We taught you how to get your foot into the clubs and rock them but there’s still a good chance most DJs will spend the majority of their time in a home, bedroom or studio. It’s expected that most of you have invested a lot of your hard-earned cash in the latest and greatest DJ gear, so you probably don’t have much left to spend on a fancy DJ booth. Fortunately, we have you covered. Today I am going to walk you through a fantastic design for a home DJ booth that rivals most clubs but is surprisingly affordable – all using readily available IKEA parts. It can cost anywhere from $125-$250 for a fully souped-up model.
The DJTechTools community not only excels at creating controllers but is also very creative when it comes to furniture. There’s a lengthy thread in the forums about how to build a cheap and cool-looking DJ desk even if you’re not a carpenter.
The IKEA DJ Booth Overview
The desk consists of either one or two EXPEDIT bookcases ($ 69.99) depending on how deep you want it to be (if you only use one you can’t use turntables in battle position). This is a famous solution amongst DJs because you can store a lot of vinyls in its spaces. These alone only have a height of 31 inches so it’s recommended that you should mount 4 straight CAPITA legs ($10-14 / 4 pack) below them. In case you choose to use two EXPEDIT bookcases you should screw them together for stability.
The right height of the desk is one consideration often overlooked. It is very important though that your body is erect and the shoulders back, in line with your spine. Hopefully, you will spend a lot of time behind that desk. Therefore if you need to bend down to use the equipment you may end up like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. If the desk is too high on the other side you may suffer from shoulder and neck pain. The following picture illustrates the right height where your fore- and upper arm are almost in a right angle.
The CAPITA legs are available in three different heights ranging from 4 to 8 inches. Choose accordingly to your height! You can also use three LILLÅNGEN leg frames ($25.00) which should yield better stability.
Another way to raise the height is to mount some straight or angular CAPITA legs ($15.99 / 2 pack) between a bookcase and VIKA AMON tabletop ($19.99) on top of the desk.
A nice addition is to mount a BJÄRNUM-hook ($4.99) on the side of the table which can hold your headphones. BJÄRNUM is also available as a foldable version but only comes in packs of three ($9.99).
DJs today (especially the controllerist-type ones) tend to have a load of other stuff lying around next to turntables and mixer. Having another level on the desk with room for the laptop or CD players is ideal. Therefore I installed a LACK wall-shelf ($19.99) on top of the desk. You can use straight or angular CAPITA-legs again which we already used for the base of the desk.
THE SPEAKERS
You want the speakers to be at the same height as your ears to get the best possible sound. They should be aligned towards your ears. You can add another level with CAPITA legs and small LACK shelves ($6.99) to the desk. Active monitors are in most cases too heavy for this approach. In that case you are better off with height-adjustable GODMORGON legs ($8-10) for the LACK shelves attached to the desk.
ADDING SOME FANCY LIGHTS
Although we’re used to operate in the darkness you probably want some additional lighting either for the looks or to see a little better. IKEA has some multi-color LED strips for that purpose. You can either use the 4 piece set DIODER($39.99) or a flexible strip RGB LED light like this one on Amazon (~$30).
Total costs
Here is a rough calculation of what it would cost to build the full model with double depth.
2 x EXPEDIT bookcases = $139.98
2 x straight CAPITA legs 6″ = $24.00
1 x angular CAPITA legs = $15.99
1 x LACK wall-shelf 43″ = $19.99
2 x LACK wall-shelf 12″ = $13.98
2 x GODMORGON leg = $20.00
TOTAL $233.94
While that might seem more expensive than you were hoping for, $200 for something that is perfectly designed for djing is really amazing. By slimming the desk down and removing the monitor stands you can get in the $150 range.
Some finished desks
Here are a few other tables that might inspire you to build your own DJ table:
This desk has a special place in my heart. It was solely made from recycled components. The monitor stands are skateboards.
Acknowledgements
A lot of thanks for ideas and pictures go to Jason Kurth (Xonetacular), Priscilla (armyofme4340), Alex, my beloved Anne, Tekki’s daughter Riley with her pink laptop, and every DJTechTools-member who posted in the thread.
We look forward to see pictures of your DIY DJ desks in the comments.
