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-- Mixer volume level
Mixer volume level
Ok i'm trying to balance out my levels on the DJM 800.
What's the right way to have your levels on the mixer at? i.e. should the level on the gain match the same level on the master? or should the master be lower than the gain?
Also, is 0db the optimium level ?
Cheers.
if nothing goes to the red it's all ok :?
to the best of my knowledge:
The master simply controls the master volumne - in a professional application that would be the main sound volume of the club. These should never red line.
The levels on each channel I always have with the green lights permanently on, the yellows bounce and the reds should never light up.
This way, any recordings never clip, and should be of the highest quality. It also follows that the sound quality going out on the master is of the highest standard too.
I ignore the dB level of the master, I find it not worth worrying about - this is more one for the sound engineers in the club. However, on the DJM800 in order to split your cue you have to have the master at the correct level in order to make the most of it. I never split the cue signal, so it's not important to me.
I might add that I know sod all about any of this - so I stand to be corrected.
Jarv
Double post.
all greens on each of your channel meters...yellows should be kept to an absolute minimum (these are essentially to tell you "hey fuck off your gonna clip rreal soon" and should be heeded). at a show i spun at last week the dj's before me basically were in the high yellows 90% of the time and a little bit of red every now and then and the entire recording was completely clipped even though the master was mostly green w/ a bit of yellow.
the way you should even everything out is with your channel faders all the way up you should adjust the gains so that they average as close to the "over" dot as possible without going into yellows...and then the master you shouldnt worry about. the vast majority of monitors or club speakers as well are so loud you should never have to worry about clipping the master output.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by SPAWNmaster all greens on each of your channel meters...yellows should be kept to an absolute minimum (these are essentially to tell you "hey fuck off your gonna clip rreal soon" and should be heeded). at a show i spun at last week the dj's before me basically were in the high yellows 90% of the time and a little bit of red every now and then and the entire recording was completely clipped even though the master was mostly green w/ a bit of yellow. the way you should even everything out is with your channel faders all the way up you should adjust the gains so that they average as close to the "over" dot as possible without going into yellows...and then the master you shouldnt worry about. the vast majority of monitors or club speakers as well are so loud you should never have to worry about clipping the master output. |
don't worry about the db mate... as long as they are not clipping into the yellow/red as SPAWN mentioned.. you will be fine... Every track is recorded at different volumes, so you will constantly be changing the gains anyways...
although i find at least with the djm 600 that the sweet spot is 2 reds in
but you shouldn't be running your mixer past yellow
run your levels too high and you start sending distorted audio to your amps which could fry both your amps and speakers
loud audio doesn't blow speakers, distorted audio blows speakers
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Tony Morello loud audio doesn't blow speakers, distorted audio blows speakers |
true, i was speaking in terms of a club setting though
you can have your distorted audio running at low volumes, it will still sound like crap
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Tony Morello although i find at least with the djm 600 that the sweet spot is 2 reds in |
Hey folks,
Can I just chime in on this one re: levels for recording. Technically, it's not what goes OUT of the mixer that is going to make the biggest difference, it's how you've set to go IN to the recording device that's the issue.
It's all very good saying 'stay away from the reds' - but if your recording device isn't turned up, you're going to get a really low level recording. And, if you're device is set to record at max, then even the yellows flashing might make a massively clipped recording.
Years ago, on my site, I wrote a big thing about recording levels etc when going onto tape - as ten years later, it's all about recording to CD/PC etc - I'll re-write is, as there's a lot of confusion about this it seems.
As far as throwing out to AMPs, sure - it's bad bad bad to max peak out the reds for some installations - but others, you need to - as the amps aren't set up right. There's a fine line between playing out strong and maxing everything out and creating distortion though!
And remember, if that little bastard of a screw is still on the back (I'm assuming it has it, like my 600) which reduces the master output strength anyway - then it's all a bit 'moot' in terms of "Don't go in the red" "Only stay in XXXX etc..."
Set up for what you're going into (and obviously how it sounds) and you should be fine.
Darroch - what are you setting up for? Recording or playout? What do you use (ie, amp, hi-fi, powered speakers.)
And where'd you get the 800? Somewhere in Glasgow? Good price?
| quote: |
| Originally posted by DJRecess Hey folks, Can I just chime in on this one re: levels for recording. Technically, it's not what goes OUT of the mixer that is going to make the biggest difference, it's how you've set to go IN to the recording device that's the issue. It's all very good saying 'stay away from the reds' - but if your recording device isn't turned up, you're going to get a really low level recording. And, if you're device is set to record at max, then even the yellows flashing might make a massively clipped recording. Years ago, on my site, I wrote a big thing about recording levels etc when going onto tape - as ten years later, it's all about recording to CD/PC etc - I'll re-write is, as there's a lot of confusion about this it seems. As far as throwing out to AMPs, sure - it's bad bad bad to max peak out the reds for some installations - but others, you need to - as the amps aren't set up right. There's a fine line between playing out strong and maxing everything out and creating distortion though! And remember, if that little bastard of a screw is still on the back (I'm assuming it has it, like my 600) which reduces the master output strength anyway - then it's all a bit 'moot' in terms of "Don't go in the red" "Only stay in XXXX etc..." Set up for what you're going into (and obviously how it sounds) and you should be fine. Darroch - what are you setting up for? Recording or playout? What do you use (ie, amp, hi-fi, powered speakers.) And where'd you get the 800? Somewhere in Glasgow? Good price? |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by dj darroch Ok cheers for that. Do you try to keep the levels on each channel mixer at 0db or...? I'm just trying to know what db there best kept at! |
i dont know if you use CD or not, BUT one thing that sucks & you don't have any control over: if you play downloaded mp3s, many times those recordings are maxed out - clipping everywhere - you have already lost fidelity in the mix you can never recover.
also watch your final/master recording...
i adjust my master level by doing a few 5 second test recordings at different master levels, and open/compare the actual RECORDED WAVEFORMS to see how close I am to clipping. the acutal waveform recorded is ultimately your master mix. (proper EQ is assumed here)
when i find a good waveform (the one that's closest to the clip minus a little headroom), i leave the master at that setting. also, i set the the source (MIXER) to just under redline because i want the most accurate (non-distorted) output from the source - important when recording anything that has an analog audio cable in the loop. (let's also assume you have the fattest/best analog cables)
i do this before every set i record in the studio - but in the club it just depends on the sound system...sometimes you have to overdrive some frequencies/levels.
A related question,
Lets say my setup is computer-->mixer-->receiver
What should my volumes be at respectively? Should I use mostly the receiver to amplify or should I spread it around? Should I have the comp volume maxed? etc. Thanks.
The problem I have when recording onto my computer is that although the channel faders and master volume never go into the red, the line in recording volume on the computer always goes into the red, even though this is the almost minimum recording level. Any lower and nothing records at all.
Any advice?
this has always bugged me but maybe somebody can shed some light...after making sure the loudest part is peaking at 0db constantly, some tracks have those quick jumps (ie, less than a second) into the yellow, usually +1db...should you factor that quick spike into recording? or is it okay to leave it alone since the 99% of the track is peaking at 0db except that 1%???
| quote: |
| Originally posted by epdarks A related question, Lets say my setup is computer-->mixer-->receiver What should my volumes be at respectively? Should I use mostly the receiver to amplify or should I spread it around? Should I have the comp volume maxed? etc. Thanks. |
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