Whether you're after a budget DJ table or a lovingly crafted bespoke design, this guide, which features plenty of expert advice, should have you covered.
From basic setups using home furniture, to high-spec bespoke units, DJs everywhere are finding clever ways of housing their equipment. Although home booths are as old as DJing itself, the internet has opened countless avenues for finding information about them, whether it’s video guides on YouTube, articles by fellow DIYers, chat threads on forums or Reddit, or Facebook groups with tens of thousands of members.
Any unit for your equipment—and possibly for a record collection—needs to meet a long list of criteria, some of which will be particular to the DJ and their home. This includes ergonomics, location, spacing, storage, cable management, integration into living space, adaptability, and much more. There’s a lot to think about and it can be a minefield, especially for those who have partners, families or housemates to consider.
In order to get a handle on the broad subject of home DJ booths, we spoke to a few experts, while also taking input from members of the popular DIY DJ Booths group on Facebook and the UK garage star DJ Spoony. Whether you’re looking to modify your Ikea Kallax unit using the widely-known hack, or if you want to invest some serious capital in a luxury bespoke unit, we’ve gathered all the information you need to make an informed decision about your home setup.
Before you install a DJ booth in your home, there are several key factors to consider. You may already have a setup of some sort, which can be useful in developing your dream booth. Whether you’re thinking about making your own booth, or getting someone else to create one, a good starting point is to get down a comprehensive plan stemming from the basis of your current situation.
For inspiration, research what’s already out there; from brands like Hoerboard and Idokodo (who feature in this piece), to countless homemade designs and ideas, there’s so much to be inspired by. While you may have your own needs and ambitions, allocate time to look at other people’s ideas. You never know where this may take you—a simple innovation or twist on an existing concept could save you space, time, effort or money.
If you’re considering a DIY job, it’s critical to honestly ask yourself if you can create the time, space and motivation to actually do it. A simple IKEA Kallax hack (which we’ll explore later) is very different from using a jigsaw and embarking on a serious woodwork project. “Do your research,” said Lyle Sutherland of Spinback Furniture. “Just the basics of woodwork. Go on YouTube and search how to use a circular saw or a jigsaw. You’re always going to need these things, and it just takes a basic video to get going, which doesn’t need to be specific to DJ furniture.”
Be honest with yourself. Is this a project that excites you? Does building your own DJ booth fit with your lifestyle? Can you acquire the necessary tools and materials? For total novices it can be quite an undertaking, which is partly why there’s space for so many successful businesses in this area.
“You’ve got to have a passion for woodworking before you even think about starting out, otherwise you could end up making a mess and wasting money on materials,” Lyle said. “The basic tools are not cheap, and that’s before you’ve started buying materials. So it’s got to be something you feel passionate about.”
If you’re new to woodwork, or DIY full stop, it’s best to start simple. While the bespoke booths with sunken compartments for turntables and mixers, neatly designed cable management and modular, future-proof composition are great, they’re likely to be too ambitious for a newcomer. Sticking to the basics and getting to grips with the necessary skills through a simple build is a solid way of ensuring you don’t get overwhelmed and have to call in an expert. Or worse still, waste money and energy on a poorly executed job.
Decide on your budget. The lower your budget, the more likely it is that you’ll be doing DIY of some kind, although there are budget options for premade booths and outlets like Idokodo will consider part-payment. “We get people that can’t afford it and there’s been one or two occasions where we’ve helped people by splitting the payments over a few months,” said Russ Whish from Idokodo. “But then they don’t get the booth until it’s fully paid for. So we can be accommodating.”
Russ has developed a modular setup for his sleek DJ booth designs, meaning they arrive in separate, easy-to-construct parts. The designs also allow for the booth to be modified: either scaled down or upgraded. “From a future-proof point of view, people do change their mixers, and we can just provide a new insert,” Russ said. “The problem before, with some of the booth makers that were around at the time, is you buy the booth and you could spend two or three thousand pounds doing that. But then as soon as you changed your mixer, you had to buy a new booth. We saw an opportunity there and started offering the solution of a simple upgrade at a fraction of the costs. It’s been very successful for us.”
