DJs + Sax Players: Amazing…or Absolute Chaos?

Chances are you’ve played a Mike D edit without even realizing it. We open the episode by giving flowers to one of the most influential remixers in the DJ world. His unexpected passing hit the community hard, and we share some stories about meeting him, why his edits became staples in DJ crates everywhere, and what made his “clean but still club-ready” sound so unique.

Then we jump into one of the fastest-growing trends in private events: live musicians performing with DJs - especially sax players at weddings. When it works, it’s electric. When it doesn’t…it can completely derail a dance floor.

We break down what actually makes the combo work, why the best players understand when not to play, and how to avoid the dreaded “Santana effect” of nonstop soloing over every song.

If you’re thinking about adding musicians to your events, we get into the nuts and bolts: building a dedicated crate, choosing songs that leave room for riffs, using stems to remove conflicting instruments, and setting cue points so you can extend hooks and keep the energy locked in.

We also talk about the business side — how we find and vet players, how we price the add-on, and why positioning it as a surprise “Easter egg” moment can elevate the entire night.

To close things out, we run through some of the current request charts and a few transitions and remixes we’re using right now for cocktail hour and dance sets.

If you’re a DJ who’s curious about adding live musicians to your events or wondering why it sometimes goes sideways, this episode is for you.

Subscribe, share it with a DJ friend, and if you want deeper cuts and bonus mixes, come hang with us on Patreon.

Transcript

Remembering Editor Mike D

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So this morning I uh woke up to a Facebook post and uh saw something that was pretty sad. One of uh the DJC's um talent that we had come into Atlanta. I wouldn't consider him a friend of mine, but uh from a personal standpoint, but we definitely became pretty close. Uh Mike D recently passed, literally this morning, as we're walking into batch recording this. And uh I thought it would be good to give him a little bit of flowers at this point. I've known Mike D as a remixer for years, never knew him personally. Me neither. And then a good friend of ours, Pinky, who I um had brought onto our DJ squad in Florida as a traveling DJ. Uh I don't know how they got together as far as just professionally. And uh she's like, hey, I think he would be a great fit for the DJ collective. And he does more than just perform, he's actually a teacher. I was like, You're kidding me. So she hooked us up with a phone call. I mean, I was kind of starstruck. Rarely do I get that way. Right, right, right. But he's so um kind of not in the mold of a DJ from the standpoint of social media, like out there, but his work is second to none, in my opinion, as far as his mixes and things like that. So I got on a phone call. The guy could not have been gracious more gracious, immediately jumped in and said that he would perform for us. So we had him do, I think it was a Monday night party with Scooter and all the all the guys on Monday night. And then he led one of our master classes sharing his little techniques of how he puts together edits and stuff for a whole group of about 12 to 15, and it was packed. It was one of the few ones that was completely sold out. Um, so I mean, this is super sad for the DJ community uh in general. I think where we've lost somebody who, in my opinion, you know, one of the better editors out there was picked up by major labels. Uh anything you kind of want to add?

SPEAKER_03 1:58

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's like one of those things where there's nobody like go right now. You're listening to this, watching this, uh, open your Serato, type in Mike D, and you're gonna have some something that you may not even know about. You're gonna have Mike D edits in your crates. They're just there. They were always there, I feel like from the beginning. Um I remember being at the Starling, the hotel we had the at the collective, and was introduced to him. I remember, I mean, back then, like me, you and Jason had such different roles and jobs. Like, that was your thing. Like, I'm gonna book the educators. Jason, bring the talent. I don't remember what I did, not much, but now I feel like the roles have reversed. Jan I does nothing. He's the new nothing man. But I remember uh getting there, you know, getting unpacked, whatever people are starting to show up. I think we're all hanging out in the hotel bar. Right. And Piggy was like, Hey, it's Mike. And I was like, Cool. I mean, I know 5,000 Mike's. Yeah, I was like, cool. And like we're going on through this conversation. He's kind of a quiet guy, almost. Like, and not egotistical or loud or butchery. And then finally, like, I'm 30 minutes into this conversation, and I go, Oh, wait, are you Mike D? Like the editor, Mike D. And he's like, Yeah, and I'm like, sorry, man, dude, I didn't even know you were coming. Like, I don't like I'm out of the game here. Like, and I'm like, dude, your stuff is legendary. Like, and I was kind of the same way, a little bit starstruck. I'm like, damn, dude, I've never met this guy. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it it's just, it's really um, it's sad, man. It's sad. I I we don't know. I mean, again, this we just saw this this morning. Two hours ago, Brian texted me and was like, I'm I think this is real, man. Like, multiple people are posting about it. Yeah. I it it looks like he passed into sleep, is what people are saying. I don't know the details of it, but um rest in peace to Mike D. I guess we'll we'll preview a few tracks to kind of honor him.

SPEAKER_02 3:59

Yeah. So I've I don't know. Uh what's the first one, Saquon? Do you just what is it? Okay, yeah, this is you. This is one of mine. So you uh we were uh trying to think through like what our favorite Mike D remixes are. You you mentioned this one, My Love. We don't play uh play a little sample of it.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

I hear him in mine. Yeah, yeah. If I wrote you a definite booty remix, I still play this and it's old. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:28

If I told you you love you to be a good one.

SPEAKER_03 4:30

You needed a double.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 4:32

Would you take me on the record?

