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.

  We need to set up at a field. No problem. We will have around 500 people. No problem. We need four speakers spread out in the field with power spread out also. No problem. Also we want music people can jive too. No problem.

 We had an honor roll celebration recently and I had to provide the sound. First and foremost,  I had to check the power sources to make sure they worked since it is a field. Made sure I ordered 4 50 foot extension cords and 50 foot speaker cables. Wanted to spread out the speakers to cover more ground and would not have to blast the volume so it would be too loud for those who are close to the speaker.

 I set up one wireless microphone with another on stand by with another wired microphone on backup. Parents had a full day of work and wanted to hear their child’s name loudly on the pa system.

 I made sure the playlist was as festive as can be. You need to know your audience.  The majority of the audience was latinos so we went with 90 percent latin music but I did include crossover music and some American classics. A lot of djs are afraid to play non American music because they want to be safe. But when you do play the cumbias or Mexican music people deeply appreciate it.

Outside events you have many factors to deal with but it has to be done by a professional sound guy to make sure it is done right. Contact Black and White Affair to make sure your graduation or outside event is done right.

 We had a great time playing in North Hollywood the other day. It was a surprise 80th birthday party.  It was such a surprise even I did not even know.  It was a dark street and the address was semi hidden and I typically can tell who is having a party on a street. I unloaded my gear and my start time was at 7 and I was there around 610 and I was asked that grandpa is close and I have to be ready soon. So I got everything set up and was playing 15 minutes before I was supposed to start. Anything to make the party go smoothly. We were stationed in the backyard and when grandpa came in he was greeted with Las Mananitas then Vicente Fernandez. The first hour we were playing Mexican oldies then an hour in we just mostly did cumbias the rest of the night. It was a catered party with a lot of desserts. The cake had a picture of the man of the hour. It was a festive group that liked to dance. All the requests they wanted I was able to find them on my computer or I had to stream them via the internet.

  It was a cold night but the dance floor was hot. It was my kind of party. They offered me cake like three different times. They were the perfect hosts. We had the music at a good volume and we did not get any complaints.

  Recently I received a call to do a Latin event over in Granada Hills. The client sent me a list and I was digging the vibe. It was a lot of reggaeton and some cumbia. Artist like Bad Bunny, and  Karol G filled up the list.  A really popular artist was Los Socios Del RitmoOther artists like Ozuna, J Balvin, Rauw Alejandro There were a few English songs and even went as diverse as some country songs by Morgan Wallan. What I noticed about Latin parties that they really and I mean really love the cumbias. You can not go wrong with the classics and get the party going.

Originally we are going to play at a house then they got a studio over in North ridge.  It was small venue in a retail area.  They had a bar and a table to have dinner and a small dance floor. It was quite an intimate space. You can easily have around 25 folks to have dinner there and then they can let loose on the dance floor. Once I got there they had a musician who was jamming on a guitar and singing covers everyone knew. I set up next to the guitar player and I was ready to go. I was going to play 15 minutes ahead of schedule but I was prepared to start anytime they needed me. They started to eat then I started to play more music to get the party vibe then they cut the cake then it was time to get down. 

Venue! This has to be the most important decision of prom. You have to make sure the venue an accommodate your guest count.

Theme and Decorations! Make sure the leadership team agree on the theme and how to decorate. A prom is made great by a great leadership collaboration. They have to decorate the venue or hire a company that will abide by they taste.

Entertainment! Gone are the days that schools hire bands. They go with djs since they can play all sorts of genres. It is always risky to hire a dj that never played for your school before. Make sure the dj played for you during homecoming and if you never had them play for you then ask the neighboring schools for recommendations. A lot of the same music is played in certain areas of the city so you want someone who knows the crowd. Why not add a photobooth to the mix!

Catering! Often times the venues can provide their own catering but as a class you should look at their menu and see if there are other 3rd party options. Also keep in mind not everyone can get everything. There are vegans and folks who cannot eat diary or bread. It is good to have alternative options.

Promotion! Offer a discount on early ticket sales and increase the ticket prices as it gets closer.

Safety Measures: You want to make sure kids are sober and ready to have a good time and you do not want to deal with drunk party goers so its good to have plenty of chaperones around.

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Spanish Bilingual djs who are proficient in English and Spanish music does not happen much. Usually one dj specializes in one type of music but it’s a rarity they can rock a party in two languages. Not everyone has the opportunity to be immersed in both languages and cultures. It is important for events like weddings and quinceneras.

People try to do both without doing it justice. I like to share a playlist with my prospective clients to see what kind of Spanish music I would play. I also share my English mixes I posted online so they can feel the energy and mixing style.

A lot of events that I do it seems like the Latin music is what drives people to dance. A good dj feeds the crowd what they want. I did an event recently where they wanted some English and some Spanish. I like to over prepare and I had a lot of Spanish songs in my playlist just in case. It seemed like people really wanted the Spanish music and we went hard with it and they even requested another hour.

Playing cumbias, merengues, reggaeton, and bachata music is a cheat code since they make people want to dance but its also good to have English classics in the back pocket in case the vibe wants to go there.

Bilingual djs should know their limitations and not bite off more than they can chew for the sake of the client and transparent communication is vital for the success of the event. Call Black and White Affair Djs for your Latin Bilingual Spanish dance party.

  We got a call a few weeks ago to do a company party. They wanted me to provide a song list and I shared one and they were good with it. On the list was a mix of all the genres and I was asked to have some Christmas songs. Also they wanted some Spanish music so that would not be a problem.

 I got there two hours early and it was plenty of time to unload the car then you have to park the car like a 5 min walk garage. I did get my ticket validated but it did not work so had to pay 39 dollars. La living! Never experienced that in the Bay.

 They had pro piano player getting down on the chords while they were having cocktails. While I waiting for the grand entrance I had Celebration ready to start up. We went straight party music for the start to set the mood. To help with the celebration we had Chris Kringle taking pictures with the guests. One of the best scenes of the night was santa getting down and luckily Mrs. Clause was not watching!

 How funny you can prep for a night but you need to go another direction. I prepped to play maybe 15 spanish songs but ended going for 90 percent of all the songs. Cumbias was what hit the hardest then salsa was second. At 11, I ended it a few minutes after the cut off time but the boss man told me to go an extra hour.

I got to be a part of a holiday event on a Sunday. They had a lot of local vendors selling a lot of Christmas items and plus also provided a pancake breakfast. I was here at 6:15 in the morning since the event started at 7. Since their typical Santa was not available to partake in the event they suggested a Santa Dj.  I do not own a Santa Suit but they provided a hat and coat. So I was a Santa DJ. I have   no issues wearing what the  lient wants. It is all about making the client happy. We were up on stage and we were able to hook up with the house system. There is a good benefit to that since we do not need to blare the music for the back to hear and the front folks would get the loudness since   they are close. I was able to have a good volume and the halls speakers reached the whole venue. Not all venues have house systems but its nice when it is actually connected.

  It is early Sunday Morning, so what do you play for a Christmas event? Of course we go with the Christmas Classics then you throw in some covers of the classics with todays stars. I would throw in some 90s 00s 10s pop but would always return to the Christmas music. It was a good event overall and they mentioned that typically they would just play an iPod but this was a way better experience.