Bye bye DJ booth?

[Nakatomi]

For a long time I'd contemplated ditching my DJ booth in favour of a console type affair now beloved of American wedding DJs like Nick Spinelli & Jason Jani.

So on New Year's Day I popped to B&Q and bought myself a sheet of 9mm plywood & had it ripped to various sizes.

Some time later....









There are loads of pros for it but the biggest is just how different it looks - not to mention clean & modern.

Cons - well there's lots of those too. The console itself is pretty heavy, but still only a couple of kg heavier than a Swan flightcase with laptop shelf loaded with the MC7000 etc. It definitely might not be very good at repelling boarders. And yes, drink spillage risk is an ever present demon but then it is with ANY DJ equipment isn't it?

I had it out for the first time last night & despite having only temporary transport storage (custom bags are on order) I absolutely LOVE how much it's improved visibility & accessibility. It's drawn a lot of positive comments from venue staff. The photographer last night said it's very nice but it's not a DJ booth is it? I said that's absolutely the point. It isn't a DJ booth - although I've got plans to make a few variations of a folding 'booth-type' affairs to rest the console in.

I'm still considering this an experiment for now - it remains to be seen how it'll cope with a very rowdy crowd.

So how's it made? All 9mm plywood glued & screwed (then filled) together, primed and either painted or covered with DC-Fix sticky back plastic (yes really). MC7000, podium LED strip & radio mic receiver are all powered from embedded power packs (no mains strip inside). Laptop charger & USB hub connections are led to the outside of the console. The laptop stand was originally black & the 35mm aluminium pole slots neatly into a 35mm tophat secured inside the console.

And yes it all comes apart for transport. In an ideal world I'd have access to a huge van or trailer with ramp that I can just wheel everything in & out of (and venues would never have any steps or tricky doors), but we don't live in an ideal world.

How does it go together? Simply slot parts on top of each other & secure a couple of butterfly latches (4 in total). I opted for these in favour of bolts & what have you because bolts or handwheel nuts etc can all too easily be dropped & misplaced. Butterfly latches are probably the most expensive aspect of the hardware I used. Total cost? Well under £250 (call it under £400 including sturdy padded bags), but absolute hours & hours (and hours) of filling, sanding, sanding & sanding.

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