Traktor Gain vs Volume and increasing volume of CUE / Headphones

First of all there is a good article on volume and gain settings on the blog. Look for it.

Gain is the level of the track as it comes in to your controller/mixer (it’s also called trim on some brands). This is the volume BEFORE the channel fader. The channel volume fader then determines how much of that (gained) signal goes to the master output. The master output volume then determines how much signal is sent out of your controller to the PA (or club mixer or whatever is behind it).

Since headphone cue is also a PRE-fader signal (i.e. not influenced by the channel fader position or the master output level), the only thing controlling the volume in your headphone is the level of the incoming track. Which you have set with the gain knob.

Unfortunately for you, setting the gain to max is a VERY bad idea.

The correct workflow is:
1) play a louder bit of the new track (listen in your headphones)
2) use gain/trim to get the average signal to 0dB (if your controller has level meters), with the peaks going to +3db or so (if you set gain to max, your input signal will be in the red and distorting).
3) Now you can use the channel fader to regulate the amount of channel volume you want in the mix.

Since you didn’t say what controller you use, it’s a bit harder to point out the specifics.

If you have a controller that is USB powered, then chances are that you might suffer from relatively low headphone volume, especially in combination with a set of headphones that aren’t very “loud” by themselves (the efficiency of headphones is not the same. Not every milliWatt of headphone power is turned into the same amount of sound pressure = volume). Powered controllers have way less problems, because there is just more power available coming from an outlet than you can get from a USB port on your computer

It’s really weird that you say the channel gain makes a difference to the volume in your headphone. This is not normal behaviour. The whole idea behind having cue buttons and a headphone is that you can pre-listen to a track before the signal goes to the master.

But please, do NOT run +12dB gained stuff into your controller. It will be distorted before it hits the channel fader and played on high volume to speakers potentially damage those too.

Tell us what controller you are using and we could give you a bit more specific tips.

Greetinx.

I don’t know these headphones. The controller is USB only, so that is always a challenge.

Since the MT Pro 2 has no level meters (I think?), you will have to watch the gain levels in your software I guess.

I assume you have the cue/pgm knob turned all the way to the left (cue) and you already said you have the cue gain on max.

That seems all you can do.

There have been mentions here on the forum in earlier posts on what are “loud” headphones. Might look into that.
Alternatively you could opt for a seperate headphone-amp.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_63311_FiiO-E02i-Rocky-Silver.html

disclaimer: I have no experience with these amps. This is one of the cheaper ones. You can get them as high as 120+. Assuming that, as in anything sound reproduction, you get what you pay for. Most seem to have rechargeable batteries that charge through a usb connection. So if you hook up the USB during a gig, you don’t have to worry about your battery levels.

Hope that helps.

Greetinx.

The problem is that what you get out of the headphones when your gain is set correctly is the maximum amount or (non-distorted) signal that you can get out of your headphone socket.

Even the “quietest” headphones can play loud enough if you put enough power into them, the trouble is, your controller can’t do more power without going into the red.

Maybe the terminology is wrong. It’s not the loudness of the headphones that matter, it’s the efficiency. And efficienty is the amount of volume (sound pressure level) per milliWatt of output power. Your headphones have relatively big drivers (50mm) which is great to produce loud bass. It also means a lot of power is needed to move the drivers and air to get the volume up there.

Hope that makes sense.

Greetinx.

– Get a better pair of headphones that have higher sensitivity

Better as in more dB/mW, yes

– Buy a headphone amp (if it works)

Also correct

– Buy a powered controller which can output more power on the headphone socket

True too

Good, hope it solves your problem!

Thanks for the update, we really appreciate that.

Greetinx.