hooking up djs to the sound system

how do you guys do it? I have been mixing bands for years and have been renting to djs for abit now. I run them into my mackie cfx20 and out to my system. I generally use the last channels on the mixer because the have the l and r high impedence inputs together. is this what im supposed to be doing?

sounds ok to me, run from dj mixer, to your mixer into your rack.....

bee wrote: sounds ok to me, run from dj mixer, to your mixer into your rack.....

+1 Through your mixer to give you the ability to easily control volume etc.

if you have mc etc you can control there mics from your mixer, allso you can control the dj monitors as well, that way they cant blow a driver.....

Thanks guys.

you also have the flexibility to be able to insert compressors into the mc's mic channels

...or have the DJ looking after your mix while the'live' acts are on for you !

Running a system for DJ,s is a bit different from a band. I suppose that you are not using vinyl?
Getting vinyl to sound right is involves reducing levels of vibration and feedback effecting the decks.
Some DJ's will be sympathetic to your sound system, and use their ears to set levels. smiley20 While others will just seem to be determined to to send it into total clipping distortion. :evil: If you are going to monitor the levels constantly then the desk is a good idea. If you are going to leave the DJ's to set their own levels, then a compressor can be very useful. In the past I used to run all nighters and you can't be expected to monitor everything constantly for 12 hours.
I found the old Behringer MDX 2100 very useful You could set the threshold low with a gentle compression ratio and set an upper limit with the clip limiter.
Try to ensure that the DJ mixer is set up to avoid clipping. Some sound systems go as far as to customise a mixer to reduce the available gain.
As regards monitors I would usually set the levels quite loud and bright to discourage inexperienced DJ,s from trying to turn up the system too much!