SPEAKER_02 4:34

It's kind of breakbeat a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good one. Good shit. My uh I I've I picked two. Okay. The one that I was using, I would say up to last year almost exclusively, was the No Hands Mike D remix because it starts at 132 and then the beat drops, and so you don't really feel the double time once the verse comes in. The halftime at that point. Yeah. So you want to hit it? And it just mixes in so well from house. So you kind of feel like it's normal time at that point.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

He's really good with those kind of drums. Totally. It's the same kind of vibe as the other one.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

What I love about him is how clean his mixes are. Yeah. And they still like have just what the club needs or what a dance floor needs without being over the top with production and stays true to the original.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

Sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

My other one, which is kind of a secret weapon for me, I guess, is The Lover by Taylor Swift. Oh, yeah. You gotta play this like December for sure. Um, but if they're super fans of Taylor Swift, this one always goes over. The original's so slow, and this one is great. And when they hear that part, that piano, the girls know what it is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:13

Taylor. We can leave the Christmas last year. We gotta play it this summer.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:24

This is our place.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

It's just a great cleanway. Oh, yeah, I actually did. This is one of my favorite. Yeah, if I was listening, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

That's good shit. Anyway, rest in peace, Mike D. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Let's get into the episode what's up, guys, and welcome to Beyond the DJ Booth. I'm Joe Bunn. That's my co-host, Mr. Brian B. And we are the private event DJ podcast. Yeah. The preeminent. Yeah. Preeminent. Is that even a word? I don't know. Is that the right use of the word?

SPEAKER_02 7:19

I'm gonna go with it. I'm gonna go with I'm gonna hope you're right on that. Um, welcome back, guys. This is Batch Day.

SPEAKER_03 7:26

I feel like Saquon, was that the right use of the word? Have you ever noticed how he knows like the most random outfit? Yeah, totally. I don't know about that. The chupacabra was the craziest thing. Anyway.

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Uh we always like to start Batch Day. We like to start every episode off thanking some of our Patreon friends, which are in the back room. You get a little shout out. So let's thank some of these guys. Let's do it. Flip the slide, my man.

Welcome Back And Patreon Shoutouts

SPEAKER_03 7:55

Uh shout out. Oh, Dewan Jones, he works for me. Does he? Yeah. Out of Apex. Yeah, he's one of my DJs. Okay. Shout out to Juan.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

All right. Oh man, I'm gonna be probably murder this one here. Jimmy Rudin.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Yeah. Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 8:08

Or Rudon. Out of San Jose, California.

SPEAKER_03 8:10

And Donnie Malpat's back in business in Charlotte. Okay. Donnie Donnie told me he was retiring, and then he starts texting me the other day about lights and another DJ booth because he had one in the past. He must have sold it. Oh, wow. You can't ever get out of the DJ game, bro. Come on, Donnie. I've had so many- Damn it, Donnie. He's back.

SPEAKER_02 8:30

I got a DJ of mine that retires every few months, it feels like. And he sells everything. I'm like, bro, why do you keep doing this to yourself? And then he's like, I need a deal or whatever. I'm like, bro, keep the stuff.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

It here's the thing, man. You once you're a DJ, you're always a DJ because you don't forget it. Right? Yeah. And it's so easy now to go out and get whatever you missed in that year that you were off musically. Right. So that's right.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Well, other people you're other people don't forget. So they're gonna hit you up and you might be the DJ. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Yeah. It's just you you might as well just stay in it. Even if you don't want to do it much, hold on to your gear, hold on to a controller and a set of speakers, a good microphone, have a decent laptop at all times, and then you're just ready to be called into action like a damn Thundercat or something. Bro, you are in the analogies. What the fuck today? I don't even know what a Thundercat is.

SPEAKER_02 9:29

Anyway. Well, I thought we'd start today talking a little bit about uh kind of a trend I'm seeing, at least in my bookings, uh in Florida, which is uh interesting because it's a mid-level market. We're in the panhandle there. Um big markets, it's been a thing for a long time, as long as I can remember. But uh live musicians playing with the DJs.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Even here. You starting to get it now? Even old ass Raleigh's. You're finally turning. Again, everything's five, five to seven years behind New Jersey.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Right. So I thought it would be great to help the listeners as we're both trying to probably build a roster of some of these musicians, talking about kind of our strategies there. I did want to kind of set it up a little bit with a couple of things before we get into it. The first is that there was a uh New York Times article that came out in November, uh, which obviously New York Times gets reads by a lot of different people. Um, you want to hit the slide real quick? Where it was talking about saxophones taking over weddings. And uh Dan Quinn, our good buddy out of Dallas, Texas, shout out, Dan. Made a video based off of this, which it's a little two or three minutes, but it's worth having in here. So I wanted to use this before we start.

