A wedding singer should not be something that you choose based on price alone. Of course this has to be within your budget but if you are planning a wedding you should have a considerable budget to work with. These days it’s not enough just to be a wedding singer, you need to have the skills to get people on the dance-floor as a DJ as well. It’s not so important to beat-match as it is to read the crowd and play the appropriate kind of music at the appropriate time.

The wedding singer you choose should be somebody that you speak to on the phone rather than just email. As everyone knows, email has no tone so it’s not as easy to get a feel of someone’s personality. If you phone them and have a quick chat about your wedding, you will get a feel for them and find out if they are socially comfortable. Because even though you would think someone who is an entertainer would be comfortable speaking with people, you might be surprised to learn that some of them are not. This can be a sign that the performance may be introverted. So on the phone you will get a feel for them and find out if they are socially comfortable. Therefore you need to find someone that you click with personally.

You will find a lot of different kinds of wedding singers, those that play a lot of Aussie classics. They are the type of musician that has been doing many pub gigs. You will find more jazzy singers which can be appropriate for the early part of the evening. And you will find all-rounders. Those are the type of musician that have been doing weddings for a long time and have perfected their playlist.

As the wedding singer myself, and as someone who has won many awards in this industry, I find that a solid mix of young and old songs to try to please everyone at some stage is the best formula for being a successful night. Also a side note, if you make the performer feel comfortable at the wedding by at least smiling to them or coming over to say a quick hello, that can really help the musician relax and be comfortable in front of a crowd of people they have never met. Although we do this all the time, it really does help because every gig is different.

Being a great wedding singer is only half of the battle though. What clients really want is a good time on the dance-floor. They want all their friends to get up and dance all that nervous energy away. This is when you need to draw on your DJ skills. It does seem easy to simply press play and turn the volume up, but I can tell you from experience it really does take experience and a lot of common sense to choose the right songs. Not only the right songs but there are lots of intros to songs that are quite long so it’s important to start from when the beat kicks in. Because a full dance floor can be lost within 10 seconds so you have to be on your game.

I enjoy DJing and getting everyone pumped and into the mood having a great time, but my real passion is acoustic guitar and vocals. I started out 12 years ago as a wedding singer in Perth and I have loved it ever since. It wasn’t until a couple of years later that I added DJing into the mix. Becoming a full package for clients and their music needs on their wedding day. I have had my share of mistakes and misread crowds but as I grow and learn, after a decade of doing this full-time I have honed my craft to hit the mark 95% of the time. No one is ever going to have successful gigs 100% of the time. There are too many variables that can interfere with a great gig. But I always make sure I am there with plenty of time to set up, I always make sure I have all the information and song choices from the clients clear and on a timeline that is understood. I always have a playlist that is filled with songs from the client. All of these details add to becoming a successful wedding singer and DJ in Perth.

The best combination of Wedding Music would be a live music and DJ Package. Tod’s ability to entertain comes from many years as a wedding singer in Perth, and also as a cover band performer. Being able to choose the best song at the best time is a winning combination both as a live musician and as a DJ.

Being a proficient musician or DJ is only half the battle. The other half is being able to read the audience you have in front of you. This can only come from a wide range of live performance situations. From a backyard party, to a formal engagement with hundreds of guests. It is no use to be the best musician if your songs are wasted on the wrong crowd, this is not economic. What use is a brilliantly performed Jazz song if your audience wants to hear a rock number?

Another important aspect of live wedding music is not only what repertoire to use for a certain audience, but what songs to play within the feel of the gig itself. For example, a very popular song in Australia for weddings is ‘Horses’ by Darryl Braithwaite. Many people request this song in my experience and while it is a slow tempo which would work well early in the evening, it would be relatively wasted, simply because it is a sing-along song and hardly anyone is going to feel like singing along before they have had a few drinks. This song needs to be played toward the end of the night and in many cases, as the very last song. This would be a very high energy song at the end because everyone will be feeling the effects of the drink, but also the effects emotion elicits from a patriotic song like this. Similarly, you don’t want to begin the evening with high energy or up-tempo music because there is nowhere to go from there. The music of the night needs to build. Like a storyline in a movie. Also as with a movie, there need to be high points, low points, areas of tension, release, humour and resolution.

Having someone that has a wealth of experience in this area is of huge importance. Someone who knows how to play to and for the audience, rather than someone who will pick songs randomly.

Keep these things in mind when considering wedding music in Perth.

When contemplating your choice of wedding music, the first thing you need to consider is whether to hire simply a DJ or a live act. Here are some of the pros and cons of this decision.

