Common Slipmats Mistakes to Avoid

Most problems people have with slipmats come down to a handful of mistakes that are easy to make and easy to fix once you know what to look for. Here's the rundown — for beginners and anyone who's been doing it a while but getting inconsistent results.

Mistake 1: Leaving the Rubber Mat Underneath

This is the classic one. Most turntables ship with a rubber mat, and when you fit slipmats on top without removing the rubber mat first, you end up with a setup that has too much friction. The record won't slip cleanly, the feel is inconsistent and manual control suffers. Take the rubber mat off entirely. Keep it somewhere safe if you want to return to hi-fi use later, but it doesn't belong there.

Mistake 2: Using Cheap or Worn Felt

Very cheap slipmats often have inconsistent surface texture — either because the felt is too sparse or because the manufacturing quality is poor. This shows up as uneven slip resistance across the surface of the mat. You might feel a kind of stiction where the record catches slightly in some positions. If you're having intermittent grip problems and the setup looks correct, the mats themselves may simply be too cheap to perform well.

Worn slipmats cause the same problem. Felt picks up stylus debris, record groove material and airborne dust over time. The surface becomes glazed or uneven. Regular cleaning helps, but eventually the mat needs replacing.

Mistake 3: Neglecting to Clean Them

Debris accumulates on the mat surface from records and the air. Most DJs don't clean their mats nearly often enough. A quick pass with a lint roller before each session takes 30 seconds and makes a real difference to consistent performance. Dirty mats also transfer debris back onto records, which then reaches the stylus groove and can cause skipping or accelerated stylus wear.

Mistake 4: Not Using a Slip Sheet When Needed

For scratch DJing and any technique that requires very free, smooth movement of the record, standard felt doesn't give quite enough slip for the best performance. A polythene slip sheet — a thin sheet of polythene or waxed paper — placed between the slipmat and the record gives significantly more slip. Many scratch DJs use one as standard. If you're practising backspin and cut techniques and the movement feels sticky or inconsistent, try adding a slip sheet before blaming the mats or the turntable.

Mistake 5: Mismatched Mats Between Decks

Using different slipmats on each turntable creates different feels between the decks. This is a bigger issue than it sounds — once you're used to the feel of one particular mat, a mismatch between decks can throw off your timing when switching from one to the other. Match the mats across both decks and replace them as a pair when they wear.

Mistake 6: Expecting Slipmats to Fix a Belt-Drive Turntable

Belt-drive turntables are not designed for DJ use. They have slower motor torque and speed recovery, which means that after you hold and release a record, the platter takes a moment to return to correct speed. Fitting quality slipmats won't fix this — it's a fundamental motor design issue. If you're struggling with speed recovery and inconsistent pitch, the problem may not be the mats at all.

The Common Thread

Most slipmats problems trace back to one of these: wrong setup (rubber mat left in), poor quality materials, neglected maintenance or the wrong tool for the technique. Get these right and the setup should feel consistent and reliable.

For a full introduction to how they work, see the slipmats overview. Need to buy new ones? Our buyer's guide covers every option.

Frequently Asked Questions