Swell DJ Productions: Mobile DJ Entertainment for the greater Riverside & San Diego areas.

2009 Creative Prom Themes

2008-08-11T15:56:00.003-07:00

So you are looking for a unique 2009 Prom Theme, right? Here is a list of Dance Themes from Swell DJ Productions. Enjoy!

'08 reversed =80's Theme
Throw an 80's theme party and emphasize the '08/80's Theme
'09 reversed =90's Theme
Throw an 90's theme party and emphasize the '09/90's Theme
70s Disco/Studio 54
LED disco lit floor, tight disco pants, John Trevolta cut-uot, etc
60s Rock'N'Roll
Rock Cutouts, Alt room could feature Rock band video games.
Casino/Vegas
Decoration Ideas: Cards, Lucky 7, card games, raffle
Movie Preimere
Celebrity cut-outs, Red Carpet Entrance, Draped Walls, Papparazzi, search lights.
Under-Water/ Under the Sea
Great in an aquarium!!
In da' Club
club lighting, big sound system, fake-tini drinks, video screens, etc..
Jungle
Vines, colorful flowers, tucan.
Safari
Leopard, elephant, tigers, Zebras.
Beach
Surfboards, Tiki torches, Sand, Waves, beachballs, umbrellas, towels, chairs.
Black & White Dance
Everything is either black or white. Cover the walls in white & Black Drape.
Use table clothes, chair covers, club lounge furniture, B&W Dancefloor, etc...
"Go for the Gold" Olympic Theme
Hang rings, add sports decorations, use a elevated platform for a dancefloor
symbolizing the gold, silver, and bronze. Hang flags, use a flame torch.
Use a % of ticket sales towards the 'Special Olympics.'
Cruise/Voyage
Use navy and Marine colors and symbols. Anchors, rope, bouys, etc..
'Deadliest Catch'
Decorate with an Alaskan Crab boat in mind. Icy, Crabs, Wintery Snowy, etc...
Instead of the same ole' King and Queen, have the students vote for who
they think would be "the deadliest catch".
Cirque de Solei
think special FX, add everything you can imagine.
Hawaiian
Polynesian items, hula skirt, leias, Volcano, flowers, etc...
Beyond the Galaxy
Planets, Stars, Sun, Earth, Star Wars, Lasers, etc...
Night in the City (NY)
Sky Skrapers, Skyline, SNL, flashy lights, etc
Winter Wonderland
Painted WinterWonderland Backdrop, White Icy Drape hung around room, Snowflakes
Snow Machines, CO2 Blasts, Ice Scupture, Real Snow outside, LED Ice cube blocks,
White Dancefloor, sleds, skiis, snowboards, christmas trees, white twinkle lights
Colors: White, Icy Blue, & Silver.

Check out more ways to promote your theme by checking back with us for ideas.

2009 Creative Prom Themes

2008-08-11T15:56:00.001-07:00

Top 10 Mobile DJ Mistakes

2008-07-24T00:27:00.001-07:00

As a entertainer for High School Dances, Sweet 16s, College Events, and Weddings, I have come to know for myself what separates the truly great djs from the 'self-proclaimed' great djs. I share this with you to make you aware of the pitfalls that may come with other djs. I also want you to know that by choosing Swell DJ Productions you can rest assured that these situations won't occur. And by that I give you the Top ten most common mistakes that other mobile DJs make.

10. Small Sound System
I understand why many djs choose a smaller sound system, quite frankly because it is more friendly on their backs and their wallets. However, this is the one of the most common mistakes djs make. How many times do you want your guests to ask him to turn it up because they can't hear the announcements or feel the music in the back of the room? Smaller Speakers are limited on their range of quality sound output. Even though he may try to turn up the volume, the quality eventually fades and the sound becomes more distorted. Larger sound systems have more headroom when it comes to volume and can generally be more intelligible at louder levels than smaller systems.

9. Repeat songs
I don't know why djs do this but it seems that this still occurs too often. BAD DJs will play songs again for a number of reasons, lack of any other choices, because he mistakenly thinks you want to hear a song 12 times, or maybe just because he is lazy.

8. Wrong songs for crowd
Have you ever been on the dance floor with your friends having a great time dancing to one of your favorite songs and then all of a sudden the DJ switched songs to a mood killer? This may be because he wasn't watching the crowd. A great DJ watches intently like a hawk to see what is working and what isn't. He looks to see who is singing along, tapping their feet, and ultimately shaking it on the dance floor. He uses this to decide what songs or style of music to play next. If he sees people getting tired and catching their breath from a high energy mix, his next track should still be exciting but have a slower tempo until they are ready again.

