FAQ

Should I Hire A DJ or Hire Speakers?

Why Do People Hire Speakers?

Considerations for people organising a party

So you’re organising party? Sounds fun. But I know from personal experience that it can be a bit of a faff beforehand, pulling all the party plans together.

Perhaps you need to sort a venue out, or if you’re at home, organise a space and book catering and booze.

And we agree that music matters too?

So what’s your plan there?

Are you going to book a DJ, or hire speakers to run your own playlist?

From having mobile DJ’d private parties since 2010, I’ve seen a major shift in the numbers of people not hiring a DJ. Instead, they’re using Spotify.

It’s not just Spotify which has changed the way music is done at parties. Really, it’s better internet connectivity in general. There's no way that people would accept a buffering playlist. But now the reality is, that's much less likely to happen if the playlist was left alone to play from a phone, tablet or laptop.

So what do lots of people do? Many take back control of music for themselves, and seek to save money, by not hiring a DJ.

Before we think about what speakers you should hire for your event, I will say this on the value of hiring a DJ. The way an experienced DJ can manage a dancefloor is unmatchable.

One way of thinking about it is, that you're already going to notable amounts of effort to organise this party. Perhaps you do just one of these parties per year, or even one every few years, just on big birthdays for example. It's actually a really short window of time that you're all together. So why wouldn't you want to have the best you can in terms of energy and dancing together?

That isn't to say that you couldn't put a well curated dancefloor playlist together. Many people know the sort of tunes that need to be played to get a range of people in their friendship and family group up and dancing. But unless there's anyone dedicated to managing that playlist, track to track, then the music isn't going to be perfectly in sync with energy and vibe changes on the dancefloor.

Does it matter if there are lulls where the dancefloor goes empty for a time? (Or “dancing area” for house parties and smaller venues. Well, it's your party so that's your decision. And of course it largely depends on how much encouragement your group needs to dance. (My wife is from Kenya, and her friends don’t need much encouragement at all!).

But if people in your family and friends group like the idea of an experience where you’re all dancing together on these big occasions, then based on my empirical experiences of both DJing and hiring speakers, there's no doubt in my mind. The best dancefloor vibes come from hiring an experienced DJ. The way a knowledgeable DJ connects various age groups and music interests, blending, beat matching, sampling, maintaining a feel good volume, and sometimes using a microphone to engage: that can be an experience which goes far beyond DIY-ing it.

A Trend We Are Seeing

A trend we are seeing, is that there are a number of speaker hire bookings where it's someone from the friends and family group of the person organising the party, or associated friend, who has been asked to DJ.

Often, that’s a person who has some DJ experience, albeit not full time nor their primary income. We’ve some regular customers, for example, who dry hire. That is to collect speaker equipment from us. And they DJ multiple of their friends' weddings. Some of these customers have their own expensive “all in one” controllers, or CDJs. And evidently have DJing in pubs bars and clubs before using in house speakers. And these people are serious about a quality result: they appear to be driven by not letting their friends and family down, and anecdotally have told us how they’ve been planning the music well in advance, and when they arrive to collect from us they ask intelligent questions and care for the demo we offer.

So that might be worth having a think about: though it won’t be applicable for everyone. Do you know anyone in or linked to your family and friendship group who you can verify has DJd well for someone you know: who at least you definitely know is going to be in touch with your tastes.

So that said about being your own DJ or at least, not paying a dedicated and experienced professional to come and DJ your party:

Why do people hire speakers?

From conversations I’ve had with hundreds of our hire customers, some people hire speakers when they:

Seek to save money by not hiring a DJ.
Don’t see the value in having a dj because they know their friends and family group will get up and dance, even from a Spotify playlist. If they've ever organised a house party with a few family and friend peeps before, had Bluetooth speaker and people were up and dancing anyway, then that might be an indication that people are going to dance in any case.

Or,

We should also grant that some people aren’t that fussed about a dancefloor vibe. And I'm not just talking about people who don't like going to parties at all. Having worked as a DJ, sound engineer, and technician hiring audio visual equipment to parties for more than 15 years, I've experienced over a thousand parties. Regularly, I observe people who enjoy the drinks, the dinner, the talking and the social. But don’t greatly engaged with dancefloor activity. So let's be realistic. If the majority of people in a group were of that interest, then spending say £400 + on ‘dancefloor entertainment’ may not be perceived as great value.
Sadly, and I really do mean sadly, due to the relatively unregulated nature of the mobile DJ industry, standards of professionalism vary - a lot. Tales of so-called mobile DJs turning up with cheap unreliable equipment, drinking on the job, fraternizing, and basically using it as their own social rather than a place they’ve come to do work, is sadly a stereotype some people have in mind. As is the muffled, and nonsensical shout outs on the mic, which can barely be understood, (thanks Peter Kay with the “buffet is ready” joke. Great gag - but it’s stuck in a negative way for mobile DJ stereotype)
Some of our customers hire speakers from us because they’ve booked a named DJ, who are at the point where they travel without a sound system, and instead have a rider which details what speakers they required.

At which point, the type of sound system that you will require will be of a significantly higher specification in terms of it’s ability to create warm bass, ( you're most likely be hiring subwoofers as well). And the ability of the speakers to offer even sound coverage, at a pretty hyped volume, without sounding tinny and distorted.

For example, a premium system like this (Premium PA System) is what customers with that need generally go for.

So in this case, customers are actually hiring a sound system because they are looking for the best music experience available. Added to which, in some of the largest hotel function rooms, and rooms you can hire at sports stadiums for example, those spaces actually require more than just two speakers. At which point, customers in that position would be well advised to look for a reputable local av rental company, to bring in a system which is capable of sound coverage up to for example 400 people. And that’s especially important when there are also speeches, like at weddings, fundraising nights, awards and gala dinners. Without those additional speakers and extra care that you get from a professional sound engineer setting up, you'd be risking not hearing the important words.

Finally, there’s the other end of the price spectrum. On the “seeking to save money” goal mentioned above, (which is a driver for why some customers hire speakers as opposed to hiring a DJ). It’s important therefore that businesses who are hiring speakers have an speaker hire option, that sits at a lower price point, that is notable less cost than hiring a DJ. Here at ST AV, we consider this point regularly. So for example you’ll see that you can hire a single, integrated system Bluetooth speaker from £40 inclusive of VAT. https://stevent194.sg-host.com/product/cheap-bluetooth-battery-powered-speaker-on-wheels/

( Please keep in mind, there's a limitation to how many people are going to be having a great time while listening to one of these cheap speakers).

And our two speaker PA system hire packages begin from £119.20 inclusive of VAT. With the idea being that's a considerable saving on a reputable mobile DJ who comes with equipment.

Conclusions

By way of conclusion for now, what I am certain of is that if you do go ahead and hire something, you’ll hire a DJ, or hire speakers only, for your own reasons.

But my hope is that some of the common reasons people choose one of the other laid out above, makes you feel like you're in good company, or gives you something additional to weigh up as you get to the right decision for your event.

This is a topic we are really interested in here at ST AV. So if you want to talk it through, no holds, no pressure, no obligation to hire from as a result of having a chat, please don't hesitate to give us a call. We genuinely like talking about events, parties and sound systems!