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Mobile disc jockeys (also known as mobile DJs or mobile discos) are
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
s that tour with portable sound, lighting, and video systems.
They play music for a targeted audience from a collection of pre-recorded music using
vinyl records
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove ...
,
cassettes,
CDs
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
, or digital music formats such as
USB flash drive
A USB flash drive (also called a thumb drive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than . Since firs ...
s or
laptop computers
A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...
.
Mobile DJs perform at a variety of events including
wedding reception
A wedding reception is a party usually held after the completion of a marriage ceremony as hospitality for those who have attended the wedding, hence the name reception: the couple ''receive'' society, in the form of family and friends, for t ...
s,
Bar and Bat Mitzvah receptions, company parties, school dances, anniversaries, and birthday parties. They also perform in public at taverns, nightclubs, and block parties.
Business models for mobile disc jockeys include full-time, part-time, multi-operator, and single-operator companies.
[Zemon, Stacy. ''The Mobile DJ Handbook: How to Start & Run a Profitable Mobile Disc Jockey Service'', Second Edition. St. Louis: Focal Press, 2002.]
History
The concept of mobile discos started in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in the late 1940s when in
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of Hull ...
, Ron Diggins built his first 'Diggola', a mobile disco unit featuring twin 78 rpm turntables. In all, Diggins built 5 units (possibly 6) and he took his Art Deco 'Diggolas' around village halls to play records at dances. His first method of transport was a
Hillman Minx
The Hillman Minx was a mid-sized family car that British car maker Hillman produced from 1931 to 1970. There were many versions of the Minx over that period, as well as badge-engineered variants sold by Humber, Singer, and Sunbeam.
From the m ...
estate car. During the 1950s in Boston, he had two 'Diggolas' running concurrently and all Bostonians of that era remember Diggins, few realising that he was the inventor of a new concept in mobile entertainment. The
Musicians' Union ensured that Diggins never expanded his operation but he was still active during the 1970s. Decades later, DJ
Jimmy Savile
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well known ...
claimed he had invented the mobile disco earlier than Ron Diggins, but there is no evidence for this. The next mobile DJ was in 1966, when Roger Squire began an entertainment service in North
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
named "Roger Squire's Mobile Discothèques". The word ''
discothèque
A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music.
Nightclubs gener ...
'' is French for "disco". Within two years, Squire had fifteen mobile discothèques performing approximately sixty functions each week. He performed at events attended by celebrities and royalty, at countless college dances, wedding receptions, and all kinds of social events. Over the next few years, many copycat "Mobile Discos" started to emulate his successful formula. During this period, London got its "
Swinging London
The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...
" reputation. Squire later set up a disco equipment supply service that sold disco sound and lighting systems to budding DJs, both in the United Kingdom and abroad.
In the 1980s and 1990s, mobile DJs began to form associations and create professional business networks that evolved into annual trade shows and internet discussion forums. The early 1990s saw the emergence of organized professional trade shows such as the "Mobile Beat Show" in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
, Nevada, and the "DJ Times Expo" in
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
, New Jersey. Seminars by numerous respected DJs such as John Rozz, Ray "Ray Mar" Martinez, Stacy Zemon, Mark Ferrell,
Peter Merry
Peter Merry (born January 15, 1969 in Seattle, Washington) is an American author, public speaker, and a DJ in the wedding entertainment industry. He served as the national president of the American Disc Jockey Association in 2003–2004, and is th ...
, Randy Bartlett, and Steve Moody have helped DJs to better understand their profession, how to be more professional and to treat being a DJ as a business operation.
1991 saw the publication of ''Mobile Beat'', a magazine geared specifically toward mobile DJs. In 1992, the
Moving Picture Experts Group
The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) is an alliance of working groups established jointly by ISO and IEC that sets standards for media coding, including compression coding of audio, video, graphics, and genomic data; and transmission and f ...
(MPEG), released The MPEG-1 file standard, designed to produce reasonable sound from a digital file using minimal storage. The lossy compression scheme MPEG-1 Layer-3, popularly known as
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
, later revolutionized the digital music domain.
