Fourth Estate Audio

We had to postpone and change our wedding reception due to Covid. Jay was very quick to respond to emails, as well as flexible and understanding with all the changes we made. From the first time we met with him, we instantly knew Jay was the real deal. He was relaxed, prepared, and professional, and the reception went as smoothly as possible because of him. We highly highly recommend Fourth Estate!

From our postponed wedding last year to this past weekend, Jay was always very responsive to my emails. No matter how much I changed the time of our reception, Jay's response was prompt and always, "No problem, done!". He was great at getting our bridal party lined up for introductions and getting people to stay on the dancefloor! Definitely recommend Fourth Estate Audio for your wedding day!

We cant say enough amazing things about Jay! From our first meeting with him, we knew he was the best DJ for us. He answered all of our questions, and was very professional. He is responds to emails in a very timely matter, which is always appreciated. He kept the party going the night of the wedding! He stuck to our playlist, and added a few songs in, which our guests loved. We definitely recommend Jay and Fourth Estate Audio for your DJ needs!

We were lucky enough to have Fourth Estate Audio recommended to us by the location of our wedding. Working with Jay was a wonderful experience. We met with him once in person before the event, and did a quick phone call right before the wedding. We had no idea what we were doing and Jay helped us so much with the layout of the reception events (bridal party entry, first dance, parent dances, etc) and the ceremony processional. Jay provided us with a USB so that we could provide any special music/audio ourselves.

But he had every song we could need already! He also took some wonderful pictures during the wedding, and we really appreciated it. Overall I would highly recommend Fourth Estate Audio, to anyone needing a DJ.

I have never used a DJ before, so I was somewhat nervous trying to select a DJ for our wedding ceremony and our reception. I decided to try Fourth Estate Audio based on the excellent reviews that I read online. And I'm so glad that I did! The experience with Fourth Estate Audio was OUTSTANDING from beginning to end. Jay responded to my initial inquiry right away, and our first meeting with him was very helpful.

My fiance and I really appreciated his many years of expertise and his helpful suggestions. Jay is very professional, and he made us feel comfortable right from the start. The Fourth Estate website made it easy for us to select our songs and give all of the details that our DJ needed to know. Scott Andre was the DJ for our wedding, and he was terrific!

He was well-prepared with all of the songs we wanted for the wedding ceremony and for the dancing at the reception, but he was also flexible to change things up when we wanted to. We wanted to do some square dancing and some Israeli folk dancing at the reception, but we didn't know in advance where these dances would fit with the overall flow of the reception.

On the day of the wedding, Scott did a great job switching between regular dance music to square dance music to Israeli dance songs, at a moment's notice, and everyone had a blast! Since our wedding reception was on Sunday afternoon and we didn't have any alcohol at our wedding, we were wondering if many people would be dancing. Thanks to Scott, there were people dancing all afternoon!

Many people commented on how much fun they had dancing and on what a great dance list we had! Thank you, Scott, for making our wedding reception so much fun! I highly recommend Fourth Estate Audio for any event that you may be planning. The prices are very reasonable, and they do a GREAT job!

Jay is just wonderful - we cannot recommend him enough! He stuck to the playlist I carefully curated but also added some songs that fit the vibe perfectly, he knew just what to play and when, and the uplighting services he provided were such an addition to the ambiance of the night. He was so responsive, and I like the login portal he has for his website so we were able to pay as we went instead of all at once.

He was so sweet, and so professional, and helped to make sure everything ran smoothly even throughout the downpour of rain and like 8 changes in plan. Jay is super adaptable and clearly knows what he's doing. You won't find a better DJ in the Chicagoland area.

Jay was an amazing DJ! We were impressed even from our first interaction with him. He was honest about what package would best fit our needs and didn't try to sell us unnecessary services. He was very responsive to emails and was really accommodating throughout the whole process. On the wedding day, Jay was very professional and helped us have an amazing wedding reception! We were so glad to have Jay as our wedding DJ!

Jay did such an amazing job at our wedding. Every single thing was so much more perfect than I could have imagined. He was always so quick to respond to every email; he helped me along the way of creating my song list, and his entire set up and sound system was incredible. So many of my guests came up and asked me about him and said how great he was. He worked with me every step of the way, and the end result was absolutely perfect.

