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Forum: General Discussion

Topic: Taking Requests - Page: 1

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Every DJ should take requests in my opinion. Just like being social and interacting with people, it's all part of the gig!

In the winter months I work a bar/club that has a booth with a half door for people to make requests at. Some nights it becomes very over-whelming and I find it hard to mix because of the sheer volume of people knocking down my door (and have even missed cue points at times). Some nights I use the auto-play feature when I see it coming, and go back to mixing when the surge of requests die off.

I'm interested in hearing from the rest of the community on your current situations and how you handle requests.

Thanx in advance

http://facebook.com/acefromspace
 
geposted Sun 28 Nov 10 @ 11:23 pm
Why would you want to take many rquest when you say that you have a hard time mixing ? You play what you know for a fact that will please the majority and keep it going. Switch up the music with new or old hits and it will be rare that someone will come over to you and ask for a request. I hardly get request because i do my best to bring the best in the crowd. I dont play the songs long and i keep changing it up.
 
It's a genre thing mainly. I play alot of crowd pleasers, that's a given. The crowd can be very diverse, it's not uncommon to play house, rock, country, soca, reggae, hip hop, R&B, top 40... you name it, they want it! This also helps to rotate the dance floor. It's a very unique situation.
 
I have a partner cause we tagteam the tables all night so who ever isnt on the tables keeps the crowd at bay. Plus we are kinda known as the guys who "Dont Take Request", lol!!

Huey
 
"Do I come to your job and tell you that you are making the fries wrong?"


My job its to play music and keep you happy and make the club money by cycling the floor. I take requests ON OCCASION, but not alot.

Just my .02 cents.








Michael
 
If I'm mixing, I hold up a finger (not that one), acknowledge they are there and ask them to wait, after all a mix doesn't take that long and most punters realise that you are working!!!

Worse case they get impatient and walk away, only to come back later...

However it's cool when they are waiting, then realise the track they wanted is the one you're mixing in to. Keeps them happy and also proves that you can do the job properly ;-)

Cheers,

Roy
 
I think every DJ should take requests. Its part of the job and sometimes helps.

Requests are a real problem for most gigs I do. I mainly do weddings and its hard to please everyone with the different range of ages. I hate the people who request a songs then say "can you play it next? yeah next? are you playing it next?". Makes me intentionally not want to play it.
The other group of people I hate is when they request the song and tell you about how much everyone is waiting for that particular song and the song is so crap. The next group of people I hate are the ones who want you to repeat songs that you have already played. I personally don't like to repeat songs as I think it shows a lack musical knowledge if you doing that.

There's no real solution without being rude or upfront so sometimes I pretend that I'm busy transitioning my next song very slowly until they can't be bothered and leave.

Like Huey said...having a wingman/partner who screens the requests coming directly to you is always good.

When I was subcontracting for one dj company they had request cards which I would leave a couple on each of the dinner tables. That actually worked well because there was no harrassment and I could pick and choose from the requests which I thought would work well with my sets.

I've been thinking about leaving a request sheet on the side for people to write requests and just point them to it when they come over. Also I would put at the top of the sheet. "Note the DJ is not a jukebox, he will try his best to add your song to his set at the appropriate time"

My 5 cents lol
 
Caliente123 wrote :
Why would you want to take many rquest when you say that you have a hard time mixing ?.


Um, because the customer is always right. Um, because the boss is paying me to make people happy, Um, because its rude not to....should I go on? You don't have to blend every song every time. Its more about playing the right song at the right time.
 
There are many DJ's on here, mobile, club, bar etc Sorry to point out the obvious

Also county/region, it's all relevant and it down to the DJ to determin what to do on the night.

I take requests at wedding because that's what you do, but then some of my gigs require me to provide the playlist and to mix it at a top standard, thats why they book me.

Can't say all DJ's should take requests that rediculous, if the crowd are pumped and you keep getting rebooked then thats that.

I have to say that taking requests all night is extreamly difficult as they can be so diverse and it takes away your control to an extent, if you have no idea what to play because you a new DJ then it's great. You tend to find that they are the hardest gigs and that there not as good as if you were left to your own divice half the time.

I'm stepping away from it as much as possibe nowadays and take the lead more so.

You will find a lot of dummys out there that can't put a set together, all they can do is take requests, these DJ's tend to be the lowest paid.
 
hello, I guess I'm one of those low paid dummy DJ's that has had a gig every weekend for the last 10 years! yes i do throw a pad and pen out for people to write requests on but I don't make a announcement or anything. If I see people writing down songs maybe I might need to make a adjustment if I see fit. The ones that don't fit I don't play.
 
