There are many ways to do a Latin Party. You can have one at your house which is a lot of work.  You will have to prep your house with decorations and order chairs and have the food ready.  Or you can have one at a venue which can provide a space for you and have a food at the location already.  Why not have a Latin party at a Mexican restaurant. We had our party at the Green Onion in San Pedro.  They had a regular restaurant with a banquet room.

  I got there and the mariachi was playing. When they had a break then I started to set up the gear. It’s a beautiful thing when vendors work together to make it happen. Some folks can be difficult but this Mariachi was very accommodating. They had their instruments in the area I wanted to set up and told me it was ok.

  People were dancing with the mariachi so I wanted to keep the party going. I had the choice of old school music or Spanish music and of course I went Spanish. We went Spanish for a little bit then they wanted 70s party music. Bee Gees here we come! It is fabulous to go from Spanish to English party music. There is so much too choose from. You can do like 3 to 5 songs of one genre then jump around to get more engagement. Overall it was a fun night in San Pedro. People were about to talk on the mic and gave kind words to the birthday girl.

Why Booking Your Holiday DJ Early is Essential:

1.         High Demand in December: December is the busiest time of the year for DJs due to the holiday season.  It is by far my busiest month! By booking your DJ early, you increase your chances of securing your top choice before they’re fully booked. This early endeavor helps ensure that your preferred DJ is available for your event, avoiding the stress of last-minute searches and  anxiety.

2.         Avoiding Price Increases: As the holiday season approaches, demand for entertainment services increases, often leading to higher prices. Booking your DJ in advance can help you lock in a better rate and protect you from last-minute price increases.

3.         Customizing Your Event: An early booking provides more time to discuss and plan the specifics of your event with the DJ. This includes selecting the right music, going over special requests, and putting on any themes you have in mind. With plenty of time for preparation, the DJ can customize their performance to match your vision, ensuring a smooth and personalized experience for your guests.

4.         Reduced Stress and Better Planning: Securing your DJ early means one less thing to worry about as the event date approaches. It allows you to focus on other aspects of the party, knowing that entertainment is already handled.

5.         Pick  Black and White Affair to be your Holiday DJ!: We get holiday period!

  Had a party this past Saturday. It was 20 minutes away so I got there an hour early. Took all the  gear out and I was assigned a corner of the yard right next to the dance floor. You can put me anywhere as long as I have power and can see the dance floor.  It was mom’s birthday so the daughters gave thanks to mom. The night was full of Spanish music. In the beginning we do not want to put in the Spanish dance classics so early while everyone was eating. We went with the classic ranchera music. Lots of Vicente Hernandez during dinner time. Then we had to save the cumbia for the dance portion. We went cumbia after cumbia and that got everyone close. We were supposed to play till 11 but we were asked to stay an extra hour.

 Love doing Latin parties. For the most part we stick with the cumbias then we can throw in some salsa music then some salsa music but the main songs will be cumbias. Sometimes you can throw in some Latin house with some Pitbull and you would be safe.

 They were awesome host and they made sure I got to indulge in the tacos and Mexican food. Yes I do eat when invited but I finish it all in about 7 minutes. I have to make sure songs are playing. I do not believe in dead air.

 We played outside till midnight and we did not get a police warning. It was a great night with a lot of dancing.

Audio for Graduation in Gilroy and going to a Los Angeles Graduation (Bay Area Dj serving San Jose, Gilroy, and Morgan Hill) (Los Angeles Dj serving Hollywood, Glendale and Burbank)

 We love doing sound for graduations. We find out who our audience is and we prep the playlist. Of course we listen to the must plays and we do play them. Most often time we have free reign in what to play for the audience. Typically, we have an hour before the ceremony to set the mood. We have been doing a high school graduation in graduation for years. We did it before the pandemic then we took a few years off then it was back open for business. They have their function at Christmas Hill Park They have a built in stage so its an easy set up. The majority of the guests are Latinos. So we play Latino music. Most places try to stay safe and play English music. We are the opposite, since we want to create a memorable experience. We want to create a joyous experience for the celebration. We don’t want to play English music that the guests don’t typically listen to.

I was a guest at a nice venue in downtown Los Angeles. Just to rent the venue it runs about 20k. It is a really really nice venue where top musicians play. This was another graduation with 96 percent of the graduates being Latino. I was a guest and not the dj for this event. They played all English music and alternative music. I am pretty sure most of the folks have never heard the music before. The ceremony was a beautiful one but what was missing was music that moved the crowd before the ceremony and at the end. It is so important to have that for the audience. You have to really know the crowd. The crazy thing about the expensive venue was they were given the songs by us and they did not even play it. Expensive does not necessarily mean better in this case.

