Looking to rebuild my DJ booth as I’m moving to another house. As I want to have 3 turntables and 2 sc6000s in this booth, I am thinking of putting my mixer in front of the players, like the old Ministry Of Sound booth, or the one at Paradise Garage, NY. I still have my old Rodec MX180, which is 7HE, and is more or less the same quality as a good analog rotary…
But, what about ergonomics? I never played this way, and its a difficult config to try out without building the booth first… It looks sexy, everything is in (left to right) reach, as opposed to having everything in a 300cm row, but somehow my back starts hurting when I see this layouts, as you seem to have to bend over to reach the turntable properly. Ofcourse things are more within reach if you would get a 3HE Bozak, but these things have no EQ, and no trim… And are damn expensive! Unless you add the 3HE EQ module, at which point there is little added value over my Rodec…
Anyone has experience with these layouts? Thoughts?
What controls do you need good access to the most …. Power button is probably one of the least used buttons but… you do need to be able to get to it as some devices don’t fully switch on when power is fed to the booth.
If you smash your gear up like James Hype you may need your hot cue pads in easy reach…
If you’re still scratching then having the mixer and faders down by your knees like the mixers in the old MOS booth, isn’t going to do you any favours.
Do any of the pieces of gear have any mounting do’s and don’ts that you’ll need to heed? Some slot in CD decks, for example, used to have +- 15 degrees maximum tilt recommendation, some motors (motorised platters) may have similar restrictions.
Do any of the displays become unreadable at certain tilts or angles … you don’t want to have to bend over like you’re listening to the crossfader, just to read what tracks showed up in the search results - the tiny deep 2 line mini FX displays are getting quite infamous at not being readable at certain angles
Scratching I don’t do. Just run of the mill beat-matching. Otherwise I wouldn’t be dreaming of analog rotaries anyway.
The screen problem is a big one with digital players. I turntable only has to be in reach in the front, and that already starts to feel awkward when you have to keep 7HE clearance. You see this clearly when looking at this famous picture (and came across a few similar pictures), this guys back is bent reaching for the turntable:
A CDJ or SC starts to dim its screen at that angle, plus it’s not comfortable browsing, if you would even be able to read the screen. This thought is the major issue I have with seeing this kind of booths…
Luckily I don’t play CDs anymore. Or maybe I should dust off that old DN-2100F, but that thing has a drawer which can be placed underneath. And its controls could look sexy on the left or right side of a n analog rack mixer. My SCs are non motorised, so I probably could even use them upside down…
Ergonomics are important, especially when playing 5 hour gigs and having to stand the whole time and operate the laptop and controller.
Thats why I went with a keyboard stand which has been modified so a video monitor can easily be slotted in the front.
Been using this setup since 2019 and had no issues whatsoever. It is really important to have the equipment you are using at the correct height to avoid back pain.
Ofcourse things are more within reach if you would get a 3HE Bozak, but these things have no EQ, and no trim… And are damn expensive! Unless you add the 3HE EQ module, at which point there is little added value over my Rodec…
For that amount I can ask my warehouseman to weld something custom 
