Hi all,

I've been getting to grips with DJ'ing for the past 6 months (self-taught), I am pretty comfortable with everything etc. My question is about using the EQ's when mixing between two tracks.

Generally my EQ knobs for both tracks are set to approx 4'o'clock for treble, 3'o'clock for midrange, and 1'o'clock for bass frequencies.

When mixing between two tracks, I normally either:
a) leave everything the same, except on track two use the hamster switch to kill bass, then bring track in, and then at the beginning of a phase swap the bass kills, so track 2 is now the bassline, and track 1 is has muted bass.
b) turn bass knob on track 2 down to approx 9'o'clock, bring track in, and gradually move track 2's bass knob to 1'o'clock while moving track 1's bass knob to 9'o'clock...

What I am trying to achieve is really smooth mixes, generally it's sounding pretty good but I just want to make sure there's not a better way I'm missing out on.

How does everyone else twiddle the EQ's so that their mixes sound smooooooth??? Should I be adjusting the treble eq's as well or is bass enough?

All help appreciated!!
Cheers
Aurora2

wow, 4 3 and 1... i keep mine lined up at 12, all three eq's... maybe thats why your mixes don't sound smooth... don't you get shrieking high vocals or really loud high hats??

everyone seems to have their EQ's in diffrent positions. personaly I think having the eqs all at 12 make everything sound very flat. I have the High and the Mid at 1 - 2. The bass is always more at around 3. Of course it could be diffrent for every record.

Whenever i see a dj spin live their eqs are into the +

There really isn't any point in having all of the EQ's in the + zone. All that does is make everything louder. Instead of +4 +3 +1, having +3 +2 +0 and turning up the volume slightly would have the same effect.

That said, turning up your mids is just plain crazy!

Generally I don't find that my treble is too shrieky, instead sounds nice and crisp (but the occasional record is a little sharp so I turn it down).
The bass sits about 1pm to give the sounds a bit of oomf. The mids have to be turned up quite a bit so that I can hear the tune over all the excessive bass + treble :-)

I've found putting everything at 12'o'clock seems to give quite a flat sound, I personally prefer the "punchier" sound that a lot of top40-style radio stations adopt (ie accentuated bass + treble).

Aurora2.

Ya The extra bass always sounds good. When i play on loud speakers it sounds so much better when i crank the low.

The main live track should be all at 12 or slightly into the + range. If you go to much you'll power out your amp. Either way, the trebble should never be higher than your bass. You must have speaker problems.

And the track you're bringing in should all be in the -, like 10:00 untill you want to make it the main track. Then switch basses so your old main one is now 10:00 and the new main track is at 12:00. Then once the old track is gone bring the new one up + to 1:00 or 2:00 because the bass from the old track is now gone leaving play room.

quote:

Originally posted by aurora2 I personally prefer the "punchier" sound that a lot of top40-style radio stations adopt (ie accentuated bass + treble).

To get this sound it’s not the work of EQ’s but compressors at the end of the radio station.

I personally keep all my EQ's at 12, unless of course I'm mixing, in which case I'll generally adjust the Bass EQ as necessary, rarely ever using the other two EQ’s during the mix.

I think the reason why most people use their EQ’s, all at funny positions, is simply a poorly set up sound system.

I think it depends on your mixer, and also your amplification.

personally, i prefer a smiley face curve as well, bass at about 2 or 3 clock, mids at 0, treble at 2.

BUT! my amp has a wicked 5 band stereo EQ already, so i set THAT with the smiley face EQ.

then, i leave my mixer knobs at 12 all the time, and bring down the bass and treble on songs to about 9 or 10 oclock when bringing in a track.

or sometimes i leave the bass at 12 on both, but hit the kill switch for the bass on the incoming track.

then, at the RIGHT time, i flip off the kill on the bass, and flip on the kill on the other tracks bass.


I'm using a Vestax PCV275 by the way.

it all depends on the track and the energy i'm feeling
sometimes i like to quickly drop the bass then slam in the next track's bass... sounds great especially when it when the bassline hits for the next track

but generally i like to keep my highs at about 2-3, and bass at about 1

i play hard house and the basslines i play are already pretty strong, i also like my highs pretty loud as well

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I'm following Spin doctor here. On radio stations and such they use compressors and equalizing at the end of the chain.
Don't forget that most on most tracks a huge amount of time is spent on the mixdown and the mastering. This means that the tune is meant to sound like that with EQ's to default position (12 o' clock) or even bypassed.
The fact that you like the sound better with EQ's boosted everywhere is more a question of equipment. Not only the speaker/amps affect the sound, every other piece of equipment has it's effect (and like always, the weakest link in the chain defines the overall performance).
Just to give an example, when I moved from my first crappy mixer to my Xone, it was a crazy difference. The Xone sounds much more dynamic and punchier.
But the speaker system will probably have the most effect. Don't forget a hifi system speaker will sound completely different from a PA speaker or a studio monitor.
It speaks for itself that if your speakers lacks low response, you'll boost the low frequencies. Keep that in mind.

But hey, it's your equipment, as long as you don't clip, I guess it's ok.

yeah.i keep my lows at around 10 oclock,but im playin through a gigatube stereo, any higher and the rattlin gets to me. i turn up the highs and mids to around 1 and 2.

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