Where to Search for BPM on Songs. Doing a wedding

[Mattatya]

OK I am going to throw this out there. I have been asked to DJ for My Sisters wedding. This will be my first time comming out of the bedroom to DJ. It should be pretty easy. I am going to be doing straight cuts and fades. Here is the catch!

There is no electronica! Only Country, Clasic rock, Disco (Tiny Bit), 80's and a little Hip Hop. Basically everything I don't play at home nor do I own much of. Its a wedding though and I want to please everyone and there request.

I am going to borrow a bunch of Misc Genres of music from a DJ buddy of mine.

Has anyone done this kind of MC/DJ thing and how do you fix up your general playlist of genres. Where do you start and all that?

I was also wondering where one might find a history of songs and BPM's for free via internet?

I have been around music all my life and I know a lot about 70's 80's and 90's music so thats a plus. I just want to make sure I have the "Wedding Singer" Kind of stuff to work with and Knowing the BPM's will help me with the flow a bit.

Thanks for any suggestion you have to offer.

MattStands

[Mattatya]

Does anyone know of a generic playlist I could go off of. I don't know if that is against the DJ rules of Wedding but I want to make this go as smooth as possible.

Cheers
MattStands

[Rabid Wombat]

if your songs are in mp3 format on the computer, plug them into mixmeister bpm analyzer program (free on www.download.com) and it's pretty accurate most of the time. But then again, if you are just cutting/fading songs and it is a wedding (nobody will notice if you beatmatch at all--you are there to be a human jukebox) maybe you don't need BPM's at all

[Mattatya]

You have a good point there. I guess I can tell if the song is fast or slow and where I want to take it. If for a slow dance or something to get everyone on the floor. I guess I am just a little nervous and all. Guess you have to start somewhere. The funny thing is that I am so used to blending tracks that I need to get used to cuts and fades. I played with it this evening and laughed my ass off. I felt funny going from fast to slow. Thank god I have Digital Decks so I can play around with effects a little bit.

Thanks for your help,
MattStands

[~Dj Ivgi~]

you dont need bpm for nothing of what you specified, except for hiphop, 80's and disco. cause theres not much of beatmaching going there. most rock djs i know, dont even use headpones.....

[alterboy]

Don't worry about BPMs, just try to properly transition songs so they go together and aren't jarring and abrupt. As far as wedding songs, just google something like "top wedding songs" and you'll get a ton of sights with lists for all kinds of things. Those lists are very geographically specific, I'd be lynched if I played some of the crap listed, but it'll give a good idea what wedding guests tend to expect from the DJ.

[sparkimus prime]

if youre using mp3s, i suggest traktor, simply because ive always had alot of fun with traktor.

also, wedding djing is a tricky job because rarely do you get to play what you want. and usually its country and love songs from the 80s. at which case, how the hell do you beat match country ?

if i were you, i would just grab a lap top, download as much crap as you can find, ask your sister for a list of music she likes or something, and then just play the stuff. you dont even have to mix it. theyll think youre awesome just because you play music they like. you can do like little fade ins or scratch ins if youre playing a dancey tune (way possible with traktor, just kinda funny how you do it. hehehe) whatever.

when i "dj'd" for my cousins little celebration, i brought a book of cds, my moms fleetwood mac records, and some random country records, and a few dozen mp3 cds. and i just played whatever. and they thought i was the coolest thing ever.

wedding crowds generally dont even know if theres a person playing those cds or whatever, or if its some mystical wedding station on a radio hidden in the cieling somewhere. you also gotta imagine, there will probably be a good amount of elderly people there that have no idea what this electronic nonsense you call music is, and think that true music is made with accoustic instruments or something.

but definately sneak one or two of your favorite electronic tracks in somewhere ;) i got a really good response from my cousins when i played a breaks tune at her thing. they didnt like jungle though. hahahaha.

