The talking in booth always never understood don’t reply or slip the cans on… If you ignore people in there they will leave… It really does sound like your being a whiny prick who thinks better if himself then others… You move and dance around a lot what does that have to do with people being in the booth with you or standing behind you? You want privacy for a very public task… The fact that you don’t mind someone official in the booth with you leads me to believe almost that your being a conceded asshat… Or as I said a troll who needs to Taco Bell before the show to clear the crowded booth… Instead of cake it be shot sprays son
nah, I assumed you can’t think straight, you’re drunk
I agree with ElectroFist … and that boiler room site is a prime example.
back in the 90s the booths were not so public..( no main stage) most booths were even on a second floor or tucked away in a dark corner.
the only people allowed in were people who worked there or had some connection to the DJ.. and it was only a few people at a time.
if someone in there is drunk an loud or just being a pain by trying to talk to you then it throws your vibe off.
when your vibe gets thrown off that reflects on how you play.
your performance is a reflection of how you are feeling.
just like when you wake up one day and feel happy for whaterver reason… you may want to play some uplifting music… or if your angry you may play some hard hitting stuff at a fast BPM.
we may be just mixing records.. cds.. or MP3s and even pressing sync.. how ever you do it its still a performance and it requires full focus on the elements of the party.
this is a battle I am going to try to fight with upcoming gigs and do my best to keep my privacy in my booth without coming off like a dick…
best way i can put it.. if an artist was trying to paint a picture and they had a drunk person leaning over their shoulder it would not come out well.
its all about the your vibe since you are in control of the night.
also usually i will keep a bouncer close by, i can just make eye contact and he will know whats up.
Easiest way is, to tell them that you were ok with them being here, but the owner / bouncers have a strict rule of not having people around the booth because … (insert random story here) happened recently.
If that doesn’t work just deal with it and if people annoy you send them off. If they annoy you more get them kicked out. Whats so bad about a few people hanging around in the booth, dancing or just resting a bit. Its not like you’re doing rocket science up there.
“Unless you’re smoking hot and available, you can’t stand here.”
I could have been a professional footballer, but, y’know, all those people in teh stands watching me… 
Just remember there’s nothing you can do behind the decks that hasn’t been done thousands of times. You are not unique.
This is when it helps to be 6’4’’ and 250lbs
It makes moving people out of the way a lot easier.
Maybe he’s not actually mixing and just play a pre recorded sequences ableton set and doesn’t want anyone to see…
its funny, i usually have like to have a bunch of people in the booth, friends and others alike. we dance, smoke and just have an awesome time. I’ve meet all kinds of cool people that were just hanging out in the booth. But the places I play are usually more laid back hippie, raver, burner crowd. So we are all family. If i spin a really killer track I might wander out onto to the floor and throw a few moves down.
Once you learn to stop taking yourself so seriously, you will have WAAYY more fun!
This is the key I think what this guys missing maybe
Literally the only difference between us and the people on the dance floor is that we comprehend how to use the equipment. lol
Besides how did you get into dj’ing…? I know I was that 13 year old at a wedding STANDING BEHIND THE DJ saying “hmmm i think I can do that!”
I was 12 listening to a real player broadcast from pirate radio in the uk and icq the guy and kinda went from there picked up some belt drive turntables and a cheap mixer and went from there progressed to cdjs a few years later then after that traktor 1.06 mixed on that for years and years and then finally bought a controller in 2007-2008 which still have to this day and been just from there got into production in early 2000-2001 when I was 16 made some decent connections but by time I was 19 my focus has shifted and went on with life in a different direction pretty much walked away from the music scene and returned in 2006 and kinda just been a hobby since
same, always been a hobby for me, with varied levels of success over the years in different cities.
Yup maybe it’s my stance on it and such and that’s why the fucks I give is low and don’t take myself too seriously when you start on belt drive tables and beat match you learn to not take yourself too seriously because you’ve likely fucked up enough times to not really take yourself seriously… Nothing like fucking up a mix in a club when your 16 to learn not I take yourself seriously… Guess different with controllers and cdjs with bpm read outs and wave forms
Like seriously quit being a diva because your playing a club just makes me shake my head when people act like that… A good Dj can roll with it and handle people around him to not throw off his game… Try djing while watching tv and learn to not need to give 100% to be 100%
Hmm…how to approach things.
I got into it from watching crappy mobile DJs before I knew they were crappy. Then someone gave me a Sasha mixtape that expanded my world of electronic music beyond just the Prodigy albums.
As for being in the booth…I had a chat with Steve Porter one night when he opened up for Sasha. People weren’t allowed in the booth then, but I kind of just walked up when the bouncers weren’t looking. He was cool about it. And I got to take some crappy cel phone pics of the Maven. And Steve Porter got a fan.
That’s how you’re supposed to do it…be human and friendly…you know, other than being the life of the party and guiding a dance floor with your (theoretically) superior musical knowledge and your ability to work a really over-glorified stereo system.
I don’t think anything really bad has happened other than some guy knocking the tonearm on a TT. But, it was at a house party, and I was using Serato…so…there was collective booing followed by at least a few people saying something like “wow, you really are doing things”.
This was a tough task at first.. I used to be super secretive but after a while of doing it I stopped caring. You aren’t going to lose your gigs to someone because they play a few of the same songs as you.
In my experience, the greater risk is giving a demo to a promoter, not getting the gig, and hearing tracks off your mix the next week.