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Going into the red – why do DJs do it ?

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Viewing 9 posts - 16 through 24 (of 24 total)
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  • August 5, 2015 at 11:11 pm #2234811
    Alex Moschopoulos
    Participant

    I remember a club that put a limiter on the amps. You push it too far then the music shut off.

    The club would let a DJ screw up once, but multiple times and you’re fired.

    REGARDLESS…it comes down to the venue and promoter to hire professionals who don’t go into the red. If a greedy amateur of a promoter hires Mr Popular who blows out a system, then it’s on him.

    August 5, 2015 at 11:18 pm #2234821
    Ronnie EmJay
    Participant

    Ah I played in one club that had a volume limiter… this was completely different. Legally they could only go to 85db because there were people living in flats above (typical Spanish construction here!) so the more people there were in the place just talking, the lower the music would go and no one could hear it… it was ridiculous. I didn’t play in that place again. Another club had a similar story and they kept the speakers in one part of the club switched off because the neighbours above would complain! I don’t know why they don’t invest in soundproofing here….

    August 6, 2015 at 10:29 am #2235361
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    Since soundboard have a pretty good input gain system, it’s fully possible to tune a way too hot input signal (i.e. from a controller set to Turbo Plus) down so it doesn’t go over 0dB in the mixer. That said, if the signal QUALITY has suffered from being in the red at it’s point of origin (i.e. controllers output), then nothing is gonnna change that of course.

    So a mixer/soundboard is a wise choice if, as a sound engineer, you want to make sure that everything comes out of the PA as a result of a 0dB sound chain starting with the input gain of your mixer and all the way down to the amps/speakers.

    No matter how hard the DJ tries to set his controller to very loud, tune down the input gain and all is well again.

    August 6, 2015 at 10:33 am #2235371
    DJ Vintage
    Moderator

    On the subject of soundproofing (which could easily fill a few pages of posts on it’s own), it’s not as easy as it sounds. Sticking some foam or egg cartons on the wall is not gonna help. The only things that will truly help with soundproofing are either acoustic decoupling (box-in-a-box concept) or mass, as in lots of concrete!

    Don’t let any manufacturer of soundproofing foam kid you into thinking it will significantly reduce the sound pressure outside your room. All it does is alter the acoustic characteristics INSIDE the room.

    So, why they didn’t invest in soundproofing has to do with money for sure, but not in the least with the fact that it’s a serious construction issue.

    August 6, 2015 at 1:30 pm #2235821
    Ronnie EmJay
    Participant

    Fair enough. I guess I’m used to London clubs which seem to handle this better, many times having the actual dance floor underground, which I kinda miss in Spain. I’ve only been to 1 place where 1 of the dance floors is underground.

    The outdoor clubs have obvious noise leakage and there are always people in the crowd asking for the volume to be turned up, but depending where it is, usually there is some kind of limit, or it can be a public nuisance and shut down.

    I guess the flipside for people with a lack of money is that you can be just outside the venue with your own drinks and still hear the music, but of course these are usually commercial venues and people who go there are more into being seen, VIP etc rather than there for the music 😛

    August 10, 2015 at 9:21 am #2236791
    Terry_42
    Keymaster

    Indeed the UK has a really advanced culture, but in the UK most clubs also have their own technician who will level everything for you and actually setup the gear you bring. They even expect you to bring your gear and only use their CDJs for backup…

    September 29, 2015 at 7:50 am #2262421
    DJ Wyld1
    Participant

    Ignorance among DJs regarding sound knows no international boundaries, music genres, or subset of DJ, although mobile DJs tend to be a little better about it.

    That’s because most mobile guys know better than to spend thousands of dollars on their equipment and try to blow it up by pushing the levels into the red.

    Pushing levels into the red means the gear isn’t going to last as long and mobile guys will try to play with a piece of gear until it permanently bites the dust.

    October 4, 2015 at 12:44 am #2265651
    Ronnie EmJay
    Participant

    A few weeks ago I was playing at a pool party with 1000 people…a friend was closing the party with techno and so brought his own Nexus setup with his own expensive speakers which we plugged in in conjunction with the existing speakers. My friend had to drive off to collect his friends and in the meantime there were some commercial DJs who were drunk and blew out one of his speakers.. when my friend got back he just shut down his speakers so they could only use the existing (lower quality) system… Needless to say, you shouldn’t be drunk and DJ… they kept pushing up the volume even after I turned it down into the yellow… and played an hour more than they were scheduled to.. but that’s another story.

    (Needless to say, they didn’t pay for the damage to the speaker…)

    October 4, 2015 at 1:24 am #2265721
    bob6397
    Participant

    I only ever let people I trust to play through my kit for only that reason.. At one event I help run, we use soft limiters (IE you can’t really hear when they kick in) to protect our sound system.. We then lock that in a rack and none of the DJ’s even know it is there..

    Also, my kit is not insured to be used if I am not in the venue.. So no one could ever do this to mine.. In theory 🙂

    DJ’s are a pain (speaking as a sound engineer) as they will push it higher and higher as the night goes on – unless they really know what they are doing, which painfully few do – as their ears accustom to the higher sound levels. DJ’s are also nearly always behind the main PA speakers – meaning that it is normally a lot louder for the audience than it is for themselves – and they forget that in the moment. Alcohol also doesn’t help, of course.

    I am always concious of the volume levels when I am DJing (I wear earplugs most of the time) and make sure that no one leaves the venue with ringing ears.. Decent speakers help with this of course – Harsh sounding speakers are a lot worse for this.

    bob6397

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