Latest / The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast / Episode 34 Why Simplicity, Flow, And Energy Win Weddings: Nittany Entertainment

Transcript

Episode 34 Why Simplicity, Flow, And Energy Win Weddings: Nittany Entertainment · The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to The Preferred List, a podcast about the people behind the best wedding days.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm James, a wedding filmmaker.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: I've spent years in the industry working alongside incredible vendors, and this show is all about real conversations with the ones who make it happen.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're a vendor or a couple, you'll get honest insight, good stories, and maybe a little inspiration along the way.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Let's meet today's wedding vendor.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hey Eric, how's it going?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Hey James, how are you doing?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad to have you on.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Eric is gonna be a wealth of knowledge, I'm sure, and he's got so much going on underneath his business, Nittany Entertainment.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm so excited to dive in.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: But before we do, uh, we are here at Harmony Forge Inn.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Harmony Forge Inn is nestled into the rolling hills of Belfont.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just 15 minutes away from Penn State, and it features a historic house built in 1795, a newly remodeled creekside lodge, and a rustic barn with some modern touches.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And the people here, it's great people here, uh the space, like you said, when you're rolling in, it's under new ownership, and they've just really taken uh the space and elevated it.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And from what I've heard from them, they are always having new projects and elevating the space around here, which is super exciting for the kind of state college area.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a beautiful space.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so uh, Eric, you own a business called Nitney Entertainment.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: From what I knew, it was mostly just DJ stuff, but you're telling me that there's a ton more that goes into what your business offers.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'd love to know if you could like just take me back to like where all of this started as a DJ, um, starting your business, even like branching out to like you have multiple DJs that work under your company, but just give me a little insight on where everything started.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I don't want to bore your listeners, but uh yeah, that it could go on for a a long a whole podcast in itself about the history of Nittany Entertainment.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: But um anyway, I started uh DJing in high school uh when I was 15.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: My my dad actually uh drove me to my first event because I was only 15.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: I did a uh it was um middle school Halloween dance, and I didn't know what I was doing.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: I just threw those volume levels up the whole way, and at the end of the night, the kids were like, Man, my ears hurt.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, so definitely uh you got to start somewhere, right?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but then uh came to uh Penn State, and um when I got to Penn State, I just I came for a communications degree, um, but I wanted to be more in radio and like the business side of radio.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't really think I was gonna continue the the whole DJ thing.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh but when I got up here, uh just like the first week I was here, I went to a fraternity party as a lot of uh freshmen do.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: And um I met social chairs at these fraternities and and they're like, Well, what do you do for entertainment?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: I was asking them, and they're they're like, Well, we usually have bands.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Oh, okay, well, you know, I DJ, and they're like, Really?
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, yeah.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Well, could you DJ here?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Well, let me call my mom.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I called her and I said, Hey, can you bring my equipment up to my dorm?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_02: I lived in a small half dorm and it shared with another person.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's my roommate was all into it.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, Oh my god, like we're gonna have the sickest like small dorm in all of West Halls at Penn State, which is really tiny if anybody's ever lived there.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so we brought all the equipment up.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't have a vehicle or anything, but I I got really friendly with uh one uh kid in a fraternity, and he had this huge old van.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: And he's like, anytime you need it, he's like, I'll help you get that equipment.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: So he would drive over and and we would get this equipment and put it in the van and go to some fraternity house.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then by sophomore year, I was uh, you know, it's pretty much booked every weekend at fraternities.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh the collegian, I don't know if people know that's the Penn State uh newspaper, if it even still exists or not, but they they wrote an article about me and what I was doing, and um it kind of blew up.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: That was like the old way of like trending is you know, newspaper, and uh it blew up, and and I actually got some calls from people that said, Hey, I want to learn how to DJ.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so I brought them in and uh taught them how to DJ and then it kind of grew from there.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then uh my roommates that I started living with said, Hey, I want to do this, this looks like a lot of fun.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I I just kept buying equipment from the money we were making and and adding new DJ systems and um and and kind of growing it from there.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then uh the time came when it was time to graduate from Penn State, and I didn't really have like because I had spent so much time doing the DJing thing through school, I didn't really have like a focus of where I was gonna go with it.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: And so it kind of took more into like, all right, well, maybe I'll just keep this mobile DJ thing going.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then I it I started Nittany Entertainment and uh tried to be a little bit more professional from from the you know the bars and the uh fraternities and uh started doing a lot more weddings.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: I had done my first wedding when I was 16, so like I I had already had weddings under my belt, but really to just to kind of turn it into like a more professional setting and a professional business and and more wedding focused.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so then ever since that's kind of where that grew.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: And it started with just me doing the weddings um because my friends weren't really into the wedding thing, so I had to kind of to refocus and finding some people that would be more into weddings and and and understand kind of you know how important it is and you know how professional you have to be.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's always kind of been our model and our brand is to is just really you know being professional and you know, listening to what the couples want and and just making sure that you know their vision is seen.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I that journey, I mean it's it's almost like at 15 you might not have known that you'd be here now, but like were were you always sort of business minded?
