So let me preface this whole thing by saying I have been dj'ing/producing basically 24/7 since last July 4th. My equipment has never left my booth except for 4 or 5 gigs. I have had to take my cdj1000's in twice (once the ******s at Pioneer wouldn't cover), my mixer in once, and have also gotten two computer wiping viruses on MY MUSIC COMPUTER! Goodbye all of my mixes (which had not been posted online yet because I was not caught up), and goodbye 4 unfinished tracks (ranging from 75% to 99% complete) So anyways about two weeks ago the stars align and I have all of my equipment working and my computer working, etc. Jesus must have touched me or something.

So tonight I'm trying to catch up on my mixes for my radio show (got put on hold indefinitely because of all of the above) I continued to create my sets and wait for everything to be working again. I finished one of my two hour sets tonight, and was in a groove so I go back to the computer, erase my cd-rw's and put the next mixes tracks on them. Back to the booth, connect my audio interface, and we're off. I have the absolute best set of my life, am extremely excited that I just cut out two two hour mixes in a little over 5 hours time. I export to wav from audacity and load into live, plug my mastering chain in, and go, wtf, this doesn't sound right.

After checking my monitors, the audio interface, ableton, etc, I finally gave up hope and figured it must have been an issue with the audio file. I figured maybe one of the ins wasnt plugged in all the way or something. But if that were the case one channel would be significantly different than the other. Everything looks standard to me with the file. I checked the monster cables from my decks, perfect. I had already moved the audio interface back to my production desk after the mix so I don't know if the ins were loose. Now would be a good time to inform you all that this mix sounded great when I was mixing it. So I don't know what the possibilities are but I'm crossing my fucking fingers that this is something I can fix and not have to redo the goddamn set. The difference is pretty big. I put the two mixes right next to each other to analyze and see if there was any differences (figured if the ins werent connected right I would be able to see that in the audio file). Couldn't find anything, and both channels were playing equally, so that theory has to be ruled out.

The one and only possibility that I have been able to come up with is that the inputs got connected oppositely of normal, but this shouldn't have any bearing on the mix should it? I highly doubt that's the problem which is why Im on here writing this now. Someone please tell me that Im an idiot and this is something fixable and retarded? It's boggling my mind right now, makes no goddamn sense.

The sound it has seems almost identical to if a cord were not fully getting one channel. I checked my pan on my djm 800 to see if it was magically altered and nope, its perfectly fine, so I give up, hopefully you all can help me come to a conclusion at the minimum, and fix my mix at best case.

Thanks for reading through this and I will appreciate any effort at an explanation or solution! Thanks

PS: Just thought of this but the rec out and main out on the djm 800 shouldn't have any difference in sound correct?

-Worlds Unluckiest Person

Last edited by mfitterer1 on May-02-2009 at 09:34

get a mac, back up your stuff and learn to use your equipment…

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quote:

Originally posted by skip get a mac, back up your stuff and learn to use your equipment…

Seeing as how it was an exclusive music computer those precautions didn't seem needed at the time. Thanks for your clownish response though.

Anyone with any serious replies, this really doesn't make any sense.

I fail to see how my suggestions wouldn't have helped in your case. You don't have bad luck, you're just ignorant or careless.

If you had a mac, you wouldn't have had the viruses that wiped everything from your computer.

If you had had backups that are up to date it wouldn't have mattered much that the viruses wiped everything as you could have restored everything from the backups.

Also if the computer was dedicated to music I can't for the life of me understand how you'd get viruses in it, two times even and have them wipe out everything…

As for your current problem, I can't help as the description is so damn vague that it's hard to tell where the problem might be. Why don't you post a sample of the fucked up recording for starters…

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double post.

quote:

Originally posted by skip I fail to see how my suggestions wouldn't have helped in your case. You don't have bad luck, you're just ignorant or careless. If you had a mac, you wouldn't have had the viruses that wiped everything from your computer. If you had had backups that are up to date it wouldn't have mattered much that the viruses wiped everything as you could have restored everything from the backups. Also if the computer was dedicated to music I can't for the life of me understand how you'd get viruses in it, two times even and have them wipe out everything… As for your current problem, I can't help as the description is so damn vague that it's hard to tell where the problem might be. Why don't you post a sample of the fucked up recording for starters…

Yeah make statements about someone you don't even know. Lol. While those things would have helped, the fact that it has already happened renders them useless. Your post came off dickish, if it wasn't; apologies.

Also I will post the sample if nobody can help with the novel I wrote above.

So let me get this straight -- one channel is significantly lower in volume than the other? You said it sounds different. How so? A messed up cable is very possible. And Monster cables are nothing special at all, so don't expect them to last forever (make your own, they will be a lot better).

Run some checks. First try recording something for a little bit, maybe a couple minutes or so. Record something from each CDJ running through the mixer.

Ask a friend to borrow his/her mixer, or go to your local shop and ask to borrow one of theirs. It doesn't really matter what it is, you just want to determine if it is your mixer or audio interface that is source of the problem.

Grab a couple extra RCA cables and test try switching them with your current ones one by one (only ever make one change at a time, thus you can effectively isolate the source of the problem). Maybe there is just a bad RCA along the chain?

A post of the mix would be very helpful.

I'll post a clip. Gimme a few minutes to upload. I'll post a clip of what it sounds like normal so it can be compared to as well.

No they are the same volumes. Waveforms are even the same as far as I can tell. It sounds like maybe 40% of the lows are missing or something. Almost like there is an echo or reverb damping everything.

[[ LINK REMOVED ]]


Good sample first, bad one starts around 3 minutes. Pay close attention to the kicks thats where the biggest difference is noticed imo.

Thanks for listening and trying to help

Last edited by mfitterer1 on May-02-2009 at 19:21

Ok so just ran tests because I am recording more mixes today and didn't want this to happen again. I tried switching the ins, the rec out and main out, I even put the inputs staggered backwards. I did tests for each of these and nothing came back with any issues. Also each of these had a very dramatic effect as would be expected, not like what happened in the sample above where the effect is nonsensical.

I saved the audacity file so if it was something in there that I could fix I could still save the set. But I just checked and it was recorded at 44.1 hz in stereo and 32 bit float, the same I use for all of my mixes. I just don't get this there should be issues with the waveforms for that difference in sound shouldn't there? Or am I just not looking close enough. Is it me or does it sound like it was recorded in mono?

Guess the obvious suggestions would to be to try different channels altogether, and make sure you don't have any effects going...But you've probably already done this, I just want the names of the track samples you posted :P

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wow you built up all that content and didn't back any of it up?

let that be a lesson for ya!

also i wouldnt use cdrws for djing... lots of clubs you *might* spin at in the future dont have decks that can read cdrws-

as for your problem- sounds crazy- try recording on your computer from your home stereo or something, see if it does the same thing

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