Jay was amazing. We found him online and met with him in person, after meeting with him we could tell he was professional and very knowledgeable, we booked with him the same day. Jay's website makes everything easy leading up to the wedding, from creating your timeline, to picking your music for the big day. We loved how he provides you with a flash drive if theres any music that you would like him to play that isn't in his library.

We had Jay for the ceremony and the reception and he kept the whole night flowing seamlessly, I wanted a very specific part of a song to walk down the aisle to and he assured me timing wasn't going to be an issue and just cut and faded the music when need be, our sand ceremony ran long and the song I chose was ending but he did an amazing job at looping the music without it being noticeable.

For the reception he handled the cake cutting, speeches, dances amazingly and once the dance floor was open he kept people on the floor all night long. We had absolutely nothing to worry about when working with Jay. Highly recommend!

With any wedding, there are so many decisions to be made, from the clothes, food, venue, who to invite, invitations, all of it, and I must say that Jay and his company Fourth Estate Audio made the DJ decision the best ever! He was was quick and efficient in his communication, his interface and technologically advanced website, and the overall feel of this company was above par.

We even lost our usb drive in the mail the week of our Wedding and Jay stepped in and took care of that too providing all the songs we requested. The day of the wedding, he sent Scott to DJ our event on a yacht! Scott was polite, on point, and very fun and accommodating. He was super fun too and catered to our guests as we requested he do. If you are having a wedding in the Chicago area and are looking for the best, these guys are it! Thank you Jay and Scott, we appreciate you guys more than you know!

Hands down, the best vendor we had at our wedding. We had Jay as our DJ. Just to give everyone perspective on the type of person/DJ Jay is, Jay was completely attentive to us since the beginning, and we booked him about 11 months in advance. He always answered emails or called when we requested a phone call. And he went above and beyond at our reception.

The dance floor was filled all night! We had someone doing backflips (yes, backflips) on the dance floor, that's how good it was. And we really liked his equipment. Something that was very important to us was not having too many or too big of speakers "clogging" the dance floor. Jay has these speakers where there is only one needed to fill the entire room.

You know that feeling that you get when you're at a wedding reception and slightly behind the speakers and everything sounds muffled? That's not the case with the speakers that Jay has. Nobody complained about the music; in fact, everybody raved! I highly recommend Fourth Estate Audio, and get Jay if you can!

We had Fourth Estate Audio as the DJ for our wedding in Chicago. They were very punctual in getting there and getting set up. In preparation for our event, we had one conversation with the president of their organization and then had a call with the actual DJ that would be at our event the week before. They were very adamant about having a robust playlist of songs, so definitely make sure you have a great selection of material picked out for them to play.

We love country music and at one point during the night that was all that was being played and the rest of our wedding guests weren't feeling it. We were able to ask the DJ to change it up and the vibe of the wedding definitely picked up. We appreciated their ability to be flexible and go with the flow. At the end of the night, the party was really fun and everyone was enjoying themselves so we paid extra to extend the party from 11:30 to Midnight.

Not a big deal, but definitely glad we asked before they just shut down the party. It was nice again that they were flexible to extend the night by a half hour on short notice though. Overall we had a great nice and it was nice to have someone there to keep the energy of the group up and make sure we had a good time!

We hired Fourth Estate Audio for our wedding on June 3, 2017. There are plenty of DJs that work with Fourth Estate Audio, but we used Jay - the main man! From the very beginning, Jay was very helpful in helping us plan our perfect day. The website to add our music was very easy to use and Jay was quick to respond to e-mail and/or phone calls with any questions.

The price for the quality we received on our wedding was is fantastic! We paid for the package with the uplighting which made our venue (The Morton Arboretum) look even more fantastic during the reception. Jay was prompt with the music during our ceremony, offered great transitions for speeches, and provided lots of fun and upbeat music. For music that wasn't on his list, he was very accommodating in purchasing the specific songs that we wanted for our special day. Jay kept the music flowing all night long during our reception and kept the dance floor packed!

