Band vs DJ with Clint Wiley

I have Clint Wiley of Clint Wiley Entertainment with me who is a band leader and owns an entertainment company that includes DJs and fusion bands. He's going to chat with me about what makes a band or DJ right for your wedding, Clint began performing at private events and weddings in 2008. He created the company after seeing how difficult it was to find fresh, high energy bands that could get everyone on the dance floor. while still being reliable and professional. On and off the stage. He's learned the importance of giving clients options and versatility, which includes his award winning band, none other and stereophonic DJs. Over the past 10 years, Clint has put together an entertainment experience that touches lives from literally all over the world. With over 2000 events and counting, Clint looks forward to continually raising the bar. I know you're going to especially love this episode, if you love the idea of a band, but maybe not the cost of it. Or if you don't really know if there's such thing as a great DJ, I promise you that there are in the episode, we'll also talk about what to look out for when hiring a band. And we'll also talk about the different kinds of DJs that are available to you out there. Let's go ahead and get started with this interview with Clint.

So I came to Clint, specifically you guys, because I've known him for a very long time. He's absolutely a master of both of these things. And he's really probably one of the very few people in the country that I feel like, knows the ins and outs of DJing and musicianship, having a band all the things because he owns those businesses, and he started them from scratch. I just don't know anyone else that really has as much knowledge as you do about both subjects, which is great. Let's start with the benefits to a DJ versus a band.

The first obvious difference is budget. You know, you're gonna save a lot of money with a DJ compared to a band 99% of the time. Then you're also going to look at the difference between the energy that a band is going to give you in that reception as compared to just one DJ, there behind the DJ booth. It's a huge difference. The way that I liken it to is kind of like, you know, you have a favorite song. And when you listen in listening to it in your car, in your jam, and in your car, and you sing, and you have a great time, but you pay $130 to go see somebody in concert. It's entirely like that song is then something else in the energy there. That's how I liken a DJ to the band, you have a great time that song in your car, or at your house while you're cleaning up your butt. When you're at a concert. It's like a whole new level.

Generally, I would say live here seeing a live a live band is much better than the experience in your car, but there are instances where clients don’t like the differences or creativity a live band may take from the original performer. Overall, you pay more, but it’s more than just downloading it from iTunes or whatever, you're not spending any cost, you still enjoy both, you still enjoy both.

What are some of the other pros to a band versus a DJ, the pros to having a band over a DJ? Other than cost and energy level, it does depend on what kind of vibe you want for your wedding. If you like something for your guests and what kind of party their looking to have, it is important to consider a DJ with a vibe that is hard to replicate like DJ Khaled or Pit Bull.

If you really feel strongly about having just a ton of modern songs, especially hip hop, pretty much everything on the radio today, your hearing was recorded, engineered in a studio with keyboards and drum machines. If you want that exact sound, that impact that's your thing, you you go to the clubs, you enjoy that all your friends enjoy that. That's the vibe, you want a lot of modern music thing. So let's say the past five to 10 years, I personally think you're going to be much happier with a DJ. I couldn't agree with you more. Again, you’re considering the kind of part you want and the vibe for the evening. This might be the reason to have both, even if you're having the kind of wedding that let's say, you're having a nice cocktail hour outside, and then you're having more of a dinner parties style reception. And then perhaps moving into another room, it's more like have a like a dance party, it's part of the night, you might want to consider at that point, two different things and have a DJ for a portion of it and live for the other part. 

I think that what a lot of people need to realize when they're thinking and envisioning the success of their wedding reception, is that maybe your experiences when you've heard a DJ at a, at a nightclub? That might not be a good fit, if you're expecting a bunch of friends and families of all ages attending your wedding. So you'll be on the dance floor at 130 in the morning at some club on a on a Thursday night. And the places going insane for you know, the new fill in the blank, you know, song, and they're going to be like, Oh my god, I want that. I definitely want that song played at my wedding. The places Yeah, nuts. And it's a completely different demo. It's your wedding.

It’s a good point to consider the ages of your wedding, because that will help decide how the evening may go. If you have most of your friends that like the same kind of music as you - you’ll likely want to party late into the night or if you’re going to have an after party. When you want to do a after party or after blow, and you have a DJ, they're playing all of those songs. I've seen that work incredibly well. Because I feel like if you've got a wedding reception, and it's all ages there, honestly the classics are what really packed that dance floor with everybody from ages, you know, 14 to 280 Yeah, like that. The classics. But as the night goes on, and now the majority of your guests are, you know, in their 20s and 30s well then that DJ music is probably going to work a lot better. So that that would be another thing to think of.

