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DJ tech rider template.
Most rider templates list boxes. This one states the conditions your setup actually imposes — the switch grade the manufacturer specifies, why a substitute deck may not join the link, and the power nobody thinks about — and draws the booth.
Whatever you type here fills in the invoice, booking contract and press kit. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account — it lives in this browser only.
You
Your own name, or your company's.
Leave blank if bookings come to you.
Who is booking you
Who the invoice is addressed to, if not the person.
The booking
2h on the floor — the set crosses midnight, which is handled.
The booth
In addition to the players.
Sharing one stick across the players. Off if you bring one per deck.
The rest of it
A production manager builds an arrangement, not a list. The drawing is the part they use.
Technical rider
Equipment
- Players
- 2 × Pioneer DJ CDJ-3000USB and SD, 9-inch touchscreen, Gigabit Ethernet for Pro DJ Link. Up to six can share one source on a six-channel mixer.
- Mixer
- Pioneer DJ DJM-A9Four channels. Its LAN terminal is 100BASE-TX, so a separate 1000BASE-T switch still belongs in the booth when CDJ-3000s are linked.
Where a model is unavailable, an equivalent from the same manufacturer and generation is acceptable if agreed in writing beforehand. Please do not substitute without telling the artist.
Booth layout
What the venue provides
- 1.A switching hub compatible with 1000BASE-T, with a category 5 shielded LAN cable to each player and to the mixer. The manufacturer specifies the faster hub for CDJ-3000s specifically, to keep browsing responsive across linked players. (AlphaTheta)
- 2.One spare LAN cable in the booth. A dead cable takes a player off the network mid-set and there is no way to diagnose it while the record is playing.
- 3.All players on the link must be the same brand. Players from another manufacturer cannot join a Pro DJ Link network, so a substitute deck from a different brand is a separate island, not a spare. (AlphaTheta)
- 4.One or two powered booth monitors at head height, on their own send with its own level control at the booth. A monitor fed from the front-of-house mix is not a monitor — it arrives late and it changes every time the engineer touches the room.
- 5.At least 4 working mains sockets at the booth, on the booth's own circuit and not shared with lighting, smoke or bar equipment.
- 6.Everything powered, connected and tested before the artist arrives, with someone who knows the system contactable throughout the performance.
Preferred, not essential
- —A dimmable light on the booth, bright enough to read a screen and a record label without lighting the DJ.
- —Booth surface at roughly 100–110 cm, level and stable, with room to set the mixer and players side by side rather than stacked.
Hospitality
Contact on the day
- Artist
- Artist name
This rider was produced from a free template. Equipment specifications and connection requirements are quoted from the manufacturers and were correct when checked, but firmware, models and installations vary — confirm the specifics with the venue’s technical team before the date.
Why most riders do not work
A list of objects is not a specification.
Almost every DJ rider you can download says a version of the same thing: two players, one mixer, a monitor, some water. It tells a production manager nothing they had not already assumed, and it catches none of the things that actually go wrong.
What goes wrong is almost never the players. It is the network — a fourth deck that will not appear, a stick that browses at walking pace, a cable that dies mid-set. It is the monitor, fed from the room instead of its own send. And it is the power, because the booth is on the same circuit as the smoke machine.
None of those is on a normal rider, and all three follow mechanically from choices you have already made. So this tool keeps the equipment list short and generates the requirements underneath it: pick four CDJ-3000s and it asks for the switch grade the manufacturer specifies; add turntables and it asks for them to be decoupled from the speakers; bring a laptop and it asks for somewhere to put it.
Checked at the source
The two manufacturer facts this rider is built on
Quoted from Pioneer DJ and AlphaTheta rather than from a forum, with the date we read them.
| What it says | Source | Read |
|---|---|---|
| CDJ-3000 plays from USB and SD, uses Gigabit Ethernet for Pro DJ Link, and can share a source across up to six units on a six-channel mixer. | Pioneer DJ — CDJ-3000 product page | 2026-08-12 |
| Category 5 shielded LAN cable; a 100BASE-TX switching hub, or 1000BASE-T for CDJ-3000s; the DJM-A9 LAN terminal is itself 100BASE-TX; and players from another brand cannot be connected. | AlphaTheta Help Center | 2026-08-12 |
The second of those carries a clause riders never include and that changes what a “spare” means: a player from another brand cannot join the link. If the booth has three players and a venue helpfully wheels in a fourth from the other manufacturer, it is a separate island, and you find out at the point you try to load a track onto it. Being explicit about it costs one line and heads off the single most well-intentioned way a booth gets broken.