No one can predict if they’ll live in the same property for the rest of their lives, or want to use the same mixer and turntables. Having a plan for how your DJ booth can adapt will help you navigate any major changes.
Getting the measurements right is an absolute must, starting with the height. A general rule of thumb is that your equipment should be level with your elbows. “Make sure you really understand the height to which you want to be playing at, because you don’t want to be amending something once you already built it,” said Greg Barnard from Outhouse By Hand. “Get your heights right first. If you want the equipment sunk, then double check the heights of all of the equipment because some are taller than others.”
Space and location also come into the equation. How much room do you have in your home to accommodate a DJ booth? Will it be against a wall or facing the room? Or do you want a booth that can be moved around on casters? Measure your space and, if you’re ordering a bespoke unit that will be built externally, make sure it will fit through your front door or up the stairs or lift in your building.
“One of the first things that I mention on the blurb of my website is ‘What’s the access like?’” said Greg. “If you’re building in-house, then great, but if you decide to move, you’ve got to be able to get it from where it’s located out of the front door, and vice versa. I have made a couple of booths now for people that live in flats. They’re still solid units, but the top and bottom are separate units, which then just bulk together on site. They’re still big and heavy and it takes some effort to get them up there. But at least you can get them up there and it’s possible to move again. Whereas if you’ve built something in situ and then you come to move, then it might be a bit of a pig!”
In terms of design, there are many, many options out there suited to individual needs. For some, a booth that resembles a piece of furniture, or something that ties in with their home’s interior, is key. Others want a slick, club-style aesthetic, while some go all out with a unique booth that mirrors their own eccentric style. It’s all down to personal taste. But the majority of booths meet similar standards when it comes to their underlying design, with neat cable management the most common feature.
“A lot of the booths I make are not going to have their own dedicated room,” said Greg. “So obviously it’s got to look nice as well. If the customer can’t see any cables, it’s a big win for them.” Greg said that some customers have electric sockets installed where the booth will be located to save on using extension cords and multi-plug adaptors. Ensuring neat cable housing is paramount for most people building or commissioning home booths.
Lighting also factors into the design of a DJ booth. From LED strips placed under the shelves or backlighting the booth, to strategically placed lamps, the spectrum of options takes in functionality and aesthetics.
Also don’t overlook airflow and ventilation. As Davis Djkaos highlighted in the DIY DJ Booths Facebook group: “Ensure there is adequate ventilation around amplifiers and other heat-generating equipment. Overheating can damage your gear.” Chris Dubweiser from the group added: “A cheap USB fan can keep equipment cooler, circulating air around and keeping you and guests cooler as well.”
What will the booth be used for? Streaming? House parties? Or simply for your own enjoyment or practice?
The purpose of your booth will feed into the design choices you make and, ultimately, how much you spend. If you want to stream your sets, you might need additional space to connect cameras and laptops. For house parties, you’ll most likely want to have the option of playing towards the room. As Leo Moriarty commented on DIY DJ Booths, “I find mixing facing a wall soul destroyingly insular when alone and disconnecting from company when I have guests.” His solution: “I would try putting the setup on castors and have everything wired so that it can easily be pulled out and rotated for anything other than a very quick spin.”
For some people, space may not allow for a movable booth; on another thread, a user named Robbie Shaw offered a solution to the “uninspiring” position of facing a wall while DJing: “Close your eyes and let the music be the inspiration.”
Storage is another consideration. Do you want to create space for any records you own within the unit? If you want to showcase your collection, having them on display makes sense. On the other hand, similar to cable management, you may want to have sliding doors across the record shelves so they’re hidden away neatly.
On the Facebook group, Jonny Ellis highlighted two points about record storage that are worth thinking about. “If you play vinyl, you don’t want to have it all underneath within the stand itself. It’s fine for listening to records, but for DJing there are 2 issues – 1, it is difficult to find tracks when you’re looking from the side whilst squatting down. 2, If you have a particularly heavy bunch to move across to find a record, the weight may cause your needle to jump.” This needle jumping issue would be more common with IKEA units than the sturdy purpose-built booths featured in this piece. But, again, it’s something to consider when you’re finalising your plan.
