A quick list of what gear our DJs use at Airwaves
Customers commonly ask us what equipment our DJs will bring to their wedding. Here is our standard package that we use at 90% of weddings:
COMPUTER:
Macbook Pro
LIGHTS:
A set of 4 moving LED dance party lights on a standusually
Chauvet is the brand
DJ MIXER:
Our mixer is usually a Pioneer DJM2000 or a Traktor S2 or S4.
MICROPHONE:
A wireless microphoneusually
Shure is the brand
SPEAKERS:
2X500 watt self powered speakers on stands (usually Yamaha) with great bass, mids and highs in it
Rental Cost:
We include all of this equipment in our package price when you book a DJ with Airwaves. However the rental cost for all of this equipment would be between $200 and $400 depending on the supplier, city, date and time of year. Sometimes you aren’t able to get rental equipment at all if there is a large music festival on, or it is a busy date for special events and weddings.
When booking a DJ, automatically deduct $300 for equipment rentals. Also factor in the time to pick it up, setup the equipment and take it down at the end of the evening, and return it to the rental shop the next day. Music equipment rental suppliers charge by the day, not the weekend so normally you will need to return it the next day or you will be charged for the rental.
The average DJ in Canada is $1000-$2000 for a wedding. So automatically, deduct the rental and consider you are actually paying roughly $700 (at the low end) for the DJ. Most likely they will spend 4-6 hours preparing for your wedding by finding your music, organizing and loading the equipment, setting it up, taking it down etc. As well, you need to factor in the actual time at the wedding which is normally 6 hours minimum if you are there early (which every DJ should be). At Airwaves, our DJs arrive 2 hours early, so if they aren’t there 2 hours ahead of time, we consider them late and ask you to call our emergency number. We do this so that if there ever was an emergency, we would have 2 hours to fix it. That could mean bringing in extra equipment, calling a backup DJ if there was an accident, grabbing an extra microphone you need, etc. So, a DJ makes about $700 for a 12-14 hour day after equipment costs. Thats about $50 an hour. For $50, I would gladly hire someone that I know FOR SURE can keep my party going and make my wedding memorable. A great DJ will be more, but you get what you pay for with wedding vendors. The more someone is able to make a full time living from working as a professional DJ, the more likely they are to take a higher level of pride in their work. They are also much more likely to spend an ample amount of time preparing for your event. That is why at Airwaves, we chose to pay the highest fee of any DJ company we have found in Canada to our DJs. We believe sacrificing short term profit and paying our team well will result in a better customer experience long term and we stand by this belief by betting on it with real money. So far, it has been the best choice we have ever made as a company.
If you think about it, the DJ is the only vendor who is at your wedding for so long. The responsibility is on them to show everyone a fantastic time and keep everyone dancing all night. Without the right DJ, you take a risk that your guests will be bored. When you hire a DJ, you put that responsibility on them and let that stress fall away from you. The way we see it at Airwaves, your wedding day SHOULD be stress free if there was EVER a day that should be stress free.