Another thing to think about in advance is the amount of space they have in the room. I know that's like, I hate to say sometimes it's going to come down to something like that. But if you're locked into a venue, and you have a limited amount of space, a band might not fit, right? I hate to be like Debbie Downer on that. But there's going to be times where a DJs it really needs to be worth that. Or maybe a fusion band, where you have a DJ that has some live element, just like another musician. 

I'd say a fusion DJ fusion type of situation where you have different live musicians playing along with the DJ. And that, you know, there are options out there where you can have a DJ with a drummer, which is where it all started. I think that's sort of like 15 years ago, Travis Barker, the drummer from Blink 182, started touring, started touring the country with a DJ, and it became very, very popular. And then that kind of spread into the wedding world. And you started having drummers with DJs. And then you can have a, you know, like a percussionist playing bongos and congas and a drummer. And then it can also go up into having, you know, a horn section, things like that. So that is another option. And it's, it's at a lower generally at a lower budget than having a full band. Yeah. And yet, you're still getting that live band feel. And it's a it's a smaller footprint in the room. So there's a lot of those are a lot of good positive reasons.

I would say from my experience 95% of all weddings that are, I would say 75 people or less always go with a DJ. Now, from my experience. My band probably does maybe three weddings a year where it's between 50 and 75 people, but most of the weddings we do are usually about 125 to 300. They choose between a seven to ten piece band. There are bands out there clearly, that are three, four or five, six pieces. I've seen up to 18 pieces. So you know, that's something to consider.

Let’s stop and talk about the size of the band for a minute. So a standard band is what pieces standard band is seven pieces. Okay? And that will be in the case of my band that gives you a male vocal and a female vocal, which I strongly advise doing if you're going to hire a live band, you meet by an alto and I will tell you why I suggest that to everyone because if you want to have the most available in your playlist, you need a guide to sing guy songs and a girl to sing girls right? Like you immediately cut out the song some of the songs that you have to hear if there's no girl. Then you have a guitar player, bass player, and then we have a keyboardist that also plays sax and a key and another key in another keyboardist that plays trumpet, and, and a drummer. And so when we have those musicians in particular, let's say we're doing for example, let's say you have an 80 song, and you have a couple different 80s keyboards playing it's like a new wave. So I'm like, Spin Me Round. Or take on make something like that. You're gonna have those two keyboards, if you want to have some like Motown kind of sounding stuff, some 60s music, maybe some of that 70s music. It's nice to have some horn hits. So it's really cool when you hear that trumpet and that sax and it just sounds legit. We found that seven piece is the smallest that we can go in order to play those songs. So when you're looking for a band, if you want those, you know, if you want that legit 60s and 70s horn section sound you know, keep that in mind. Keep that in mind. And then also with the male and female singer, and then going, I guess if I can go even deeper into that, you know, there's some bands that didn't expand. You could have three female singers and two males.

And I feel like if you're really like, if you're a big fan of, say, like Broadway musicals Glee, like you like that, those harmonies, sections, those big harmonies that those groups are going to do that, they're going to give you that sound, they're gonna give that big sound to where maybe if you heard the original version of journey, don't stop believing it's one person who's saying it. But if you hear some of these bands, you're going to hear like a three part harmony. Now, what I found is couples either love that, or they really don't like it. And they want to hear it sound closer to the original version. Neither neither is wrong. They're both great.

Another thing that comes up with DJs, is the requests they ask for. I think DJs are easier to put in those last minute requests. You could ask a DJ, “ Can you play Elton John, right now?” But that's not something a band can usually easily just switch to. Clint said that they don't even take audible requests anymore, because we're singing or moving around on the stage, the band's playing, we don't have time to stop and have a conversation in the middle of a song with someone. So we always just say, you know, we just make the little sign of write down a piece of paper, just write it down and throw it up there. And then if we know it, or we know a song that's really similar to that, you know, we'll do our best, obviously, with the DJ, DJ and a song he can lean over. Okay, you want to hear this? No problem, I'll have a play in the next, you know, 15 minutes or whatever. So that is another side of DJs. That is really good.

