Do you bring your own slipmats?
So I’ve been interested in this for awhile now. I know some people do, some people don’t… I’ve always wondered.
I almost always bring my own slipmats… because that’s what I’ve spent the time practicing on, and I’ve used some shit slipmats in the past and absolutely hated myself for it. I will say I don’t always remember them, and I usually regret that decision.
For those of you who spin on vinyl (time-code or otherwise), do you bring your slipmats?
DJ rule number 1: Always come prepared.
To every gig I bring my own headphones, slipmats, and needles.
I have cutom HellNegative slipmats with clear timecode rekkids so photographs always have my logo in them. 
I hate playing off other peoples set ups generally, I just bought some butter rugs and I will take them everywhere now, so much better than your bog standard mats.
Often, even without any trick mixing involved. Mostly to avoid issues with overly slippery mats if I need to touch the labels somehow (and there’s always someone to bump into you at that time too, go instawreck).
An odd sampling… as I can’t think of a single time I’ve noticed someone besides me replace the slipmats on a DJ changeover.
And I bring my own to every gig.
Odd side note though, I learned on shitty slipmats, and now using good ones throws me off.
I always have a spare pair.
I do because I like and am used to the kind of slipmats I have (thin and slippery), but playing on unfamiliar slipmats is usually just fine. The problems come in when there are none at the venue. Years ago I had a dnb residency with a couple other guys and one of them only liked mixing on the rubber mats that came with the turntables (the ones most people throw away); it became kind of a pain because we were trading off every 20-30 minutes or so rather than playing full sets, and each time we switched we had to deal with switching the mats out too. Normally I’d just skip the switch under such circumstances but the rubber mats were way too challenging to mix on for me (and I presume he had the same feeling about the slipmats).
+1
[QUOTE=djproben;618222 other guys and one of them only liked mixing on the rubber mats that came with the turntables [/QUOTE]
How is it even possible to cue a track in with rubber slipmats ?
I couldn’t do it but the other guy could mix just fine with them. It just goes to show you can get used to whatever; I guess he started DJing on his own and didn’t have anyone to tell him about slip mats so he just learned with rubber. But yeah I think it would be bad for the turntable motor after a while.
Always bring my own Traktor Butter rugs, as well as a pair of Ortofon Pros and some cans…
Take whatever you can/whatever you like to make the booth feel like home. Some people even bring little ornaments (action figures? Dolls?!?) to put near the decks to make the association between playing at home, and playing at a venue by making their surroundings familiar.
Whatever works for you.
I know some DJ’s used to take a can of WD-40 to a show just in case the house x-fader was stiff. If you do this, be discrete - venues usually don’t like you spraying lubricant in their gear! 
Do not lick the headshell contacts!!
Yeah, just in case they don’t provide them.