What Is Actually Included in a DJ Package (and What Usually Is Not)

"Package" is the least standardised word in event entertainment. One DJ's package is a laptop, a speaker on a stand and four hours of playing. Another's is a truck, a crew and a lighting rig. Both will call it a package and quote it as a single number, which is why two quotes for the same party can be far apart and still be describing different things. This post lists what is inside ours, what is an add-on and why, and what no DJ package includes no matter who you book.

What is inside every package

All three of our packages, from the Corporate Mixer at $2,500 to the Corporate Premier at $4,500, share the same base. The difference between them is the amount of preparation and cue work the event needs, not the equipment list. The base is:

• Up to four hours of DJ performance. These are music hours. The clock starts when the first guest hears something, not when we reach the dock.
• Event-specific music preparation. Not a saved playlist with your company name typed on it. A set built around the room's age range, the program, your do-not-play list, and the tone of the company, which for a law firm and a sneaker brand are not the same.
• Setup and breakdown. About 90 minutes to two hours from reaching the room to a finished sound check, and roughly an hour out at the end. Neither is billed against the four hours.
• Sound scaled to the room. Speakers, stands, a subwoofer where the room and the program call for it, and the cabling to put them where they belong rather than where the outlet happens to be. Coverage is confirmed against the venue before the date. If the venue requires its house system, we patch into it.
• Wireless microphones and light mic work. Handhelds for speeches, toasts and awards; a sound check on them before doors; and the announcements that keep an event moving: welcoming people in, calling the room to dinner, introducing a speaker, opening the floor.
• Backup equipment on site. A spare controller, mixer, cabling and microphone, and music on local drives rather than streamed over whatever Wi-Fi the venue has that night.
• A planning call and a timeline, coordinated with your planner, the venue and the AV team if there is one.
• A certificate of insurance issued to your venue at no charge, with the additional-insured wording the venue specifies.

One item on that list that people rarely ask about and should: the spare microphone. A wireless handheld that has sat on a table through cocktail hour, switched on because someone tested it at five, is the microphone that dies during the CEO's second sentence. We put fresh batteries in at doors and keep a second handheld switched on and checked, so a failure is a hand-off rather than a pause while somebody finds the battery drawer.

What is an add-on, and why

An add-on is something that depends on your venue or your timeline rather than on the type of event. Building them into every package would mean charging a 40-person dinner for a second room it does not have. Ours are:

• Extended Hours, billed by the hour, when the event runs past four. Decided in advance, or on the night if the venue's curfew allows it and whoever signs off is in the room.
• Cocktail Hour Coverage, for a reception that happens before the main event's clock starts, sometimes in a different space.
• Second Sound Zone. A speaker feed into a second area, such as a terrace or a lounge, so the music carries there at a lower level. It is a feed from one booth, not a second DJ, and it works for background music, not for two dance floors.
• Early Setup / Idle Time. Common in Manhattan. If the building's freight elevator closes at four and doors are at seven, we are in the room by three and waiting, and those hours are real.
• Additional Microphones, beyond what the program needs. Four speakers in sequence share two handhelds without trouble. A five-person panel that needs to be live at once does not.
• Lighting. Small Venue Lighting from $450, Room Up-Lighting quoted per room, Intelligent Moving Heads quoted per event. Never inside the base price, because a bright daytime room needs none of it and a dark ballroom with a floor needs a fair amount.

The house-system question sits between the two lists. A hotel ballroom's ceiling speakers will carry dinner music and a toast well enough; they were installed for announcements and they do that job. They were not installed for dancing, and there is a point around 9:30 when a room finds that out. Whether we bring floor sound in addition to the house system is something we settle with the venue before the quote, not a surprise on the invoice.

What no DJ package includes

There is a list of things that are not in any DJ package, ours or anyone's, and it is worth knowing before a venue or a manager asks you why the DJ did not bring them.

• Staging, risers, trussing, rentals or full production. A production company does this. We work alongside them and tell them what we need.
• Screens, projection and video playback. That is the AV team's. We handle the audio hand-off so a video's sound comes through the room properly.
• Event planning or day-of coordination. We take cues from a planner. We are not the planner.
• Full MC or hosting. Introductions, announcements and cues are ours. Running games, warming up a crowd, holding the room through forty minutes of awards banter is an emcee's job. If your event needs one, hire one; we work well alongside them. The line is drawn in more detail in light mic work versus a full MC.
• Photo booths, live musicians, décor and permits. Different vendors, and for permits, usually your production company or the venue.

Some DJs bundle a photo booth or up-lighting into a "package" and the price reflects it. That is a fair thing to sell. It just means that when you compare quotes, you need to pull the photo booth out before you can see what the DJ portion costs.

Questions to ask about any DJ package

Whichever DJ you are talking to, these five questions separate a described package from a real one:

1. Do the hours start at load-in or at the first song? A "five-hour package" that starts at load-in is three hours of music.
2. Is sound included, and is it sized to my room or a fixed kit? Ask what changes if the venue requires its house system.
3. How many wireless microphones are in the price, and what does one more cost?
4. What is on site as backup, and is the music local or streamed?
5. Will you issue a certificate of insurance to my venue, and is there a charge for it?

A DJ who answers those in a sentence each has done this before. A DJ who answers with "we handle everything" has told you nothing yet. Our answers are on the pricing page, and the general ones are in the FAQ.

What to send us

The date, the venue and a rough headcount. If you know the program, the number of people speaking and whether there is a second space, send that too; it is what turns a package into a quote. Use the contact page or call (201) 705-3139. We reply within 24 hours.