Another thing a good DJ or band can do is read the room. They start to figure out within the first couple years of working at weddings that okay, if I do this song, you know, if I do, if I do Jackson Five, and people are really into it, there's a pretty good chance that I can do some temptations, maybe some Supremes and that feel and it's going to work together. You don't want to go all it's Yeah, you don't want to go all over the place. You don't want to have a bite of your salad, and then go in and take a bite of your dessert. And then have a fry, and then one body of steak and then back this or it doesn't. It's not good. It doesn't work. That's such a good analogy plan. I love that. I absolutely love that. Yeah. Dessert and salad don't go together. 

At the beginning of the night, as soon as the guests are finishing up dinner. First of all, if the older people are going to be dancing, it's usually going to be in the first 30 to 45 minutes after they finish dinner. Right? And you might want to get the selections and that they're going to connect with right. They're really they really gonna enjoy and the funny thing is, this is something really interesting too. I think it's because of maybe like Pixar movies. In, like Marvel movies and things like that, but there's quite a few really great 60s and 70s songs and 80 songs now that even like, eight year olds know all the words to. We started doing some songs and you can get every person at all ages out on the dance floor and that's what you want, especially the first hour of the night after everyone's had their meal. You know, if older people want to, you know, dance for 30 or 45 minutes, or maybe even an hour or so. And then they're kind of just want to sit back and just kind of enjoy the joy conversations and just kind of watch the band and have a good time. That way, that's fine. But you really, really want to make sure that, um, you know, Aunt Sally and Uncle Remus and whoever's ready, you know, to get get on the dance floor and start dancing as soon as they're finished with their dinner, because they're not going to want to dance two hours later.

How should the length of the wedding factor in, like what if you are planning on having a six hour reception? Now typical, I will say is three or four from the reception that's following cocktail hour, that is kind of standard. It's about four, when you say Clint, more often than not, four is the that's the rule that generally you're talking about. For us, I do think that three hours is a good time length, if it's going to be a really intimate wedding, if you're talking about 25 to 50 people, okay, three hours might be really good. But four hours is generally the rule. This is what I think I think you want your guests at the end of the nigh say, you know, this is the last dance of the night. You want your guests saying, Oh, I can't believe it's already over? Yes, you do not want to extend it to five hours. And then the last hour, you see your guests glancing at their watches, leaning into each other should sort of leave or you know, I don't want to be rude. I mean, it came all the way here. You don't want to put your guests in that position. So I would generally, I would say that four hours is it just seems like for introductions, toasts, special dances, dinner, and dancing for hours just seems to be really, really good. When you're talking about, you know, 75 to, you know, 150 guests. And then there's a lot of bands out there and they have no problem and extending.

If you plan on four hours, you're like, you know what, I really want to go four and a half or five hours, a lot of bands, at least have no problem doing that. And but some do have a problem with extending and it is harder on them to perform at the same level. Which leads me to my why this might be better a reason to go DJ, if you are planning your planning from the get go to do a six hour where you have a good late night after. Yeah, regular, you know, that might be a very good reason to go DJ throughout. Because they're DJs not gonna get tired out. It's not the same thing. Yeah, so and you had mentioned when you when you were originally speaking about the, the after party DJ, of you know, perhaps they're like in another room. That is really, really good. I highly suggest couples considering getting other room, even if it's going to increase their budget to get like a small area for them to have, you know, 50 guests in there or whatnot. I can tell you that I personally have. One of the most challenging things I've dealt with the past couple of years is where a couple says we want the band to finish. And then on the other side of the ballroom, we want to have a DJ. But then the band is not going to want to sit around for an hour two hours when they're gonna have to set to set down their stuff. So now suddenly, the band is like we finished our job and now the DJs doing their job.

Imagine a ballroom and you have this big awesome band on a stage and the dance floor in the center. And your everyone stands and listen to the band. And then you know, bands like okay, that's the last one let's do Journey or you know, whatever song What song was the last song almost always Don't Stop. Because I believe in Yeah, everyone loves. I mean, everyone loves it. When the guests get more excited, we get more excited. Then, the band is done and you turn around and there is a DJ on the other side. It can be challenging if you don’t move rooms, because the band has to breakdown and it can be messy and ugly. If you can wrap the stage in draping, then you can hide what is going on back there, but otherwise it’s better to move rooms for an after party with a DJ. Moving them into a new room can be like a second wind - another awesome experience. It’s new and fresh and different.

So we've talked about costs. We've the difference between the two. And we've talked about the feasibility of like, last minute requests and things like that. Oh, one thing we didn't talk about is when you do choreographed first dance, let's talk about that for a second. It's not necessarily this or that. But if you're having a choreographed dance, and you have a band view, let's talk about both. If you're a DJ, it's kind of easy. You get a mix of the song, and you provide it to the DJ. So if you’re going to have a special first dance, you want the exact version and tempo you are going to practice to for your dance. In that case, you want A DJ.

