Frequently Asked Questions And Rates
A) We are total music nerds who all got our starts on actual vinyl and turntables! Every one of us is a DJ who is currently working in nightlife in addition to their special event work. This is important to us because we want the music at your event to be current, fresh and exciting! We’ve also noticed that many DJs who have been trained on turntables have a deep understanding of what goes into programming and reading a crowd, as well as all the skills that factor into “the art of DJing”. We mix! We cut and layer! We perform seamless transitions! We pepper the day with lovely surprises! We masterfully weave an entire evening of moments that will leave you and your guests saying “remember when they played that one song??? That was so awesome!!”
B) One all-inclusive cost- no added fees for extra equipment or travel! Our rates are inclusive of all audio equipment needed to make sure your day goes as smoothly as planned. Need additional microphones for the soloist in your ceremony? No problem! Have a remote cocktail area or smoking section that needs an additional speaker for background music? We’re on it! Is your event outside the immediate Bay Area? Chances are there will be no travel fees!
C) We take an active interest in our clients! We work with all of our couples to find out their tastes, favorite musical memories and absolute do-not-plays so we can create a custom night of music that everyone will love, instead of just showing up and playing the same 50 songs for every gig. We also want you to know who your DJ is from start to finish, and we want you to be able to ask them questions and advice throughout the process! We want the music for the day to be a true reflection of our clients, both individually and together as a couple. We also want to have every single little detail figured out in advance to avoid headaches day-of. For this reason we incorporate a specially developed 30-question, two-part questionnaire into our planning process which helps us to know not only the important logistics of the day, but also every detail about your music tastes so you get the perfect soundtrack!
D) Years of experience! Nate (the owner) has been DJing weddings for 20+ years and has played every type of venue from the basement party down the block to festival crowds of 5,000+. He also has extensive experience on the catering and event management side of things and will work seamlessly with your wedding planners and caterers to make sure there are no hiccups in the timeline. And, all of our DJs are highly capable of making announcements and intros without sounding cheesy or intrusive.
E) We’re not ruthless capitalists! (lol) There are many other DJ companies out there that strive to be the biggest, to expand into new markets, to do as many events per night as possible and to charge as much as they possibly can while doing it. We are not one of those companies. All we want to do is live out our passion for music and offer a high quality product at a very competitive rate to people with good taste who want some unique music and a crazy dance party at their event. We feel too much growth sacrifices consistency, so we prefer to keep our roster small. We also want our process to be as stress-free as possible, which is why we choose NOT to nickel-and-dime you over things like extra microphones and speaker setups. While it may sound a bit conceited to say, we absolutely believe our talents, experience and services offered with our wedding and event packages are worth far more than what we charge. But we also don’t believe that quality should come at outlandish prices to the client. As we like to say, we’re not the cheapest, we’re definitely not the most expensive but we can say with confidence that we ARE the most worth it.
Everything! One of the things we here at Caliber pride ourselves most on is our versatility. Nate was brought up on a wide variety of music from Classical, Funk and Soul, Oldies and Classic Rock to New Wave, 80’s, Early Alternative and Indie Rock, 80’s and 90’s Hip Hop, Chicago House and Early Electronica. This alone gives him an incredible depth of knowledge when it comes to hand picking music for each gig.
