Hi-Life Entertainment

Tag: Bespoke DJ service

  • What is a bespoke DJ service?

    What is a bespoke DJ service?

    “Surely a DJ knows what is going to get the dance floor full. Why not leave it to them, after all they are the professionals?”

    Well, yes, they certainly do. The thing is when we have a private party, or a wedding there are several ties between the people attending that makes every event unique. These can be cultural, age related, musically diverse, or sometimes not any of those things. There is not a “typical” wedding or party these days. A DJ can work out a crowd over a period of time, but why not go in with some actual background & do some prep, before the event starts, so everything kicks off with a bang, instead of the DJ having to spend the early part playing some things that could quite likely alienate many of the guests for the rest of the evening?

    At Hi-Life Entertainment we have a music planner that asks clients a group of questions. “What do you want”, yes of course. “What don’t you want“? The answers to that question are far more helpful. Then there is drilling into details about music policy on the night, like requests, attitude to cheese / guilty pleasures, what they want the DJ to do on the mic, etc. (Usually the answer to that latter is a minimal approach to make necessary announcements, but otherwise keep the music running, but bespoke is… well bespoke, we roll with what you want).

    Being an agency, we have a wide variety of people on our books. Whilst all have a very wide scope in terms of their music knowledge, sometimes there is a client brief that ticks a box for one, over others. Having the music in advance, it avoids a square peg being put in a round hole. Instead you have someone who knows A LOT about what they are being asked to play.

    You only have to read our feedback from people who were expecting the standard mobile DJ offering, to be blown away that their night was better than they had dreamed of & their guests were talking about it for months after. Just Google us or visit us on FB, to see how both the process & delivery on the night actually worked out for our clients.

    Is it going to cost more?

    Well, yes, “Disco Dave” is out there. No contract, cash on the night, no questions asked. We have to pay high quality DJs a decent rate, provide great sound & lighting, PLI insurance of £10 million, pay our taxes & NI & comply with GDPR requirements regarding your data, including passwords, addresses, phone numbers, etc. This comes at a cost. The cost of a wedding or party these days is not cheap & ending the night, (the bit most people talk about), with a flat pancake in terms of entertainment is a poor choice. You pay to get a professional service, but you might be surprised that it is quite reasonable when you get a quote.

    Visit our contact link, or just drop me an email to mark@thehi-life.co.uk , giving me as much information as you can.

    Thanks for reading,

    Mark Hepworth, Hi-life Entertainment

  • Introducing DJ Rich Leuce

    Introducing DJ Rich Leuce

    I first met Rich on a camping weekend, with a number of other DJs from Hi-life Entertainment. It was the spring of 2021 & lockdown restrictions were starting to be lifted, but we were not at that stage able to play any indoor parties, so as a company, we were in a bit of a hiatus, waiting for the green light. The perfect time for a trip up to North Yorkshire for a camping expedition & thankfully the weather was glorious!

    I was impressed by his wide knowledge of music & was introduced to some of his music productions under the moniker “Leuce Rhythms”. Which are infectiously funky, breaks driven dance floor tracks.

    https://open.spotify.com/embed/artist/5gBvx4Roe451VNowslQZjA?utm_source=generator

    He was well known to fellow DJs on our roster, like Dan De Lissandri, Mel Low D & Chris Hall, who were all in attendance. We talked about the multi format DJ work we do for clubs & bars, but also about sets we play for weddings & parties, that are more bespoke and often more broad ranging. Rich seemed an ideal candidate to join our team, once we got the go ahead from Boris Johnson.

    He joined the team, as we resumed our DJing activities in August 2021. At the time we had over a hundred & fifty weddings & parties to reschedule, over the course of about 12 months. Sadly the main club venue we used to play every Friday & Saturday night had been a casualty of the lock down laws, so it was time to focus on the job ahead, in a slightly different landscape.

    In that time Rich has played pretty much every genre of music under the sun for us, from house, EDM, disco, R&B, garage, hip hop, pop, cheese, etc, right through to classic rock, pop punk, indie and on occasions metal.

    He’s based over in the York area, so has played regularly at York Barn, Villa Farm, but also at other venues, including the Hilton, Leeds City, Chilli Barn in Otley, Northorpe Hall in Mirfield, New Craven Hall in Leeds & many, many more. I recently played a silent disco with him, over at Bert’s Barrow, near Monk Fryston & the atmosphere was electrifying.

    If you are booking a wedding or party with us, Rich could well be one of the people that I recommend for his ability to build a set up over the course of the night, reading the crowd, but also sticking to the brief we have from our clients.

    Mark Hepworth, Hi-life Entertainment.