Busy DJ booths can be creative and fun places. If you know and follow the etiquette, you can help to keep them that way. Pic: Flavorpill
When you DJ with other people, you’re on a team, and that team has to play well together in order to perform effectively. The crowd doesn’t really care about the individuals as much as the whole. If all the DJs on a night can make it work as a team, it benefits everyone.
So if you’ve got a gig coming up where there will be lots of other DJs playing (especially where you all have your own gear), and you want to be sure you’re contributing to the whole and not treading on any toes, here are some time-won rules for being a good team player in the DJ booth:
- Set up before the club fills and strike only when the club is done – Try never to “strike your gear” until the end of the night. It’s straight rude to the current DJ, and the people in the crowd will see your packing up as a sign that “the club is closing”
- Bring back-up equipment and make sure it’s on and ready to go – Whether it’s a CD, a USB or just an iPod plugged through an Aux In, be sure to have a backup to cover any crashes
- Understand which set you’re playing and what that means – As a team, you should be building towards goals: for instance, if you’re the opening DJ, you’ll be slowly building up the energy for the next DJ, in order to gently pull people onto the floor. Know where you’re meant to fit in with the whole
- Know how long you’re on for and at what time you transition out… – It’s worth having a timer going (with an alarm) so you don’t run too long (or short). Try and ensure the next DJ is there at least two or three songs before their set (at least so they can hear the groove and read the crowd). Likewise, ensure that you’re two or three songs early for your set
- Be considerate of the next DJ’s set-up – Know how the next DJ is going to operate in their set, so you can make it easy for them to take over. This is preferable to them entering a DJ booth with your gear piled all over their gear – gear which you helpfully unplugged right before your set because you couldn’t find any power sockets for your own!
- Never interrupt a DJ while he’s transitioning between songs – Even if the DJ is late getting off their set, let them finish their mix before communicating with them
- Don’t co-pilot the current DJ – Even if you know them (in fact especially if you know them). The DJ booth is almost always too small, and you getting in the current DJ’s way is likely to lead to them feeling smothered. Give them room to work just as you’d like to be given space yourself when it’s your turn
- Never argue in the DJ booth – Have the discussion later if you need to. Probably best to let things cool down anyway, and ultimately the crowd doesn’t want to see DJs in heated discussion when all they want to do is dance
The bottom line…
Basically, a little communication and respect goes a long way. If you’re actually running the night, it’s good to ensure “someone in charge of the crew” actually supervises all of the above and makes sure all the DJs understand these types of rules.
A little communication and respect goes a long way…
But even if you’re just booked to play an hour or so at an event, this is your blueprint for making friends of your fellow DJs, and for ensuring you play your part in giving the public what they paid for.
• DJ ForcedHand is a DJ from from San Francisco, California. You can find him on Facebook and SoundCloud.
Do you regularly play with lots of other DJs? Have you ever been the victim of inconsiderate behaviour in the DJ booth? Any “rules” you’d like to add?
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Tags: basic digital dj tips, beginner digital dj tips, dj booth rules, DJ etiquette
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This Article came in TIME
[ link ]just woke up this morning thinking about a gig w’l do me and Dj friend of mine
and i was thinking whats the common problems when 2 djs play together in a House Party
Thanx : Forced Hands
I’m a DJ for my student fraternity where we educate and provide our own DJs. During parties usually 2 DJs play all night in 1 hour intervals. This means there’s a lot of transitioning going on, but luckily everybody knows eachother well so it goes quite streamlined. Since we know eachother so well I immediately recognised the co-piloting rule. I have both positive and negative experiences in that field, even to the point where I saw one DJ driving the other crazy by criticizing him so much. It can however be very pleasant to operate together for a while.
[ link ]The gear DJs use is never a problem, even though our booth isn’t really spacious. The fraternity has its own Pioneer setup which everybody uses, sometimes accompanied by one’s own digital gear. This leads to switching laptops sometimes, but in that case we just play from CDs in the mean time.
I have to disagree with no. 1. Setting up at the beginning of the night rather than shortly before your playtime only clutters up the booth. Same goes for packing up after your playtime, I don’t see why that should a problem. Just calmly pack up all your stuff, deposit it in a safe place and then go enjoy yourself on the dancefloor – or go on to your next gig, the next club to party at, or whatever else you fancy.
[ link ]Yeah tend to agree with the second point.
[ link ]I prefer to set up everything BEFORE the beginning so the optimum arrangement can be found for all DJs playing, but at least once I have left my kit till the end (of a very late party) and found it in a shocking state – sticky drinks and cigarette ash all over everything. I was not best pleased.
The other DJ is a friend and nothing was permanently damaged, so I let it slide, but ever since I have been removing my stuff at the end of my set. It’s simply too precious to trust to someone else’s booth habits.