Furthermore, we have over 15,000 songs and counting in our music library, making us 100% prepared for every situation. The other BIG difference between Caliber DJs and other DJ companies is what we refer to as SEAMLESS MIXING. This means that we use beatmatching and carefully placed cues to ensure that there won’t be any annoying pauses in between tracks, and we will be doing everything we can to keep the dance floor fresh and energized throughout the entire evening. For us every event is unique, but for those of you curious to know what you may hear at YOUR event, here is a broad cross section of artists we *might* play (as long as they’re not on your “do not play” list, that is)…
COCKTAIL HOUR– Nina Simone, Nouvelle Vague, Jack Johnson, Fleet Foxes, Air, Bonobo, Belle and Sebastian, Buena Vista Social Club, Jill Scott, Feist, Lorde, Guru/Jazzmatazz, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, NuYorican Soul, The Sundays, Sam Smith, St. Germain, The Black Keys, The Shins, The Beatles, Van Morrison, Frank Ocean, Tyler the Creator
DINNER– Bill Withers, Bob Marley, Brian Eno, Radiohead, Dusty Springfield, Erykah Badu, Sade, Finley Quaye, Ingrid Michaelson, India Arie, James Blake, Katie Melua, Lauryn Hill, LTJ Bukem, Bjork, Thievery Corporation, Emancipator, Massive Attack, Portishead, Bebel Gilberto, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Solange
DANCING– Stevie Wonder, Prince, MJ, Madonna, New Order, Daft Punk, Duran Duran, Aretha Franklin, Disclosure, Rihanna, Beyonce, M.I.A., Outkast, LCD Soundsystem, Kanye West, Bruno Mars, The Notorious B.I.G., A Tribe Called Quest, Skee-Lo, Beastie Boys, Al Greene, Marvin Gaye, Deee-Lite, Yaz, Erasure, James Brown, Mark Ronson, Calvin Harris, MGMT, Pharrell Williams, Jackson Five, Talking Heads, Earth Wind and Fire, Capital Cities, Missy Elliot, Cee Lo Green, Flo Rida, Gorillaz, Kendrick Lamar, Robyn
Our rates are easy to understand and reflective of our decades of experience while remaining very, very competitive within the Bay Area. Since we desire to keep things simple, we just charge one flat fee and include everything you need to get the job done. There are no additional charges for travel or setup time, additional speaker setups, wireless microphones or other necessary gear. Got 4 areas of sound you need covered? No problem. Are your identical-triplet cousins doing a joint toast? We got extra mics ready to go at no additional charge. On top of all that, we include a complimentary half hour of prelude music for all events in which there’s a ceremony!
We have one very simple flat rate of $2,500 for all events within 100 miles of Oakland CA lasting up to 6 hours and happening in one location (ie your venue allows you to have ceremony, cocktails, dinner and dancing all on site). Any time over 6 hours is billed at the rate of $400 per hour in half hour increments. Timeframes are measured from the start of the ceremony when applicable and include 30 minutes of complimentary prelude music. Off-site ceremonies are billed at a flat rate or $500 with the reception billed separately at our regular rate. If you need us to show up for your rehearsal, that can be arranged in advance and will be charged an additional rate of $500. For events happening 100 miles or more from Oakland, there may be a $150 hotel fee added for overnight stays. Deposits are usually around 35% of the total fee. All balances are due no later than the day of the event and we accept a variety of different payment methods including Zelle, Venmo, PayPal and CashApp.
We have special rates for destination weddings and will travel anywhere in the world, and we also offer discounts for winter and weekday weddings! We are also happy to offer wireless LED uplighting, dance floor lighting, photo booths *and* silent disco services at a very affordable price! Just send us a note if you’d like to learn more about that.
-HERE’S WHAT’S INCLUDED IN YOUR RATE-
- All equipment including multiple speaker setups and microphones (incl. wireless handheld and lapel mics)
- A custom-tailored music program based on the tastes and life experiences of you and your partner
- 30 minutes of complimentary prelude music as guests arrive (events with wedding ceremony only)
- All travel and setup time
- A site visit for any venues we haven’t worked at yet to confirm technical logistics
- Face-to-face meetings via Zoom (or in person if local to the Bay Area) to discuss timeline details & music tastes
- All emcee duties, intros and announcements
- Full support for ceremony musicians, readers and officiants
- Consultation on any other logistics you may have questions about
- Constant accessibility via e-mail and text
- Seamless timing and integration with your planner and other vendors
- Full Liability Insurance to the tune of $2 Million per occurrence
- A very experienced DJ/MC who will crush your dancefloor and handle guests with grace and professionali
YES. We have a 2 million dollar liability policy per event.