[Mattatya]

Thats awsome Parkimus prime, and thanks for all the replies. It has taken my nervousness greatly away. I have never heard of traktor and I will look it up. I don't have access to a laptop and since my set up is new to me I am excited to you my mixers and Digital decks. MP3 will be the way to go for me cause of the amount I can pack in for request. And for the elderly. My granparents are celebrating there 50th aniversery. I was able to get a hold of 3 of there wedding songs as a suprise so that will be nice.

Everyone is right about BPM. I really don't know what I was thinking but I understand having somwhat of a playlist so that I don't suprise the anyone with some thing loud and crazy after a slow dance. My sister loved sir mix a lot and all that fun kind of hip hop from the 90's when growing up plus with all the remixing of 80's tunes ie. Max Graham ' Owner of a lonely heart and all it will be fun to put some eclectronica into the mix of thing. Maybe not that song though. Great Mix though. LOL My Sister is getting me list of Country artist and songs as well as some hip hop she would like to here. So all in all its just about putting it together now. The wedding is July 2nd so I have plenty of time to get my crap together.

Does anyone know of Pop 80's and such that have been remixed and stuff? I have a few like Royal Gigaloes and Royal Playboys " Sugar Sugar" and a Few other. I bet peopl would get a kick out of that.

Thanks for all you Help.
MattStands

[deemehlow]

i work at a five star catering hall and see every type of wedding possible mostly you got to see it as just more of a listening to then dancing experience. mostly you want to play 80s songs something that the probably older crowd would relate to say frank sinatra, barry white, michael jackson and so on and so forth. test the waters with your guest with maybe a faster paced song and see how they react dance floor starts to fill up then by all means bring the music you like but remember its your sisters wedding not your not night in a club so dont feel you have to mix and do complicated transitions cause to be honest most guest wont care and at the end of the night youll still be respected as a dj.

[alterboy]

I'd ease up on remixes....most people hate them, they look at it like it ruined their favorite song.

[sparkimus prime]

theres some really really good breaks remixes of new order tunes. ones that arent so electronic'd out that people would find it distasteful. however new order on its own is cool enough in my opinion.

but if youre going for 80s dance tunes, you shouldnt need remixes of those hehehee.

i say try to keep the electronica on a minimum though, youre not playing a club crowd or a rave crowd or anything, in fact, most of it will just be background music for the dinner and what not, and you dont wanna annoy someone with a bunch of repetitive beats that are unfamiliar to them or whatever.

i think just put together a really good winamp playlist for most of the night. and for the most part, play through that. if you want to take an hour and spin some 80s dance tunes, and like 90s dance tunes and things familiar to people or what not, get a hold of traktor dj studio and give that a whirl for an hour maybe. then back to the winamp list. heheh.

and traktor is really easy to learn. if you already know a bit about djing youll pick up traktor in no time.

[acidbass]

just for future notice:

http://www.goodtimekaraoke.com/bpm/index.php

[Mattatya]

Right on,

I totally understand that this is my sister wedding and this is her night. My ego is totally out of this one. I want to make this for her. She is giving me a list this weekend of music her and her friends want to here. I will for the most part be mixing live though but I will only be doing cutz and fades. No blending unless it is easy on some tracks. I will be burning tracks as MP3 so that I can use less disc's. I will have a list for tracks for people to request as well. I have pretty good collection of 70's through 90's so I am in good shape. I will definetly not be mixing my music. I don't thinks grams and gramps will be able to take 135bpms of trance and hard house. LOL

Thanks for all your help and advice everyone,
MattStands

[DjBobbyDigital]

OK I am going to throw this out there. I have been asked to DJ for My Sisters wedding. This will be my first time comming out of the bedroom to DJ. It should be pretty easy. I am going to be doing straight cuts and fades. Here is the catch!

There is no electronica! Only Country, Clasic rock, Disco (Tiny Bit), 80's and a little Hip Hop. Basically everything I don't play at home nor do I own much of. Its a wedding though and I want to please everyone and there request.

I am going to borrow a bunch of Misc Genres of music from a DJ buddy of mine.

Has anyone done this kind of MC/DJ thing and how do you fix up your general playlist of genres. Where do you start and all that?

I was also wondering where one might find a history of songs and BPM's for free via internet?