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like you were pulling in people like just off the like sort of hobby it might have been when you were when you were DJing uh through college, but were you always kind of like business minded that way?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think so.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: I uh yeah, I uh yeah, like when when I was, I don't know, maybe 12 or 13, I started mowing lawns.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um I was the kid that was out during the blizzards uh shoveling every you know all the old neighbors' driveways and and coming home with all this money and uh and and even the fact uh to start the DJ thing just goes back a little bit, but um I didn't have a lot of money to put into it.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um so my grandmother loaned me like a couple thousand dollars, and I'm like, Well, she's like, You're gonna pay me back with interest.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, okay, that's fine.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I didn't really know what that was.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but so I I played soccer in high school, and um, I was kind of the kid off the bench.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I was I was okay, but I wasn't the best player.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I got into refereeing soccer, um, and I started refereeing more and more because they needed referees, so I was making a lot of money refereeing.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: So I actually paid my grandmother back in like a couple months from refereeing.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so like so I was always kind of like looking for that side job to kind of make money.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I guess yeah, always been kind of the entrepreneur thing.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, it seems like it.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um has that like team of DJs mentality always kind of been an idea that you had?
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it something that like once you started doing your own weddings, you're like, oh, I could do more, I could grow the business, I could scale?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think that um most DJs with their egos kind of come into it like, oh, no one else can do what I do.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: But James, you've you're out there, you see there are there are some good DJs out there.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, and there are some not so good DJs, but I will attest to that as well.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: But again, so I think uh it when I started realizing that other people had talents as well, um, that I could kind of hone their talents in and bring them into to my brand and my company, um, you know, that's that we're always constantly looking for that.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think that like that's that's really kind of where where it evolved to.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I realized that, hey, like there are other guys out here that that can do a really good job and understand the vision that I'm looking to do, and and that's kind of where Nittany Entertainment evolved to.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean it it works too.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's just as a business owner, you can do more, and you know, you're creating a space for other people to make money doing uh probably something that they love.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, and a lot of them um, you know, will ha they'll have other jobs, um, you know, so the DJ thing is a love for them, and so and some of them it's their favorite part of their job.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, is it like they enjoy the DJing so much that they get to do it, but they don't do it every weekend.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, like like I'm involved, I'm invested involved pretty much every weekend.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um when you did that first wedding, how different was it from sort of what you were doing?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um kind of the house parties and some of that other DJing you were doing before.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_02: Oh man, I gotta think back.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_02: So my first wedding ever, I mean, I was definitely really nervous.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, the there was there's a lot of preparation that went into it, but I I think that nowadays there's even more preparation that goes into weddings because when I started, um, you know, the internet was not as big a thing.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_02: So nowadays you're you're open to you know getting lists from couples that might be 300, 400 songs.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: Back then it would be something if they gave us maybe like 20 songs, you know.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot more involved in in making sure that you have two to three hundred songs versus twenty songs.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that and and also like just making sure you say the names correct and all that.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: I've and and as a kid, a kid, you know, just get getting the respect of a crowd that is all gonna be older than you, where now like I'm like I'm as almost as old as the the parents of these couples, you know.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: They they they give you the respect, but then they kind of look at you in another way, like, all right, this old guy's gonna do my wedding, you know.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um but uh yeah, but once they see they they see the party start, they're like, okay, this guy, he knows what he's doing.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean you do, and I will attest that you are not one of the bad DJs, you're one of the gold.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'd like to hear that.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: Probably wouldn't be here today, right?
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I um have been at a couple of your weddings um recently, actually.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know when this is going out, but recently to this filming.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I I do appreciate when a DJ is not just uh playing the next song.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um w we had a wedding this past weekend where we um our company only had a photo booth at it, and Sarah, our photo booth attendant, sent me some video, and and I don't like I'm not talking bad about this DJ.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna mention the name.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: I don't even know who it was actually.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Apparently, her her DJ was a family friend, and at the last minute he became ill, so they had to get this other guy come in, and she just sent me some video.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: He had the dot lights that were shining all over, which I know videographers and photographers aren't big fans of the dot lights.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because on the white dress you have all these dots, it looks like someone threw up on her dress, and then he was out there lip sync singing to the songs, yeah.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's so it definitely s felt like it felt like a wedding from the 90s, kind of, you know.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, for sure.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say, um like to have a good DJ, like what does it take from your end of it to to put on a good party, to be professional, and even like some of that, like you're mixing songs, you're not just like fading in a new song, like what does all of that take?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh first off, I think it's a lot of preparation.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: People think, okay, the DJ just kind of shows up that morning, you know, rolls the equipment out, sets it up, and we're good to go.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, sure, in a perfect world, but that's not how it works.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: So, first off, like I mentioned earlier, the the couples will kind of um give you uh, you know, the parameters of the music that they want or that they think they want, styles of music, a lot of the requests.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then we need to figure out how to make these songs work for the crowd that is given to us.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you have a lot of, you know, newer music and your crowd is predominantly 50 and above, like we got to figure out how to make these people dance to the music that you want.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, so there's a lot of preparation that goes into um just figuring out when a song's gonna work and how you're gonna play it and blend it.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: And um, like to get to get into like the details of it, like every song has what we call in the the DJ business a BPM.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that is the speed of the song.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's called beats per minute.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: So like so every song has a speed, like a speed of of like when you're driving.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you can't play a song that's 80 BPM and 120 BPM back to back, or you're gonna have them going all over the place.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_02: So it um it is a kind of creating energy and building that energy up to a point of like you know, peaks and valleys.