Why Live Musicians Are Trending

What Makes A Sax Player Great

SPEAKER_00 10:42

What's up, guys? DJ Dan Quinn here. Happy Friday. Uh, I've got to go on a little bit of a rant about this New York Times article about saxophone players taking over weddings. Uh, first of all, I think it's amazing that saxophonists are having a moment. If you look at the numbers and how the role will saxophone market has grown, it's just, it's, it's amazing. Um, and I've always said for the last few years, like it's a great time to be a Saxphone player. Uh, I've personally had Saxophonists at my weddings since early, uh, early 2020, January 2020 was the first time Marquise and I ever played together. I've since worked with several saxophone players, and uh, it's an amazing experience. Uh, I would actually have to pull the numbers, but I would bet that more than half of my weddings this year have had a saxophone player. So the article is spot on with that. Like it is, it is a thing, and we are having a moment. Um, however, there's a lot of things that the article misses on. Uh, I think it's important to note that all sax players are not created equal, right? Like you might have played saxophone in band in high school, and that's cool, and you can read music, or you might play in a 12-piece party band, and you've got your charts that you follow, and you know, uh, that's really cool. But there's a difference in the type of saxophone player that can headline a wedding with a DJ. And this is what I mean by headline, okay? You are not in the background just playing the melody of the song, okay? You are engaging, you are out on the dance floor, and you are adding to the music and not taking away from it. Now, Preston Bailey, very, very well known, big name in the industry. He actually calls out like a five to 10 minute rule he has because he says, look, any more than that, the sacks just gets annoying. That can totally happen, all right? And that's what very happen, that's what happens a lot with amateur and novice players who might be great players, um, but they're an amateur two playing with the DJ and two playing on the dance floor. Um, they create what I call the Santana effect. If you know that Santana album that he put out in the early 2000s, it had Smooth with Rob Thomas and it had like the song with Michelle Branch, and he had he had like he had all these different duos that he was doing. And and by duos, I mean these other people had songs, and Santana just played guitar nonstop, like throughout the entire album, and we're like, we get it, dude. You're a legend, but we can only tolerate guitar solos for so long. It's the same thing with a saxophone player, okay? So a good saxophone player, and this is where I would push back on Preston Bailey, is not just gonna be playing, you know, melody or harmonies the entire time. You don't have to play melody or harmony the entire time. You're just playing rhythm. Like you're out there like and you're just grooving with the guests, man, and you're a part of the party, and you're like the coolest cat in town, and you don't have to be the superstar the entire time. And that's what I love, man. That's why, that's why I like, you know, I'm gonna just shout out Marquise because he's the guy that, you know, most of you know me playing with uh for for long. He's the one I've done the most weddings with, and he is the best at this. Like, nobody does this better than Marquise. He gets out there, he's rocking the rhythm, you know, we drop into a slow dance, he sees somebody that doesn't have somebody to dance with, boom, sacks in one hand, twirling a guest around in the other. Like the engagement is incredible. But when there's a moment that I duck the volume because I know everybody's about to sing, you know what he does? He stops, boom, he backs off. He backs off, he lets the music breathe, he lets, he lets it happen, he lets the guests be the star of the show, not him. And that is what makes an incredible, incredible sax player. With that, you know, getting the right sax player like a year in advance for your wedding, like it's gonna cost some money. Like, they're not gonna give you a Saturday night a year in advance for a few hundred bucks, right? Like backing bands, horn players, and bands, like they make a few hundred bucks a night. A headliner, like, dude, you're looking at a few thousand dollars to be able to get this person blocked out for your wedding a year in advance, maybe to learn some special songs that you want to create some special moments.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Anyway, I thought that was a great segue to kind of start, yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah. Uh to start things off with. Yeah. Um are you like, do you have a bag of musicians that you're currently working with currently, and how did you go about trying to figure out which ones would pair nicely with a DJ? Is this just by guests or I'm sorry, clients kind of asking you um for specific musician types, or are you suggesting them? Or tell me a little bit about how your journey is.

Finding Musicians You Can Trust

SPEAKER_03 14:59

I mean, it's still very new to us, right? And here's the good news when you have 20 DJs, there are always going to be musicians in our group. So we have three pro musicians. Cody, I mean, has a band, he's got albums out, Stewart fan albums out, like in fact, taking a hiatus right now to go on tour. Like his band is actually kind of blowing up. And Matt, who is a drummer. So I mean, and it's played all over the world. I mean, literally Haiti, Africa, like plays world music, drums, jazz. I mean, like, he's just a these three guys are are what I would consider professional musicians, in addition to being DJs on the staff. So most of the people that we've used are recommendations from them. Got it. So then either myself or Randy usually interviews them. And then so far we haven't done but a couple, a handful. And it I think they were both sax gigs, not percussion. Okay. All the way through. Um cocktail through reception. I'm trying to think. One was that weekend where it snowed and most people canceled, but two people were like, we're going through with it, come hell or high water. And both of my DJs made it there. And I think it was. It was cocktail, it wasn't ceremony, cocktails. Right. And then, you know, during dancing uh went great. I mean, both of them went great.

SPEAKER_02 16:22

So you're not really looking at any kind of promo material ahead to assess this, you're just going off the recommendation from your guys. Yep. Exactly. And your experience so far has been good in the sense of like they to, I think Dan nailed this. Like, you can't just be in looking at music stands, reading charts. Like, you have to be able to almost do it by ear. Um, I mean, there's that's one way of doing it, is just having somebody who just kind of add libs, if you will. There's also the other type of fusion that has been big for a while. I think the the guys from Rock With You do it more with like um almost pre-programmed mini mix sets, if you will. So you're not doing anything like that. Everything's organic in the moment. Yeah, add libs.

SPEAKER_03 17:03

There's no there's no rehearsals, no people, you know, coming here or going to a warehouse or something practicing. It's it's pretty much organic.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Are you sending them any kind of playlist to listen to, like, hey, here's what they are requesting, be ready for these kinds of songs?