I have been around music all my life and I know a lot about 70's 80's and 90's music so thats a plus. I just want to make sure I have the "Wedding Singer" Kind of stuff to work with and Knowing the BPM's will help me with the flow a bit.

Thanks for any suggestion you have to offer.

MattStands
I was in the same situation you were in couple weeks ago. im a bedrood dj too, for now... and my aunts friend ask me if i wanted to dj her sons wedding. this was my second gig ever and im a beginner dj. i was real nervous cuz you dont want to mess up at all at a wedding.. but i have been gathering all that top wedding songs, all the classic disco songs, and the dinner music for in the beginning. all i did was play song after song, with very little mixing with the disco and top 40. but i really didnt even look at the beatmatching at all on my cd players. and i got everyone on the dance floor all night long. except for like 2 or 3 songs everyone got off, LOL. but at the end of the night, everyong had good compliments and thought i was awsome. so i was happy

[Mattatya]

Well Here is an Update of a big mess that happened last week. A friend asked me to do the lighting for her wedding. No problem at all. (This was my first wedding by the way.) Until I met the Groom. WHAT A DICK. Bad vibes all the way. When I got to the wedding I was told that I would be doing the MC part of the wedding. No warning and all improv. I found out the best man chickened out. Well I wrote some stuff down and got a couple opinions and we were off to a good start. Mind you I was just there to do the lights.
Everyone left the ballroom so that we could set up for the reception after the wedding. They all came in early according to the agenda and seated themselve. Then the Groom Aproches me angy and asked why I have not Introduced them into the room as man and wife. I had no Idea where the F$&% they were so that I could introduce them. And he was bitching about my performance and lack of according to him. For one I wanted to make this as right as posible and I was only doing the lighting for 60 bucks as a favor.

So after all that the music went on for the first dance and the groom knocks over a candle stand with a lit candle and starts going off on me during his dance that I knocked over the candle. I was 15 ft away from the prick. As the night moved on the DJ/Best man gets to drunk gets up and stops playing music. So as a good sumaritan I got behind the what was a dj setup and found 30 songs 25 of them played and a 5 disk DVD player that pauses for 20 sec to change disk and songs. NIGHTMARE!!!. I did what I could and ended up having more people dancing. People kept requesting music and I apolagized over and over with rolled eyes. They Thought this was all my set up. How imbaressing

I am thinking of working weddings while I keep practicing Electronic mixing at home. But if this is what it is like all the time. I don't know if I wnat to go that direction. I understand everyone is tires and a grouchy but this was un called for.

My sisters wedding will be easy. I know everyone and I have My Decks and Music to go with.

Anyone Else with Nightmare stories?

MattStands :banghead:

[dj_viper]

theres no need to Beat match at a wedding, its a wedding not a club? there all paying to much attention what everyone else looks like and whats there to EAT!!!

[Mattatya]

Your right now beat matching. I am putting together the music now and realize I just need to know the music. I have been practicing beatmachting on disco though. It kind of fun. and you don't have to match it very long.

[Ohashi]

here's another site, not sure how much stuff you have is on this lsit, but it's pretty big.

http://www.globalfight.com/djplaylist.htm

[TheLostProphet]

Tell that f***ing groom to step the f*** off....

[Mattatya]

LOL LostProphet,

I know the bride well and let it go for the most part but it was eating at me that he was such a dick. I did not think I would ever see him again but I ran into him by accident last week. I let him know that he was inopropriate and I did them a favor. I did not ask for a dime and that I would probably say no if they asked me for a favor again due to his behavior that evening. He apologized but then tried to wip out his wallet to give me money for that evening. I turned him down. I was not going to let him be one step above me by paying for his actions. Typical jerk and I wish them the best but this is my friends secccond mariage and the guy is just like the last, I hate to say.

Thanks for all you support everybody. I gave a couple bussiness cards out that evening and I have a big $$$ wedding on July 30th. Going to sign the contract this week. I just need to make sure to meet the groom earlier. LOL
This is not what I want to make a career out of but its good money to pay for music and equiptment with.

Thanks again,
MattStands