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: So you bring the the the crowd up and then you drop them down and you bring them up and bump the mic and you drop them down.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so there is a um, you know, you are kind of like I've used the analogy of like flying a plane, like you gotta kind of you know level the plane off a little bit and keep keep it flying.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: You don't want to crash the plane, and by crashing the plane, essentially you're crashing the party.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_02: And um there also too, like people think, well, like what's the biggest difference between like a Spotify and a DJ?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, you you can take a list of songs and kind of put it into Spotify and think this is gonna be the way the songs are gonna ebb and flow.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: But um, what a DJ is really doing is uh as you kind of harped on a little bit, is we're taking the music, a good DJ, we're taking the music and we're we're blending it together and kind of mixing it seamlessly so that you don't even know you're into the next song.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Because really the idea of beat mixing is um, you know, you're you're dancing out there, you know, one, two, you're back and forth dancing.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: And if you give the crowd the opportunity of like dead air or like a fade, that that gives them the opportunity to be like, all right, I'm gonna go get a drink, or I'm gonna jump off the dance floor.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but our goal is to keep it going so like you're already into the next song, and you're like, oh man, like I didn't even realize we're all and it's like I love the song, I love the song, yeah.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: And and sometimes like you all you want to just like tease them a little, like play a little bit of an older song and then mix into something else quick.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: And and and we are in you know the TikTok generation and we're s we're swiping, so like we're we gotta keep you engaged, yeah.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: And um, every year, like the songs are getting shorter and shorter because the attention spans are getting shorter and shorter.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: So the one of the keys is to keep people engaged and keep the energy level is to change up that song.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: So like once you hear that hook of of a song, you gotta be ready to go into something else.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: I will say, I mean, we're we're definitely an outsider looking in, and I have no DJ knowledge at all.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I have music knowledge, but I have no DJ knowledge.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: But it is the worst when it's just like play a new song, like get to the next thing.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I I mean it's fun because it some of the songs have like the chorus that comes back around, and everyone knows the words to the chorus, so they all sing that part, but it's like just get to a new song, like keep the keep the flow going, like what you're saying.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like uh, you know, if you're finding a DJ that can uh have that mindset, you're gonna have a potentially better, more fun party.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: But how do couples know like this?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Is probably one of those areas where it's like, do you do you show them like stuff from a past wedding?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like for us, they see our films, and it's like we want one of those.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's really hard.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's always been the the hardest challenge is to show couples what makes DJ A different than DJ B.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, with with like uh Mix Cloud, SoundCloud, those type of things now, uh DJs are starting to put their mixes out there, so that helps a little bit.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um where Nittany Entertainment gets a lot of our business from is from venue and vendor referrals.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Just other, you know, videographers, photographers, um, venues saying, oh, you know, you need you need to have these guys because we've seen what they do with crowds, and we've seen that that they can keep a dance floor rocking for three, four hours solid, and that they that they can they they're they're they're just easy to work with and generally like you know good good people and um you know fun and energetic.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, our I think my biggest thing is just energy, like you got to bring the energy, keep the energy up.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh it's early in the week when we're filming this uh after after a weekend, and um, you know, it it's Mondays and Sundays can be hard um to to as a as a person to after pulling all like you got you give everything for that wedding, and you know that those next couple days can be hard to you kind of crash a little bit and have to come back from it.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_02: So it's I gotta bring my my energy level up a little bit today.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: I know it is uh it is Mondays.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it when we're filming this, it's a Monday.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_02: So we're coming, you know.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I I totally get that.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: It is are there questions that couples should be asking DJs?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh is your process like do you have a meeting with couples?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are you on the phone?
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Are you in a video call?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are they able to kind of get some of that personality and stuff before they say, like, yes, we want Eric or we want Nittany Entertainment?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, so we try to keep it like so.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone in Nittany Entertainment, besides me, try it like we try to keep it consistently the same.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, everybody is trained the same way.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't let guy DJs go too rogue off of the, you know.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: But um, yeah, like so the process has changed a lot uh in the last you know five years or so where you know everyone's busy.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: We get it, work is busy, couples are busy.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it's hard to kind of get on the same schedule.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: We're always open to a phone call, a zoom, um, you know, email, which email seems to be the number one way.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we also use an app now um called Vibo.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: And the app is really nice because they can all download it on their phones and essentially um they can connect it with their Spotify, their Apple Music.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, cool, and they can make their playlist right in there and then import them into sections like cocktail hour.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, like you guys want to make your own cocktail hour list, that's cool.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like just um throw it into you know Apple Music and and import it right into the Vibo and boom, it's it's done.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: And same with like you know, must-play songs or um, you know, do not play songs.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like they could they can essentially build whatever they want out and and then we'll discuss it in a in a final planning meeting just to make sure that um you know everything's on on the same page.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like we did a wedding together uh about a month ago, and um the the couple had a lot of uh country songs that weren't necessarily like the best to dance to.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but we figured out how to make it work.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, so sometimes that you you have that discussion, and even with that that bride, I said, Hey, you know, um there's a lot of songs on here that might not be the most uppity dance songs, and she's like, that's okay.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, do your thing.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, if you can sneak in as many as you can, that's awesome.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_02: My you know, my dad will be happy.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: And and and I think we did, and you know, they gave me a big hug at the end of the night, and everybody was that was a party.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: That was a party, yeah.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: That was a serious party, it was for sure.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I was worried about that one because just because of the way the music was set up beforehand, I'm like, ooh, I don't know, it's gonna be tough, but yeah, it worked out.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, would you say like what would you say to couples that are like overwhelmed with like like what music do we pick?
