“Nightclubs” with an Indentity Crisis

Recently I have been in talks with numerous nightspots to DJ a night, and I felt the need to address one issue.  There are lot of so called “clubs”, especially here in the Chicago area, with an identity crisis.  It is completely fine to hire a DJ if you want to have music at your establishment, but if you sell alcohol and you expect your DJ or promoter to bring a crowd in, there are a few key things that shouldn’t be overlooked.

1. Don’t try and do TOO much

If I can’t walk through the door and figure out immediately that you are a nightclub, then guess what, you’re not!  There should be nothing competing for attention of the music.  If you are a nightclub your main attraction should be the type of experience you can provide for the club goer, and for the most part that means great music, good drinks and an atmosphere that they cannot get anywhere else.

• If you serve food during the day, and then clear tables out for a place to dance at night, you are not a nightclub, you’re a restaurant with an indentity crisis.
• If you have sportscenter on every TV in the place, but a DJ is still playing while nobody dances, you are not a nightclub, you’re just pissing off the people who actually want to watch sportscenter.
• If you charge a $20 cover, and $12 for a drink, but you have no atmosphere to offer your customers.  Congratulations, you just raped everyone who came through the door, not only do they think your establishment is superficial and expensive, they will not return, ever, and they also think you don’t know how to invest your money back into your establishment.

2. A well defined, warm and inviting dance floor

Nothing is worse than walking into a club packed with wallflowers.  Getting people to dance takes alcohol and/or mood-lighting.  Your dancefloor should be dark or dimly lit.  Nobody wants to dance in the middle of a grocery store aisle.  Invest in some subfloor lighting, backdrops with warm hues of red and orange and softer greens tend to make the dance floor a welcoming spot.

3. Invest in a sound and lighting system that will blow your customers away

Even though I like loud, and loud is good, I’m not talking about loud here.  Loud will do you no good if it lacks quality.  If all I can hear is bass, and the voices are garbled, your music sucks.  Invest in a high quality sound system like JBL or Cerwin Vega, while a bit more expensive then the cheaper known brands, this system will last you and your perfomers will thank you for it.  Make sure you hire a good sound engineer when it’s installed to properly “level fix” the system.  If you have no control over your peak levels, don’t expect your DJ’s to either.  While most of us know how to line balance for peak levels, the better part of our performance is spent not worrying about blowing a speaker.

It also doesn’t hurt to have a non-pretentious, friendly staff.  Nobody wants to have to argue with a bouncer to get through the door.  Nobody likes to feel degraded either.  If you’re more concerened about the “image” your business portrays than customers who are spending money, your business will ultimately fail.  I dont care if you have 3 eyes, 2 limbs, no hair, and you’re with your wheelchair ridden, adult diaper wearing step father, if you’re spending money at the door, and at the bar, and you’re not harassing other customers, you can stay.

The bottom line is that, if you’re a nightclub, be a nightclub…not a restaurant, sports bar or bowling alley.

DJ Meltdown is a 16 year veteran club DJ who has performed at many venues on the east coast and throughout Illinois, for booking please use the form located here.

1 Comment

• Olè Lounge - Double Booked then Ejected | DJ Meltdown December 15, 2009 at 11:54 am

  [...] Do you still serve food? Are you a restaurant with an identity crisis [...]