VOLUME

This may not be something you would consider off the bat but it is very important. There are few things worse at a function than music that is too loud for a conversation. You end up having to shout in the ear of the person sitting next to you and a simple conversation can be a frustrating task. If you choose a DJ then you are pretty much guaranteed that one person has complete control over the volume. You may have to remind this one person to turn down during the course of the evening but that is much easier than trying to convince a full band on stage. Especially one with a drummer, as the rest of the band have to at least be as loud as him, and usually much louder. So if you have in mind a nice intimate wedding, perhaps skip the live band. Having said that, many live jazz bands can play at reasonably low levels and also create an atmosphere of class and style.

A tip I would recommend would be to analyse your floor plan and ensure that your more elderly guests are seated a good distance away from the musical act and speakers. I can’t tell you how many times I have set up at a wedding only to have the oldest guests of the function seated right in front of me. So bear in mind at most, if not all weddings, the front-most guests will be exposed to twice the volume your rear-most guests will be. So suffice to say if grandma and grandpa are at the front, no one will hear anything at the back.

 

PRESENTATION

Hiring a musical service is not only an audible experience, it is a visual one as well. You want to make sure that your choice looks great. Not only by the way they present themselves personally, but also by the tools of their trade. Some DJ’s can look very slick with a facade dominating the front of their gear and lights that create a stage like effect. But a band can make your guest instantly identify with a good night once they see a stage and musical instruments on them. There is something visually exciting about the look of a stacked stage with mic stands, guitars and keyboards sitting there waiting to be caressed for your ears. Either way you choose, DJ or live, make sure you check out their websites or facebook pages for a look at some live situations they have filmed so as to see what kind of attention to detail they place in their presentation.

AVAILABLE SPACE

Wedding venues vary greatly when it comes to size. From grand style ballrooms to back yards. It is obviously not a problem if you have ample space, but when hiring a smallish room, or your guest numbers are at maximum, consider how much room you will have left. Once again, I can’t tell you how many times I have rocked up to a wedding venue that is quite large, only to find that there are so many guests that I can barely fit in the corner and end up playing literally centimeters from the nearest guest, and they complain all night that I am too loud. I will be too loud if you have been put right in front of my speakers and the guests at the rear want to hear too. This surprisingly happens more often than I would like to joke about, so make sure you consider this in your floor plan. As a general rule, if possible, you should place your nearest guests no closer than around 5 metres from the speakers. Any closer and they will not enjoy their night. This is of course not always possible so in that case, seat your younger guests, or at least those guests you would imagine won’t be as bothered by the volume as perhaps others might.

A DJ can slide into a relatively small area but a band can not. Even as a soloist who DJ’s, I need more room than simply a DJ alone. It is a good idea to ask your musical act how much space they require so you can work out your floor plan more accurately. As a guide, my act as a guitarist and DJ requires around 4m wide x 3m deep. DJ’s will be smaller and bands considerably larger. If your room is quite large for the number of guests, you may want to visually fill it out by having a stage and a band. Having a DJ on a big stage in a large room looks a little funny so a live band can fill that area. Combine speakers and a good lighting rig, and it will look like a small concert.

PRICE

All musical acts will vary in price depending on their level of experience and how heavily they are booked. Like anything, you pay for quality. Wedding DJ’s may also MC for you which can incur another fee but they start from around $900 up to $2000 depending on quality. DJ/Live will range from around $1200 to $2500 and bands, depending on the number of weddings will range from around $3000 up to $8000. You will of course get the occasional bargain but these prices are based on the assumption that acts are gainfully employed in the wedding industry and have good testimonials.

LIVE AND DJ

A lot of clients are opting for this package as it seems to be the best of both worlds. While both DJ’s and Live bands have the ability to play appropriate music for the duration of a 6 hour reception, people’s ears can become a little stale to sound once they have a couple of hours to get familiar with it. The beauty of using a live act who also DJ’s means that they can create totally different atmospheres for your guests without changing places with a separate service provider.

It is nice to have a guitarist singing some gentle James Taylor or Jack Johnson early in the evening. It sets a tone. If your live act is experienced enough, they will be able to read your guests and play mood appropriate music throughout the evening. This often means that it will start very gently, and as the night progresses, and the bar tab reduces, the tempo and style of music changes to reflect the good feeling and celebratory nature of the evening. It is often nice to have a live version of the first dance performed, and then have them swing around to the DJ decks and pump out some dance music to get the party started. They are now in DJ mode and it is a whole new feeling.

These are just a few things to consider when thinking about your wedding music. Everyone is different and have varying tastes so go with your intuition and look to create the wedding of your dreams with your ideal soundtrack.