I'm a house-DJ and I organize events where only house music is played - something that is clearly expressed in all the related marketing materials. Still, every now and then you get the few odd numbnuts who don't get the picture.

If a customer comes to a house events, request a house track which I happen to have, I might play it. But if a customer comes to a house event and starts asking for hiphop, radio pop and whatnot, I have no problem telling them to go frak themselves.
 
GadgetMan wrote :
If I'm mixing, I hold up a finger (not that one), acknowledge they are there and ask them to wait, after all a mix doesn't take that long and most punters realise that you are working!!!

Worse case they get impatient and walk away, only to come back later...

However it's cool when they are waiting, then realise the track they wanted is the one you're mixing in to. Keeps them happy and also proves that you can do the job properly ;-)

Cheers,

Roy


i do exactly that with the finger (and sometimes the other one but only if i know them) and most of them wait the few seconds i need to mix through.

then there's the flip side of this thread that kinda sucks - management has decreed that we take ALL requests and "make the customer happy". doesnt do me or the club much good if the song sucks and i have an empty dancefloor or people (including management) coming up to complain about the song.

don't get me wrong on this - i actually like getting requests. it gives you that interaction with the customers to let you know what they are thinking. "Reading the Crowd" doesn't just involve staring out over your mixer to see if anyone is dancing.
 
i enjoy talking to the crowd

i take lotsa requests

i don't play the crappy ones of course

i blame it on i ran outta time, couldn't get to 'em all
 
I thought I would input my thoughts on taking requests. I have books that I leave on the tables so that my guests can request music. In the past I use to get what have you got? can I please look at your cd's? etc etc. So now they can see what I have. I also supply slips and pens so they can write down any requests that they have. After all I am getting paid to please my guests although some of the requests have a lot to be desired.
 
I had a guy one night (packed house and floor) come up and ask me to play Like a G6 and give his buddy the mic, he said he was the best rapper ever!! I just smiled and told him it was not going to happen. He begged and pleaded with me. I told him even if he paid me it was not going to happen, then of course he tried to give me $20 to do it. I told him make it $100 and it still would not happen...some people.


During one of my first gigs on my own as a DJ, a young girl, maybe 11 at a private adult party asked me if I would play 50 Cents Pimp. I thought about the song for a second and told her no that I could not play it. Well she kept on me and kept on me so I said go and bring your mother to me and let me talk to her. She quickly ran and brought her mother back to me. I explained to her mother that the song had MFer this and MFer that in it and that I did not have a clean version of it. Well mom said it's ok go ahead and play it. So two song later I did. This was also a karaoke gig, and about half way in to the song and a few MFers later. A very large 300lb dad comes and grabs the mic and starts yelling at me telling me he does not like the song and (I can see why) telling me to turn it off etc etc. I quickly changed songs. The crowd not too happy with me the rest of the night and the mom that gave me the "OK" was nowhere to be found the rest of the night. A valuable lesson was learned the hard way that night.
 
what's wrong with a li'l m#therf^ckin swearin' , b!tch ?
 
Ok, everyones entitled to their opinion, and I like seeing the feedback, always something to gain from it. But I honestly hate requests, especially in a bar environment where everyone's sloppy drunk. And not that I'm great at mixing, but I try, and once I'm on a roll whether it be 120 BPM, or 130, I don't want to lose that energy because someone wants to hear Piano Man or Big Green Tractor.
And how the hell drunk people KNOW when you haven't played their request is amazing to me...they will go in and out smoking, and still know their crappy song hasn't been played.
Kids at a social function should be ignored, the songs they request are usually crap and contain language unsuitable for any event, and will only result in embarrassing the DJ.
I'm going to try the clipboard idea, write your request down and if I get to, I get to it... if not, oh well, I'm not a human jukebox.
 
I believe if you know the crowd, people shouldn't have to request anything. Don't ge tme wrong, this isnt always the case for me but you know its a good night when someone walks up and says "I was about to request this song, then I realized you started playing it" or "I normally request songs, but your playing everything I want to hear".

If I do ever get hammered with requests, I point to the tip jar.

-David
 
I try to play as many request as possible specialy early in an event but I always look at request as suggestions.
 
I take request Yes.. But, i hardly get them. The last gig i had, Someone asked me if i had the song " Shots Shots" That was the only request of the night. When you have so many people coming up to you and asking for many request, You have to ask yourself a question ? Am i playing the right songs ?

 
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