A lot of times we say, send us the exact mp3 of the version that maybe was put together by your dance instructor. Yeah. And then we'll make sure that, you know, we have that. So that's what the DJs are able to do for you with if you're going to have a band, there is something I think, you know, pretty cool about having your first dance done by a full band. But you got to make sure that the band's knows what they're doing. For instance, when I mentioned tempo, okay, another word for that is BPM, which is beats per minute. And you have to understand that a lot of bands out there, they don't know how to follow the right speed. And they will play a song much faster, it's almost, it's never slower. It's always waiting. They'll play it way faster than the original version, unless they have a drummer who, for instance, has what's called a BPM meter. And he looks over, he makes sure that he's keeping the right speed. For example, anybody look up, Blink 182, all the small things, listen to the original version, and then YouTube them in concert doing it and you'll find it's like 30% faster. That's just what bands do. They just play a lot faster. So and you're going to be very nervous during your first day. You practice this thing you want to write, and all of a sudden, you are playing on this thing being 25% faster. So that's something to consider. Like, if you're gonna speak with a band, you know, you need to say, and I wanted this exact way I want verse chorus, verse chorus, and then I want you to end it on that second chorus, and I want it to be exactly 92 beats per minute. Cuz that's what we're practicing it to. But yeah, be very specific. Don't assume anything when you're with a band that hasn't been incredibly experienced, like I and I will say from experience and several times.

We had a couple talk to you, Clint, beforehand and it was so absolutely perfect that I know that not every band could have pulled it off, I just there, there's bands, I would have been like, no, we're not doing it. Get something from your choreographer and have the band play it off the iPod or something. But here's the thing, if you've got a band there, you really want to take advantage of them. You know, so if there's any opportunity if you've got a really, really great band, and not one that and this is good question to ask when people are looking for bands, you want a band that has the same members all the time. It's a huge, huge sticking point. A lot of bands pull people from different places to put them together for your wedding. And they're all talented musicians, but they may not consistently play together. And it can really bring out a lot of issues, especially like with just those little details that you talked about Clint. So if you're of the, if you're the type that wants to have a band, and you bring them for that atmosphere that you love the look of interest, you know how traditional it is to have a wedding band, and you want to have your first dance with the band. I mean, I'm all for it. But it's you've got to have a very, very experienced band to pull that off. or have them play it on iPod or iPod. Yeah.

 
You said iPod? is really yeah, it's just gonna be hard. Um, yeah. So you, you definitely want a band that's been together for a long time, you know, obviously, a band that's been together for, you know, five to 10 years is going to be a lot more seasoned than some band that's been together for a year or two. But that's a really good point about making sure that the band is an actual real band. I can tell you, yeah, no, no team is going to the World Series if their players switch out every, every week or every month.

 Yeah, all of them have in common. So yeah, there are you know, there are, you know, I without saying the names, there are certain bands all over the country that are run by, you know, companies, and it's kind of a, it's kind of a Craigslist, where they offer you a band, and then they will send out, you know, emails to different musicians that live in your area within a couple hours and say, Are you available for this wedding? And they'll kind of put a team together for you? I would say that's a really bad idea.

And I would say I tell some couples Listen, you know, if you really are budget conscious on your music, I would highly suggest having a good DJ, as opposed to a bad band.

And I speak to couples and I can tell they really have their heart set on a band, but they have a budget that's a lot more conducive to finding a good DJ. And I will tell them and I have said this on, on the phone, I've said, you know, it's it's your big day and do what you want. But with that kind of budget, I think you're going to be much much happier. At the end of your wedding day if you hired a DJ, because I don't know a band in that price range that is going to make you happy.

We can find there are some really phenomenal DJs out there who really bring it. I love my bands and I also love my DJs there's the and there's things about both that you just have to like find the expertise on in lean into that or not a great emcee either. That's some DJs talk just a little bit or way too much. And are very much entertainers and maybe those are not always the right fit for your wedding again, like if you're having a dinner party style wedding, you do not need that DJ who's an entertainer, you need the dinner party style DJ, which is so much more calm is very eloquent on the microphone and speaks when needs to speak.

