Frequently Asked Questions And Rates
A) We are total music nerds who all been trained on actual vinyl and turntables! This is important to us because we feel most vinyl DJs have a solid understanding of what goes into DJing, programming and reading a crowd, and therefore pay more attention to creating the proper atmosphere.
B) One all-inclusive cost- no added fees for extra equipment! 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!
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 want the music for the day to be a true reflection of our clients, both individually and together as a couple. We also use a specially developed 30-question, two-part questionnaire to get 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 18+ 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. He’s also highly capable of making announcements and intros without sounding cheesy or intrusive.
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 competitive with other Bay Area wedding pros! 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. We include ALL speaker arrangements and wireless microphones- both lavalier and handheld. On top of all that, we include a complimentary half hour of prelude music for all events in which there’s a ceremony!
We charge a very simple rate of $400 per hour from the time the music starts until the time the music stops for all events happening in one location (ie your venue allows you to have ceremony, cocktails, dinner and dancing all on site). Timeframes are measured from the start of the ceremony when applicable. If your ceremony is happening at a different location and you need us for that, you’ll just be billed one additional hour of $400. We are also happy to offer wireless LED uplighting, dancefloor lighting, photo booths through our partner at Six And Ten Photobooths *and* silent disco services at a very affordable price! Just send us a note if you’d like to learn more about that. If you need us to show up for your rehearsal, that can be arranged in advance and will be charged an additional rate of $600. For events happening 100+ miles from Oakland, there may be a $100 hotel fee for overnight stays.
Generally our deposits are about 30-35% 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 special discounted winter rates from January 3rd until March 15th!
-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
- No extra travel, rental, setup or teardown fees
- A site visit for any venues we haven’t worked at yet to confirm technical logistics
- At least one face-to-face meeting to discuss timeline & music tastes
- All emcee duties, intros and announcements
- A complimentary half hour of prelude music as guests arrive (only for weddings in which there is a ceremony)
- 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 professionalism
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 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 man. If Nate’s already booked, then we will check into Edwin’s availability. Currently we have a number of incredible DJs we can call on in a pinch, but like we said earlier we will 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.