Firmware, installations and models vary, so treat all of this as what to ask for and confirm the specifics with the venue’s technical team before the date. A rider is the start of a conversation with production, not a substitute for having one.
The drawing
Production builds an arrangement, not a list.
A booth layout takes thirty seconds to read and removes a category of argument that a list cannot touch: which side the decks go, whether there is room for a laptop without it sitting on the mixer, where the monitors point, and how far the turntables are from the speakers.
The drawing here is generated from the equipment you picked, so it cannot contradict the list above it — change the number of players and the plot changes with it. It is drawn in plain black and white with no fills, because it will be printed, photocopied and forwarded, and anything relying on colour or shading does not survive that.
If you are prepping a stick for the same booking, the USB checker reads an export the way a player reads it, and will tell you what a CDJ will refuse before you find out in front of a room.
Frequently asked
Common questions
What is a DJ tech rider?+
A short document saying what has to be in the booth, working, before you arrive. It goes to the promoter with the contract and gets forwarded to whoever actually builds the booth — often a sound company who has never heard of you. Written well it is the difference between turning up to what you expected and spending your first twenty minutes finding out that the third player is not on the network.
What should a DJ rider include?+
The players and the mixer by name, the number of each, and then — the part almost every template omits — the conditions those choices impose. A switch of the right grade with a cable to each player and one spare. A booth monitor on its own send with its own level. Enough mains sockets at the booth, on the booth's circuit rather than shared with the smoke machine. A surface for a laptop if you bring one. Someone contactable who knows the system. The gear is the easy half.
Do I need a network switch for CDJs?+
To share one USB stick across linked players, yes. AlphaTheta specify a category 5 shielded LAN cable and a switching hub compatible with 100BASE-TX, and for CDJ-3000s specifically they say to use a 1000BASE-T hub to keep browsing responsive across the players. Worth knowing that the DJM-A9's own LAN terminal is 100BASE-TX, so the mixer does not remove the need for a proper switch in the booth. And ask for a spare cable: a dead one takes a player off the network mid-set with no way to diagnose it while a record is playing.
Can I mix Pioneer and Denon players on the same link?+
No. AlphaTheta state plainly that you cannot connect their units to multi players from another brand. This matters more than it sounds, because it changes what a spare is: if a booth has three CDJs and someone wheels in a fourth deck from the other manufacturer, that deck is a separate island, not a fourth player. It is worth a line on your rider precisely because a venue trying to be helpful is the situation that produces it.
How many CDJs can be linked together?+
Pioneer DJ say audio can be shared from USB and SD across up to six CDJ-3000 units when they are combined with a six-channel mixer such as the DJM-V10. Below that, a four-channel mixer and four players is the normal ceiling for a club booth. If you ask for more players than the mixer has channels, this tool flags it rather than printing a rider that cannot be built.
Why does the booth monitor need its own send?+
Because a speaker pointed at you that is fed from the front-of-house mix is not a monitor. It arrives late relative to what you are doing, and its level changes every time the engineer touches the room. On its own send with its own control at the booth, it is an instrument you can work with. It is one line on a rider and it is probably the single highest-value thing on it.
Should a DJ rider have a stage plot?+
It helps more than people expect. A list of equipment describes objects; what production has to build is an arrangement — which side the decks go, whether the laptop has somewhere to sit, where the monitors point. The drawing here is generated from your equipment choices so it cannot contradict the list above it, and it prints in plain black and white so it survives being photocopied and forwarded.
Is this rider too demanding for a small gig?+
Read it before you send it, and cut. A rider for a 200-capacity bar and a rider for a festival are different documents, and a two-page list of requirements sent to someone running a night out of their own pocket reads badly. The requirements list separates what is essential from what is preferred for exactly that reason — send the essentials and drop the rest.
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