When it comes down to it, a DJ is an entertainer like other types of musicians. Stage presence, confidence, poise, and visuals are all important components to consider when learning your craft.

We here at CMAS consider all of these when choosing which DJs and bartenders we work with, how we design our photo booth layouts and backdrops, and how we design on-site visuals like uplighting.

A wedding DJ is a Master of Ceremonies, sound technician, light designer, and DJ all rolled into one. This combination of varied disciplines means that we need to take a step back and look at our results if we want to continue to make improvements across the board.

One way we can do that is by monitoring reviews in places like WeddingWire (4.9/5 stars) and Yelp!(5/5 stars). Luckily, people are pretty honest with us after their whole event has happened, and any information we can learn about how to do our events better is appreciated.

If you have ever been to a CMAS event, feel free to send us your feedback through email or leave feedback on one of the public forums.

We look forward to working with you to make memorable events.

Thank you for inviting us to be a part of it.

~Josh~

​http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2015/12/why-its-worth-paying-for-a-pro-dj/

I loved this article. It discusses the value of hiring a professional DJ versus the experience you may have with an amateur.

Hiring a wedding DJ is the same. You need to hire an experienced wedding DJ for your reception. Someone with a bit of club experience won't do today, you need someone who is comfortable running an event from start to end. From gear issues to interacting with your guests. Someone with many successful events to draw experience from.

If you're looking for one of those DJs, contact us! We'd love to help you out. If you're looking for a wedding DJ in Chicago, you are in the right place.

Found this page online and was really happy to be included here!

Thanks everyone who has made this possible so far, and here's to many more successful Weddings, Block Parties, and Corporate Events!

I had a strange experience the other day observing a few working musicians.

One woman was busking at one end of the train stop, and a group of people were singing on the other end.

I walked down to the other end and was followed by the woman.  She kicked the open guitar case of the singing group, then proceeded to verbally assault them. She thought that she should be playing in that space, not them.

Whether right or wrong, this was unbelievably poor behavior on her part. Musicians should strive to help each other, and strive for a sense of mutually beneficial congeniality.

Here at CMAS, we are mostly known for DJ'd music, but we love working with live musicians. If you decide to hire a live musician for your ceremony or cocktail hour, we can provide a sound system and/or appropriate amplification and mic'ing for their performance time.

We actually have many contacts with live musicians whom we've worked with before, and would be happy to give you a referral to a musician or group who will make your wedding reception memorable!

Wedding season is in the air!  

Even though this Chicago Spring has been lackluster, and really just down and out crappy weather-wise, the season of love is upon us.

So get out there, mingle, and enjoy life.

I'm personally fond of dancing, and completed a swing class over at Big City Swing.  I have taken a few dance classes, and can say with some experience that this one was one of the best.  Knowledgeable instructors(Jenna), good time of the day for working folk(7:30 on a Wednesday), and good fun.

I decided to take the class partially for personal fulfillment, but I'm excited that  it also will help me work with any couples out there who are interested in dance instruction as part of their wedding plans. 

I've also gained a deeper appreciation for different sub-genres of "swing" and will be exploring this a little deeper in my free-time.

Let me know if you're interested in any specialty styles of dance for your event, we'll be happy to help you out.

Thanks,

~Josh~

Hello everybody,

I was sitting in a coffee shop today, and I overheard a conversation between an engaged couple and their DJ who was planning the logistics of their wedding with them.

I just wanted to comment on a few of the questions that came up.

What if I need two areas with music?

The answer to this question, like many questions you'll be asking your DJ, revolves around the space that you will be using.

If the space is small enough for sound to carry from the main set-up, that is ideal.  If a second smaller sound system is needed, we can arrange that easily.  If you want a second full sound system for the second area(like if it is a different ballroom than the ceremony or reception) you may want to pony up for a full second system, through us, this will be at a hugely discounted rate.


When will you be showing up?

