As the summer of 2017 starts to fade and the days regrettably get shorter, I look back on the many new and wonderful people I have met this year, and previous years, with a great fondness. It's about this time of year that I start to encourage bookings and promote my services for next year. Please feel free to share this post or indeed contact me directly if you would like to discuss any of my services for your big day or event. Although weddings are my favorite, I can cater for all events, from corporate to private party's, themed 80's to the latest chart busting hits and cover all decades and genres of music.
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It's an unusual venue, but if you love trains, or would like a venue with a difference, you can now get married at Bolton Street Train station in Bury.
The Manchester Monastery is one of those venues that needs some serious sound output, so I usually add extra speakers when playing here.
Apart from meeting so many amazing people over the years, the wedding season also gets me in to some amazing wedding venues. Peckforton Castle is one of my favs and it's such a fantastic wedding venue, beautiful inside and out!
Crewe Hall Is a 400-year-old Jacobean mansion, it's a wonderful place to have a wedding, not to mention a very interesting building draped in genuine history. However, for fellow entertainers, on a hot day, getting the equipment in and setup is certainly a work out, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to setup or at least have some help by employing a roadie. On this particular video, you may notice the function room is very long, and long rooms present a real challenge to the acoustics and making sure everyone can hear the various announcements and speeches clearly. I used additional speakers on the opposite side of the room to the dance floor to solve this problem and I would certainly recommend seeking a DJ who can offer the extra speaker service. (The extra speakers also make a massive difference to the party atmosphere later on)
On the 7th at Media City in Manchester is a fantastic place to host any event. However, there is a real challenge for DJ's, there's very limited loading time and no parking facilities for very large vans. Near by roads have wheel clamping and yellow lines, so be ready to unload fast and park the van some distance from the venue. From the clients point of view, the bar is stays open until 3.00am and the food is very nice too. The venue is split into a few rooms, so speakers installed in at least two of the main rooms will make a massive difference to the party atmosphere. The extra speakers are essential if the DJ sets up in the pantry so speeches and announcements can be heard clearly, I can't emphasis this enough, it's my top tip for this particular venue.
I have mentioned the Middleton Masonic Hall in previous blogs, so I will keep it short and sweet, I really enjoy working here, it's run extremely well, it's maintained to a very high standard, fantastic food, professional, friendly attentive staff, lots of space and a perfect place for weddings if you're local to the Middleton and surrounding areas. I have worked at Blackley Gold club on numerous occasions, from an entertainer’s point of view, if you have lots of equipment, like I do, the loading can be a moderate workout as the function room is on the first floor, however there is a lift. As regards to acoustics, the stage is set at a slight diagonal to the dance floor and the main seating area giving the DJ a dilemma as to where to position the speakers for the best results in directional sound. In order to get a satisfactory and balanced acoustics with impressive results that I was happy with, I used FBT vertus line array speakers pointing diagonal and a separate Mackie speaker positioned near the main entrance door facing the seating area using wireless. The result sounded fantastic and I always get comments on how nice this system sounds every time I work here and use this configuration. I often upload very short video’s in relation to venue’s, this particular video shows the function room in The Heaton Moor Gold club in Stockport. One of the first things I always pay attention to is ease of loading, some venues can be particularly difficult or time consuming to load in and out, naturally, this is important information for fellow DJ’s and entertainers who have never played here. Loading into this golf club is not too difficult and has a couple of access points, but both entrances involve at least 8 stairs, so nothing too drastic. The staff here are very friendly, professional, attentive and very helpful, I felt at home within minutes of arriving. The kitchen and catering here boast 5 star hygiene and the food taste great! The function room is pretty long, therefore a decent set of speakers that can project high definition sound would suit the room best. I used a set of of FBT vertus speakers and the acoustics was perfect. If you are local to this venue, and you are looking for a function room, the Heaon Moor golf club should be on your short list of places to go and see.ere to edit.
Style Lodge is famous for weddings here in Manchester and it happens to be one of my favourite places to work! Not only is it very easy loading equipment into this venue, the actual place is very beautiful and just perfect for weddings. The food, the staff and its aesthetics are amazing. As regards to working there as a DJ, and from past experience, I would recommend asking for some extra speakers to be installed on the far side of the room to distribute the sound more evenly. This will ensure people seated on the far side of the room can hear announcements very clearly, for example, asking all the guests to gather around the dance floor for the first dance. As you can see from this video, there is planty of space for dancing and throwing some serious shapes!
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Dave Jones (DJ)
I often take the time
to blog about venues and experiences relating to the many functions I attend,
some of the post may prove useful or interesting if you are considering booking
certain venues or simply seeking information on any of the subject matter that
may be covered in my many posts. Please feel free to contact me if you have any
questions. Happy reading! Archives
September 2023
Wedding DJ
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