On my mixer (Vestax PCV-275) I simply adjust the gains on each channel so that when only that channel is being cued it's around 0dB on the CUE VU-meter, then I adjust the master so it's around 0dB on the MASTER VU-meter when the upfader is most of the way up. I use my amp to adjust the overall volume. This way all the VU-meters show an average of about 0dB.

When I'm mixing I mostly use the up-faders to get the volume to the right level, but there isn't a whole lot of difference anyway. So basically I guess I do it like the guy at the shop does it.

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beats and bleeps, i pretty much do the same thing that you do except i'm not that religous about where my master is set at and i usually mix with my faders (rotaries) at about 9 or 9.5 just so that i have alittle bit of room to work with if i want to. i don't know which way is the right way but thats what i do.

normally have my gain set at 12 o'clock, play 1st track, use Master Out to get it to 0dB. from there, i use gains accordingly to mix at the same sound level. try my best to at max be at 2dB. i graduate/do the final EQing of the volume with the amp.

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Originally posted by dartman i don't know which way is the right way but thats what i do.

There is no right way, its personal preference, just as long as the music sound good, who cares.

I myself use abit of both, I use the gains to try and make them around 0db, but when I bring the track in if the volume is sstill slightly out, I just won't bring the track fader to the top, I like to have it so I can have my faders at the top and all the volumes are the same (from adjusting the gain), so if I want to do a volue drop, scratch with the fader or do anything with the fader, I can just slam it to the top, and not worry about overshooting some mark, and having the volume to loud as I was wasn' using the gains like the guy at the shop did, I find his way could course problems if you were doing anything else with the fader, I could be wrong, but anyway thats just my opinion.

I adjust both the master and the gains to stay right around 0db, and I use the upfaders to mix leaving the crossfader in the middle.

As long as you dont hit red on either the master or the chanel faders, you are doing ok.

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Originally posted by onceler As long as you dont hit red on either the master or the chanel faders, you are doing ok.

Damn, i dont have leds for each channel.
Do those just function in the same way as a cue led does?

Yeah if you turn on cue for just one channel the cue LED VU-meter is essentially the same as if you had separate VU-meters for each channel, its just you can only see one at a time.

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-tom

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Originally posted by beats and beeps Ok, so I keep my Master out at 12 o clock at all times. I keep my gains at around 12 o clock, and this gives me around 0 db on the Master LEDS. I adjust my gains a little over, or under 12 o clock to make the song im trying to mix in match at around 0 dbs. When I mix, i put the up faders all the way to the top (10)

I do exactly what you do. The PVC275 has a dumb feature in that the master out will adjust how high the meters for the master bounce, but not the cue. So, if your master is not set at 12, then your cue meter becomes pretty much useless because it doesn't correspond to the actual volume you will hear. I leave my faders at the top for the same reason DannyO mentioned, because i want to be able to put them back just where they were.

I try to leave the bass, treble, and mid at 12 o clock during most of the track, unless i hear some particularly nasty treble i will turn it down. during the mix i do whatever i need to to get it to work.

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Originally posted by beats and beeps Now when i was at a music shop, this guy was doing it very differently, and he said it was better. He had the master around 9 o clock, and the gains around around three oclock, or maybe farther, like almost 5 o clock. This still gave him an average of 0 db. He didnt adjust the gains ever though, instead he would usually only bring the up fader to around 8 o clock, but move the upfader higher, if the song was quieter, rather than using the gains. He claimed this was better. So where do you keep your gains (trims on some mixers) Master outs, and upfaders at?

well technically, your way is better, and more likely to get 100% gainmatched results, as the levels he is using are the levels displayed on the cue VU meter when the fader is at 100%, so he is making his own life difficult for himself, not only with standard mixing, but with cutting and scratching too (if he used the faders for this).

my master out is always at 12 o'clock, i never touch that. i just have the gains at whatever it takes to make the track around -1dB. any further master volume adjustments i do on my amplifier. i use the faders right up when a track is in.

with regards to eq's, obviously when a track is playing i have them all at 12 o'clock (never above), but when bringing them in or out, i move em down or up a lot, depending on how i fancy mixing the tracks.

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MUGGETS

Hmmm.. I've been putting the volume faders all the way up,

gains at 11oclock and the hi,mid,n low all around 1oclock. this is when the cued track is fully brought in.

i start off with varying EQ congifurations depending on how strong the hi,mids and lows are for the cued track.

but the LEDs don't go to red and thats fine with me. I use that as a guide.

=))

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