INTERVIEW Part 1: About Selective Sound (with Jay r, Owner/Partner)

How long has Selective Sound been in business?

Since 1987. We started the company with the name “Music in Motion” and changed in 1989 to Selective Sound.

Where did the company name come from?

Honestly, I can’t remember!

What is your role at Selective Sound?

I am the marketing director, accountant, human resource manager, scheduler, promoter, performer, worker, operator, technician and… owner!

Why did you start to DJ in Cleveland?

In 1987, I joined a youth group because I was able to play the music on the sound system at the youth group school dances. By the touch of a button I was able to make 300 people go crazy and by that same touch of a button I was able to also calm them down. For a moment I felt like a god.

How did you get your company started?

I bought my first mixer/amplifier and rented speakers. I was using cassette tapes. I made $25 for my first gig, $60 for my second gig and the rest is history. We’ve done over $2 million in gross sales since then.

Where do you DJ now?

In Northeast Ohio for private affairs. Ninety percent of our business is weddings but we also do corporate events and bar/bat mitzvahs.

How many DJs do you employ every weekend?

We can do a maximum of five weddings and two other events per evening. Our busiest weekends are usually holiday weekends and we’ve done up to 19 events in one weekend!

How many weddings does your staff work in a year?

We average about 160 weddings per year.

What does your set-up consist of?

We are more refined in the DJ world. We use the new Bose l1 series 2 systems and a few Yorkville Unity systems (for the big events), a few wash LED lights and a compact computerized touch screen DJ system. Our systems are designed to blend into the decor, not be gaudy or noticeable.

How/where do you buy music?

Once a week we get CD with the top songs from each category from TM Century Prime Cuts. We own every song we every play.

What is a common misconception about your work?

That we just show up and play music. People don’t know about the 5 to 6 hours, pre-planning, coordinating, and music programming and so forth that we do before we even set up a speaker.

next week: part 2.. About the Jay r (CEO) of Selective Sound Entertainment.