DJs of Boston: 10 Questions with Bobak Chehrehnegar

DJs - Bobak Chehrehnegar

Business: DJs of Boston
Location: Boston, Massachusetts MA
Experience: 10+ Years
Profile: DJs of Boston
Website: www.djsofboston.com

1. Introduction: What's your story?

My name is Bobak Chehrehnegar and I am both the Chief Executive Officer as well as one of the core DJ/MCs of DJs of Boston!

I began my journey into DJing out of a sheer love and passion for music, and made my mark notably in the nightlife and large-scale public event space across Massachusetts and other neighboring states. I was simultaneously helping run lead operations for the DJs of Boston multi-op and coordinating our other contracted DJs and workforce at a multitude of weddings, amongst other public, private, and corporate events.

I began actively working wedding gigs as more and more folks were knocking on my door to personally request me to be the main DJ for their special day, as they had absolutely enjoyed the atmosphere I was setting at a nightclub or bar gig they attended and saw me at. This has led to me filling up my own personal calendar with weddings to go alongside weekly nightlife residencies and big special events.

2. What's your experience as a wedding DJ? How many weddings have you done?

I personally log about 10-20 weddings per year due to the fact I have also committed to long-standing weekly residencies at nightclubs and bars. However, I am personally in charge of DJs of Boston and coordinating multitude of weddings in which my whole team of seasoned DJs & MCs work. As a collective, DJs of Boston averages 40-50 weddings a year directly, alongside a plethora of weekly public nightlife gigs and other events.

3. How far in advance do couples need to book your services?

In a typical year prior to the pandemic, we would highly recommend 6+ months in advance of a date at a minimum for booking an event, as we tend to get requests over a year in advance. With the pandemic and it changing the game overall due to restrictions and on-the-fly changes to these mandates, we're getting couples booking within 2 months of a rushed event they wanted to squeeze in this summer. We have been mostly able to accommodate incoming inquiries for these short turnarounds due to prepared planning and staffing in advance of restrictions opening up. But we do recommend folks be as prepared as possible well in advance to lock our services down to ensure our availability as our schedules are filling up through next year already.

4. What's your rate? What does that include?

Our rates can always vary as we fully understand the couple's venue and event desires in regards to our services. For a typical in-state wedding not requiring special travel or lodging costs, our general pricing list for common requested items are as follows:

Standard Package: $1500 (includes DJ/MC services for a 5 hour block, typically your cocktail hour and reception)
Ceremony Special Package: $1800 (includes DJ/MC services for a 6 hour block for your ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception)
Uplighting Package #1: $300 (12 wireless uplights for venue aesthetic lighting)
Uplighting Package #2: $500 (24 wireless uplights for venue aesthetic lighting)

We provide a multitude of other services and customizable rates to adjust to special venue and event requests, which we usually quote once we engage in communication with a prospective couple to iron out details of their event to ensure we provide exact pricing and commitment to what they desire.

5. Are you available to travel if needed?

We have and can travel for out-of-state wedding requests. We do charge proper travel and lodging fees as needed depending on the distance and amount of equipment to be transported depending on the wedding requirements.

6. How would you describe your style?

The dynamic of having a seasoned multi-op is that we can accommodate any theme or style both from a musical standpoint, as well as aesthetics and overall vibe. Every single DJ and MC has begun their journey from a pure artistic and musical background, and speaking for myself, I take that to heart when it comes to any event, including weddings. I take my experiences in setting the energy from the first song to the last in a nightlife event and properly molded that mindset to work in a wedding scenario, which has helped set me apart from your cookie cutter preset playlist DJs. The DJs of Boston team follows these principles and we want to ensure whether you want a modern trendy wedding from music to presentation, or you are a classic traditionalist wanting the ambience in a different direction, that we seamlessly bring the party to life as desired.

7. What's your backup plan if there's an equipment malfunction? Do you bring backup equipment?

We always use the highest quality brands and models to ensure we are working with the utmost professional grade tools. We always ensure we have multiple instances of equipment as backups, and for all critical items, we bring along backups and we use strong preparations in advance to have a contingency plan for most any unforeseen situation, including ones involving malfunctions possible occurring out of our control, such as venue having poor power access or an outage.

8. What's your sick day policy?

We do everything in our power to ensure all details are planned out as extensively as possible well in advance of the wedding date. Our first goal is that with the power of running a multi-op with plenty of contracted and seasoned DJs, we can provide services if the original booked DJ or MC has an unforeseen illness or critical emergency preventing them from making the event on the day of. We will ensure the event goes without a hitch with any substituted member of our staff, and we are always still flexible to work with a couple after the fact to provide any complimentary credits for additional services for a later date to make up for the worry of not having their initial DJ or MC present. With that said, in all of our time as a collective, we have yet to have any issues due to our prepared nature both as individuals as well as our structured company practices.

9. How do you motivate a shy crowd to dance? What do you do to motivate the crowd if nobody is dancing?

Reading any and every crowd is one of the most must-have skills any DJ and MC should have. My experience in a fast-paced nightclub setting has given me the ability to monitor body language for hundreds and even thousands of people at a time from a song-to-song basis, and that has immensely translated over to the wedding events I have done to ensure I am able to break that ice with a shy crowd as quickly as possible. The other added benefit of our packages are that we always ensure we have 2 people staffed at a wedding as part of our standard packages, both folks being seasoned DJs and MCs who are constantly reading a room and an audience so that the chance of any lulls at an event are pretty much non-existent.

10. What is your cancellation and/or refund policy?

Per our contracts sent to all couples, our standard is pretty much common industry practice. We have non-refundable initial deposits when an event proposal is accepted by our clients. Once we get close to the event date, the remaining balance is owed to us. For any unforeseen cases such as the pandemic or valid emergencies, we do our best to work with the client to find an agreeable solution such as a postponed date without additional costs and honoring the payments. When there are these sort of circumstances that are not negligent or directly meant to break our contract, we tend to always work through a most amicable and understanding resolution for both parties.