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_02: Keep it simple.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, keep it simple.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_02: So here's the thing like um, you know, a couple a lot of times the groom is given the task of hey, deal with the music because you know, like grooms don't want to deal with the flowers and the dresses and all the other so they're they want to feel important, so a lot of times they're tasked with music.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's fine.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, if if you're hiring a professional DJ, they know what crowds at weddings want to hear.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, so again, if if you have you know 20 songs, that's great.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: That like that's a good starting point of say, like, hey, these these 20 artists or these 20 songs are good, but if you want to give us a list of 200 or 300, that's fine as well.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just know that we're probably not gonna get to all those songs so you can kind of star the ones that are important, but don't overdo it.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like you the reason you hire a professional videographer, photographer, florist, um, is because they are experts in their field and they know what they're doing.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so let them do their job.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I use this analogy a lot too um of imagine an artist painting a painting.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, if you have a painting and you want this artist to make the coolest painting ever, let the artist have as much paint as they can.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: So if you start like limiting the paint colors and say, like, hey, I want you to paint this awesome picture, but only use this paint color, this paint color, and this paint color, well, then you're you're kind of tying their back a little bit, and the artist still might make a good picture for you, but it might not be as cool of a picture as they could have made if you just said, Hey man, do your thing.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: You're the artist, yeah, we'll let you do it.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's not saying that like we get a lot of people to say, like, all right, don't play the chicken dance.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, how many people want to hear the chicken dance at a wedding?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: I don't.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Nobody, yeah, nobody wants to hear the chicken dance, so don't worry about it.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_02: We're probably not gonna play it.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I mean, if if it's a wedding with 50 kids, okay, fine.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like, maybe we'll play the chicken dance because the kids will be happy.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: Or like, like you were saying, even just a uh part of it snippet of the chicken dance, yeah.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_02: Or like, hey, we really we hate the cha cha slide.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so do I.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that's great, but like you know what, clap, clap, clap your hands, like that part works, you know, and yeah, and it might get grandma up to dance, and like maybe she was waiting for the cha cha cha slide, so like do we play it for her and then we move quickly into something else, you know?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like, um, so like I I don't love those songs either, but you know, I like I get it.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: And if you've you know you're in that zone where you're going to a lot of weddings and you're seeing, like, okay, like this DJ is gonna play this and that, like I get it.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, but if you're hiring a a a good DJ that that James is talking about, he knows some of them, um, you know, they'll be able to still like play whatever and just make it work.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I love the the simplicity mindset because um I think if I had to create a playlist right now, I would feel overwhelmed, even though I go to a ton of weddings, I would still be like, ah, but I don't know about that song, what about this song?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it sounds like what you're saying is like if you are overwhelmed.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe 20 songs, 20 of your favorite songs that you would love to just like be on the dance floor screaming at the top of your lungs with all of your favorite people, and then just leave the rest.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Cause honestly, I love when couples are like, nope, we trust you, just do your thing.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Cause then I'm like, cool.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I can have the the room to do that, I think creatively, and you're in a creative business too, in a way.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: I know like some of it's like formalities where you have to like announce people, but like that mixing side of it is totally a creative business.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: I would imagine when people are like, Hey, we trust you, like just do your thing.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: But how do you get to the point where couples are like, we trust you?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, where's that trust built, or like how is it built?
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's hard because being a multi-op business, they don't understand what a DJ can do on the mixing side.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_02: So, like we're talking about mixing, and a lot of people probably like, What is that?
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so even Spotify now is starting to mix, I guess.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it so essentially what the mixing is is like we talked about the BPM a little bit, is where you're taking one song and you're mixing it into the other, and you have to make it s feel seamless and sound good when it mixes.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just like fading a song out into the other.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: There's there's a whole process behind that.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_02: That would be a whole nother podcast.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_02: You can Google what like DJ mixing is, yeah.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, mashups, they might know what that means a little bit more.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe dropping vocals, maybe like a beat comes in, or like it's just it's a very, very seamless transition as opposed to like fade out one song, fade in new song.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: I forgot what the question was, but yeah, like the trust.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: How are they building trust?
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um I like I think I I build trust a lot at weddings just by um you know, from the intros, being professional, like I introduce myself to the wedding party, let them know my name, go through the you know how we're gonna do the intros, and right there I've already built some trust with them.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: And then just I I I think I really build the trust with my my my crowds on the dance floor by you know the first couple songs.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: If I if I do like a really cool mix, all of a sudden people are like, oh man, like that was cool, or you get the high fives, and you know, so uh so you kind of just build the trust throughout the the reception.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, it it would be better to have the trust um through the process with the with the couples that um when they ask questions about timeline and like what is the best way to get through the timeline?
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think I start to build a trust factor with them because they're like, oh, this this this this this guy, this company, they understand how a wedding's gonna flow and like what what is the they he they answered my questions before I even had the questions.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and they're they're seeing that you have the experience from the way that you're walking through that process with them.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh are there any like go-to, like if you if you see the crowds kind of like dim a little bit and they're kind of like uh I'm not sure about this, like a go-to song that like just always seems to work to get everyone going again?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean there's always there's always some of those, like I mean, like a party in the USA, um, you know, anything with the hands up, it kind of depends on the crowd, you know, if it's an older crowd, like you know, something a little older would work.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, like I want to dance with somebody or something, you know, something along those lines.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I know Bruno Mars gets a bad rap right now, like a lot of people like we don't want to hear Bruno Mars at our wedding, so that's fine.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_02: But like, you know, there are like like a shut up and dance, or you know, there's there are some like secret songs at at certain times of the night that that can really get like get the crowd going.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, Penn State crowds obviously like a zombie nation or you know, a shout.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, so it just really depends on the crowd and the people.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, looking at a crowd, a lot of times like we like a good DJ can kind of figure out, all right, this is this is what's gonna work.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_02: If you're a video gamer, um it's you you know you like to have those those like secret weapons in your back pocket, or um, you know, there's always a song that's that's kind of in the queue that like if you need it, like you can drop it and the crowd's like, oh my god, like this is it.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like you almost have to have it just in case.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like, obviously the idea would be for the party just to flow.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but if you need that like song to drop just to get kind of everyone how how do you how do you get everyone like on the dance floor at first?