There are weddings that are going towards the ‘electric slide’ kinda feel and that’s their vibe. We want to get you those DJs specifically for that. But again, I think it all comes down to when no matter what is going on, whether it's DJ who can play a song, DJ, DJ that is more like a club DJ or deciding about a band, money is going to be a huge factor. At the same time, you really have to put on your priority, if you're going to have you know, if you're cut, you know, by your spending plan, go for the best DJ that you can get, who offers the most. And oh, can we just say talk about this for a second. A lot of DJs also offer other things with their music, playing skills, lights and the smoke what's the smoke called Clint pays you to see co2 and, and things like that. So take that into account, like when you're looking at the numbers there to see if that's what's bringing you over like a certain cost and if those things are necessary, and but lighting is a is also another thing that some bands do bring lighting, and some bands have nothing to do it with it. They're all about the musicianship. And so that's an additional costs that you might have to consider as well. But oh, also time that not just with your wedding, but how much time your venue allows for installation and strike. So depending on how large your band is, it may take them two hours to set up. And then they need an hour of soundcheck. And the larger the band, the longer it takes to set up. And some bands come with the sound engineer. Another thing to consider is that your band is there for four to six hours, just from play time to end. They're there for two to three hours, at least beforehand, they need to be fed. So if you've got, you know, eight of them versus a single DJ, that's just another cost that you need to consider when you're meeting them at the end of the night. So just to put all of those things onto the table for reasons to pick one or the other.

 I've heard of some bands where they're, they're great, but they don't want to talk on the microphone, which is weird, but they're fine singing but they feel awkward talking. They spend years playing their instruments, but yet they're not really comfortable grabbing the microphone and make an announcement or, you know, last minute, oh, we just had to do the cutting cake right now please announce it. And they're just like fumbling, whereas a DJ that does this all the time is very comfortable emceeing. It is worth considering if you’re leaning more towards a band, make sure that they provide an emcee or that somebody in the band is an emcee. And if you're able to get any recording of this, we now live in an age where every DJ in every band is surrounded by iPhones. And so there should be plenty. And if any band or DJ is not able to show you any live footage, that could be a red flag. I will go back to when you're talking about DJs you know, the different schools like I refer to one style of DJ as being more of like a like a Ryan Seacrest works in more of a straight delivery, to where they're more about picking the right songs making making the selections reading the room, as opposed to being on the microphone during the night. And if they do make any announcements they might say, you know, ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we're gonna have a toast from the Father of the Bride. But that's one school. That's more like the Ryan Seacrest American Idol, you know, kind of delivery, but then you've got your cruise line DJ.

And the thing is, is some people, some people go on a cruise, and there's a DJ there and he's jumping on the dance floor and he's bringing people in and he's doing the line dances, and he's playing some games and he's on the microphone. He's asking people questions and if you If you're on that cruise, and you are watching DJ and you're just having the time of your life, and you feel like your guests are going to get into that, then that would be the kind of vibe you're going to want to look for. If you are on a cruise, and when you see that guy come out, you start to cringe and run for the bar. And you just can't watch it. Man you made sure you don't want that guy because when it comes down to the cutting the cake, the secret guy goes at this time we're gonna have the cutting of the cake. The Cruise Line DJ guy goes, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Okay. Now, I just said that anyone who I'm hungry for cake too. If you just cringed, vote could be.

And more questions is to ask in general, you know, that maybe they weren't thinking about before when it is like even just the different types of DJs. And whether they're entertainers or MCs. I guess, one more thing, and you were bringing up things that they can bring, like lighting. Definitely, I would never ever consider getting a band or a DJ unless they have adequate lighting for the dance floor area. If it is going to be a DJ, the most important thing is that there's lighting on the dance floor, if it's a band you want on the dance floor, but you also want it on the actual members because you want to see them. I can tell you, I have been in resorts and walked down to another ballroom and seen a band in the room. I couldn't see anybody on the stage. They had all there was no, they didn't have a light show.

And look, if you go and see you know, Alicia Keys or whoever you're going to go see the light show is part of the show. Yeah. That's literally part of the experience and imagine going and seeing Rhianna and there's, there's some guy with a flashlight in the corner holding it up. So that's another thing to think about. I have seen some of the DJs going into the the DJ world will bring like screens. Couples need to think about that, and see if they like that option. Because some people, they just want to have some lights on the dance floor. Other people like that idea of the screens. Some people feel like having screens with videos playing is too much of a of a feel of is you know, say like a sports bar. We have TVs, you know, playing and some people do not like that. But we're like after party in a separate room.

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