Event Services

DJ in Austin, on its own or blended with the band

Recorded music, run through the same PA the band plays on, by the same people. Book it on its own, or split the day: DJ through arrival and dinner, live band for the reception.

We run recorded music from a laptop through the band’s own PA and stage lighting, which is already set up hours before doors rather than being trucked in for the evening. It can be the whole event, or it can cover the parts of the day the live band is not playing.

Splitting the day between recorded and live

This is the version most people actually want once they hear it exists, and it solves a problem that otherwise costs two vendors.

A band is the wrong tool for arrival and dinner at most events. It is too loud, it is expensive per hour to have playing quietly, and it uses up the sets you want later. A DJ is the wrong tool for the moment you want three hundred people on a floor at ten o’clock. So people book both, from two companies, and then discover the handover is their problem.

Part of the day What usually works
Guests arrivingRecorded, at a volume people can talk over
CeremonyLive, because a processional cannot be timed in advance
Cocktail hourEither. Live acoustic if you want it to feel occupied
Dinner and speechesRecorded, or a soft live set
DancingLive
Late, after the band stopsRecorded, so the night does not end on a cliff

Booked as one thing, none of those transitions is a handover. Same system, same people, no gap while somebody swaps a cable and no second company to brief.

What the DJ setup actually is

Worth being straight about, because the word covers a lot of ground.

We run recorded music from a laptop through our own PA and lighting. We are not selling turntable technique, we are not beatmatching between tracks, and if what you want is a DJ whose performance is the mixing itself then hire a specialist, because that is a real craft and it is not ours.

What we are selling is everything around the music. The PA is a professional system that has been set up and checked hours earlier, not a pair of hired speakers on sticks. The lighting is ours. The person choosing the next song has spent decades watching Austin rooms decide whether to dance. Most recorded-music setups at private events sound thin because of the speakers, not the songs.

How the music gets chosen

  1. Send a must-play list and, more usefully, a do-not-play list.
  2. Tell us the moments that are fixed: entrance, first dance, parent dances, cake, last song.
  3. Everything between those is read live. A list built three weeks earlier does not know what the room is doing at 9:40.
  4. Guest requests: tell us whether you want them taken at all. Both answers are fine, but decide beforehand.

DJ on its own

You do not have to book the band. If the event wants recorded music only, that is a booking on its own terms, and the PA and lighting come with it exactly the same way.

Where the band is worth the difference, and where it is not, is worked through honestly in what a wedding band costs. On published national figures a DJ averages $1,000 against a band at $2,050, and plenty of weddings are better served by the DJ.

What we need to quote

  1. Date, venue, and the hours you want music.
  2. Which parts of the day you want live and which recorded.
  3. Whether the venue has production or we are bringing all of it.
  4. When we can load in, because the early PA is most of the value.

For the announcements that sit on top of all this, see Master of Ceremony (MC). For the full live offering, see wedding music services.

Common questions

Can we have a DJ for dinner and the band for the reception?

Yes, and it is the arrangement most people want once they know it exists. Recorded music covers arrival, dinner and the late part of the night, and the band plays the reception. Booked as one thing it is the same PA and the same people throughout, so none of those transitions is a handover between two companies.

What does your DJ setup consist of?

Recorded music run from a laptop through the band's own PA and stage lighting, set up hours before doors. We are not selling turntable technique or beatmatching. If you want a DJ whose performance is the mixing itself, hire a specialist. What we offer is a professional system, our own lighting, and someone choosing songs who has spent decades watching Austin rooms decide whether to dance.

Can we book the DJ without the band?

Yes. If the event wants recorded music only, that is a booking on its own terms and the PA and lighting come with it the same way. On published national figures a DJ averages $1,000 against a band at $2,050, and plenty of weddings are better served by the DJ.

Tell us which parts of the day you want live.

Book the Band