SPEAKER_03 17:17

I would do that. Yeah. I mean, I have two back to back, one of them being that gig you booked me on in Florida. Yeah. And the only reason I was comfortable with that, you were like, I played with this dude. Oh, yeah. He's and you were like, he's solid, but he doesn't speak English well. We're the only two things. And I'm like, okay, great. Have your translator app Spanish? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

I can get by. I can get by. Uh and then the other one, I'm basically flying Glenn Rinda here. Right. One, because he's my friend. Two, it was basically gonna be the first one I ever did. So I'm like, I need a ringer. Yeah, I need a ringer. I I feel like this dude is is gonna crush. Yeah. And he but but I'm more curious from a a standpoint of one, how you find him, are you rehearsing? And then secondly, I was watching a video this morning, maybe we could even add it to this, that Jeff posted, JSG.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 18:06

It was a real and it was an overhead shot of him playing, and then the sacks player out on the floor, and I was watching him, and he was doing a lot of STEM work. Right. Is that is that part of the show? Like, do I need to get comfortable? And and I I know STEMs well enough. I I mean dropping out parts and stuff, but are you on the flex 10, like dropping out the melody or the bass or the talk talk talk about the whole process for you guys, how you find people, but also if you don't mind from a selfish standpoint, talk about the technical mixing aspects.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Yeah. So you need a folder, and I'm happy to uh share some of the things. I started one, yeah. That you I I literally tag these songs, um, saxophone.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

Uh-huh.

Serato Crates Stems And Cue Prep

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Sex, I'm sorry, Sax DJ. I made a crate. It was called like Sax Man List or something. Yeah, sexy Saxman. I don't hate that. Anyway, um, you you basically need that crate and uh and of like and this gets refreshed once a year. So this isn't something. I mean, a lot of these songs you can kind of like uh a good one would be um uh what's that one? Um SaxOBeat. Yeah, it's a good one, right? Sax Obeat. Um but like I wouldn't I don't play that regularly. Maybe I should be, but like I use that when I have a sax player because they can kind of riff on top of it. Yeah. Uh and I'm not saying you should always use one that has a sax part already, but I'm actually going to great lengths to go to use some of these stem removers that actually takes out certain um pieces of the track. So instead of just the vocal or the the instrumental, it's extracting the sax line, like that instrument. Sometimes it gets it perfect, sometimes it doesn't. So it's not always going to be a true, true win-win. And I I can't remember the program I use, but it's online and it actually removes certain um instrumentation. That's really helpful because those are the parts that people remember. When you have a song that already has that sax piece in there, they already know it going into it. The problem is you don't want it in there because then if they're a little off, like they're not perfectly matched, it's gonna sound dooky, you know. So you gotta make sure to pull it out. Uh the second thing is when you are you want to have some of your choruses or the most memorable parts with some hot cues so that you could repeat a chorus for him just to go off for 32 measures or 32 beats, you know, and solo if it doesn't have it in there. You know what I mean? So I follow a lot of people on social media who are like, uh, I don't know if you've seen these clips where they go like uh a song that didn't need a saxophone. Oh, yeah, you know, those kinds of things. And I I watch those and I'm going, oh, that is a great track to use. Yeah, yeah. Where is he doing the solo at? I need to make sure to make an edit like that so that I have some of that stuff. You could completely do it on the fly, but the more prepared you are with that, and having a couple of, let's say, let's call it 20 tracks that you feel comfortable with that can kind of mix in almost all together, yeah, would be ideal. So like something in the 120 to 130 range is a good thing to have. Also, another one from like 90 to like 110.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

So do you have this is for the DJs. Do you have a crate that's like sax dance? And then sax cocktail.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Yeah.

unknown 21:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll be completely honest with you. I usually just freestyle it and just know enough songs that have those breaks in them, and I can kind of just do it. I don't have a folder for cocktail, to be honest with you. I do have a tag for dancing, but I don't for cocktail. I just kind of freestyle it. Um, however, oh go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

Is cocktail though, like cocktail ever just the sax guy roaming around playing the sacks? We have a guy who does that with tracks. We had a guy that was aura forming.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

I feel like it's kind of cheesy.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

We don't get a whole idea. He just had like a little little Bossa Nova. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, right. It wasn't great. He he had a weird aura about him. Did he?

SPEAKER_02 21:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

He's strange.

SPEAKER_02 21:59

So Talk to me about um how you're selling this versus what you're paying out. I don't need to know the number, but like are you do you know what you pay out before you sell it? How are you marketing out?

SPEAKER_03 22:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We we ask them, like we have a a sheet or something, Randy, and it's like, what do you need to get to commit to this show? Whatever, six months from now, seven months from now. And they'll say five hundred dollars or eight hundred dollars or whatever it is, and then we just add a couple hundred bucks on top of it. We're not making a lot of money on it. I'm not either. No.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 22:27

It's it's not a big money maker, it's just an add-on.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

And then talk to me a little bit about how you prepare for the event with this person. Are they on the call with the client? No. Are they um are you sending them like, hey, the day before, be here at this time, or is that going out even sooner? Tell me a little about the structure.

