Traktor help

I may have a similar problem. I have the same settings checked but since the last upgrade of Traktor my Gain knob has not been acting the same. The Master gain is set at 1 or 2 o clock. When I load a track the gain button indicator turns BLUE and the dial will auto set itself sometimes at Max. When I click the indicator button it turns Orange and then the Gain is reduced (-1db for example).

In previous version of Traktor this didnt happen. By default the light was Orange and the auto gain would fluctuate btw. -2 to +3 give or take. I never had a Master Output redline problem. Now I have it all the time.

In your mixer settings, do you have (filter+key+gain+cue+balance) checked. There is a pan knob which could be causing this. Just scan your mixer and make sure everything is neutral. I know I have it set so my eq’s, faders, and everything is right where I left it when I open Traktor.

Christopher A Johnson, post: 37881, member: 157 wrote: I may have a similar problem. I have the same settings checked but since the last upgrade of Traktor my Gain knob has not been acting the same. The Master gain is set at 1 or 2 o clock. When I load a track the gain button indicator turns BLUE and the dial will auto set itself sometimes at Max. When I click the indicator button it turns Orange and then the Gain is reduced (-1db for example).

In previous version of Traktor this didnt happen. By default the light was Orange and the auto gain would fluctuate btw. -2 to +3 give or take. I never had a Master Output redline problem. Now I have it all the time.

I keep auto gain off. Torq would do this and I didn’t like it. Same with Traktor. I’d rather manually set gain when I need it.

I also think it’s perfectly fine to have things at -5, +5, 0, or whatever. “0” isn’t the goal or standard. The standard is “sounds good to my ears”.

If any of you are using DJ headphones though, I’d tell you to check how things sound in your speakers. DJ headphones add more bass, so you might think there’s too much when there isn’t. It’s why I like my older studio monitor headphones over the DJ headphones.

Hey Mitch,

I am feeling like we are going around in circles here and that it is not helping you.

So let me try to take you through the entire thing.

First of all I want to say that the next bit is somewhat easier if you have a controller with channel level meters, if only because the channel level meters in Traktor don’t use any kind of color or such. Still, it can be done.

There are effectively 5 faders/knobs that determine the level of your signal as it finally comes out of your speakers:
1) channel gain
2) channel fader
3) crossfader (optional)
4) master volume (also called main)
5) amplifier volume control

Other factors that influence volume are EQ settings (try running up the lows +6 dB and see what happens to your overall levels) and sometimes FX.

I’ll go over the steps of setting them correctly in what I think is a logical order to get to a good end result. And I’ll skip the crossfader as that one is pretty obvious. So I am starting at the end of the “food chain” with the amplifier.

5) amplifier volume control. Since you will want to control the level coming out of your speakers from your mixer and not having to run to your amp when you want to raise the volume some, you want to set your amplifier volume control at maximum. It’s a set and forget thing.

1) channel gain. What is important to realize here is that this is a PRE fader setting, meaning that even with the channel fader down at zero, your channel meters will still indicate the amount of signal that goes into the channel (try it). You want to keep this at 0dB average on a controller (usually where green turns into yellow) with peaks somewhere between +3 and +6. You do however NOT want to go into the red on your channel faders, so if the peaks are (a lot) higher than +6, it is often wise to turn the gain down a little, even if that means that your average level will be below 0dB). In Traktor, the blue meters behind the channel fader don’t have colors or numbers to go by, but it would be good practice to have them peak just below the top of the meter.

You said you keep your channel gains at about -5dB. The thing is that channel gain is the one thing you will be changing all night long with every song. The levels between songs can differ as much as +/-6dB, so it is absolutely normal that you are changing this setting all the time. There is three ways to deal with this:

• BEST: check and set your channel gain level for EVERY song. This is best practice because if you start playing out, you may not have the luxury of things like AutoGain or you might have to use music that isn’t gain normalized. If you are used to setting channel gain everytime, you won’t be confronted with any surprises. Drop a track in your player, listen in your headphones for a louder passage, correct the gain.
• OK: you can set autogain in Traktor. Traktor makes sure that the channel gain level is kept at the right (maximum) level. Good for lazy people. But you don’t learn a good practice and you loose a bit of control.
• NOT SO OK: you can normalize all your tracks in advance. Many tools that can do that don’t do it in a good way, sometimes hurting the dynamics of a track or causing other nasty side effects. Best to stay away from these.

4) master/main volume. Set this one to about the 10 o’clock position (in Traktor about -14dB). Since your channel fader is still down from the previous step, your main level meters should not be moving, even though the channel level meters are bopping up and down with the beat. I’ll get back to this one after the next step.

2) channel fader. Now bring the channel fader up to max level and watch the main output levels. If you set everything in the previous steps correctly, those meters should be moving to about the first third of the scale.

4) master/main volume. You can now mix with your channel faders at max (obviously bringing both of them down a bit if you are in the middle of a mix) and your amplifier at max. The main volume now determines how loud the sound out of your speakers will be. Try turning up the main knob to about 2 o’clock (0dB in Traktor) and what will your main level meters show? Right, average on max blues with peaks into a few orange bars (or 0dB average with peaks in the +3 – +6 range). This is a perfect maximum volume setup. If you need it louder, tell the venue to get a bigger PA. You can of course press it a bit harder by running your main level up some more (at about +3dB in Traktor you’ll see the peaks triggering the red), but you get really close to clipping/distortion and you don’t want to do that to your audience.

Best practice in my opinion (if you have to play an entire night) is to start with the main volume a little below the maximum you want to reach that evening and step up the main volume bit by bit as the night, mood and dance energy progresses.

For the rest you check your channel gains with EVERY track (make it a good habit) or if you are lazy use the AutoGain feature and you work with your channel faders and crossfaders.

Hopefully these steps will help you a) understand how levels affect your final volume output and b) getting your system (or any other you run into out there in the real world!) set up to correct levels. There is nothing as annoying for the audience (or promotor, venue owner or party thrower for that matter) as a DJ that knows nothing about this and/or doesn’t care and just runs everything into the red because he likes the color :).

Greetinx,
C.