need help with gain and volume when live mixing
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Derek.
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February 12, 2012 at 6:26 pm #1002965
Phil Morse
KeymasterYou need to pre-cue in the headphones a little more and trust your ears. Keep the levels general out of the red, but use the gains and EQ to match your tunes first in your headphones before throwing them into the mix. Autogain shouldn’t replace a DJ’s judgement on balancing elements of two (or more) tunes smoothly.
February 13, 2012 at 6:55 am #14818Pär Hessler
ParticipantWhat Plil says + a purchase of Platinum notes will help a lot IMO.
I run all my tracks through first Platinum notes then Mixed in key and then I tag them after that I run them in Traktor
And it helps a lot to run them in platinum notes for gain but you still have to do what Phil says!February 13, 2012 at 2:13 pm #14829Derek
Memberawesome thanks !
February 13, 2012 at 10:33 pm #14855Paul Hill
Participantas usual dj hessler sums it up in 1
February 14, 2012 at 12:37 am #1002983Mike Check
MemberUse a program like Mp3Gain or something similar to help set consistency w/ your tracks; however you’ll still notice it doesn’t help 100% and you’ll still need to trust your ears & make tweaks occasionally.
February 15, 2012 at 8:15 am #14943DJ Jaquay
MemberAre your tracks all 320 bitrate? that will happen if you have a good quality track (320) then mixing in a crappy sound quality track. (196-)
February 15, 2012 at 1:04 pm #14955MemberActually thats true since ive been precueing and often gain doesnt help the problem and after checking out the bitrate is usually 192 kbps and the other 320 happens a lot in reggae
February 15, 2012 at 4:45 pm #14978MemberWell all has been helpful but still i was mixing today some dnb and a heard on my headphones that both songs we around the same volume and if there was any difference it wasnt really noticeable but then when i dropped it it was very noticeable i dont know if the other really noticed it but i did a lot, i had to turn up the gain immediately to make up for the volume loss, is there an specific way to do this on your headphones or is there anything else i can do while in the mix to make sure it doesnt happen i need like specific details… something like put on your headphones and put the headphones mix knob in the middle or place the song where you are going to drop it and see the volume leds i dont know i cant seem to go around this problem … it doesnt happen with my new music from beatport but it happens with some older music i just cant delete like that…
February 15, 2012 at 4:55 pm #14979Membergrab 20 tracks that are all 320kbps, Start them at random places and mix in a new song every 20-30 seconds. If you don’t hear your volume problem than its most likely ur problem. I guess if all else fails be ready to adjust as you drop just in case. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.
February 15, 2012 at 7:03 pm #14989Dj Neonglass
ParticipantYou must also shutt off the autogain. Before i’m going to mix i calibrate all the tracks with a software V.U meter to the same level (with the gain) In my case VDJ can also remember the gain adjustments i made earlier om the tracks.
February 16, 2012 at 5:57 am #15029ParticipantI always mix in my HP before dropping the next track.
In other words I have both tracks in cue for HP at the same time.
That way I get the right volume and EQ.
I always do all my mixing that way because I sometimes has comed to places that
is impossible to mix listening to one track and the other in the main speakers.
So what I do is:
1 Pre listnen to only the track I want to play next, to get the cue right. (cue A or B)
2 Turn on cue on the tune that plays at the same time as the next song to be played (cue A+B)
3 Start mixing and listen in HP very carefully so that the mix is tight (Cue A+B)
4 Drop the HP and listen to the mix in main speakers to tweek it right if nessesary.
5 start over at 1…..
That is the only way to mix if you have delay from main speakers and do not have any booth IMOFebruary 16, 2012 at 2:18 pm #15051eros
MemberI have been having this very discussion with Softcore about the inadequacies of autogain in Traktor. Put simply the feature doesn’t work well, however has more to do with substandard mastering more than anything else. Listening in your headphones is fine at home but in the club environment with high levels of ambient noise it can be tricky even with noise cancelling headphones. As for Platinum notes I’ve heard good and bad things…but I still have my reservations as to how exactly it works in terms of making a “soft” tune “louder”….what is it adding and is it colouring the sound because at the end of the day it is altering what should already be a mastered bit of music ?
What I have noticed though is music bought off legitimate websites like Beatport and Audiojelly can vary greatly in terms of it’s quality and gain (both MP3 & WAV)..and some record labels are better than others so I tend to try and buy only off those if I can find the track I’m after.
I guess the best way is to really know your tracks or make a note of it somewhere if a track coming up is soft …I pre-plan me my sets and highlight the tracks with gain issues and adjust accordingly. But if you’re having to mix off the fly then what Hessler says +1
Also wanted to add, Softcore actually mentioned this tip to me, but the “intensity” & size of the waveform can also give you a hint as to how loud the track will be. It’s a nice visual cue that can help.
February 16, 2012 at 2:31 pm #15055MemberDj Neonglass (NL), post: 15057, member: 1183 wrote: You must also shutt off the autogain. Before i’m going to mix i calibrate all the tracks with a software V.U meter to the same level (with the gain) In my case VDJ can also remember the gain adjustments i made earlier om the tracks.
That’s a really nice feature, I didn’t realise VDJ remembers gain adjustments ! I think I should send an email to Native Instruments because it would certainly solve a lot of problems.
February 16, 2012 at 3:48 pm #15073Memberwell i tried platinum notes but i tested it before buyin it to make sure is worth the money and thanks god i did it because it creates a new file but the information is replaced by just the file name so you have to organize all your music almost from scratch … no way im doin that again… right now im doin what dj hessler suggested and its working a lot better although it takes me more time its a lot better and i guess as time goes by ill do it faster
February 17, 2012 at 6:41 am #15117ParticipantDerek, post: 15141, member: 1465 wrote: well i tried platinum notes but i tested it before buyin it to make sure is worth the money and thanks god i did it because it creates a new file but the information is replaced by just the file name so you have to organize all your music almost from scratch … no way im doin that again… right now im doin what dj hessler suggested and its working a lot better although it takes me more time its a lot better and i guess as time goes by ill do it faster
Stop there, NOT SO FAST!
There is a setting in Platinum notes so if you want it to it will create a new file, but if you do not want a new file it will not create a new one. There is also a box to be checked if you want it to copy the information. You can alo chose if you want the new file in the same folder or an other and so on. Check the settings and you will find it!
I say it again! It is a great program and it is well worth spent money IMO! -
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