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because it I I in some ways, and maybe this is a good thing or a bad thing, but the party does kind of ride on the vibes that you guys are putting out in some way.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, so not every crowd is a 10.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_02: We always ask the couples in our Vibo app, like rate your crowd from from a one to ten.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes they'll give us 10, sometimes they give us five, and we're like, okay.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes the fives become the tens, you know.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: So it really and the tens, well, we like to keep the tens.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_02: We like to keep them up, but you know, you just never know with the crowd, like the older crowd sometimes, you know, may not have the same energy as you know, like the the 20-year-old, 30-year-old crowd.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um, yeah, so it definitely varies on that.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they're like honestly, I think it's just like you you hit them, you hit them hard right away and you say, Hey, let's do it.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna give you a cheat code here.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, this is a cheat code to having a successful wedding reception.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care who your DJ is.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_02: If the bride is on the dance floor, you're gonna have a good wedding.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I know some brides are introverts and they don't like to be out there in front of people, but again, it's your it's the one day that you have to be.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: So get out there on the dance floor, go out there, have a good time, be the center of the dance floor, and you're gonna have that energy level and you're gonna have a good party.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, I don't care if it's you know DJX or whoever, but you have to be out there as the bride.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_02: Now, the groom as well, it's good to be out there.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you're not as important as the bride, but it's good to have you out there as well.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I will say I love when they're both out there just having the time of their life.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, yeah.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's so fun.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's so fun.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and we get it that like you know, you're getting pulled 10 different ways.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like you you're essentially the star of the day, you know, like you're the paparazzi, like is following you around, these all these cameras taking your picture, and everybody wants to, you know, congratulate you and thank you.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, we get it, but you know, um, and sometimes you need a moment to like hide or whatever.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's fine, but be on that dance floor for the for the time and you will have a good wedding.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love when they're out there, it's so fun.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: How how do you handle situations where um guests are coming up and saying, like, hey, can you play XYZ song?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, maybe it's on the do not playlist, or maybe it's like, uh, it's just not gonna fit the vibe.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because you you're reading the room probably from start to finish, and they're just coming up with like some random song that they just love jamming out to in their car or something.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: I love I love it when I get, hey, the bride wants to hear this.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we get that a lot.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, really?
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_02: The bride wants to hear that?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why is it on or do not playlist?
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like they they love to use that, you know, hey, the bride wants to hear this.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh, okay.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, so this is the difference between um, you know, Spotify and a DJ.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_02: So if you've ever been to a party and um, you know, someone's running the Spotify and and like nine people are like, oh, this is a great song, but then the tenth person's like, change it.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: I don't like this.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: You know, so that so really like what the DJ is is the deflector and the filter.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, so we're filtering the requests from that day and we're um you know, we're deflecting the ones that are not good and just kind of uh working with that.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_02: And then and again, if somebody comes up with a request and it's a good request, um, you know, I'll try and get it in as long as it fits with what the bride and groom want.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um if somebody comes up with a request and it's a terrible request, I'll try and not get it in, but I'm not gonna tell them that.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna be like, hey, that's a great request.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: Let me see if I can get that in.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: And if they come back and they keep bugging me about it, I'll be like, look, I'm sorry, like that song's just not probably gonna work for this wedding.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, but again, if it's a if it's an artist or if it's something that's important to the bride and groom, um, hopefully we would have learned that in the planning.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: And that's why, you know, I tell them that when we do the planning is like, hey, if there is a song that like, hey, this is like all my girls, like we this was our song that we like got really excited for in our pregaming at you know, our bachelorette party, and like that's why we like this song.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and then you know what?
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna play that song when all your girls are on the dance floor, and I'm gonna dedicate it to them because we know that that's an important song for them, and then those they're bringing that energy for that song.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: So even if it's a song that I didn't think was gonna go good, they knew it would for that that time, and you do you play it when those people are on the floor.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: And same with like if you know, like a father of a bride or something comes up and says, Hey, I really want to hear this song, you know, I'm gonna make sure to play it when he is on the floor, and I'm gonna say, Hey, this is for you know the the father of the bride or the father of the groom, and so that they know, like, okay, this is why this song's important, and then he's out there having a good time and everyone's dancing around him, and then that still keeps that energy level.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: And again, you're not playing a song that's five minutes long for five minutes.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: Probably not.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, unless it's like unless it's a song like a like a bohemian rhapsody or something like where everyone sings along.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, do the whole thing, yeah.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: But for the most part.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: For the most part, yeah.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: How how important would you say like the ceremony music selections would be?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, there's some more generic stuff you might play while people are getting seated, but the couple songs that the couple might select for like walking down the aisle to, like, how important do you think those are?
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, as important as they want it to be.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, so again, um, we let the couples tell us what they want.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: If they don't know, um, you know, obviously uh they can um you know refer to us and we'll try to give them some suggestions.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: And in our app, we'd give them uh some suggestions as well.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_02: So um, you know, again, it it's really about them kind of you know having the songs that they want to hear for that.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so some couples are like, hey, we have a complete idea, we know exactly what song.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: Some are like, uh, just tell us what to do.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm I think like, you know, Google is your friend, uh, you know, there's ChatGPT now is your friend.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like you can ask, well, hey, what are some songs that people are playing?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, for the majority of like pre-ceremony, uh, you know, couples are saying, Hey, we want instrumentals of you know, popular songs.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: So like Vitamin String Quartet, Brooklyn Duo, like a lot of those bands have um uh you know, like string quartets of like popular songs.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_02: And if they hire a a string quartet group, is like a real uh string quartet, that's what they're probably playing.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: Is it's not as like churchy music anymore, like you know, like the canon and deeds and stuff like that.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's more of like you know, love story by Taylor Swift on on strings, or you know, yeah.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: And again, um, you know, brides do have these um these visions of how they're gonna walk down the aisle.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_02: They want it to kind of kind of feel like it's um you know, like a Hollywood movie, and they want they want that that feel and that vibe, and and that's awesome.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: So if they have a song that they they want it for that, cool.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_02: If they need some help, we'll definitely kind of nudge them in a direction.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you are as a DJ, you're like the leader of the pack when it comes to reception time.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I will say, when we get to that time, I'm like, hey yo, what's up?
