Why these rules exist
Nearly all of them reduce to one sentence: at any moment the night belongs to exactly one person. Whoever is playing decides — direction, volume, and who touches what. Everyone else in the room is a guest, including the person playing next.
The second reason is less romantic: a booth is a workplace with open drinks beside expensive gear, often in the dark and always too tight. Almost every rule that sounds like arrogance is really a precaution — and every club has the stories to go with it.
Four situations where it goes wrong
The handover is the most common one; the rest spread across the night.
| The situation | The unwritten rule | Why it exists |
|---|---|---|
| The handover | Arrive early, match levels, two tracks in their direction | Until your first track plays the night still belongs to them — the volume included. |
| Someone else's gear | Ask before plugging in; touch only your own channel | Master, booth and their EQ are off limits. If something is wrong you say so — you do not turn it. |
| Guests in the booth | One friendly sentence, short, no debate | Open drinks beside expensive gear in the dark — that is the reason, not arrogance. |
| After your own slot | Listening yes, lingering in the booth no | You take the next person's space and their sense of deciding alone. |
The one rule: it is not your night yet
Until your first track plays, everything belongs to your predecessor — the direction, the volume, the space in the booth. That holds even when you could do better, and especially then. A hard break punishes the guests who are dancing, not the colleague.
And from the moment your set is running the same applies in reverse: then it is yours, and you may expect that. Whoever knows the rule one way round knows it the other way too.
The handover, step by step
Six steps. The first happens a quarter of an hour before everything else.
Be there fifteen minutes before your slot
Not on time, but early. Arriving to the minute forces the other DJ to play past their slot while waiting for you — the most common friction between two DJs and the easiest to avoid.
Ask before you plug anything in
A USB stick in someone else's player, a cable in someone else's mixer: both are an intervention in a running set. One sentence is enough, and the other DJ tells you which channel is free.
Match levels before your first track plays
Set your gain so your first track is as loud as the one running — not louder. Using the handover to take the night up a notch makes your predecessor retroactively quiet and your successor confused.
Take the night as you find it
The other DJ spent an hour building a direction. Breaking it on your first track is technically possible and almost always wrong: right then the floor still belongs to them. Two or three tracks in their direction, then yours — after that nobody asks.
Clear away what you brought
Cables, stick, headphones, drink. Whatever you leave, the next person has to move while playing — and quite possibly the channel they need is the one your cable is still in.
Do not linger in the booth after your slot
Listening yes, standing there no. Staying in the booth after your set takes the next DJ's space and their sense of deciding alone — even without saying a word.
Five things you only do once
Arriving to the minute
The other DJ has to play past their slot while waiting for you. The most common friction between two DJs and the easiest to avoid.
Using the handover to turn things up
Your first track a notch above their last: that makes them retroactively quiet — and the next DJ will do it to you.
Turning the master because it is too quiet
The master belongs to the venue or to whoever is playing. If it is wrong you tell the engineer or the colleague.
Leaving cables and sticks behind
The next person clears them while playing — and quite possibly your cable is in exactly the channel they need.
Staying in the booth after your set
Even without a word it takes the next DJ's room. You can listen anywhere; you can only loom there.
What makes a good handover
Five points, and none of them is about music.
You were there before your slot
A quarter of an hour is enough and solves half of it.
You asked before plugging in
One sentence, and they tell you the free channel.
Your first track was the same volume
Not louder. The volume of the night does not belong to the newcomer.
Your first tracks were in their direction
Yours after that. Ten minutes later nobody asks.
You took away what you brought
Cable, stick, headphones, glass.
⚠️ This page describes habits, not regulations. What holds in a club holds differently in a bar or at a wedding — and some venues have explicit house rules that take precedence. When in doubt, ask the promoter or the colleague; either takes ten seconds and settles it.
Common questions
Why does this matter more than good mixing?
Because it decides whether you get asked again. Half the room does not hear a botched transition; that you turned up late, pushed the level and left cables behind is noticed by the promoter and two colleagues — and a city scene is small.
The previous DJ is playing badly. Can I switch straight away?
Technically yes, wisely no. Right then the floor still belongs to them, and a hard break punishes the guests, not the colleague. Two or three tracks in their direction and then yours — after ten minutes nobody remembers how it started.
How do I handle guests in the booth?
Friendly and brief. A booth is a workplace with open drinks near expensive gear — that is the reason, not arrogance. One sentence („there is no room in here, but I am around afterwards“) works better than an argument and better than ignoring them.
Can I film or check my phone while playing?
Briefly for a recording, otherwise no. Standing on your phone while the track runs out loses you the transition — and the room can see it. If you are filming for your channels: set the stand up beforehand, not between two tracks.
What do I not touch on someone else's setup?
Anything that is not your channel: their gain, the master, the booth volume, their EQ. If the master really is wrong, you say so — you do not turn it. With borrowed equipment that goes double, because you do not know what is delicate there.
I broke one of these rules. Now what?
Mention it once, briefly, without a wall of explanation: „Sorry about earlier.“ That settles almost everything. What does not work is disappearing — that person keeps playing in the same city, and over months a small thing turns into a story.
Start learning
With your set under control you have attention left for the rest
With your own set safely under control you have attention left for everything around it. The learning path is the way there.
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