Answers
The questions I actually get asked, answered straight. Including the ones other DJs would rather you didn’t know to ask.
Money and booking
- How much does a DJ cost in Los Angeles?
- Most wedding DJs in LA land between $1,200 and $3,500. Where you sit in that range comes down to hours, whether the venue has sound, and whether your DJ can also hold a microphone.
- I quote on a short call rather than from a menu, because the honest number depends on your room. Ask me and you'll have it the same day.
- What makes one DJ cost more than another?
- Hours, sound, and judgment. Gear is cheap now — what you're paying for is someone who has run a room when the timeline collapsed.
- Is a sound system included?
- Usually not, with anyone. Plenty of venues have house sound, so it's priced separately — always ask before you compare two quotes.
- It's the most common surprise on a DJ invoice anywhere in this city.
- Do you travel?
- Yes. No travel fee inside about 50 miles of Beverly Hills, and past that it's a line on your proposal rather than something buried in the price.
- I've worked Monte Carlo, Mont-Tremblant, Maui, Cabo, Nashville and Atlanta. Travel is a budget question, never a willingness one.
- How far ahead should I book?
- For a Saturday in peak season, six to twelve months. For a December corporate party, by October — the whole city wants the same four Saturdays.
The DJ and the microphone
- Do I need a DJ and an MC, or can one person do both?
- One person can, and it's usually better — the room hears one voice all night, and the music and the microphone are run by the same hands.
- It only works if your DJ is genuinely comfortable speaking. Ask them on the call to introduce your wedding party out loud. Ten seconds tells you.
- Do you MC as well as DJ?
- Yes, on every booking, at no extra cost. Announcements, the grand entrance, toasts, and keeping the timeline honest.
- When should I hire a separate host?
- When the programme is a genuine show — awards, a live auction, scripted segments — or when your DJ is honest enough to say speaking isn't their strength.
The night itself
- How do you run a wedding reception?
- A planning call, then a run sheet built with you and shared with your planner, then a night that follows the room instead of the clock.
- Setup and breakdown happen outside your contracted hours. You're paying for performance time, not for watching someone coil cables.
- What does a DJ actually do during the ceremony?
- During the ceremony your DJ is your technical director — processional cues, the officiant's microphone, the vow microphones, and a backup for each.
- It's the twenty minutes you can't redo, and beautiful venues are frequently terrible for audio. Stone courtyards create wireless dead zones. Outdoor sites often have no power anywhere near where you'll stand. Coastal wind turns a lavalier into noise. All of that gets solved before the day or not at all.
- What does “reading the room” actually mean?
- Watching the floor instead of the schedule. If the older guests are up and moving, you extend that block rather than cutting away because the sheet says so.
- It's also noticing the bride is stuck in photographs, and holding the big moment four minutes until she's free.
- What do you need from me before the day?
- Your must-plays, your absolutely-nots, and the moments that matter — entrance, first dance, anything you want announced.
- The do-not-play list is worth more than the must-plays. Every couple has three songs that would genuinely ruin it.
Corporate, music, and why me
- Do you do corporate events and holiday parties?
- Yes, and it's a large part of the year. Launches, summits, awards and holiday parties — DJ and MC, with wireless microphones included.
- The same year's calendar includes film premieres at the El Capitan Theatre and Downtown Disney, three days of D23 at the Honda Center, New Year's Eve at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Universal's eVe, the Ritz-Carlton Naples and the Langham Huntington.
- What music do you play?
- Open format. R&B and hip-hop at the core, and then whatever your room actually is — Afrobeats, Latin, soca, Persian, throwbacks, house.
- What should I ask any wedding DJ before booking?
- What happens if equipment fails, whether they MC and can prove it, what isn't included in the price, and whether they've worked your venue.
- “That's never happened to me” is the wrong answer to the first one. It happens. It's happened to me at a film premiere, where there's no option to pause.
- Why should I book you?
- Because weddings aren't all I do, which is exactly why I'm good at them. A DJ who has run a live show for a film studio has already survived anything a wedding can throw.
- 43 five-star reviews. And I'd rather tell you I'm not the right fit than sell you a night that doesn't suit you.
Ask me the rest
Tell me your date and your room. You’ll get a real number the same day, and an honest answer about whether I’m the right fit.
Check your date43five-star reviews · Los Angeles & worldwide