The changeover is one of the most telling moments of the night, and most DJs barely think about it. Two DJs, one booth, a live floor that ideally never notices the switch happened. Handle it well and you look like a pro who respects the booth and the person in it. Handle it badly — crashing in, killing the energy, ripping a USB out mid-track — and you've told everyone watching exactly how much experience you've got. It's etiquette, and it's a skill worth taking seriously.

Coming on, the golden rule is don't rush the DJ who's still playing. Get there early, have your USBs and headphones ready, and wait for your moment instead of hovering over their shoulder. Ask before you touch anything, and load up on the free deck so you're not reaching across them. Before you bring your first track in, reset the mixer — check the EQs aren't cut, the trims are sensible, the FX are off and the filters are back to neutral, because coming in on a channel the last DJ left filtered or FX-drenched is the classic way to fluff a handover. Then cue in your headphones and come in on a clean, beatmatched transition that matches their energy, so the floor feels a continuation, not a hard stop.

Coming off is the same courtesy in reverse. Don't yank your track out or leave the mixer in a mess for whoever's next — reset it to neutral, give the incoming DJ space and time, and hand over as cleanly as you'd want it done to you. The whole thing runs on respect and a lack of ego. The crowd should experience one continuous night, not a series of DJs each stamping their arrival.

If you want to see changeovers handled under real pressure, the next Back2Back DJ Battle in MANCHESTER on Friday 11th Sep is built entirely on it — DJs going back-to-back, live, with the whole room watching how smoothly they take the handover. Head over to the link and grab your free ticket to attend!