Having a separate, record shop-style rack or trough gives a different experience to having your collection underneath your turntables. Could your records be kept separately but part of the same unit, in an L-shape, for instance? As with the other elements that impact your design, functionality and convenience are important factors. Lyle from Spinback said that having lots of record storage is one of his two most popular requests, and Greg said the same. (The other most popular option, mentioned by both, is for a more discreet unit that complements a room—apparently because customers often have to compromise with their partners.)
“I’ve used plywood before and that’s a very stable material, which you can just get from the hardware shop,” said Greg from Outhouse. His speciality is reclaimed wood, which adds an extra distinct touch to his creations. Initially, the wood Greg got hold of hadn’t been treated properly, and it would crack or warp as it dried. Now he has a trusted supplier, which makes the whole process a lot easier. “Plywood and the reclaimed wood are the only two materials I’ve used,” Greg said. “I know people use MDF but with that you’ve got to paint it and it can chip and scratch easily. It just doesn’t seem to last that well either.”
Pine is in a similar class to plywood: an economic yet sturdy, good quality choice. Moving further up the pecking order, oak is strong and has a very pleasing finish. When choosing wood for your home build, think durability, longevity and affordability.
Working on your own project means you have total creative freedom, and the level of satisfaction when it’s all finished should be amazing. It can be a great learning process and will hopefully set you up for further projects, or enhancements, in the future. This approach can also be more cost effective, plus you can work at your own pace. Even if you’re feeling intimidated by the prospect of putting your own booth together, bear in mind that there is plenty of online support available if you end up losing your way.
As you might expect, all of the business owners we spoke to recommended hiring someone to build a bespoke setup rather than do it yourself. They mentioned customers who’d come to them after attempting to make their own booth to no avail. Building your own booth is certainly going to be more cost effective, but it will also take a lot of time and energy. Lyle, Russ and Greg draw on years of professional experience in joinery, and understand the nuances and specifics of building DJ booths—a far cry from watching a couple woodworking videos on YouTube.
The most popular budget hack is the IKEA Kallax modification. The Kallax shelf unit serves as a nice foundation to build a booth around, with square shelves that are ideal for storing records, and a surface area that can accommodate either two CDJs and a mixer, or two turntables and a mixer.
You can then add another IKEA product, the Lack TV bench, to the top of the Kallax unit. This bench provides a little more space for your equipment and increases the overall height. Combining both items is relatively cheap and creates a rudimentary but aesthetically pleasing home booth. A very similar hack uses products from IKEA’s Capita range. The beauty of this is that it’s 1) very cheap and 2) convenient, while also offering options for various modifications. This will be a low cost and easy entry point for a lot of home DJs, and may end up being the only booth you need.
If you’re on a super tight budget and don’t fancy the IKEA route, there are plenty of cheap options out there. The cheapest “DJ table” we found was just £15, though the jury’s out on how durable an item like this would be. Meanwhile the majority of the off-the-shelf booths available on platforms like Amazon and eBay sit around €200. This gets you a decent-looking platform for your equipment, the kind of product you see hire companies use, but no built-in storage or cable management, and no additional features to accommodate your gear.
On the bespoke end, the experts we spoke to were hesitant to reveal the exact cost of their work. Greg at Outhouse quoted a lower-end figure of roughly €1,400 for the new budget option he’s been working on. Don’t forget, working hours alone will cost you more than the €200 you’d pay for a cheap solution. However, even at the lower end of their price range, there’s an unmatched level of quality and attention to detail.
If you’ve already invested thousands into your setup and record collection, then you may also want to invest in a booth that’s going to complement your equipment and living space. “It’s not like a mixer, Technics, and CDJs cost a few hundred quid,” said Russ. “If you’ve got that kit, you’re already a few thousand pounds in. So the people that come to us, they’re confident that a fit-for-purpose, well-designed piece of furniture for a few thousand pounds is money well spent.”
