Posted by: travlin'easy
How do YOU read an audience? - 08/05/06 07:47 AM
Last night I attended the wedding and reception of a cousin's daughter. It was held at an incredible location, one that has high ceilings, good acustics, excellent lighting--all of the ingredients of what should have been an outstanding event. Despite a tastefully prepared menue featuring all the foods we should not eat regularly (shrimp, crab, lobster, oysters, etc.) one of the key ingredients was obviously sub standard.
Instead of live music, which would have been preferable for the audience, a DJ was hired. During the wedding ceremony, which was conducted in an adjoining room, the DJ was bellied up to the bar. Then, when the ceremony ended, everyone went through the reception line, and eventually entered the main hall where the reception would be held. So far--so good.
When the wedding party lined up at the door for the traditional introduction, he put on a hip-hop tune, turned up the volume and began announcing the wedding party participants. His sound system consisted of a relatively inexpensive Peavey system that IMO was inadequate for the size of the venue, a room that measured approximately 200 X 150 feet. From what I could see he was using a pair of 8-inch speakers with small horns.
After the party was seated, a portable mic was handed to the Best Man at the opposite end of the venue from the DJ. After the traditional toast, the minister chimed in with a prayer, and the reception got underway.
The music quality ranged from poor to awful. The DJ fired up with songs that no one, not even the young bridal party, could dance to. The dancefloor remained pretty much empty most of the evening. The few times there were folks on the dancefloor was when Unchained Melody, and similar songs were played, which was a total of maybe three times during the ensuing 3 hour reception. The remainder of the night he played hip-hop, rap, and similar tunes, and as the evening progressed he cranked up the volume to the point where you had to nearly yell at the person sitting next to you if you wanted to ask them a question.
The bottom line here is this guy obviously could not read an audience. With the exception of the bridal party, most of the crowd ranged in age from 60 to 75 years of age, people that get up and dance. Had the DJ properly assessed the crowd he would have played music that would have triggered a positive response from folks in that age category.
In my situation, I traditionally perform music that was popular during a time when the audience was 18 to 35 years of age. This technique seems to work very well for me regardless of where I perform.
I'm sure there are other methods of reading the various audience and coming up with the best songs to fill the dancefloor--so lets hear them.
Cheers,
Gary
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Travlin' Easy
Instead of live music, which would have been preferable for the audience, a DJ was hired. During the wedding ceremony, which was conducted in an adjoining room, the DJ was bellied up to the bar. Then, when the ceremony ended, everyone went through the reception line, and eventually entered the main hall where the reception would be held. So far--so good.
When the wedding party lined up at the door for the traditional introduction, he put on a hip-hop tune, turned up the volume and began announcing the wedding party participants. His sound system consisted of a relatively inexpensive Peavey system that IMO was inadequate for the size of the venue, a room that measured approximately 200 X 150 feet. From what I could see he was using a pair of 8-inch speakers with small horns.
After the party was seated, a portable mic was handed to the Best Man at the opposite end of the venue from the DJ. After the traditional toast, the minister chimed in with a prayer, and the reception got underway.
The music quality ranged from poor to awful. The DJ fired up with songs that no one, not even the young bridal party, could dance to. The dancefloor remained pretty much empty most of the evening. The few times there were folks on the dancefloor was when Unchained Melody, and similar songs were played, which was a total of maybe three times during the ensuing 3 hour reception. The remainder of the night he played hip-hop, rap, and similar tunes, and as the evening progressed he cranked up the volume to the point where you had to nearly yell at the person sitting next to you if you wanted to ask them a question.
The bottom line here is this guy obviously could not read an audience. With the exception of the bridal party, most of the crowd ranged in age from 60 to 75 years of age, people that get up and dance. Had the DJ properly assessed the crowd he would have played music that would have triggered a positive response from folks in that age category.
In my situation, I traditionally perform music that was popular during a time when the audience was 18 to 35 years of age. This technique seems to work very well for me regardless of where I perform.
I'm sure there are other methods of reading the various audience and coming up with the best songs to fill the dancefloor--so lets hear them.
Cheers,
Gary
------------------
Travlin' Easy