In 1998,
Final Scratch
Final Scratch is a DJ tool created by the Dutch company N2IT with input from Richie Hawtin (aka Plastikman) and John Acquaviva that allows manipulation and playback of digital audio sources using traditional vinyl and turntables. It seeks to cros ...
debuted at the BE Developer Conference, marking the first digital DJ system to give DJs control of MP3 files through special time-coded vinyl records or CDs. While it would take some time for this novel concept to catch on with the "die hard" vinyl-oriented DJs, it was the first step in the new digital DJ revolution. Manufacturers joined with computer DJ pioneers to offer professional endorsements, the first being "Professor Jam", also known as William P. Rader, who went on to develop the industry's first dedicated computer DJ convention and learning program, the "Computerized Performance System" (CPS) known as "DJ Summit", which helped spread the word about the advantages of this emerging technology.
The American Disc Jockey Awards Show was established, and its first edition was held in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1998. Since then, thirteen mobile DJs have been elected to the American Disc Jockey Hall of Fame. The thirteen members include John Rozz, Al Lampkin, Joe Martin, Robert A. Lindquist, Jon Michaels, Mike Buonaccorso, Sid Vanderpool, Bobby Morganstein, John Roberts, Ken Knotts, Ray "Ray Mar" Martinez, Cesar Cosio, and Bernie Howard-Fryman.
The American Disc Jockey Awards Show annually recognized and honored individuals who had given of themselves to benefit their community or a charitable cause in the name of the ADJA or the DJ Trade as a whole.It is currently in hiatus since 2013.
The "DJ of the Year" winners at the DJ Times Expo include three-time winner Marcello Pedalino, Roxanne Greene, K.C. KoKoruz, Shawn "Big Daddy" McKee, Marz Lawhorn, Gerry Siracusa, Adam Weitz, Steve Moody and Pascal Levesque who, in 2013, was the first Canadian to take part in the competition. Pascal Levesque from Québec, Canada, was named "DJ of the Year Runner-Up" and won the "Best Dance" award. On May 10, 2020, John Walter, The Chief Tabulator of votes for The DJ of The Year Award passed away from complications with COVID-19.
Developments
A number of books have been written about the business, and by furthering their education at trade shows and seminars, mobile DJs have gained a positive public perception. In the 1970s Mobile DJs were averaging $350–500 per four-hour event; now a wedding reception can cost between $800–2,500 per event, with the national average being around $1,038.
While many club disc jockeys still use traditional vinyl records, many mobile DJs also currently use
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...
s, computer-based files (such as
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
s), or a combination of sources. In addition, professional-grade equipment created by a variety of companies expressly for the mobile DJ industry has allowed for faster set-up and break down times and improved quality of performance.
[Graudins, Charles A. "How to Be a DJ''. Boston: Course Technology PTR, 2004.]
With the advance of in-home sound systems, the audience expectation level of sound and lighting shows for concerts, conventions, and weddings has increased.
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
technology is the most recent light show technology incorporated by the trade. A large selection of music, professional-grade equipment, good organizational skills, vocal talent as a Master of Ceremonies, mixing skills, quality lighting, insurance for
liability, and on-site back-up equipment are typical of the expectations customers have when hiring a mobile DJ.
Suggestions for hiring mobile disc jockeys include requests for referrals, approximate age of equipment, level of insurance, contract terms and fees, and provision of electrical sources.
Many mobile DJs also promote themselves as event planners, organizers, and
master of ceremonies (MC). They work closely with their customers, guests, and the event's other vendors (e.g. venue staff and photographers/videographers) to provide quality entertainment that fits the event in terms of style and performance.
This increased role in event planning has been facilitated by the emergence of
sweet sixteens, popularized by the
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
reality show, ''
My Super Sweet 16
''My Super Sweet 16'' is an American reality television series documenting the lives of teenagers, usually in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom, generally with wealthy parents who throw lavish, excessive and expensive coming-of-age ce ...
''. Today's mobile DJs are tasked with putting together major productions for these events, which require customization in every element of “her big night”. As huge as the demand for qualified teen-event DJs is, the equipment list to bring a full production on the road for a successful event is more than most can afford. With large-screen video, fog, light up dance floors, glow lights, lasers, high end dance lighting, and booming sound, today's Sweet Sixteens are setting the bar high for future generations.
Further reading
References
{{reflist
Occupations in music
DJing