DJ request via text [Archive]

bigCcat

04-10-2018, 01:13 PM

I am getting ready for a larger gig and I have been thinking that it would be cool to receive requests via text.
I do not want to use my actual phone number, though.
Is there a way to set up like a 5 digit code for everyone to send requests to? I have an older phone I could set up on my version plan.
Or maybe there is a service available, like a web page I could leave open on the laptop?

Any suggestions would be great.
Joe

pete

04-10-2018, 01:41 PM

ummm.....something as simple as setting up a seperate email address for the gig. Just look at the notifications on your phone.

shoot summ

04-10-2018, 01:42 PM

You might be able to do something like this with Google Voice.

bigCcat

04-10-2018, 01:52 PM

Ha one of the guys at work suggested Google voice.
It would appear that you could log into your Google voice on the laptop and see text messages come in.
I might give that a try this weekend 1st... Gig isn't until August.

Unknown DJ

04-11-2018, 02:04 AM

To me it would be annoying as hell. Your going to get that one guy wanting you to play Megadeath, spam you about 50 times and then get pissed off if you don't play it.

Nicadraus

04-11-2018, 02:17 AM

Why would you take requests via text. Like mentioned above, it's annoying to be reading all those messages while playing. Let them come over with a piece of paper instead or for them to send their request earlier so you could do a playlist.

But if it was me, I won't take any request. They should be able to understand and appreciate the music that I'm going to play. Because playing for their requests is just crowd pleasing and not crowd reading.

Alex Murphy

04-11-2018, 05:26 AM

To me it would be annoying as hell. Your going to get that one guy wanting you to play Megadeath, spam you about 50 times and then get pissed off if you don't play it.

Nothing wrong with Megadeth, but I suppose people will not request that. I was thinking about 200+ requests for justin bieber/mileycircus/taylorswift/etc, then 400 messages saying "why are you not playing justin bieber/mileycircus/taylorswift/etc ", then "play hip hop" while you're playing dance, and "play dance" when you're playing hip hop.

Dix

04-11-2018, 06:44 AM

To me it would be annoying as hell. Your going to get that one guy wanting you to play Megadeath, spam you about 50 times and then get pissed off if you don't play it.

With me (a mobile DJ) its not that one guy, its that group of 5 girls all hanging together giggling & jumping around thinking up songs for me to play. Just like they are the only ones there. I'm supposed to be playing a mix of music & they are bombarding me with rap music. Then as mentioned above, coming back wanting to know why I havent played their request(s). It aint that they each send one song, they each send 20+ songs. Some the same one so it will look like I am getting the same request from multiple people & that "everyone wants to hear this". No, EVERYONE doesn't want to hear that. Just 4 people out of 150 people.

In addition to those 5 girls X 20 requests each, you also have a few 6 year olds constantly texting. This is in addition to a few sissy guys & other guests. Eventually, you'll have 150 requests from 30 - 40 numbers.

No way you're going to be able to keep up with all those requests from all those numbers.

Personally, I have request sheets that I put out on the table & when someone comes up to make a request, we just point to it. They write it down, we look at it & & unless someone has a question, that's the end of it. Of course we try to play it if we have it & feel like it fits the clients requested format.

The only good thing that can come from this is that 30 - 40 people will have your phone number in their phone. For me, it ain't worth the trouble to get my number in their phones.

DJ Matt

04-11-2018, 07:16 AM

with virtual DJ and some of the third party plugins you can do this in a variety of ways
i think you can rig it to recieve text messages using Telly Media plugin linked to twilio or push bullet, and i think without giving out your number. you can also get people to use a twitter handle, and you will recieve the message directly in the software, you can even allow their messages to go directly to a projector or TV screen if they wanted to wish their friend happy birthday or something.
i played around with it a little but havent settled on a workflow that i liked yet. but its interesting.

one practical reason for recieving requests via text is if the audience speaks another language to you, its easier to know what they are saying if you can read it.

bigCcat

04-11-2018, 09:37 AM

you guys bring up a good point about being bombarded with text messages.
I've always taken requests and tried to play the requests as they fit into my set, while I am reading the crowd.
I dunno this will be for high school kids, soooo I'm trying to think of ways to make it more interactive. Not that I haven't played for this age group before, or that my gigs aren't fun, just that this will be the largest group I have played for and am just brainstorming.
If I did go this route, I would not use my real phone number.

Alex Murphy

04-11-2018, 09:43 AM

its that group of 5 girls all hanging together giggling & jumping around thinking up songs for me to play. Just like they are the only ones there. I'm supposed to be playing a mix of music & they are bombarding me with rap music. Then as mentioned above, coming back wanting to know why I havent played their request(s). It aint that they each send one song, they each send 20+ songs. Some the same one so it will look like I am getting the same request from multiple people & that "everyone wants to hear this". No, EVERYONE doesn't want to hear that. Just 4 people out of 150 people.

Accurate. I have had that one quite a few times. Even once, those girls threatened to break my gear if I did not comply.

you guys bring up a good point about being bombarded with text messages.

One detail I forgot, I always have my phone turned off because I don't want to hear this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0O1_FYzbjw

Dix

04-11-2018, 10:50 AM

I may have misunderstood part of your situation. If this is a high school event, you'll have 10 groups of 5 girls texting you.... not just one group.

JackStalk

04-11-2018, 02:31 PM

Ive thought about doing this over the years but always decided against it. At the end of the day if someone physically comes up to you to ask for a song then its usually something meaningful to them. If you create a low risk, low effort way to request sings then people will abuse it and just make requests for the hell of it. I have no problem playing requests and can usually juggle at least 5 of them in my head at any given time. I just que them up in a separate playlist right away so I dont forget and try to fit them in where they work during the night.