That point probably wasn’t as clear as it should have been, I’ll give you that. What was meant was to make sure that every DJ had the space to be able to play with whatever amount of gear they had in their time slot (personally, I have at least 2 pieces of gear sometimes 3 and they need to be somewhat close). Just as important is making sure each piece of gear has a good clean line to the house mixer and the gear is VUed and EQed in for the night (sure, you’ll need to crank up the bass when people show up, but it’s best to do your gear and baseline tests when you have time to do something about it)… and you KNOW you’ll have to increase the bass dynamically anyway.
[ link ]Rule No. 9 should be: Don’t expect any of the previous rules to be followed by anyone.
People tend to be douche bags or just careless. During my first gigs I followed some rules along the lines of the ones listed here and I expected others to behave the same, especially the more experienced DJs. That wasn’t the case. I guess what I’m saying is be courteous to others and hope that they are the same to you, but don’t take it personal if they are not.
[ link ]In response to your rule #9: This is why you have someone actually run the night, this person isn’t always the promoter, but often, it is. The person with the money on the line is most-often the one who says what happens when emotions flare and attitudes get out of control… someone able to tell some a person not acting as a team player to stop doing that thing, or go home.
[ link ]OK so all good advice except for the showing up and setting up before the gig and waiting till after to pack. Dude we have other gigs to play sometimes in the same night plus I do not plan on giving 8 hours of my time when I am being paid for 2 hours. The whole power supply source is SO on point along with know what vibe you are taking over.
[ link ]Thanks for taking the time to write the article Forced Hand.
Here’s an additional tip I think is useful if you cannot stay the whole night, but you have your own equipment. Get some White “Board Tape”, a Black Sharpee and write your name down on the tape, then tape that itself around the housing at the connector end you’ll plug in to your computer/sound card/controller the line-in to the board (making a flag instead of wrapping around the cable), and keep the line-ins sorted somewhere easy to get to, but out of the way. Then all you really have to do is mute the channel, plug in your gear and un-mute to be ready to go. You STILL want to do a line-level test before you start the evening… trust me, I op a lot of shows and it’s so much better to do the sound check before the event is open to the public.
[ link ]Good tips for those that are just starting out. I have seen my fair share of DJ’s who are straight up rude in the booth. As for me, when I enter the booth, most of the time other DJ’s expressions are “here comes the big guy.” I look like an American football player, but I am really nice. Very rarely do I have to get into it with any DJ playing before or after me.
I do hate when a DJ gets on and doesn’t pay attention to the mood of the crowd. If the previous DJ has built up the floor, then it is my job to keep it going, not kill the dance floor. Or a DJ comes on after me and kills all the hard work I put into building,maintaining,or transforming the vibe. Every DJ should build on what the previous DJ started. That is what makes the night memorable, just when the crowd thinks they can go no higher, the next DJ pushes them over the edge.
Lastly, DJ’s need to be more considerate to the equipment in the booth, stop slamming faders, and pushing red,learn how to control the gain. This will make the sound engineers your friend.
[ link ]I think it’s good form to not have beverages (or anything else) near the equipment or CDs/LPs because you know, sooner or later something will spill.
[ link ]Good additional point for sure.
[ link ]“No beer on the gear” that’s my no1 rule and no one, I mean no one, gets an exemption from that one.
[ link ]Rule one is ridiculous, almost every club ive ever played in has had around 6 djs on playing 1 hours sets. The club opens at 9pm usually and opens at about 4am. Should i really be expected to be at the club at 9 to set up and stay around till 4 even if i am only playing a one hour set in the middle just so as not to appear rude?
I think it would be ruder to leave all my gear set up and in the way of the other djs on for the night. Id hate to think what the booth would look like with 6 laptops + controllers cluttering it up all night…
[ link ]I guess it depends on how much room there is in the box, and how may DJs there are. The author clarifies that himself in the comments. Certainly one place where I used to play regularly there were two residents and a guest most nights, and we always set our gear up early and took it down at the end, we wouldn’t have dreamed of doing so around the guest DJ or at any point during the night.
[ link ]I’ve recently been given the opportunity to DJ along side many Dancehall/Reggae deejays(MC) and music selectors but the place can get really hostile none the less it’s a friendly competition of what team can rock the crowd best but consideration for the other teams goes out the window deejays taking shots at other deejays on the microphone crazy!! BUT as mentioned in one of the comments “be courteous to others and hope that they are the same to you, but don’t take it personal if they are not”. But that’s the culture i guess as far as Dancehall goes hostile competition LOL
[ link ]I have another bit to add: DON’T USE THE CDJS AS A COASTER!! CDJs are mostly indestructible, but one thing that introduces them to a rusty claw hammer is a beer sitting on the jogwheel. Yes, they’re nice, big, and flat, but they’re pressure sensitive, with springs, and a heavy drink wears those springs out fast.
[ link ]I think you need to respect the other DJ’s choice of music even if you don’t like it. As much as it is totally justifiable, it is certainly not acceptable to cock drop your colleague as he mauls Steps in to a Todd Terje re-edit!
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