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: What's going on?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you keep the vendor side of things, like photographers, biographers, even some venue owners that are listening in?
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: How do you keep that whole thing just moving and grooving?
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone's on the same page.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: What's that look like for you?
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think um, yeah, that that's always a a challenge, but uh again, it can be a good challenge.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, introduce yourself to the vendors when you get there.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: If you haven't worked with them before, if you work with them before, usually it's a little easier because you you know them.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like sometimes there's a a vendor that might be a little bit more demanding, like they want it to kind of be on their terms.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: And if that if that happens, that's cool.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like we'll let them kind of take the rein.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_02: If if nobody is saying, like, hey, like who's running this timeline, then it does kind of fall on the DJ, um, unless they have like a day of wedding planner or somebody that kind of runs that.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: But even at that point, the wedding planner says, Hey, once we get to the you know, after dinner, like it you just do your thing.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and again, that's that's the goal.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: Like, again, as the DJ, we want to maximize the amount of time that you can party.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, yeah, well, let's get let's get through the the dances, let's get through whatever the if we're cutting cakes or we're throwing bouquets or or doing toasts, blessing, anything like that, let's get through those and let's get you to the party.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_02: Because again, the more time that you have to party, I I think the more time people are gonna have a good time and remember it.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: So when couples are planning the time between, I mean, maybe even some of cocktail hour until open dance for there's entrances, there's maybe parent dances, there's probably a first dance, there's probably some speeches, maybe a uh a blessing of some sort.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Where where's your guidance on like what do we do when to make all of that flow?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: Are you like uh put it all up front?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: Are you like put dinner in between?
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: So um I like I tell couples there's no rule.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_02: There's really no rule to this.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's whatever you want to do, it's fine.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: If you've seen something at a wedding you've been at recently and you want to do the same, let's do it.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: If uh you aren't sure, then defer to us.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_02: I like to front end load that stuff because again, um it gets it out like kind of out of the way for you so that you can sit back and relax and enjoy.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: And also, too, if you like to drink, like as the night goes on, like the more drinks you have in you, like you don't want to be like, man, I still haven't done my dance, or like I gotta do a speech, and you know, or so let's let's get that stuff kind of done and out of the way, as long as it doesn't um affect uh the you know like the dinner time and um you know other vendors or like if you know like sunset photos or something like that, like I and I think that's the real key um to any vendor that you're working with is hopefully they're a team player.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like we like if I get if I have a photographer or videographer that says, hey, we really got to get that sunset shot at this time, like all right, cool, like let's let's see what we can do on this timeline to make it work for everybody.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: If if you're not coming to a wedding day expecting like to be a team, then you're gonna have a bad time.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone else is gonna have a bad time too.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I've heard some horror stories about different vendors, whether it's a DJ or a photographer um vend venue, whatever, just in general, of just kind of being kind of no, it's my way or the highway, and like that's not the way to like you know, yeah to gain serves a couple of years.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: So in your job, like specifically the DJ side of things, there's obviously like an MC side of things, and then there's like the mixing side.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, are you often going just kind of by yourself and doing MCing and and the mixing?
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um the MCing thing, uh so there's kind of a trend with weddings is that they're becoming less and less formal.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they're doing less and less of the formal things.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and one of my favorite things, which I know this uh might come up later, but one of my favorite things is the informal intro now.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_02: I love I love it because um, you know, you have the bridesmaids come in.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's the best thing to have.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_02: And you have the groomsmen come in.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, if you have brides men and instead of you know bridesmaids or like let let them feel comfortable and included with that with that group.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: And also if you have a like maybe you have like nine girls and like six guys or whatever, that now they don't feel awkward coming in with people they don't know, and um, you know, they're it it's it's it's a lot of fun, and that that's a trend that I really like.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it also takes like two seconds.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, here's all the girls, here's all the guys, and here's the couple.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: Right, yeah, yeah.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: And but it still has the energy level, like people are having fun with it.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, I mean, I like so all of our DJs also have to be trained on a microphone and can talk um and be MCs, um, you know, which I think it's important to to be commanding and kind of let the crowd know, like, hey guys, sit down, we're gonna do this, or like get away from the bar for a minute, we're we're doing this, or you know, or we want to devote your attention to the dance board so you can see that our bride and groom are doing something important, um, and so they understand that.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: But at the same time, I also simple, like less is more.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, once if we don't need to be on the microphone, I don't think you should be on the microphone.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't think that's what what couples want anymore.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like they don't want somebody, you know, tell hey, this song came out in tw 2016 and this was the first hit of I was at a I wasn't working it, but I was at a wedding and the dude literally announced every song like he was on the radio.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: And played the full song.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, bro, you're you're you're killing me.
• 38:22
  unknown: Right.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's a different kind of DJ.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: But it's it kind of points to what you're saying, like the trend has kind of shifted.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: Have you seen other trends that have kind of shifted over your time of wedding DJing like that used to be a thing, aren't a thing, or have like some new stuff?