Not Applicable

04-12-2018, 06:57 AM

Accurate. I have had that one quite a few times. Even once, those girls threatened to break my gear if I did not comply.

The last party I did, this group of girls got super wasted and started to knock my equipment over as they stumbled over for request after request. Before I even mixed into a new song, I already had 2-3 requests.

From now on, I am not taking requests and my rate when a lot higher.

KLH

04-12-2018, 06:53 PM

I wouldn't use Google voice... but you could, I suppose. I'd use Twitter.

DJ Bobcat

04-12-2018, 09:45 PM

You could use a Google Voice number or Talkatone. You can load the Talkatone app on your iPhone or smart phone, then get a Talkatone number and you can send and receive texts from it.

I actually tested the Google Voice option out a few years ago, but decided not to use it. I put business cards out on which guests can write their requests on the back side, where it has spaces for Song title, artist, requester's name, and Dedicated To. If the requester leaves their name or Dedicated To space empty, I don't play it. I also ask guests to dance to their requests if I play it. This system may not work as well with kids as it does with adults.😊

Rek_Aviles

04-12-2018, 11:59 PM

Google Voice is probable the best option. you can also have them tweet with a unique hashtag and use an app to monitor for that specific tag. Not sure how long of a delay there is compared to texting.

KLH

04-13-2018, 06:06 AM

GV texting delays vary. Sometimes instant, sometimes a minute. I've used GV personally for over 10 years now and it's a great service, but it isn't disposable like Twitter.

First, it's linked to a "real" phone number. Second, you can only have one GV linked to a real phone number. While I suppose you can manage this by using the same GV number at different events, my experience has been that most remember the GV number instead of your real number. Worse, you get trolled by getting random texts after events... and spam.

I recommend Twitter because it is disposable and can be named after the event. Most importantly, you aren't bothered afterwards.

efinque

04-13-2018, 09:01 AM

I saw this video of Armin van Buuren explaining his live setup; he actually sends a message of what he's about to play next to the VJ located in the back of the venue.. very clever, Pioneer Nexus etc. four CDJs with fader starts and the 2 extra decks playing SMPTE timecode just to sync the visuals.

KLH

04-13-2018, 01:17 PM

he actually sends a message of what he's about to play next to the VJ located in the back of the venue..
Traktor has the ability to send the artist and track metadata when broadcasting/streaming. I wonder if the stream can be converted into a tweet or text and sent when the track changes... if that's what you want to do.

efinque

04-13-2018, 02:48 PM

Traktor has the ability to send the artist and track metadata when broadcasting/streaming. I wonder if the stream can be converted into a tweet or text and sent when the track changes... if that's what you want to do.

I've actually been trying to figure out how to send track ID's to Open Broadcaster Software. I didn't know Traktor had such feature, I might have to look into it.

EDIT : I think the problem is when in external mode.. the program doesn't know which deck is playing.

EDIT 2 : but yeah, I'd figure some of the techniques and methods pirate radio stations use (especially telephone hybrids and all the weird DIY stuff related to it) put many commercial radio stations and phone companies to shame..

EDIT 3 : and I do believe there's been an incident where some crafty broadcaster has hacked the household phone line for personal radio station use.. I think the only solution is to get a new number from the phone company, or use something like a DTMF decoder but that's another thing (sorry for the off-topic)

Rek_Aviles

04-13-2018, 03:57 PM

KLH

04-13-2018, 08:21 PM

Link to secret Traktor voodoo

Umm... woah...

https://media.giphy.com/media/KJHINXxzWX7A4/giphy.gif

efinque

04-14-2018, 01:26 AM

https://www.disconova.com/utu/traktor-metadata/

I know this guy in person.. I've actually played a gig with him. He's also a very skilled software engineer, works for a major IT company these days I believe.

LutherHelms

04-14-2018, 01:59 AM

As to "I've actually been trying to figure out how to send track ID's to Open Broadcaster Software":
Window Capture of Traktor within OBS, crop said capture down to whatever you want to show (hold alt, drag box to surround whatever you want to show - waveforms, trackIDs, whatever) - voila. Word of caution - capping and cropping things live can bog down a lower end machine.

As to sending track IDs from Traktor to Twitter. - check out RADR (which now also supports Kuvo ecosystems as well)

Silly me for offtopic.

Rek_Aviles

04-16-2018, 08:22 PM

Umm... woah...

:lol:

I know this guy in person.. I've actually played a gig with him. He's also a very skilled software engineer, works for a major IT company these days I believe.

Small world. I came across a forum post that lead me to that link a while back.

South Rakkas Crew

04-24-2018, 08:14 AM

with Virtualdj software you can set this up where the ppl can send requests directly to the DJs program. https://www.virtualdj.com/manuals/virtualdj8/interface/database/askthedj.html

bigCcat

05-25-2018, 11:09 AM

Hu look at that, it's right in Virtual DJ!
At the bottom it also mentions adding a Twitter account.
Very cool.
Like mentioned before, I'm still not 100% sold on the idea, just thinking about it.

djdad1970

06-05-2018, 11:32 AM

How many times you had to interrupt your mix or miss the sweet mixing spot just to take a request from your customer/audience ? How many times you had to ask customer to repeat his request or even write that down for you ?
Well, that time is over. VirtualDJ has brought a unique feature for all DJs and makes request fun (and even profitable ;) )
Take a look here https://www.virtualdj.com/ask/setup.html

VirtualDJ -- AskTheDJ -- Alleluia

Alex Murphy

06-05-2018, 12:34 PM