Everyone I talked to after our wedding said that the music was awesome and it was such a fun wedding - Thanks to Jay! I would recommend Jay and Fourth Estate Audio for your future event - you will not be disappointed :)

Jay captured us with his professionalism and knowledge of the industry. After our first meeting, the process of selecting our music and providing a timeline electronically for our ceremony and reception were seamless. Though Fourth Estate Audio has a huge electronic database of music to select from, the company also provides you with a USB in the event that you need to download a song you would like to hear that is not readily available from the database.

In addition to supplying our event with music, we also hired Jay to provide DJ and lighting services for our ceremony and dinner as well. He did an amazing job on the lighting. The mood and ambiance was set perfectly for both our ceremony and reception. Jay definitely delivered a fun and welcoming reception for our guests! We would hands down recommend him to anyone of our friends.

For my 2014 wedding- I wasn't even sure where to start when looking for a wedding DJ. I found Jay through Wedding Wire and his stellar reviews are spot on. He was so easy to work with and guided me through the process. He uses a website where the information forms guide you through everything you need. I was also able to pay online as well which was so helpful and was one less thing for me to worry about the day of the wedding.

The day of Jay read the room perfectly. I agreed to the room making requests and the music flowed beautifully. Jay was there for 5.5 hours and there wasn't one bad song. His balance of upbeat dancing mixed with slow songs was perfect. Jay is professional, friendly and brings his years of experience to make a memorable evening. I wouldn't hesitate to call on him again for an event.

If I could give Jay Congdon 10 stars, I would. He was hands down the best vendor I had at my June 2015 wedding (better late than never). He trekked out to the city to meet with us at a Starbucks and was absolutely a pleasure to work with. All our paperwork was done electronically through his website, super easy. He is professional, punctual, and organized.

While I was in the midst of wedding planning, he would politely remind me to submit my song list. His attire was spot on, primped and pressed! During my wedding when I was getting swamped with photos, he merely stood in the background behind everyone to gently cue me it was time for the first dance. He did a phenomenal job keeping the crowd moving.

He provided every single song I'd requested (specifically the versions I'd found on YouTube). This is one of the two vendors (other being photographer-- which Fourth Estate also does, but I did not personally utilize as I'd already booked one) you should NOT skimp on as they create and maintain the atmosphere. He even went around and took beautiful photos of my venue, my program, my table settings, the bouquet/garter toss, and they all came out beautifully!

The video he compiled will be cherished forever (and uploaded to Facebook for all to see). Bonus: he provides a portable drive that fits in your wallet to share all your special moments with friends/family. I sincerely cannot rave *ENOUGH* about him. I have no doubt in my mind, Jay WILL be the DJ at my next milestone life event.

Jay was the DJ at our friend's wedding a few years back. Typically I don't remember DJ's at weddings but he was great so we figured we would reach out to him. He turned out to be the first and only DJ that we interviewed. From the start he made us feel comfortable and confident that he would do a great job and he did! He was super easy to work with throughout the process as well as the day of our wedding!

Through all the madness of wedding planning it was nice to not have to worry about Jay and to just know that he would be great. He doesn't come with much equipment which I was a little worried about, however, it was no problem! His equipment (Bose) is small but mighty! We got married in a large space and the acoustics sounded wonderful! Jay played a great mix of music we requested a head of time as well as music that kept everyone on the dance floor all night long! I cant thank Jay enough for doing such a wonderful job!

We hired Jay for his professionalism. We are business professionals who understand the importance of customer service. We're in our early 30s and had many options for DJs but we wanted someone who would do what we asked but still key into the crowd and stay tune with the photographer, videographer and of course the bride and groom. The good things: 1. Jay made sure the line up was coincided to what we gave him. 2.

He was dressed in a tux 3. He has a voice meant for the radio. 4. He took pictures with his own camera and sent them to us afterwards. The not so good: 1. We had a long request list but some songs were played that I'd never heard of. 2. We almost had to pay the photographer to stay longer-because Jay did not do what we asked of him. We asked him to play the music for the bouquet toss and garter throw at a certain time.