This depends on the complexity of the set-up.  Our Classic Package takes about 45 to 75 minutes to set-up.   We will generally show up at least 2 hours before your guests arrive to make sure everything is ready and tested.

If you have a more complex set-up, like one involving a projector and screen, uplighting, or extra dance floor lighting - we will need to be there sooner.  We always check with you and your venue to make sure enough time is allotted for us to set-up and ready before your guests arrive.


What will you do about requests?

The DJ who answered this question had a great answer for the couple which I will share here:

Dealing with requests is one of the touchy areas in wedding DJ-ing.  Some people think because you have a laptop or play digital music that you can just play any song.  The influence of alcohol also sometimes plays a role with an over-eager guest.

While it is true that the modern DJ has access to a massive selection of music, the music files that DJs used are carefully organized, pre-tested, lossless high-quality(not iTunes quality), appropriate authorizations to play(i.e. not pirated), sometimes filtered for language(sometimes not), level adjusted in the software, et cetera, et cetera.  Therefore, it is a risk for a DJ to play a song that he doesn't know and/or can't preview before hand.  

I also know very well from first-hand experience that you cannot trust the requestor's "knowledge" of the music either.  They'll tell you it is clean(no swears) when there are swears, or that it is a pop song when it is a rap song.


That's all for now!  If you have any questions that you would like me to address, post them in the comments down below and I'll do my best to get to them.

Thanks,

~Josh

I heard this one at a recent event:

"I recently read an article that dissected the life expectancy of a man.  The study compared married men and bachelors.  They said that the life expectancy is the same, its just that one feels longer."

Have you guys heard any great jokes as part of a wedding toast?

Please share in the comments below, 

I just posted an example of a live mix I did on NYE, and it can be found on Sound Cloud, check it out and follow here:

www.soundcloud.com/revaux

Hey everybody:

I just saw a video series that I would recommend starting off DJs take a look at here.

It is done by the guy behind Digital DJ Tips, and it is informative, if a little dry and slow with the information/'how-to' that I had expected.  

The Digital DJ Tips website(and companion email series), is generally helpful and has a nice active community which is based in the UK.  Most of the information definitely crosses over and is relevant state-side.  

The guy behind it all (Phil Morse) is an experienced producer and club promoter who really knows what he's talking about.  You can tell that he's got a lot of knowledge if you watch more of the videos.  Somehow it seems like it is mostly gained from real-life experience rather than focused study in a collegiate/scientific manner.

I was interested to see the waveforms in the video in real-time as his guest was scratching.  It kind of took the mystique away, which is good for the beginner, and brought the idea of digital scratching closer to a reality in my mind.

I will be watching the whole series.  They are only about 10 minutes each, which is a nice sized portion for something like this, but my biggest gripe was the lack of what I would call 'real' information.  Phil seemed to dance around digging into the info, seeming to cater to brand new DJs with kind of "fluffy" comments and generalizations, like:

 "Any new controller should be able to scratch" 

and 

"Using any of the big 3 softwares you will be able to scratch"

Although mostly true, the real information lies in answering questions like, what are the pros and cons to Traktor/Serato/VDJ? Or, "Which controller under $300 would be best to purchase if I want to scratch?"

Again, if you're interested in the 'lite' version of this info, check this guy out.

I also highly recommend DJ Tech Tools which is run stateside by a huge figure in DJ culture - Ean Golden.  They are also the creators of the Midi-Fighter series of controllers.  I love the concept of these and the 3D is currently on my gear wish-list.

Until next time,

~Josh~

Just wanted to drop a little info about myself and my own planning process for my wedding.  

You can get a great do-it-yourself type website from www.weddingchannel.com.

Our URL ended up being http://blairlaw.ourwedding.com/ - If you're interested in seeing the full site, just email me and I'll send you the password to get in and see all of the features it has.

I especially like that it is easy to format for a non-computer programmer type, and let's you easily upload pictures and info for your guests to use.

Check it out, and let me know if it was helpful to you.

~Josh~