Wedding music has connotations of being a little cheesy and tends to bring to mind images of long walks on the beach, picnic blankets and happily ever after sunsets. But being in the wedding industry for over ten years, it really isn’t like that at all. Requests from clients have ranged from Del Shannon to Metallica and on more than one occasion, favourite footy team theme songs.

The wedding music of today does not have a genre. More and more wedding couples tend to choose songs for the important moments of their weddings from their wide ranges of tastes, and can be vastly different from the next couple. I guess this means one thing – music has changed drastically over the past few decades and the choice for the listener is almost infinite.

If we go back just a few decades to the 50’s when rock and roll first reared it’s headbanging head, that’s when it all started. With memories of Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry jumping and gyrating around on stage to a group of screaming girls on the Ed Sullivan Show, the world could sense that a musical revolution was about to explode. And explode it did. When Beatle-mania hit, it sparked a massive interest in pop stars and celebrity which has continued to grow and grow to this very day.

So at this early juncture in modern pop music, there was only one real genre apart from country music, and that was pop. Originating from the coined phrase ‘popular music’. So on the radio it was either hip swinging rock ‘n roll or beautiful ballads sung by boy bands to begin with, then girl bands as well. Usually featuring 3 or 4 singers that would have rehearsed dance moves in sync. This was an explosion that led to mowtown where many groups had hits throughout the late 50’s and 60’s.

So fast forward through the amazing 60’s and then rock lost it’s roll and became simply rock. Electric guitars were becoming evermore popular and the advent of distortion bred the first generation of rockers. Some music began to take on a slightly darker side from this point. Louder, faster, more aggressive. If you listen to early rock the message started out as love but some bands took advantage of the intensity of the music and began delivering a message of the outlaw. It became cool to be a bad ass.

Then came the 80’s. Wow, what a transformation. Brightly coloured clothes and high hair. Lot’s of strings and saxophone. What a great era. I grew up in the 80’s and have great memories of extraordinary songs from that era. With bands like Wham, INXS and Dire Straights. Songs such as Footloose, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go and Bohemian Rhapsody. Who can forget this music and it is probably the most popular genre of music that I play as a wedding DJ.

Rock became glam rock. Tight lycra pants with huge permed hairstyles and electrifying guitar solos. Many a hotel room was trashed by these bad boys on tour. Poison, Bon Jovi and Guns ‘n Roses come to mind. So music had changed considerably in 20 years and the choices of the listener seemed to be growing by the year with different genres of music popping up and spawning offshoots of other styles such as punk rock. From there it evolved into alternative rock once the 90’s came around.

Toward the end of the 80’s a new kind of genre altogether exploded onto the world music stage. This is of course rap. Rap was huge and found an audience and massive fan base with blacks in America. Pretty soon everyone loved this kind of rhythm and it became a culture within itself. Hip Hop evolved from rap, gangsta rap evolved from hip hop and it continues to evolve. It is interesting to look back at where some genres evolved from. I’m not sure where disco has it’s roots but R&B certainly evolved from disco and definitely the bebop of the 60’s. It has given rise to some amazing vocalists over the years. R&B also merges with Hip Hop as rock merged with rap thanks to Aerosmith and Run DMC. Now even country is beginning to merge with other genres.

Pop has always remained steady at the forefront of music. Pop is the most mainstream of all genres and I guess draws the straightest line back to those days of Elvis and The Beatles. The formula of pop has generally remained the same with a verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus chorus chorus. It seems to be the most identifiable genre in all of music, however the differences between musical styles, artists, fashion and culture vary so much in todays world that we are literally spoilt for choice.

This brings me back to my main point. Wedding music. Time goes by so fast it is easy to forget that the music you took for granted as a young person as being so cool, is very dated now and that trend will no doubt continue. So it is not surprising that the choice of wedding music these days is not as cliché as one might think. I have done weddings in a cave to goth music. I have done all sorts of cultures. African, Bosnian, Filipina, Jewish, Irish, Italian, Greek. Every culture has it’s very own tastes.

When it comes down to Aussie weddings, although the tastes are also very varied, there is always one or two constants involved. These are songs that are usually played at the very end of the night, when everyone has had a skin full, the good times have rolled and it’s time to say goodnight. It is my duty as a wedding singer and DJ to play the appropriate Aussie wedding music. This comes down to two songs. You’re The Voice by John Farnham and Horses by Daryl Braithwaite. These two classics seem to get any true blue Aussie up onto the dance floor, singing at the top of their voices. I wonder how long these will stand the test of time before some other classics are born and take over.