SPEAKER_03 22:44

Everything to do with it is going to basically fall back to Randy, who is basically, you know, the admin of the show. Right. And then the DJ. So, like, I have no problem with the DJ communicating with the guy and going, hey, here are the l here's the 40 songs that the bride gave me. Right. Like, right, you know, these are gonna come out tonight at some point if you want to have a listen to these over the next few weeks or whatever. Um so you kind of put some of the onus on Randy as the booker, and then some of it on the DJ as the secondary entertainer. Yeah. All right, booth heads, we made a move, and it's a bold one.

Pricing Add Ons And Show Workflow

SPEAKER_02 23:20

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SPEAKER_03 23:31

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SPEAKER_02 23:40

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SPEAKER_03 24:36

Booth heads, you know where to go. And again, man, I I think the most important thing that it's always going to come back to is it's gotta be the right person. A thousand percent. It's gotta be the let it breathe guy. I I I I'm with Dan. Like, I think it's cool to have the guy around, you know, and if he disappears for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, then comes back and just starts hitting the rips and stuff. I don't think there's like a five to ten minute, let's go all out Sax man show case. Right. It's just kind of part of the, you know, it's just an add-on. It's a little seasoning.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

A little seasoning. I tell clients all the time, like, this is an Easter egg moment for your your event. So you could introduce this Sax player right out during cocktail hour and set the tone, like, hey, this is a different reception than we've ever had. Right. Or let me play cocktail hour and do a I always refer to it as a Jan I because we did it, we saw it at his wedding. That's the first time I had ever seen it this way.

SPEAKER_06 25:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

Where he did a dinner feature with two different musicians different times throughout the night of that dinner portion.

SPEAKER_03 25:41

Yeah.

Building Surprise Moments With Musicians

SPEAKER_02 25:42

You know, uh they had a violinist, they had a what uh a sax player thing too. Yeah. Came out, did a performance to a song. Yeah. I'm like, that's a great Easter egg that people don't see coming because you've played all of cocktail hour, you've maybe played 20 minutes, let's call it, of dinner, and then out in the middle of the floor, he had a lot more theatrics because he had movers and you know all the different things to make it work. But I think it could still work that way. Sure. Or we don't bring them out until the dancing starts. Right. And again, they think they've seen everything up to that point. Yeah. And this Easter egg hits, and you've now, you know, allowed elevated another level. So I think there's different ways you can bring it in. You don't always have to do it the same way. And it gives clients a th uh a thought that you're the expert because you are giving them ideas of when to incorporate it. And sometimes that's honestly based on what their playlist looks like. Because if I see like it's a lot of like, you know, standard stuff, okay, maybe it does make sense to have them during cocktail hour. Uh, or if it's more like housey, kind of cool house stuff for cocktail hour, great, that might be a perfect time. But if it's more like, you know, I don't know, uh Jack Johnson, John Mayer-ish, I'm like, this doesn't really fit the sacks. Like, I think it's gonna almost hurt the songs more than it's gonna help.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

I think you're playing also a lot more cocktails live than we are. Ours is is autopilot nine out of five. Oh, okay, with a Spotify or whatever. Yeah, just because it's in a different part of the property. Got it. It's it's you know, some little lawn thing, or whatever. Right. Like I'm it's not something where we're gonna set up controller, move a whole nother set of things. It's it's just it's a it's a playlist, quite frankly. I mean nine out of ten for us.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah. So I've had ninety percent of them be with one single musician or two musicians where they basically uh switch off, like a violinist or a saxophonist. Uh we did one with Andrea Apollito, Dave, digital Dave, and I when we had uh Jason, uh Essential Jason, yeah, the sax player. We had Crystal, and I think we had one more. And that was my second time playing with multiple musicians at the same time. That can get messy too if you don't have people who have a little bit of uh professionalism to know when to kind of let the other person lead and pull back and things like that. But I have two events coming up where we have three musicians going with us the entire time. And so I'm actually considering making some mini mixes where I send this ahead of time, say, hey, learn these songs this way. I might I'm hopefully gonna mix them live. I'll hopefully make enough uh edits short enough where I can make it work. It's a little scary for me because I like to be in the moment. I gotta know that these songs are gonna work, you know? Right. But uh I want to have that ready so that it feels a little bit more fluid and it's not so random.

SPEAKER_03 28:23

And then it's like, and I I would like for you to be there an hour and a half early or something. Let's run it. Let's run these three.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

And the other thing that I'm gonna have to do and invest in is a touch mix.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 28:35

Because they all want their own monitor feed. When you only have one, it's a little bit easier.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

I got it, I got the uh the touch mix is out of production. You want the Allen and Heath CQ12T. Okay. Just bought it sitting in that closet right now. But didn't you say it was like you tried to figure it out? No, I never even got it out of the box. Okay. There is literally a button on it that says easy mode. Then so sold it to me. He's like, it actually is says easy mode on it.

SPEAKER_01 28:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

Because they each need to have their own mix. Yeah. It's it's uh Touch Mix is awesome, but it's 10 years old now. This is supposedly the new gold standard for those little digital mixers.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Yeah. So I think we'll be able on the next batch session, yes, have some real events that we'll be able to talk through like how this went, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:13

It should be close to the next batch session. Yeah. So those those are in May, mid-May. So maybe, maybe the sec the session after this.

