Good post Steve... like anything else your HAVE TO WORK HARD for what your dream is ... and since I added the versatility of DJ'ing services to my live performing services things are getting diversely more profitable in many ways as many DJ gigs bring 3x-4x more,........
good luck to you buddy!

I didn't mean for my post to sound hostile, just explaining that I like what I do for a living, and the way I do it, at least most of the time, and very few people can say that!
Time to warm up for my tee time. Shouldn't be too hard as the the temperature will reach 100 this afternoon.
I have to play golf because it's too hot to fish.
DonM

Me neither, and I don't think it did, but then we never know how the 'typed' word is going to be interpreted ...




As to who I would hire for a wedding, it would depend on the audience ... If I at age 71 were getting re-married OR celebrating my 50th wedding anniversary as we will next year, I would be well satisfied with a duo or trio that would be able to perform the type of music WE like - some light jazz and bossa novas during cocktails, some of the same and standards from the Great American Song book during dinner, some dance music from the 50s through the 80s after dinner ... and I KNOW a group that could do that ...
I also know that there are arranger players on this forum who could do this ... perhaps using some backing tracks for some of the dance stuff, but they would do a very fine job ...
If someone in their 30s is getting married, they will opt for a DJ because everything HAS to sound like the record, so why not play the record ... ...
Of course in the greater NY area you can find 8 to 10 piece BANDS that can actually do this, but you are going to pay upwards of $10,000 for the night ...

As for who is the more legitimate musician, IMHO, I don't consider a DJ a musician ... now he/she MAY be one - like Donny - but while spinning records or whatever, I don't think so ...

So once, again, due to my age, background, personal tastes, etc., for ME it would be live music - even if backing tracks are ADDED - over DJ 99% of the time ...

Some people like the subtle taste of Vanilla, some like the 'wildness of Rocky Road ... ME? ... I'm somewhere in the Butter Pecan/Pistachio area ...

Now if I am going out for a night of listening to music, my first choice is going to be live jazz ... but I would NOT walk out on a performer playing and singing with an arranger ... after all, that's what I do ... and enough people have told me they really enjoy it ...

I am starting to see some fairly major jazz (or at least smooth jazz) artists occasionally playing to tracks, and many of their albums, while not necessarily in the abyss of stock arranger use, don't honestly sound like they sat down with a bunch of real musicians and jammed...

I think we beat ourselves up too much about 'arranger vs. musician' polemics. You do what you WANT to do, either economically, artistically, or, as in the case of some of the smooth jazzers (who could put a real band together if they really WANTED to have the extra expense), both! And what you want to do is influenced by many factors. Some of which involve putting meat on the table, or not playing to empty rooms.

So you take what YOU would prefer, and then figure out if you can afford to do it! If not, you end up doing some things that, if you were Oscar Peterson and had an unlimited budget paid for by your record company, you might NOT. Big deal. This is the real world.

But... when we come to a site like this, for MUSICIANS that use arrangers, we spend way too much of our time defending our compromises, instead of concentrating on MUSIC, musicianship, and co-operative help and self-help, criticism (yes, there's a place for it in a sequestered venue like this... we aren't out in public airing our dirty laundry!). I can assure you, most forums for synth players spend virtually NO TIME AT ALL discussing how many gigs they did that week or whether they DJ'd at it to make sure they got the gig they wouldn't have if it was only down to their playing.

Somehow, all these guys want to talk about is synths, and how to use them, mod them, improve them, show of a trick they learned, discuss how some of the chart toppers used this synth or that synth, etc.. Why do only we beat ourselves up about what you have to do to make money, on a forum that ISN'T the 'Professional NH Performer' forum, or the "Dept. Store Background Musician' forum or the 'Pizza Hut Performer' forum?

I'd be a lot happier here if WORK wasn't discussed AT ALL. It seems to be so divisive, and honestly doesn't have a lot to do with music. Compromise is the center of any performing arts scene. Everyone from Mozart to Nat King Cole to Madonna have made compromises between what they would have PREFERRED to do and what they needed to do for their careers. And anyone that is saying otherwise here isn't really making a living playing music. Probably they are retired, have other jobs, whatever...

Let's just stick to music...

I know a builder in my neighborhood that has been building crappy houses for 40 years. Few are still standing and the ones that are I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. But he's made a decent living at it so I guess you'd have to call him a 'Pro'.

Whenever someone ends a post in what is supposed to be an open discussion with "end of story", that tells me that they are not interested in anyone's opinion but their own and that their view on the subject is the one and only gospel. Donny, trust me on this; not everybody wishes they were you. Nor do most regret choosing the path they did instead of being a full-time musician/entertainer. You seem to be trying very hard to defend something that doesn't need defending. As with EVERYONE, your life choices are valid for you.

I know that the wording of your post is meant largely to reflect how you feel about me on a personal level, just as I know there will always be one or two of your followers standing by ready to 'amen' it. That's okay. Just means that there are some people out there that share your values.

Some people believe that the word 'Pro' means someone that's making a (sole source) living in a profession. Others think of a 'Pro' as someone with a certain level of expertise in a given profession or who have been licensed or certificated by the government. But even among acknowledged 'Pros' such as doctors, lawyers, teachers, airline pilots, etc., there are still good ones and bad ones. Whether or not one is a 'Pro' musician depends upon the criteria used.

So back to the original question, OMB or DJ? ....but wait, haven't we already decided that that question, without additional qualifiers, cannot be answered. Have a nice day.

chas

One thing no-one has really discussed is, is just spinning some mp3's really 'DJ'ing'?

I mean, I rather doubt many here on this forum have gone out to a nightclub or rave where REAL 'DJ's' do their thing. The best of them, like the best musicians, are capable of pulling something out of their equipment lesser performers can't find. Not ALL of them simply download other DJ's mixes and mashups. Some of them are as creative and technical as any of us.

But it seems like anyone that wants to sit behind a laptop and program the order of what their iTunes program plays next wants to call themselves a DJ...

That's pretty much like a One Finger Chord, out of time one finger melody arranger player calling themselves a 'musician'. I suppose, in the MOST broad definition of the word, they are. But no musician would agree with them

And no REAL DJ will ever admit that running an iPod on break is DJ'ing.

Hire a REAL DJ for that wedding, chas. Don't settle for any old kid with a laptop and some speakers and lights! What you see isn't necessarily what you get!

Wow diki and Chas must be lonely .....I see they are back with
vengence.......its on baby again.....lol

I don't think there is anything "ON" but open discussion ... IF that's what we want ...

That's certainly what I want, Tony......and thanks for speaking up.....sanely.

chas

DonM,
I thought you were a real musician. You mention all the musical instruments you play. Man any real musician knows that drummers are not musicians and drums are not an instrument. They're a set of noise makers.
Shame on you!!

A hunter in the jungle kept complaining about the drums going day and night without let up. The guide kept telling him that the drums were good. The guide told him that when the drums stopped it was bad.

After a couple of weeks the drums stopped, and the hunter asked the guide with a sound of fear in his voice, "What now?"
The guide says, "Bass solo.?