School Event: Senior Signing Day in Los Angeles (Los Angeles DJ serving Burbank, Hollywood, Brea, Universal City, Valley Village, Santa Clarita, and Glendale)

We need to celebrate students. One of the best ways to put shine on seniors is to acknowledge all those who are going to the next level. The next level can be work force, military, junior college, or university. Students got in their groups and administration announced students and their destination. Students came running through a banner so it had that sports feel to it underneath a formation of balloons. Parents were in the audience and they were excited to see their children at this function.

We did not need much for this function. We just set up two 12-inch self powered speakers hooked up to a Yamaha mixer. We had two microphones with one being a wireless and one being wired. Are two microphones over kill? No way. I like have a hard wired microphone for the fool proof way to ensure a good connection. Wireless microphones do the job but you never know with batteries running out or if the signal isn’t strong so a wired microphone is a must no matter what.

So what kind of music do you play at this function? Being that a high percentage of students are Latin, we went with some festive Latin music. Early I was playing for the parents since they were the first ones there then when the students showed up I made sure to play music that everyone knew. We never want to be too soft or too loud so volumes have to be adjusted on the mixer. Also its good to be next to the mixer to adjust each person who speaks since they speak at different levels.

  Playing for teens is our specialty. I just love the lists that they give me and then I can build a master teen list with all hits that I can bring to the teen event. There is nothing like playing for a sweet 16. I always love the energy the teens bring. I always get excited with the playlist that they bring to the table.  With teen parties you have to give them what they need. Rarely you play the whole song, but rather play a verse or two and then you mix the next song. It does change the energy of the room by playing the quick mix. I like to go with the sing along the last part of the night. I love playing songs everyone loves and sings a long to.

  They had a photo booth and a taco guy. Plus, they had some games for the party folks. They had a ping pong table and foosball. What stood out was the dessert area. It looked pretty and looked just as delicious. Gets you to think about the name sweet 16.

  What makes a good sweet 16? The music choices are important. When its eating time, the do can play songs that are more mellow then when it gets closer to the end of eating time you drive up the energy. No matter what you have to be toe tapping. Again it was a Saturday night so please book your dj early since most events are held on Saturdays.

  Now its easy to prep for a dj night. Well I cannot say too easy but we definitely have to carry less to events. We used to play at the clubs 3 nights a week. We would have the latest tracks on record and we had all the classics. We would bring 6 crates every time we did events. We would have the classic hip hop and the latest hip hop and the current pop and funk. We would always focus on the current music but we would always dive in the older stuff in the beginning of the night.  Why not play some 80s new wave then jump into some funk? 90’s hip hop was always a hit and then once the crowd started to show up then we would go with the current music.  Once it hit midnight, I would have to go with the midnight mix.  From 12 to 1 we would go hard with the biggest hits. That had to be the peak of the night.  Then from 1 to 130 we would tone it down a bit. I would always do a slow song   as the last song of the night.  There was one club that would always wants Journey at the end of the night.  No matter what that had to be the last song of the night. But I would like to do a r&b  song to end on. The greatness of vinyl is you can only play what you bring. Never have to download any track and you just say you   don’t have it on record.

Vinyl Djs are not as common as they were years ago! (Bay Area Dj serving San Jose, Morgan Hill, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and Gilroy)

With technology it has become very easy to become a dj. Djs do not need to carry milk crates of heavy records to an event. Now they can carry usb sticks or laptops with so much music. Newer djs never had the struggle of carrying 6 boxes of records upstairs to a venue and the worry of forgetting their needles!

Cost is a big difference. With digital djing, djs can get libraries of music by joining digital record pools. When djs in the late 90s and early 00s had to get music they had to go to stores to find tracks. Sometimes they would have to spend 50 to 300 dollars in one shopping trip.

The skills of mixing vinyl compared to mixing digitally is way different. Mixing digitally can be taught pretty quickly and you can use digital tracks that make it easy to mix and there are ways to automatically sync the beat so they are the same speed. With vinyl you have to mix by ear and it’s a more difficult skill to learn.

You can call random 20 djs to do a digital mixing and all of them could do it. But if you called the same 20 djs to do a vinyl set then maybe 1 out of the 20 may know someone who does it. It is not easy and most old school djs sold their collection. But a few still kept their collections and still want to share their love for vinyl with the world. Give Black and White Affair to do your vinyl event.