKER_01 37:27

We don't, but did we do the right thing? Yeah, I think you did, man.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Because you could have you wouldn't have said nothing, you would have ruined their wedding. But not we wouldn't have ruined their wedding, but it would have been. But if you had the opportunity to say stop it. And I know it might be wrong for the venue, but maybe they just I don't know. That's not that's not their you know what I'm saying? That's not the couple's problem.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

I probably would have preempted it by letting the venue know, you know, and said, hey, listen, this couple that you is under contract with you, I just want you to let you know that they asked my opinion on your venue about playing. Before it got back before I got back to them, because they probably spun it a different way, you know. They're probably upset at the venue for not disclosing this.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

Absolutely, they were.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

They don't care if they're throwing you under the bus, you know, they're already signed with you. So I probably would have had that conversation with them ahead of time. I don't want that business, anyways, to be honest with you, from that venue.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

I don't either, but I'm just saying, like, and I didn't cuss Randy out. Obviously, he's been here for for he had been here for 10, 15 years, he's gonna be here till you know the day that both of us. Then you would have been But I was like, bro, that's it, it kind of makes us I got my ass chewed out by this lady. Right. I mean, like But I mean, what's she gonna what what was you're supposed to say?

SPEAKER_02 38:41

That's what I'm saying. Would you rather have that or would you rather go there, nobody says anything, and then take the party or they think we took the party or they think that you took the money grab because you just wanted the book.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

So now 10 years later, I have to go back to Randy and say I apologize for for for getting all that.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

I mean there's a way he probably could have handled it too, right? In the sense of like, I don't know how he told us.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

No, I like your thing. He's we should have headed it off. As soon as they walked out the door, message that lady and be like, hey, just listen.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Listen, we're trying to save you guys from getting a bad review. Right. You know what I mean? Like, we don't want you to be, and we don't think this is I mean, if you want to take it on, great, but they're expecting this to be a throwdown and we can't. Nah, right. You know?

SPEAKER_01 39:22

Yeah, I do know. So, anyways, well thanks, Mike. Long, long answer.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

I don't know if we ever look a little heated in there.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

This is a DJ nightmare. It really is, man. I hate that. I hate that shit. Anyway, thanks, Mike.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

All right, well, hey, we'll put a bow on this one and wrap it up.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Thanks everybody for listening. Shout out to DJ Event Planner, our sponsor, hopefully, the podcast, and hopefully going into the next year. It sounds like they will be. Hey, listen, if you guys want to sponsor, you know anybody else that wants to sponsor, we'd love to have you. And um, that's a wrap on this one. All right, everybody. We'll see you next week. Peace.

unknown 40:00

Oh.