Promo Footage And White Label Talent

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Yeah. I wanted to, I think the other thing that's really important that clients are asking me for as it relates to musicians is promo material. Having some stuff out there that will show what these people can do. Even if it's from your phone, which I have a couple that way. Um, I want to show you a couple that I have that have worked for me on the promo material. So you want to hit this clip? Obviously, I'm DJing. It's clearly a phone thing. It's also a highlight on my Instagram. But this is one where he's just on the stage. I don't even remember what song this is. But people are jumping, having a great time. Sweetie Chats Moppy. Sweetie Chats Moppy, that's right. Don't you worry, child. Yeah, I love that. Then I have another one where he's out on the dance floor. And look how engaging he is with this private grip. It doesn't matter the song. Is he playing through your mixer? Yeah. The other channel. Yep. The extra mic channel. But I mean, look, people are just going, hey, who is this guy? Um, his name is Natty. Natty. Okay. I can't remember his last name. He's out of LA. Right on. Um, and then the third thing I want to mention, if you want to get into this, our friends and New Jersey, uh, Tom and is it the EMG guys? Yeah. They have a service where they white label some of their musicians for you. And when I was living out there, I would ping them all the time, hey, I need a sax player. I need this. They have a roster, they're they're a unique setup in the sense that they have DJs and bands. Yeah. But they have so many musicians that sometimes are just sitting on the sidelines. They have to have a multiple people because sometimes people are going on tour to your point and all this stuff. So I'll say, Hey, I need a sax player. Um, and what they've done is they've actually made videos in their studio that are white labeled. They don't say their logo anywhere. Once you sign an agreement with them, they give you kind of um, you know, distributor pricing, if you will, kind of like in the match manufacturer world. And I wanted to show you a clip from uh how much more polished this looks than what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_03 31:23

Right, I've seen this.

SPEAKER_05 31:26

Exorbit.

SPEAKER_03 31:42

You get to see how cool the guy looks and how he's kind of vibing. Like this clip sells it all the time for me.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Because this guy's yeah, he's incredible. It's a modern song, yeah, people know it. It's a controlled environment, so the audio is pristine. Yep. So if you are looking to get in the game and you don't have any musicians that you know of or have a team that has musicians, reach out to some of the bands that are in the area that are like agency modeled where they have a lot of musicians and see if you can white label some of the guys that are sitting out on a Saturday night to get you started.

SPEAKER_03 32:26

I mean, even stuff like this for the guys that we have. I mean, there's no reason we couldn't put that painting back up on the wall, which by the way, Brian and I realize we left up the entire last five batches that we did. But put the painting back up on the wall, run them into that board that we're running these on. Yeah, you know, whatever they're playing, and play a track, you know, your phone off that, and get a decent camera, a vlog camera, and just make some here. Right. Because it's I mean, yeah, it's great to see the the footage from the event, but it's just like the the audio is not very clear. Right. It was shot on a phone. Right. It's obvious. Whereas that looks really good. Really clean. Yeah. Yeah. Smart. Hey DJs, are you still showing up to gigs with a flimsy facade or worse, a banquet table? It's time for an upgrade. Bungear DJ booths are built for serious, mobile DJs who care about presentation. Lightweight, durable, and designed for speed. Our aluminum booths look pro and set up in minutes. If you want compliments and referrals before you even drop your first track, head over to Bungear.com and level up your setup today.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

Let's move into Annie's playlist. All right. But currently it's the 12th of March, so we're a week um beforehand. So here was the top 50 that I saw as if you'll see on the screen here. One through five. Uh if you're not watching the screen and you're just listening, I mean American Girls, the new Harry Styles album. Love. Um, but I thought what we would do here is just talk through some songs and maybe mixes that we're playing of some of these top 50. Number three on the list has been crushing for me. This is Choosing Texas by Ella Langley.

SPEAKER_03 34:37

Never played it.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Never have?

SPEAKER_03 34:39

Nope. Never been asked for it.

Annie Playlist Top Requests Rundown

SPEAKER_02 34:40

Okay. I think it's gonna come in your way. Because it's it's like, I mean, it's three here and it's being requested on my list. The last couple of weddings I've done. So I thought I would share with you the mix that I'm using, which winky winky, there'll be some bonus content. I'll just leave Patreon.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

Patreon, Patreon page.

SPEAKER_02 34:55

Yeah, yeah. If you are uh backroom? Backroom member. There we go. Sorry, I'm terrible at that. So this is something I play during cocktail hour a lot. Okay. This is oh, and we're gonna need some headphones, probably. Sorry. This is choosing Texas with Fleetwood Max Dreams. Oh wow, and it works really well. You wanna play it? Say quiet.

SPEAKER_05 35:18

She's from Texas, I can tell by the way. He's two stepping round the room. And judging by the smile it's driven off.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

I usually play the original and then go into this. Because it's literally the original. It's not a remix of dreams, except for right here. Anyway, yeah. Great track. Let's people know that because there are some honorable mention mixes of uh choose in Texas. There's the D-Rock remix and the lavish live remixes that are more dancing. They're like 130 beats per minute. This is at about 112.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

Have you played it during a dance set?

SPEAKER_02 36:03

Yeah, works great. Yeah, good track to have. Okay. Number nine on this list is DTMF Bad Bunny. There's a great mix that I like to use. This is the Revis Levels VIP mix with the Vici. So I've played this in and levels gets matched with everything, right?

SPEAKER_03 36:26

Levels has been leveled out. You wanna hit it?