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, I mean, trends change all the time, and I think that's the key to success in in this business.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: If you're another vendor watching, um, is you have to be able to adapt to the times.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, things are changing all the time.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh, you know, uh ri really just the in the informality of the wedding.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, there barely anybody does like a bouquet garter toss anymore.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, we're seeing a trend this season where a lot of uh brides are doing um, you know, they're dedicating the bouquet to their pa to their mom or something like that, which is totally fine.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but again, it should be something quick and and simple.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_02: She says a couple words, you know, she cries a little bit and we we move on, you know.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, just a lot of the the formalities, the couples don't want to, like they don't want to be like, oh, like I have to, you know, why do I have to throw cake at my my bride?
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like nobody does it anymore.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh like I mean, and in fact, a lot of people don't even like do a formal cake cutting, like they'll just go off to the side with the photographer, which is is totally fine.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, again, like let's do it.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go say it works better for us because it's like there's not a huge crowd, and we can just kind of like have they can have that moment and it can be a special thing, but then it's like you said, back to the party.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um has how how has like technology shifted what you do?
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's I mean, in every business right now, you know, AI is the the big thing, right?
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: But uh just in the last couple years, um, there's this thing that came out for DJing called stems, and so like I can separate any song into four parts.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_02: I can do the lyrics, I can do the melody, I can do the um bass, and I can do the drums.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I can take any one of those and just so I can just do the drum part of a song, um, just the uh the a cappella song, which is the easiest part to understand, and then you really get some creative mashups with that.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh yeah, so it it's um it it it's definitely changed the game um create creatively, but it it's also there are some DJs that are not doing it well, like you have to understand like music structure a little bit, like so um if if you're a music person out there, keys are very important to songs.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so certain keys work with other songs and certain keys don't.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and if you try to put the two together, it can be like, oh, like what is he doing?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: You know?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so even like if it even if it's on mix, like the beats on, but like you're off on the key, like that that can be a a bit of a challenge too.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: So um the AI thing for that, um, like there's there are AI tools that will actually um show us like if you play this song, here are 20 other songs that kind of work for that song.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's been a nice little tool.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_02: I haven't used it that much because I still think my brain uh knows what the other songs that kind of that kind of are similar to that song.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: But if you are in a pinch at an event, um especially if you're doing like a like an event for like an older crowd or something, you're like, I don't really know what they're gonna like.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, that can help for you know like 70s music or something that you're not as as familiar with the the genre, um, you know, having that tool to kind of tell you like, oh, here's like what 20 other songs would would work.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, would before you started all of the DJ stuff, like would you have considered yourself like an audiophile?
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like you just you loved music, like you were super interested in in music before even doing the DJ stuff?
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think I always was.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't have any music training.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um like I went to Catholic school and they didn't really have a whole lot of like options that like my kids have in the the public schools where both my my daughters are like really into music and like they they have so many options nowadays that they didn't have that back when I when I went to school.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I'm all self-trained, but yeah, I was always into music.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_02: I always like listening to the radio and like listening to my favorite songs and you know just kind of going from there.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I feel like um there's probably someone out there listening that's like it sounds like a lot of fun.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: How do I even like what do I do?
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: How do I get started?
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know, um so like I I look for a lot of talent and train people to come into our company, and the one thing I'm actually finding is younger people aren't looking to become DJs.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think it might be because not as many at least.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think for there's a couple reasons.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_02: Number one is like as a DJ, we're mostly playing, you know, MP3s, WAV files, like like actual audio files that you have to amass and and get.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um nowadays nobody is buying music, like they're they're streaming.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_02: So like they don't look at it the same way and they think, well, why would I want to be a DJ?
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like this this AI tool will do it for me, like whether it's Spotify or you know, Apple Music or whatever they're using.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um so like why do I like why would I want to do that?
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_02: And like there I like a lot of the the big DJ names that have been out there over the last you know 20 years or so are getting older too, and you don't see like an up-and-coming superstar DJ that people want to like kind of you know emulate and be.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_02: So um, yeah, so if you're out there and you want a DJ uh and you you live in the state college area, contact me.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'd be I'd be more than happy to teach you.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: And there are still you know plenty of um tutorials out there like YouTube and um you know that you can learn how to do it, but um, yeah, like it's it's definitely becoming a challenge to find new talent that wants to do it.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: I I feel like it it could seem a little overwhelming at first because there's a lot of moving pieces, there's probably a lot of um gear that if you're not in it, you don't know like what speaker is good or what do I need to actually do the stuff that you're doing with all the And the stems that you're talking about.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it seems like there's a lot of information out there, or people can reach out to you and they can start that conversation with you.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: Do you feel like there's like I and I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to get AI to take over your job, but do you feel like there's more people that are thinking like you said, there are more people that are thinking like you know, AI is just gonna do it and you know somehow do it better or different?
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_02: You never know.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like AI is coming for everybody, like it's coming.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, if if I was gonna build a house and I had a hammer or a nail gun, like which one is gonna build the house better?
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I mean, the hammer obviously it would take forever, right?
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if I had a nail gun, I could frame that house pretty quick.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_02: So again, I think it's really being adaptable to these tools and figuring out how to use these tools to make make it better, make it better for the couples, make it better for you.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, and I I really think like that's that's the trick with the AI.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: It's just staying on top of it, learning the prompts and knowing what you know what you can do.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so the nice thing about the AI for us is if I get a list of 300 songs from a couple, I can put it into some of my AI apps and it'll actually go through and it'll read my hard drive and it'll find the song.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_02: So it saves me a ton of time.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, nice.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I still have to manually go in and say, like, oh, I don't want this version, I want to use this version.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but there's a lot of prep work that's done in there, but again, it makes it makes things a little bit easier.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: So so using the tools that are out there um, you know, to to embrace it and make it work for you, I think is the most important.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean you can't you can't ignore it.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: You can't because you're gonna get no.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: I've been around long enough that I like there were some great photographers back in the day, and they're like, Oh, I'm I'm a film person, like I'm always gonna do film.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_02: And like two years later, I'm like, what happened to them?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: They're gone, you know, because they didn't embrace the technology, they didn't learn that you know digital was gonna take over, and yeah, and you know, just it you have to understand where the what the technology is and figure out how to make it work for you.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so then entertainment, like I said at the beginning of the show, is a lot more than just a group of wedding DJs.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell me more about all of those different things that you're offering for couples?
