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Wedding DJ Question
Went to a wedding over the weekend and DJ would play songs a sold 10bmp faster than their normal run rate. He made September essentially undanceable... Why the hell would you fuck with September?! Been wondering since then why he would do this besides just being bad. Make it easier for songs to flow together maybe? But he didn't do mixes so that can't be it. It was your standard one after the other song you get at weddings. Could it have to do with licensing? Maybe he pirated songs and they came with modified BPMs already? Wondering if you guys had any thoughts.
Comments
Well there are valid reasons to pitch adjust certain songs by a certain amount but it sounds like this DJ was just incompetent. Some slower songs could benefit with some extra speed to add energy or mix with other songs in the set but it shouldn't be every song and 10% is way too much. Keep in mind vinyl turntables typically went +/-8% and even then you would rarely max it. If he was doing it to every song its possible his player was set that way and he was too dumb to realize it. I doubt if it was a licensing issue, changing the speed probably isn't enough to fool a detection algorithm.
Maybe he’s used to DJing faster music. Not sure.
I have more of an issue with wedding DJs always playing the same standard songs. The DJ at my wedding, which I paid for, asked which songs my wife and I would like him to play, and then proceeded to play none of them. He just played the same old bog standard stuff. I would’ve loved him to play just one of our song choices, even at 10bpm faster than it should’ve been. It was the only downside to an otherwise perfect day.
Most wedding DJs are incompetent, as per my own experience. Most want to make it about them and not the couple or the gathering and it ends up a pretty cheesy mess (which may be your thing, if you're both feeling ironic). We had a friend DJ ours and worked out the possible song list beforehand (obviously more music than was really needed). Our friend had no experience, but very good taste - worked out great. The caterers said it was the best music that they had heard at a wedding ever.
Sorry to derail the topic. On topic: DJ may have been on speed.
haha I was commiserating too so no worries. I guess if you think people want to just rock and sway/ jump up and down and other white people style dancing this wouldn't bother most people. I like my disco/funk though, don't mess with a slow funk man's groove.
+1
Don't play "Me and Mrs Jones" at a wedding.
Bad idea; trust me!
I do a bunch of weddings every year. It's one of my main gigs. Luckily, I'm marketed as the polar opposite to the typical wedding DJ (more of a club DJ that also does weddings) so for every event I start fresh and build new playlists based on the vibe the couple asks for. I probably spend 5-8 hours a week researching and building custom playlists, so that I represent the couple's taste, not my own preferences.
It's a lot of work, but keeps it interesting. I've pretty much played any genre you can name a wedding: polka, dubstep, metal, indian, persian, j-pop, k-pop, chinese, latin, african, hood rap, haitian (in french), plus the whole history of american popular music from the 50's to today. I could go on and on. There's a huge market for couples that want a lot of attention paid to the music, not to mention doing more flashy mixing/scratching vs someone just hitting play and talking a lot on the mic. It doesn't come cheap though...
As far as 'september' goes, the original is around 125bpm, there's really no good reason to play the original at 135-140 unless the DJ is stuck at the tempo (trying to transition into more modern high energy dance music), or doesn't have any real point of reference (never heard the original at backyard cookout/family reunion), or doesn't dance themselves (watch out for those guys).
It could have been a edit/remix version that was already faster. This is the version I'd play because it's easier to mix in and out, has a bit more energy, and is more true to the original than other remixes I've heard.
Maybe he was afraid he'd lose the crowd if the tempo went down...