Gigs & business
Handover
A handover is the moment one DJ stops and the next starts — the logistics of it, not the mix. Sticks come out, headphones swap, someone finds a channel, and the room hears whatever happens while that goes on.
In practice
Load into a spare player before the outgoing DJ needs the deck. A good handover is one nobody in the room notices.
Arrive two records early, ask which channel is free, plug in and cue quietly. Agree who is mixing out of whom — most outgoing DJs will happily hand over mid-track, and the ones who want to finish on a specific record will say so if you ask. Do not touch the master, do not pull the outgoing track down, and take your stick out yourself at the end rather than leaving it for somebody to find. If you want the mix between the two sets to be a real blend, that is a conversation, not an assumption.
2 tracks
How early to arrive
Ask first
Who mixes out of whom
Never
Times to touch the master
Where these come from: Booth etiquette, not a catalog figure. For what we can measure, see the mix itself, as opposed to the swap.
Why it matters
It is the most visible two minutes of anyone’s night and the least rehearsed. A handover done well is inaudible: the incoming DJ has loaded and cued before the outgoing one is finished, and the room notices nothing. Done badly it is silence, or a burst of a track at the wrong volume, or two people apologising over a fader.
The person who controls it is whoever prepared. Arriving with your stick already in a spare player, your headphones already on and your first record cued costs you five minutes of standing about and buys the outgoing DJ a clean exit, which is the entire etiquette of a booth in one habit.
Frequently asked
Who mixes out at a handover?+
Whoever the two of you agree on, which is why asking takes three seconds and assuming does not. Many outgoing DJs are happy to be mixed out of; some have an ending planned.
How early should I get to the booth?+
About two records before your slot. Long enough to plug in, find a free channel and cue; short enough not to crowd someone who is still working.
What if there is no spare player?+
Then the handover is a swap rather than an overlap, and the outgoing DJ needs to know that. Agree it in advance so they can plan an ending rather than being cut off.
Related terms
Transition
A transition is the move from one track to the next — the overlap where both are playing and the point where the first is gone. It is the unit a set is actually built from, rather than the tracks themselves.
Set time
Set time is the length of the slot a DJ is booked for — the number that decides everything else about the set, from how many records fit to how fast the energy can move.
DJ booth
The DJ booth is the space the equipment sits in: the table, the monitor, the power, and where all of it sits relative to the floor. It is part of the instrument, because it decides what you can hear.
Two USB sticks
Bringing two identical prepared USB sticks is the standard club precaution. Sticks fail, get left in players and get taken by mistake, and the second one turns any of those from a disaster into a pause.
Explore: Planning a b2b set · Transition · Set time · All DJ terms