He totally dismissed what we asked in front of everyone -made for a very, very awkward experience. 3. The last song -is the Last Song. 4. Jay advertises a restaurant.com gift card after you have reviewed 4th Estate-we are still waiting and we got married in October!

Jay was the DJ at one of our friends wedding and thought he did an amazing job. So when the time came for our own wedding we went to him first and loved everything we heard and saw. Jay has several packages to chose from to meet any budget. We went with the upgraded lighting package and it look fantastic. We only gave Jay our introduction music, slow dance songs and we didn't like country and let him do the rest.

He did a great job reading the room and playing certain music at appropriate times. But if you want to hand pick some or most of your songs, they have a giant online music list that you can choose from. We highly recommend Jay, thank you for doing an amazing job on our special day :

My wedding was 03/28/15 in chicago. Jay and his company delivered exceptional services. We hired him for uplighting and monogram. When I say he did a perfect job! Our venue lighting was absolutely perfect. Not too much not too little. It gave the best hue throughout the shoe venue, which was quite spacious. He is very professional, friendly and does outstanding work. We love our monogram and appreciated the many options they had. Thanks so much Jay.

Jay and Fourth Estate Audio were absolutely awesome for our 8/16/14 wedding! He was responsive to all of my emails and phone calls, and he executed all of our plans perfectly (including a surprise for my groom!). He did a great job making all of the announcements, and I can't recommend him enough! Go with Jay!

I would like to echo the other reviews here for Jay's outstanding work! This review is for Jay and the deejay/emcee services he provided for our wedding ceremony and reception this month. Jay did an exceptional job not only executing the wedding as we requested but reassuring us that the entire evening ran smoothly. My husband and I were trying to do our wedding on a dime and "DIY" fashion. However, it meant a lot of uncertainties on our end for the "flow" of the evening as well as what to play to please our ecliptic group of friends and family.

From the get-go Jay was always quick to respond to calls and emails. He communicated clearly -- we never had any guess work or unwanted surprises or costs. We set up a time to meet in person, which I was skeptical about the necessity of doing so, but it was well worth it. I got to see the lights and equipment that he would be using and meeting in person allowed him to get a grasp of what my husband and I are like personally.

Do not be fooled by the mobility and compactness of his equipment because it did not compromise sound or quality. He moved from our ceremony room to reception in a matter of minutes and it didn't effect cocktail hour at all-- it was seamless! We had a live band fire RIGHT NEXT to our room in the wedding venue but his sound system masked our noisy neighbor.

His lights are awesome too! Each light has a multitude of light choices-- he matched our wedding colors perfectly and then they changed to an array of colors for the dance floor when the time came. Jay has a professional attitude and the voice to match -- his announcements and timing were perfect too. His experience helped guide us in the direction we needed.

Between his own knowledge and the resources on his website he can answer any question you have about deejay and emcee services and expectation. If any family or friends in the Chicagoland area need a deejay or emcee, I would insist they use Fourth Estate Audio and aka for Jay!

Fourth Estate Audio is amazing. We had last minute weather issues, and everyone had to switch gears and get our ceremony INSIDE, and he went with the flow, and helped everything get settled. NO STRESS. He was super responsive whenever we e-mailed with questions. Even if questions were asked already, he was always helpful and easy-going. He is super laid back and makes anything work for you.

All night long, he kept our people on the dance floor - he played our playlist, and went with requests as well. He was absolutely sensitive to our request list and our "must play" and also our "MUST NOT PLAY" lists. We couldn't have been happier with our choice to use Jay and FEA as our Wedding DJ. Not only will he keep your party going all night long, he will take care of himself from start to finish - dependable, fun, respectful and totally professional. Thank you JAY!

Jay was awesome! From our first conversation on the phone to our last conversation when we said goodbye at the venue he was fantastic! I would recommend this company to anyone who wants a very professional and affordable DJ service for their wedding. They are very well organized and prepared. I especially like how you can log in and put in your information and keep it up to date so that you and your DJ are on the same page. Jay was very patient with me and understanding when I changed things at the last minute.

I can't say enough great things about him and our wedding night was full of great music and our guests had a great night dancing! Thank you so much Jay and Fourth Estate Audio!