When it comes to the upper tier of booths, you can really go to town. Idokodo, Outhouse By Hand and Lyle Spinback all offer beautifully crafted designs that stand alone as ornate pieces of furniture, while also giving customers a full suite of add-ons, storage options, and innovative design features to ensure an aesthetically pleasing overall finish.
If the sky’s the limit, you could consider following in the footsteps of garage legend DJ Spoony. When he moved into his most recent home, Spoony chose a room from which to broadcast his “Spoony’s House” shows, while also having a space to practise. “I had enough space where I could have a DJ booth and stand on the other side of it, more like I was performing as opposed to facing the wall,” he explained. “So I thought I’d utilise that opportunity and luxury.” After putting a call out on his socials, Spoony got a few offers, most of which were more conventional. In the end, it was a Newcastle-based Stu-Art, with his unique aviation furniture, who caught his attention.
“He makes furniture from old aeroplanes and said he would design one for me,” Spoony said. “He sent me some drawings and came down to the house. So my current DJ booth is actually cut from the side of an aeroplane. If you look at the booth, you can see five windows in the front of it. I’ve even got an actual airline trolley behind the booth where I can keep headphones, USBs and cables and stuff.”
In 2020, Spoony started streaming from his previous home but he had to adapt the space to accommodate cameras and streaming equipment. With the new space, he could incorporate a club-style set up and start from scratch with streaming as the basis of the booth and room design as a whole.
“Going back to my very first setup, I had three milk crates on either side, topped with two square concrete slabs and a bit of black material over the top to keep it looking nice and tidy,” he explained. “When I moved out on my own, a friend of mine designed something for me that was a bit fancy for the times considering… I had my TV and my speakers cut into the front of it and I could walk around the other side where I had my decks.”
“But I can tell you this,” he added. “I think I’ve spent more time thinking about having a beautiful home setup and a really nice DJ booth than I ever did about having a nice car or a nice house. I never look at it and don’t feel grateful and lucky in equal measure that I could have that in my house.”
Since you’re not producing music, acoustics and room treatment may not be as essential to the booth design as measurements and aesthetics. However, the height of the speakers should definitely be considered. Having speakers at ear level will be a massive help with mixing. Speaker stands come in a wide variety of styles and materials, but sturdiness is the most desirable quality. If they can hold the weight of your speakers without wobbling or vibrating too much, you’re good to go. Wood is said to offer a warmer sound, while metal is a more stable option.
When it comes to speaker vibration disrupting turntables, Lyle from Spinback offered some useful insight. “I’ve never ever had a problem with vibrations, not one customer has ever come back to me about that,” he said. “This is mostly because it’s not a club sound system that’s involved. It’s usually just two monitors in your house. So you don’t need any additional padding for the volume that you’re playing at… Unless you’ve got some crazy club in your house, which most people don’t.”
“Consider incorporating some basic acoustic treatments, like foam panels or bass traps, to improve the sound quality in your space,” said Davis Djkaos in the group. “This isn’t directly part of the booth but can significantly enhance your overall DJing experience.”
“I would say to do mockups with speaker placement before pulling the trigger on construction or buying new furniture,” said Charles Acquisto, also in the group. “When I had my little Rokit 5’s against a wall in my studio, the reflected bass was close enough to my ears to not have any delay and full enough that those little 5” woofers were all I needed for live broadcasts. When I moved and set my booth up in front of an actual dance floor (our living room) the speakers became free-standing… It was beautiful (and still is) but lacked the bass I needed so I had to upgrade to larger speakers.”
Home DJ booths create a space that complements your practice and, hopefully, the rest of your home environment. It will require a thoughtful and practical approach, so take your time both in the planning process and in the execution. The more prudent you can be, the better the result.
With a passionate and engaged online community to tap into, you can get started knowing that help will always be at hand. On the other hand, there are experts out there who have acquired a wealth of knowledge about home setups, who can create beautifully bespoke and unique designs. Whichever avenue you opt for, it will probably be a worthwhile investment.
