Silent Disco adds a different feel to the dance floor
The dancing is normal, the listening to music though your own individual headphones is not. This is a silent disco.
The silent disco concept is something I had heard about in the past year when I saw it on a news program. However I had never experienced it, either as a DJ or an attendee at an event. The idea of a silent disco is a completely silent dance floor, with no music coming from any speakers. Instead, music is transmitted to headsets that are worn by all the guests.
When I was hired to DJ Lululemon Fashion Valley’s one year anniversary party and was told a silent disco was going to be part of the party, I was excited but also a bit unsure.
I had many questions. How does it work? How do I transmit the music to the headsets? What music should I play? And most importantly, would people even be into it?
Lululemon used Silentstorm, based in San Francisco, to provide the headsets. The devices also came with a wireless transmitter, which I connected my main output to. My “how” question was quickly answered. That transmitter is what is sending the music to all those headsets, 100 in this case.
The headsets have the capability to receive three different signals. This is ideal for a party that has multiple DJs, each spinning a different genre of music. Even more interesting, the headsets have an LED light corresponding to the channel it is set on. This way guests have a visual cue of who is listening to the same music as they are.
In the case of this party, I was the sole music provider and therefore everyone was listening to the same thing. In doing research on past silent disco parties I was clued into the idea of playing familiar music that people typically enjoy singing along too. I thought this was a perfect idea and had a handful of songs at the ready. In the end, during the 30-minute silent portion of the evening I played these songs:
- Journey - Don't Stop Believing
- Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
- Bell Biv Devoe - Poison
- Usher - Yeah
- Montell Jordan - This is How We Do It
- Backstreet Boys - I Want it That Way
- Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
- Spice Girls - Wannabe
- Cupid - Cupid Shuffle
It was a fun experience. Although it does present some challenges for a DJ, which I will likely write about in a separate “for DJs only” post … no need to bore everyone else here.
Truly though the proof of how fun it is in the video below, which captures a few clips from a few of the sing alongs. It also answered my last question, “will they really be into it?”
The video basically confirms, yes, indeed everyone was into it. Also, for a complete recap of the party, check out this blog post.