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yep.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_02: So we um we pioneered the photo booth business in State College as well.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_02: So uh we're the longest running photo booth company in State College.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um we actually do uh photo booths for Penn State football um outside the stadium every game.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we're doing this year a trading card experience, so they actually get a um you know green screen picture of themselves inside the stadium, and they can they can uh input information in like their their name, their their position, their their favorite number.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_02: Six seven is very popular right now, kids.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_02: I know right.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, listen, they can put their uh that information in, they get a little trading card of themselves like on the field, and so that's that's been really popular.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we have the 360 video, right?
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: Regular photo booths are very popular.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um we do a lot of uh lighting jobs, so um um up lighting and um so like decor lighting for um for some large events at Penn State and um also for weddings.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: So if you have a a venue that like you want to like change the the mood a little bit, you know, we can do up lighting and change the color and uh control it with a computer, and so that that's a lot of fun.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I do have a sister company, um, James and I talked about a little bit off the the podcast, but um, it's called Classic Cones.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_02: It is an ice cream truck, it's a 1961 vintage ice cream truck.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_02: It was kind of my uh COVID pivot when you know everybody was hiding at home.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like we took this ice cream truck out and took it all around town, and and now it's very popular for weddings.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the trick with that is we try to keep it within like a 30-minute drive of State College because it is an old truck and it doesn't do really well with with long distance.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_02: But somebody just asked yesterday, like, can you bring it to Baltimore for a wedding?
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, Yeah, put that thing on a trailer.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, yeah, essentially we probably would have to put it on a trailer, trailer down.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, Yeah, if you pay the right price, like anything is possible.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, of course.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so yeah, so you're doing a ton more than just DJs, and then how many DJs do you have working for you?
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, so there can be anywhere from like eight to ten.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: Um there's some guys that are kind of semi-retired, but they'll come out of retirement for for the right wedding.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so they so they uh yeah, so um yeah.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's all over the place with that.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean you've built like what seems like a it's funny, I I've said I'm gonna say a big business because like when when I think of like a wedding vendor, I think more of like the weekend warrior and like start super, super small, and like you've really scaled it to something way bigger than just like you going out and doing all of the weddings yourself with the team, the ice cream truck, which get it on a trailer and get it to your wedding because it's really cool.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and all the photo booth stuff.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um we try to keep it um so that there's always a couple people that aren't working that weekend.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, if there was a catastrophic emergency, there is somebody backed up and ready to go.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so that's one of the you know the important things of of having a big company like that is you can't you know spread yourself too thin.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like you always have to keep that in mind that like you have to have something backed up just in case.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and are the couples meeting the DJ that they get from Netanyahu Entertainment before, or are they just kind of talking with you?
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it just depends on uh when they when they can meet and who they want if they want to meet with the DJ.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: We try to set them up with a meeting with the DJ.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes the schedules don't always align.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but then if if I meet with them and give them the timeline and go through everything, um, I always have a meeting with that DJ as well.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then if they still have any questions for that DJ, they can obviously do another meeting with them.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so ideally we would get them on the call, but I know.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I literally have uh meetings like for a wedding this this weekend, and it's just she's like, I'm sorry, like it's so hectic.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like the last couple weeks or month can just be like so hectic for couples.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just trying to get everybody's schedules to a lot.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, work is always busy for people.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: We don't all work nine to fives anymore, and yeah, you know, you they have to it kind of work they you usually want to have the bride and the groom on the call.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um because but again, if it doesn't you know work out, we always at least try to assure them that everything's gonna go smooth.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um well, Eric, it's been so great having you on.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um your years of experience DJing and all the other stuff that you have going on with Nittany Entertainment is so fun.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, where can people find and follow along with the things that you're doing?
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um you can find us on our socials, uh Nittany Entertainment on Facebook, Nittany underscore entertainment on Instagram.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh there's a mixed cloud out there if you want to hear some of our mixes, Nittany Entertainment, look for that as well.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, we're we're all over the place.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um I'm trying to do better on the socials.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's probably one of our weakest parts.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we get most of our referrals from other vendors, but trying to up our social game a little bit so you can see what happens.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_02: And usually on the weekends we'll post our stories just so you can kind of see what's actually happening live at the weddings.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so fun.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is there anything like coming up, projects or something you're excited about?
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's always stuff going on.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, we're still in heavy wedding season, you know.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_02: Weddings are are are still you know the the top priority here.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um we do a lot of stuff with Penn State, Penn State football.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_02: You can find us outside the stadium for all the home games.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so we're usually out there doing something.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, and um during the holidays, we do a light show in downtown state college, so we uh sing to to music and lights, uh runs uh from uh the week before Thanksgiving through New Year's Day.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_02: So that's that's a fun little project that we do as well.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for being on everyone.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh thank you guys for tuning in.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um if you are liking episodes like this with Eric and Netanya Entertainment, there's gonna be more coming.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure you guys are subscribed and tuning in to future episodes, and that's all for this episode of the preferred list.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome, thank you.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.