SPEAKER_02 36:35

So if you gotta play it late tonight, it's a good version. Because it's usually slower. I like it when the beat kicks in though. With it. Not yet. Yeah, it's though. Big drum build. 126 beats per minute. The original 118.

unknown 37:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Let me get this. You gotta be a Patreon member. Oh. Number 10 is Man I Need. Yeah. What mix are you using of this? I'm using yours with the promiscuous Nelly Fricado beat. I've been using a dance version. This is the Casey Berry and Marshall Simon review.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

I do have that one.

SPEAKER_02 37:22

I like this. It's really good. You want to hit it? Oh no, this I'm sorry. Let me back up. This I've played, yeah, that's my fault. Uh I like to play this one during cocktail hour. This is I have this too. This is the everybody uh rules the world. Yeah. Works great. With her vocal. With her vocal. I'll allow it. I mean, it's in key, which is very important on this song.

SPEAKER_04 37:53

Looks like we're making a lot of time.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

I can see how they get the eyes like what? Yeah. She's great. Oh, she goes. And this song still crushes, like people know it now. It's blown up through number one for a while. That's why it's easy to hear how it transitions. I mean it worked for love. Yeah, I like that. And then I think I have the dance version, or do I not? Okay, this is the dance version. Stays true to the original. It's important to use the hook first edit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 38:42

But I love it because it kinda has just subtle.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

But it has enough of a backbeat. So if you're in a dance set and you need this, this is a good version to have. Yeah, this ride. So that was the top 14. Let's go to the next slide here. What is that? Like 120? 120 something? Yeah, yeah, that's 120. Yep. Uh so let's see here. I just might you still using that? You still playing that? Yeah, I just play it straight ahead. Okay. I have a mix I've been using lately just to kind of mix it up a bit. It's the DJ uh Rob De Nero remix remix. Okay. I like it because it's the same tempo as the original 103. Yes. It's a little different. Just kind of spices it up. You want to hit it?

SPEAKER_04 39:32

You step to side with a five out of a nine. Just kind of grooves.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

It really doesn't move off this feat much. It's kind of this the whole way through. This number we can use this number of the dance seg. No, cocktail hour.

SPEAKER_05 39:47

Right.

SPEAKER_02 39:47

I wouldn't use it for a dance seg. Right. I've never really played it during dancing. Right.

SPEAKER_05 39:51

It would break my heart, break my heart, break my heart. If I find out you're going to be a good one.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

I love those. Anything in that 105, 107 mix is great for me to kind of, especially during cocktail hour.

SPEAKER_03 40:03

I don't think I've done enough shows to know if this is gonna be as big as I thought it would.

Cocktail Versus Dance Remix Strategy

SPEAKER_02 40:09

I can just tell you it's not. No, it's already fallen off. Dude, that's number 18. I mean, that song was what? I'm sorry, number eight. Yeah, it was number one for how many weeks? A lot of weeks. It's already like fallen off big time. Uh I thought what was interesting to see on this list is number 20. Mr. Bright Side? That's insane. 22. On the top 50? Yeah. Uh what mix do you use of this? Do you play the straight-ahead original? I absolutely don't bastardize this. No, the only one where I have used it, and it still goes to the original, is uh the and it's older now, it's the Chunky Dip 2018 remix. Because it allows me to play it in a main dance street uh dance set at 128. Okay. And then it goes into a drop-off of just the a cappella, which I've made a special edit of to go into the original. Okay. So here, l see what you think. It's not bastardized. But see, it's like in that 128. You come out of like, okay. I go right into it. Yeah. Now I'm gonna pause it here, and you're gonna hear it how it uh has the acapella. So listen to how it kind of comes back in. You can put anything else behind it. This is the end. No, it's the middle of the song.

SPEAKER_05 41:23

Oh the boys.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

So you can kind of go into with another beat or something else to get out of it. I like that.

SPEAKER_03 41:29

But you don't like to just let it ride to the biggest. Sometimes I do.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

Sometimes I do. So I've got two different versions. It depends on how I'm playing. Yeah, totally. You could do it that way. Or whatever it is. I've got two versions of that edit because sometimes I want them just to sing a cappella and then come back in with the chorus big and then end it with the ring out. Sometimes I'm mixing out because uh I don't have enough time, you know, and I gotta get through a bunch of different songs. So that's a good one there. Uh, what was uh where's ordinary? Uh 27. 27. So ordinary, uh what are you playing of that one?

SPEAKER_03 42:02

I can't remember the name of it. I sent it over to you.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

Oh, you did? Yeah, I must have not gotten it. That's right. Um I play the Bustin Timberlake.

SPEAKER_03 42:08

What's the name of it? Bustin Timberfake. Is that what it is? Yeah, Bustin.

SPEAKER_02 42:12

Timber fake?

SPEAKER_03 42:12

Yeah, Bustin Timberlake.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

The disco version. So here it is. Here's what this sounds like. Great for cocktail hour. Screwing.

unknown 42:22

I want your name.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Doesn't really move off of that kind of groove. Yeah, it's good. You had uh number 29. Say it. T T uh T T me preguntando.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

So you got the DJ now mixing up the DTMF with T T. Yeah. Uh P.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Yeah. You had a cool mix. The DJ O D just a little bit intro. Here it is. Woo! You've been using this one?

SPEAKER_03 43:03

Yeah, I think I did it. Yeah, played it on um at that uh Raven's Crop gala. I got a request for Bad Bunny.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

It's just the intro where it has just a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, that's the one I I tend to get a lot of hit this morning in there. Yeah. Let's hit the next uh slide here. So Fate of Ophelia, you had uh my mix. Yeah. My little segue mix from this to uh last Friday. Let's hear it. Could Brian be exclusive right there?

