Technology and the modern wedding Dj
My job as a professional wedding Dj has altered dramatically over the years thanks to modern technology.
When I first started to be a wedding Dj back in 1976 in Aberfeldy I used Vinyl. Over the years that became CD then a laptop. Technology didn’t stop there and I now use solid state hard drives for reliability, both inside my laptop and my external hard drives where I store my music.
Solid state drives load songs significantly faster as the read and write speeds are incredibly fast. My laptop used to take around 2-3 minutes to boot up from Scratch. Now it takes 15-20 seconds! Great for when your a Dj and need songs to load quickly.
The key benefit of solid state drives to me as a wedding Dj is that they have no moving parts. They are more durable and portable and as the title suggests, a mobile Dj needs equipment that’s designed to be portable. They are technically much more reliable than spinning magnetic drives which will eventually become obsolete. They are also smaller and use less power and lighter. Wedding Djs like to lift as little weight as possible.
The other huge advance in computer technology is the actual connections. My first laptop had USB2, my current one has USB 3 and the laptop I’m going to buy has the latest USB C type connections. The latest connections are again much faster in transferring data. My current wedding disco setup has fantastic ultra modern disco equipment.
As a wedding Dj who also offers a video disco option I need a fast processor in my laptop, a good video card, lots of RAM and the latest solid state drives and the latest USB C connections.
I currently use an Apple MacBook Pro which I believe is the best product on the market. One thing that’s amazingly useful is the light up keyboard which is great in dark wedding and party venues. I think this must have been designed for a wedding Dj!
Every wedding or party I do I have my trusty iPad connected to my mixer. This means if ever my main Dj laptop froze or crashed I could continue playing music and you’d never even notice that I’d switched! I like to cover all my bases.
A couple of years ago I bought an amazing Native Instruments Z2 controller/mixer. This means I can press play on the mixer and my laptop starts automatically. I can also select songs and do lots of other things on my laptop but use my Z2 to make it happen. Dj technology continues to change the mobile disco industry.
The modern wedding and party Dj has a huge range of equipment to choose from. I’ve always believed in buying the best. Reliability and sound quality are essential to me!
After my laptop and mixer it’s a direct connection to my active speakers. I decided on Yamaha’s DSR series speakers after listening to them during a side by side comparison. They sounded great and the deciding factor was the seven year warranty.
As a professional wedding Dj who often drives several hours to a gig the one thing I can’t have is a breakdown. Reliable top of the range equipment is essential for me.
For extra peace of mind I carry a complete spare set of disco equipment on the sound side. Everything from a spare laptop, 3 IPads and 5 iPhones and triplicate copies of every cable I use.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.
Modern technology has dramatically improved reliability in disco equipment, especially if you buy only top of the range mobile disco equipment like mine.
The other massive change in the mobile disco market has been the change to LED lamps. No more changing bulbs at every gig before you start to Dj.
Every time I switch my mobile disco lights on they work. The same with my mobile disco’s sound system and laptop.
Mobile disco lighting has become much more effective and dramatic and the choice is huge. Before I buy any piece of mobile disco lighting, I go and see it in action. A demonstration of lighting is essential. I need to see what it can do, how it can be controlled etc.
At wedding discos you have people of varying ages and this means having top quality lighting controllers, so your lighting can be adjusted so it’s not blinding. As a professional wedding Dj I like my lighting to be effective and controllable and also comfortable for all my guests.
I can change the colours of my disco lighting to suit the brides wedding colours. It’s another job that a wedding Dj has to do. Asking a bride about her wedding colours is something I do at wedding planning meetings.
I can also project the bride and groom’s names onto the roof using either a projector or a laser. As a wedding Dj I offer lots of other services including photo booths, magic mirrors and Led dance floors amongst others. You can see all my optional extras here:
https://platinum-discos.co.uk/extras
Wedding Djs benefit hugely from modern technology if you keep up with it!
Platinum Discos use top of the range disco equipment to guarantee your wedding goes to plan. As a wedding Dj who really cares about quality I only buy the best!
Its one of the reasons that I charge more than most Djs.
If you agree with what I’ve written and you’d like to hire a really dedicated professional wedding Dj for your wedding then I’m your Dj.
Please contact me through my website contact page.
I’m a great believer in backing up what I say with proof. So please visit my Facebook page and read my reviews:
https://facebook.com/PlatinumDiscos2018
My website has even more reviews:
https://platinum-discos.co.uk/reviews
My You Tube channel is packed with videos of events where I’ve personally been the wedding Dj or party Dj. You will see lots of amazing lighting and people having a great time.
Here is an example of my Silver mobile disco package. I also do a Gold disco package that has a bigger sound system and even more lighting.