YES! One of the biggest requests we’ve gotten from planners and clients alike is for uplighting. And although we generally tend to shy away from the cheesy table-top light ball spinner dealio’s, a little accent color along the walls can really liven up any venue and completely transform the room for you and your guests. For that reason we now offer packages of up to 16 full color wireless LED uplights along with our DJ services. Fully battery powered and 4-color (RGBA), they are absolutely perfect for adding a little extra atmosphere to your event. In addition, we can provide dancefloor lighting for a minimal cost in case you’d like to liven up your dance area.
We are also happy to announce that we now offer Silent Disco DJs and headsets for any size party! Got a noise ordinance you need to work around? We got you! We can provide up to three different sound sources so your guests can have their choice of doing the Robot, the Cha-Cha or the Boot Scootin’ Boogie in complete silence and at no bother to the neighbors at any given moment.
Inquire for more info!
Of course!! Caliber DJs is, in fact, an openly Queer-owned-and-operated business. We celebrate love in all its forms and we are happy to support members of the local community through vendor recommendations and event sponsorship for LGBTQIA+ causes.
As much or as little as you would like us to be. We tend not to be the show-stealing gameshow-host MCs that tarnish or draw attention away from your special day. However we will be happy to announce the wedding party, give cues when it’s time to sit for dinner, introduce speeches and generally assist in making sure the night goes along smoothly and according to schedule. We will also work with your wedding planner or venue/catering
manager to make sure that everything is happening as planned. (Nate has worked in the food service industry for years and knows the rigors of catering inside and out.)
Caliber DJs has seen a period of incredible growth, thanks to all of the wonderful planners, Yelpers, couples and other industry professionals that have recommended us. HOWEVER, for 2025 and beyond, we will typically only accept two clients per night to make sure we can give the best, most consistent service possible while having enough backups in the event of an emergency. We’re a tightly-knit group of boutique DJs, and we prefer to keep it that way. Every DJ that works for Caliber has been hand selected and carefully vetted to ensure that you will get the experience you deserve, and if you’re booking with us you will also get the promise that our DJs will not book another gig the same date.
Generally speaking, if you are the first client to book a certain date, Nate will be your DJ. If Nate’s already booked, then we will check into either Edwin’s or Nick’s availability. Currently we have a number of incredible other DJs we can call on in a pinch, but like we said earlier we will normally only do 2 events per night. This ensures that we have some backup DJs on call in the event that the unthinkable happens (a last minute sickness) or for events in which we feel an assistant would be beneficial.
If the date is available on our end and it looks like a good fit, we’ll ask you for some basic info and send you a very standard contract via our partners at Honeybook. All you have to do is click the link they send you, e-sign where prompted and submit the deposit to confirm. We require somewhere between a 30 and 35% deposit to confirm all bookings. These deposits are non-refundable but do count towards a reschedule any time in the future in the event of a postponement or cancellation. All payments can either be sent in by USPS/check or electronically. We accept Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, CashApp and bank wire transfer. The balance is due no later than the day of the event, although you are more than welcome to settle up any time before that date. Credit card payments are accepted through Paypal, however there is an additional 3.5% charge for processing fees.
We are very thankful when our clients provide a hot meal for us the night of the event. In our experience, the more fuel for the DJ the more fuel for the dancefloor! Regarding alcohol, our policy is to always stay 100% sober during wedding receptions. On rare occasions, we may accept a glass of wine later on in the night if the host offers it, but generally a pitcher of water and a cup of coffee is all we’ll be drinking throughout the course of the night.
Generally it’s our practice to plan to arrive 2 hours before the start time of each event. This is significantly more time than it takes us to load in and set up (usually about one hour), but we like to plan for any unexpected hiccups in traffic or lines at the freight elevator. We do ask that the venue allow us access the day of 2 hours before the start time of the event.