SPEAKER_03 43:41

Yes, it is.

SPEAKER_05 43:46

Might be supposed to be the sleep, the sky is stupid.

SPEAKER_06 43:52

Woohoo!

SPEAKER_02 43:56

Number thirty seven. Dreams is back on this list, and it could be. Must be TikTok, right? Gotta be. You had uh the Pete Down classic remix on here. Why do you like this one? Just it's it got a little beefier?

SPEAKER_03 44:08

Yeah, just a little bit beefier. I I mean I I don't like to mess with these uh I don't either usually songs too much.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

Let's hit it. Touch on the drones. So this is the one I use before I go into that one I showed you earlier.

SPEAKER_05 44:24

Um it was now.

SPEAKER_02 44:27

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The uh Ella Langley Chasing. Yeah, yeah. So I'll use that one first. But I also have a really dope, if they're uh kind of more progressive with their cocktail hour, a little bit more uh housey, I'll use this one. This is the Dylan Francis song, uh, which is called uh hold on a second. Um it's the Touch. It's a Fleetwood Mac versus Dylan Francis. This is at 112. I like this one a lot. They don't see it coming. I always get a great reaction when you play this. I have this. This is filthy. I love that track. Play this Club Killer's cut of this. It just grooves so good. That's a Dylan Francis track. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:16

Crazy production. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 45:19

Also, some honorable mention versions of Dreams is Patch Safari's remix and the Gigamesh are also gigames.

SPEAKER_03 45:25

Oh, I have the Gigamesh. Gigamesh goes crazy.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

Yeah. Uh where's my husband? Is number 40 on this top 50 list? Have you played anything yet?

SPEAKER_03 45:34

No. I I would just play it straight ahead. I I still I don't I don't like the the drums or something. It it doesn't seem like a dance song to me. Again, it I feel like it's gonna come back to uh bouquet or you know, uh the introduction, grand introduction. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 45:50

I put it in a routine with promiscuous. Okay, and here's this version of it. This is the Patrick uh who is it, Patrick Zern edit edit? Uh-huh. I help me, help me, help me, no, I need you to tell me. I just play chorus and I'm out. Yeah, I need you. And then I go into something else right there. Slam at it. Slam into whatever uh whatever you had with promiscuous. Yeah. You know? So you can kinda hit yeah, so you can kind of hit like two in a row. Yeah. Promiscuous. Really good. Uh, you had the last two are yours here, so this is uh Iris is on this list. Where is that? Uh 45. No, 41. 41. Yeah. So you got the Zillionaire remix. Oh, yeah, he's great. This is a good one. You but you use it in during dance sets? You asked me for some uh Goo Goo dolls a while back. No, I'll ask you for Creed. Oh, for Creed, okay.

SPEAKER_03 46:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:52

Well, here's Iris. This is the Zillionaire. I think I'm gonna try and look him up when I get all the credit. Should I think he's in Perth though? Because I know that should be tell me something.

SPEAKER_05 47:04

You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

I like it because it doesn't go crazy like it still stays through the original. It's tasteful. I've been getting this on request list, man. Iris has been coming on my list. But you say you play it during dinner a lot. A lot. I'm just going nuts. Especially this part right here. But I like this. It's kind of cool. And the last one I uh wanted to preview was number 49 of 50 on the list, 12 to 12 by Somber. You're not playing it at a gig currently.

SPEAKER_03 47:41

No, but I would play this like Doors Open or Copy's.

SPEAKER_02 47:44

I was gonna say, too, if you are ever in need of a grand entrance song, the instrumental. Do it with stems. Yeah. Yeah. Because then you're not stepping on the words. Yeah. Here's a little sample of the X-Mix version that you gave me. Ladies and gentlemen, for the second time as of the live. You know, second time. Yeah, they already announced about the ceremony, right? Mr. Joe and Saquon Bun. What? You know what I mean?

Late List Picks And Crowd Notes

SPEAKER_03 48:14

I mean, it's a great track. Somebody's crushing right now. He is, but he's such a fucking goober, man. I've never seen a more awkward, skinny, non-cool white dude. And it breaks my heart because I love his song. Yeah. God, he is a fucking terrible performer, man. Somebody's got to work with him. Something's wrong with you. Never seen him? I'm gonna pull a clip. His songs are dope, but dude, what the f it's crazy. He's so awkward, man. I've never seen anybody so awkward. So, guys, if you want to possibly uh maybe perhaps uh get some of those tracks, you might want to look at the Patreon, patreon.com slash beyond the DJ Booth Podcast. Choose the back room membership. As always, thank you guys for watching and listening wherever you uh view this or listen. We appreciate you guys, and shout out to our sponsor, DJ Event Planner, DJEventplanner.com for the CRM that Brian and myself both use to run our businesses.

SPEAKER_02 49:13

What a way to end season six. This is the last episode of season six. That's why I guess we made it a little longer.

SPEAKER_03 49:19

A little longer. Some people wanted that. Some people like it, some people don't. It's hard to please them all. It is hard to please them. We'll see you next podcast, people. That's right. Join the Patreon.

SPEAKER_02 49:30

Oh, thanks, guys. See you next season.