Although it’s seldom discussed, volume levels are important for your event, and are usually considered according to the part of your event, timeline, number of guests, acoustic considerations, neighboring events or actual neighbors, guest demographics (particularly ages), and more.
Often volume is subjective and based on your DJ’s experience and sensitivity to pleasing you and your guests, venue staff, your preferences, and occasionally a Decibel Meter is used to monitor volume. It’s usually a good practice to seat “older” (or those with hearing issues) guests away from the speakers as they tend to have more sensitivity to loud music and can affect the volume not being able to be set to a more adequate level to carry to other parts of your celebration. Let’s talk about these…
WEDDING CEREMONY: music is played at a softer yet audible volume, and since many ceremonies are outdoors (where sound travels less) it may have to be a little louder to carry over a certain distance yet not disturb neighbors or neighboring event nearby.
COCKTAIL HOUR: Usually the music is slightly louder than at a ceremony for example, but still soft enough so as to be able to carry on “normal conversation” without having to raise your voice to be heard over music that’s too loud. Again, a better DJ will cater to you and your guest’s wishes and check in with you and/or key point person(s) periodically re the volume levels.
RECEPTION (Pre Dinner): For weddings, the volume should be a little louder than Cocktail Hour, but not overpowering until later on for the Open Dancing part of your wedding/event. Exception being for the Grand Entrance where a certain volume level is usually necessary to generate the energy needed to welcome the bridal party, then a lil lower for formal dances. Some corporate events will also have moments where a slightly louder volume will be needed to similarly generate excitement (e.g. awards, key presentations, etc,) A service driven DJ will care about getting the volume just right for your reception. AFTER initial entrance and formal dances then a lower normal conversational volume level is called for for dinner/lunch(for afternoon events). Again, please, for reception DO NOT seat older guests or those with hearing issues near the speakers.
DINNER/LUNCH: Think of a restaurant background music sound system here. Music should be softer than Cocktail Hour yet audible so as to set the right vibe for your guests to talk while enjoying a great meal. Restaurant background music is just that background so as to create the right atmosphere
TRANSITION TO OPEN DANCING: Towards the tail end of dinner/lunch, volume can be increased little by little so as to build energy needed to “break the ice” of Open Dancing and also make the volume transition not as noticeable as if you just “turn up” all at once AFTER DINNER/LUNCH. A skilled DJ will also build the energy through music selection from your or our playlist by choosing some transitional tunes more upbeat than what they were listening to during the meal. This is seldom discussed yet very important to “setting up” your musical Main Course, Open Dancing…
OPEN DANCING: PARTY TIME!!!! It’s time to turn up!!! This is when the volume should be loud enough to generate energy without being too overpowering or distorting. your DJ will have better judgement and sensitivity to you and your guest’s preferences and care. DJ should also be mindful of any neighboring/adjacent events or actual neighbors for outdoor events.
Let us work with you and show how much we care about getting the music volumes and music PERFECT for your wedding or event. Contact me to chat 786-325-7696 or djajfalcon@gmail.com