7. Too much talking
I don't know about you but I've been to some dances and receptions where it seemed more like a bad audition or stand up comedic act than dancing. I suppose many djs, after conquering their fear of public speaking, start to enjoy hearing themselves speak too much. Although Djs need to talk once in awhile, make announcements, and get the crowd hyped up a bit...Too often DJs go over board as if they are trying too hard.

6. Jukebox style of mixing
This next style of Djing is the opposite. These are the Djs that don't try hard enough. That's right, when it comes to mixing and creatively blending songs in an energetic way, they never step up to the plate. This is the kind of DJ that sits behind a playlist on a computer, or uses his Ipod. Something so easy that you could have done yourself, so why did you pay him to do it? Either they are too lazy, they don't care, or they never practice.

5. 'American Idol' DJ
I call the next contestant this because they aren't there or you. Although they say they are there for your party, the truth is that they are only there to promote themselves and play the kind of music they want to hear. It doesn't seem to matter that you like one artist or another, he already comes ready to play what he believes to be superior. If a Band plays what is popular it is looked down upon and maybe they are called a "sell-out." But if a DJ takes and plays requests, keeps people dancing by playing popular songs, and switches it up to keep people happy, he becomes the Hero.

4. What Insurance?
Trustworthy and responsible DJs will carry liability insurance for you, your guests, and his own safety. Although precautions can be made such as taping down cables, securing items, and following common sense... Accidents can still happen. Check with your DJ to make sure he has our best interest at heart.

3. Backup Equipment
Self-explanatory. Like insurance, a good dj test and maintain his equipment and still have back-up equipment just in case so that your event is guaranteed to flow smoothly no matter what!

2. Inexperience
Quite frankly this is overlooked too often. Many Part-time, shoot by the hip mentality djs exist that will claim they have the experience when what they really mean is they plan on gaining it by "practicing at your event." Choose a full-time caring professional entertainer that will go the extra mile because he has done it before and he 'knows how' for your event.

1. The Cost of the Bargain DJ
Have you ever heard the phrase "You get what you pay for"? After considering all the aspects of your event such as the location, decorations, catering, etc... The one thing you and your guests will remember is if you had fun or not. Don't take any chances by cutting corners with the single most important ingredient ..the Entertainment.

How to Plan and Decorate a Themed Dance

2008-07-12T00:24:00.000-07:00

Choosing a Theme for your dance is the first step to planning a successful School Dance, Homecoming, Winter Formal, Prom, r any dance for that matter. Your exciting dance theme should be creative, original, and make sense. People should know what the dance is about by the name of the theme. The best way to drive up attendance is by good promotion. Pass out flyers, Hang Banners, Make Announcemens, and anything else you cn think of to get the word out. All too often students don't know if the DJ at the dance will be good and fun to dance to or not. So Another great way to drive pre-sale tickets for the dance is by having the DJ you are planning on having spin at the dance to come out and promote the dance himself during lunch. This works best when the student body can see and hear for themselves beforehand what the DJ will be like. They will actually get to "test-drive" if you will the DJ beforehand and know that he has what is takes to play music they like to dance to in a fun ann exciting way. One brief example, last year a school I was going to dj had a history of turning out lower attendance (375-550.) They told me they hoped for 500 this year. I came twice each week before the dance to spin music and promote ticket sales and they were surprised with over 900 in attendance.Alright, once a theme is decided brainstorm different ways to compliment the theme and bring extraordinary excitement to the dance. Whether your dance is on or off campus try to imagine thing that haven't been done before. Think of exciting shows and movies and what made themso good. Ask the DJ is if he can provide the same or similar effects. We have been listening to ASB and high schools' ideas for many years and have come up with many unique things such as indoor and outdoor snow machines, Personal Disco floors that light up and flash to the beat, Hiding an entire gym's walls with drape, CO2 freeze cannons to cool off hot dancefloors, moving stages, video screens, lighting up an entire room in different flashing colors, and much more. Whatever Theme you come up with you can be sure that Swell DJ Productions is here to bring your Dance to Life!

