Live Band vs DJ for your event... why not have both?

It's important to consider your style and musical tastes, the vibe / atmosphere you are trying to create and your budget when deciding on whether to book a live band or a DJ for your wedding or event.  

Band or DJ?

The St. Royals - Toronto Wedding BandDJs offer total musical flexibility.  They can play anything you want!  If they are well organized they can handle any requests - provided the music you want has been previously recorded and is accessible.  DJs are also usually cheaper, take up less room, and require fewer vendor services such as meals, parking spaces etc.  

Live bands offer energy, excitement and much greater entertainment value.  A well-rehearsed live wedding / events band can energize a room, and also offer a terrific entertaining show for those who may not be the dancing type.  Bands are simply much more exciting and engaging.

Hybrid: DJ with a Live musician

Some DJ services offer a mix of DJ and live instrumentation - such as a DJ with a percussionist, or DJ and saxophone.  While having a live musician does add some live energy, the overall effect will feel like a live musician playing on top of, or below a DJ track.  The two elements don't fully coalesce and there is none of the synergy that all-live music offers.  The effect can sometimes be noisy or poorly balanced audio mixes.

Live Band & iPod Playlist

Playing live music is physically tiring, so it is inevitable that the band will need to take short breaks.  Most bands take a 20-25 minute break between 'sets' of live music.  A 'set' can be about 45 minutes to an hour. The band might include a playlist service, which means they will play music on an iPod during these breaks.  This is generally adequate if you feel your guests will be dancing so much to the live band at your wedding or event that they will also want breaks between sets.  Otherwise, the iPod play list lacks the human-intractability and song-by-song choices that a live DJ can make to keep your guests energized and dancing.

Live Band with a Live DJ

Hiring a live band for your wedding / event that also provides a full DJ service is the ultimate solution.  This immediately prevents you from having to source both a live wedding band and a DJ separately, which can also mean two speaker systems and that can get expensive. It also allows for the live band and DJ to coordinate very smooth transitions between live music and recorded music on the bands' breaks and a well-balanced song list between live band and DJ ahead of time.  

The live band with a live DJ offers the band the chance to shine with the musical styles that it specializes in and that allows for the DJ to fill in any specific request, other musical styles or any other random music request that may not fit your live bands' vibe or personality.