Jay was very easy to work with. He responded quickly to a message I left and we signed up immediately after discussing the services he provides. Their website is very convenient to use which made planning a lot easier. People were on the dance floor the entire night and there was a nice mix of music. I had several people tell me they enjoyed the DJ.

I would highly recommend Jay to anyone looking for a good DJ. Even the prices are fantastic. I asked for a lighting upgrade and he told me he was reviewing his prices and gave us the upgrade for free.

Jay was the most incredible DJ for our Chicago destination wedding. Within 2 minutes of emailing my inquiry he called me and through his excellent website I was able to experience his service to make an educated choice from my home in Seattle. I compared many and he was the most professional, prompt, and with the best website. He took the initiative to preview the venue for me, and I selected exactly the songs I wanted online through his site.

He was flexible and was even able to find some obscure songs we wanted. He offered Skype/phone meetings since we were out of state. Before our wedding he confirmed by phone and we looked at the final plan and music choices on our client account online. Day of, Jay arrived elegantly in a tux, blended into the party and set out beautiful mood lighting that really enhanced the space.

My family raved about the music and everyone took his card. He followed up with a beautiful surprise gift to us and gave us the best quality experience we could have hoped for!

Of all the DJs I contacted, Jay was the first to respond, and had the most to offer. I enjoyed the process of how to send him music requests, as well as handle all the payments. His web site is user-friendly, which is a huge plus. The night of our event, he was patient as the starting time got delayed, but Jay took it all in stride and still gave us some fabulous dance music (a nice mix of our request list). He was quick to set-up and quick to break it all down, no assistance needed. I would hire him again in a minute.

I hired Jay BECAUSE of his absolutely perfect Yelp reviews, and he did not disappoint! He was the easiest of all of my wedding vendors to work with, and he was a blast at the wedding. He did a great job, was a fabulous emcee, and even when there was a slight gaffe (parents songs got switched, it happens), he handled it with wit, grace and aplomb. And his rates were really reasonable! I would recommend him to anyone.

We used Fourth Estate based on reviews from Wedding Wire. Based on our experience, we have no idea why they are the "Second Best Wedding DJ's in Chicago" - they should be #1! Seriously, there was not one person at our wedding who didn't end up on the dance floor for some amount of time. Everyone loved the mix of music. We couldn't believe that we had such a level of quality for such a low price.

Extra Amazing: -- We had requested a lapel microphone. Jay explained that they don't usually use lapel mics because they are so delicate. We were OK with it. The day of, though, they arrived with a rented lapel mic for us to use. -- Scott was our DJ, but Jay also arrived to help him set up! -- We rented the uplighting package. This was absolutely gorgeous, and they brought in the Million Lights package as well - what an awesome treat!

The whole venue sparkled. -- Scott played most of the songs from our 40 song playlist, masterfully choosing when to get the "old folks" on the floor and when to speed things up and get the younger guests moving. -- We offered to put any songs not listed on the website onto a flash drive. Scott thanked us, but had already put all the songs onto a CD so that we wouldn't have to worry about it. A Little Frustrating: -- Adding songs to our playlist was a little confusing at first. Jay helped us out, though.

Jay did a fantastic job. To bullet point a couple highlights: -very organized -came well prepared -got people dancing! -very professional (never came up to us to ask us questions) -night went fantastically well -not rude to our guests we recommend him to anyone who's looking for a dj who knows what he's doing and really reasonable in price!

We had the pleasure of having Jay Congdon/Fourth Estate Audio at our wedding. I was worried that he would have difficulties with a mixed group of English n Spanish speaking guests. However, he was flexible and multi talented with a large playlist. My guests all had a blast and I have no regrets!

I used Fourth Estate Audio for my wedding on 11/15/08. In short, they did a fantastic job and their prices were very reasonable. While their website is a little bit out-dated, we were able to easily put in our event details and make song requests. Our DJ, Jim, was great -- he put me at ease, he played all of our requests that he could fit in, and he had a great sense for when to play what types of songs.

We also had him make a few announcements and he was perfect -- no cheesiness! Everything went completely smoothly with the entire transaction with Fourth Estate Audio -- I highly recommend them. Please feel free to contact me with a private message if you have any questions.