Wild Party in the Safari

2008-05-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

The San Diego Wild Animal Park opened it's doors for Swell DJ Productions to throw the ultimate prom! In conjunction with the Senior Class a Mira Mesa High School and Swell DJ Productions, together we planned an unforgettable Prom for many years to come. The set-up was for me to take over the pavilion and turn it into a Non-stop top-40 and Hip Hop club. There was another area dedicated to slower music and other chiller styles of music. My sole priority was to provide an upbeat club mixing performance that would rival most other top San Diego DJs. The Students enjoyed the powerful sound systems, huge subwoofers, loudspeakers, and lighting fx. The Special Uv black Lights really set the tone as white dresses, tuxes, and neon materials realy popped ou and came to life. The Themed Prom was called, "A Wild night in the Safari" and featured an ice sculpture placed in the middle of the dancefloor, leopard print decorations, and live animal shows as well. When it was time to announce the Prom court, we had a live video feed for all to see who would be named the Prom King and Prom Queen. Our Computer Controlled Lighting system was set-up to place a Spot light on their special dance. One of the Best Prom Ideas that I've seen was the special "Jump dance" where we momentarily cleared the dance floor to unravel huge sheets of bubble wrap. We then invited everyone back onto the dance floor to pop the bubbles by jumping up and down. 'Jump Jump' by Kris Kross and Jump Around by the House of Pain were favorite tunes for the ocassion. I enjoy planning ASB dances and High School Events like this one for the uniqueness that we can provide them. As an experienced Prom DJ, this was one to remember.

Many thanks for all the memories (up to now)

2008-03-13T00:20:00.000-07:00

I want you all to know that I love Djing and I am very thankful for all the many great opportunities you have given me. Looking back, I have so many great memories, whether it was DJing for 850+ students at the California Grand at Disneyland for Moreno Valley High School's Prom or kickin' it poolside in your backyard with you and your friends. I really love all forms of Dance music from Electro House to Hip-hop, and Indie-rock to Reggae. It's amazing how a single tune when played at the right moment can affect and literally move a crowded dance floor. Hopefully you all can drop me a line on our contact page and let us know what your favorite moments have been with Swell DJ Productions (SDJP.) Like a good friend once said, "We may not have a long time (to party), but we'll make sure it's a good time (on the dance floor!).Dave aka "DJ Swell"

Exhausting Weekend Full of Fun

2008-02-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

This weekend was an amazingly fun adventure. It all started on Thursday morning when I left to go DJ a promotional lunch for Great Oak High school. The students loved the music and were impressed by the powerful "Pyro-fogger" machine which shot huge bursts of smoke into the air every few minutes. Overall they sold about 800 tickets for their upcoming dance on Saturday.From there, I headed to Irvine to set-up for a UCI "Delta Delta Delta" Sorority Party at "Ling & Louie's Restaurant" located in the Irvine Spectrum Shopping Center. The staff was great and let us arrive early to transform their restaurant into a real club. At 9'o'clock, it started off with a bang as the restaurant literally filled by the bus-load. I spun hip-hop and old-skool hits continuously all-night long and the crowd seemes to love it.Friday's schedule was to entertain USC's "Snow-Ball" Winter Semi-Formal dance on their campus. They provided some very cool decorations including, real snow outside, and L.E.D illuminated ice cubes on the inside. We were asked to bring a great sound system and Club-level Intelligent lighting. Once, again I played to the crowd and feed them all the hip-hop and top-40 hits they could handle. The dancefloor was packed with about 400-500 people.You would think that DJing three events in two days would be exhausting enough, but I wasn't done yet. On Saturday was Great Oak High School's highly anticipated Winter Formal Dance. The Sophomore class wanted to enter the Gym and have it look like something completely different then the typicall basketall court, bleachers, walls, etc... So, Swell DJ Productions had provided a Total Gym Transformation by draping all the walls with elegant white drape and uplighting them in an Icy blue color. Snowflake Gobos were used and focused on the drape. Behind our stage we set-up a painted Winter-Wonderland backdrop which was lit up by our Black UV Flood lights. Then 30 large 4' snowflakes were suspended over the dancefloor. We used our Premium 23,000 watt Sound system with 4 Dual 15" JBL PA speakers and 3 Dual 18" JBL Subwoofers. We also brought our Super-upgraded lighting package with the Impressive 250watt Moving-Head Lights and Scanners. When the students arrived they saw snow falling outside the gym entrance. When they got inside confetti machines were used to shoot small white and silver snowflake confetti over the dancefloor. This continued all night long. With an estimated 900+ in attendance, as a dj it was very entertaining to entertain them. There are few things in life that bring more joy than to make others happy. In this case, it was by creatively mixing and beat matching all their favorite songs in a club-like fashion. I can't wait until next weeklend!