Weak sounding DJ mixes

Your mixer most likely has rec(ord) out RCA’s for the purpose of recording (duh). You should use those and not any other output. If only because the rec out is not affected by the master volume. RCA to 3.5mm jack into your laptop/audacity should work ok. Quality improvement will happen if you get a decent USB sound card and run the RCA into the sound card RCA in. So make sure your sound card is at least 1+1 (out AND in).

You did say you used a 1/4 jack from the mixer, which is NOT an RCA output, so isn’t the record out. 1/4 jacks are typically balanced outputs or inputs.

The thing that I tried to convey is that while using a USB sound card you will get you some quality improvement, I have made many DJM to laptop recordings through the 3.5mm jack input of my laptop without any problem. So, my concern is that recommending you a sound card is not gonna solve your problem.

To answer your question, I’d stick with DJ sound cards, as the more “studio” type ones will have inputs, but usually for mics (1/4″ or XLR balanced), in which case you are paying for mic preamps, expensive connectors and often controls you don’t need.

Something like the Numark Stereo IO offers one input/one output for little money. There is also a Stereo IO2.
Lexicon Alpha is a few bucks more and has RCA input as well.
If quality is the main concern, the Lexicon would rate higher on my list than the Numark, but that is based on general brand experience, not a/b comparison of these two particular products.

Hi Johnny,

the good mixes I find on soundcloud have that kind of mastered feel to them to bring out as much of the sound as you can

That may be because they’re actually being mastered! I know when I record live mixes (into Ableton) I usually put a mastering rack on my master channel afterwards and just have a little tweak. Nothing major, but a little compression, a touch of EQ perhaps. It can make a difference (particularly for overall loudness, which is often the issue).

For what it’s worth I do record into an audio interface, a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, but I’ve recorded straight into laptop line-in to similar effect – I don’t think an audio interface would have a massive impact on your situation. Best advice is borrow one from a friend if you can and try it out 🙂

Cheers,
Mike

The only thing I do in post with my mixes is normalize the peak to 0dB.

I’ll second Staz’s comment about it not making sense to master (there are exceptions but only if you sprung for some very serious mastering software AND have the knowledge and experience to work it properly – so well beyond the scope of this post) a mix that consist of material already mastered to death when you buy it. Even worse is the fact that while they are mastered beyond a reasonable limit, the mastering still differs from track to track.

Taking already flat pancakes and trying to get them even flatter isn’t gonna work I am afraid.

Finally, good mastering is something even lots of studio engineers don’t do themselves but leave to the dedicated specialists, it’s THAT difficult to get right.

Just my (sound engineer) two cents, as usual.

I’d like to add to all of you without a sound engineering background that good compression is an art-form! This is true for mix compression (as in mixing down a multitrack recording – which is relevant for producers, less so for DJs) and for mastering compression (and mastering is a specialty within the sound engineering community all on it’s own).

Without wanting to discourage anyone, unless you are serious about this and willing to spend tons of time and learning (a fair bit of theoretical knowledge involved IF you want to make the best of those 500+ bucks software compressors), it’s better to stick with DJ-ing and spend your time in music discovery, technical skills and broadening your creative skills.

Furthermore I’ll stick with the point of view I expressed in an earlier reply:
“there is not much use in compressing something that is already compressed to 2-3 dB dynamic range when you get it. What are you gonna do, compress it down to 1dB?”
As most EDM, house and other dance tracks are totally ready for the loudness wars, there is just no dynamic range on most any track you get these days. Flat pancakes don’t get much flatter and if they do, you have to ask what good it does.

It’s your choice what you spend your precious time on, but as a DJ (producers is already different considerations), there are so many other things to master to become that great DJ besides compression, my advice would be to not bother.

For the techies: I know that if you have tracks with varying dynamic range in your mix, using compression to bring them all at the same level as the most compressed track can be helpful to make the mix sound uniform and you can do it with further compressing the most compressed track. However this is not something you can do with a compressor preset and demands that you know what you are doing.

Finally, on a personal note, I find overly compressed music to be more tiresome to listen too. It also increases damage to the hearing by raising the average sound level of a track to near the max sound level. Also tracks with more dynamic range (they are out there if you look for them) have a more “natural” or “alive” quality to them, imho.

Again, as usual, just my three cents.