Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:32 pm
this is why i love my rane. Had it for about a year and a half, and the faders don't even have a hint of crackle...Deapoh wrote:I miss cutting up beats as my Crossfader is broken.
Nice one Luke.
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making dubstep sound better (for djs)
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Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:27 pm
I always get thrown off my the mixers at shows. I'm so used to my own setup that sometimes I forget there's a curve on most faders. I have my fade on "cut" for scratching an mix with the channel faders, so if I forget to move the horizontal fader to the middle it screws me up...but that's what the LEDs are for!
lower levels = better quality
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:04 am
ouch... normalization is the devillordninJah wrote:another thing to keep in mind - as far as recording/production goes - is normalization. if i have a specific sample that's being modified over the course of a sequence i normalize it to 99% after every effect added. likewise when i'm done mixing i normalize the entire track before bounce. this is by no means a 'cure all' but just one more thing you can do to keep the presence of a track.
...in the digital domain, you need lots! of headroom since the operations done by all your effects can cause clipping invisible on your peak meters. Even *subtractive* EQing (cutting certain freqs) can lead to additional peaks. Your meters won't notice them though, 'cause they're just too short. But they're there, so audio quality is likely to suffer... I always try to keep my levels somewhere between -12 and -6 dbFS to have enough headroom for all the calculations necessary. The habit of trying to always stay as close to 0 as possible btw is a relic from the analog age when a) a thing called 'noise floor' was still a force to reckon with and b) people still had lots of headroom even far beyond 0 dBFS.check this out if you got some spare time:
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index. ... 8/65447/0/
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:03 pm
Luke, Dubstep sounds better with you
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:18 pm
Mental image of you two snuggled up listening to dubstep allstarsBunZer0 wrote:Luke, Dubstep sounds better with you
LOL!Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:21 pm
"oooouh baby, Dubstep sounds better with yoooooou baby"
;p
;p
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:23 pm
Thats the one! 
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:46 pm
arghgghhhh! I hate having to spend the whole night by the decks constantly adjusting the sound! don't help that when another DJ comes on I have to show him how to use my complicated throbby but shit mixer, it's got fucked up faders and has a sticker pointing to them saying: NO!MattyG wrote:Man, I've thrown a ton of parties with our sound system, and people just don't get it. When we set everything up, we set it up to sound as loud, and clear as it can. Then people get up on the decks and try to be rock stars, and want their set to be louder than the last persons. People don't even know how to use the damn levels on the mixer. Red is Bad! repeat Red is Bad! A lot of people don't respect other peoples equipment, and just try to blow the shit out of everything...that really chaps my hide and is a main reason as to why I don't like throwing parties anymore.
Re: making dubstep sound better (for djs)
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:01 pm
Luke you joker, you used to be the original red liner, good to see that you have learned somethingluke.envoy wrote:yo
some things i wanna share with djs. take it, leave it, and contribute
im not a proper expert but ive been playing for 7 years and done a few systems legal and illegal, all this applies to playing at home too
if you are playing/recording dubstep on a system/setup and it sounds shit, sometimes theres a couple things that can be done.
some problems and solutions ive found:
if the volume is good but theres not enough bass for dubstep-
dubstep is sub driven, if your playing loud and theres not enough bass, please dont just turn the master and bass gains up!
it prob means the system isnt that good for bass (as long as the bass gains are in reasonable position to start with) its gonna sound alot tighter if u turn the master volume down and boost the low ends (within reason, not about having the bass or mid gains on full).
theres no point in deafening your audience if it doesnt sound any good so turning down the master is useful in many situations
it aint the natural thing for a dj to wanna do so u gotta think about it
if its really loud and u dont wanna drop the energy by turning it all down, then do it subtley over a quiet drop of a tune, or even slowly over 2 tunes
distortion-
see above. excessive low end could be doing this depending on the system
volume changes from tune to tune-
some acetate and sequencer mixdowns straight to cd can sound lower and less full than each other or compared to release pressings, usually the channel gains will sort this but the frequencies might still sound inconsistant depending on original mixdown.
in this case you'll have to be sensitive to what is lacking, but for cds its usually the low mids in my experience and sometimes highs and high mids for acetate, so boost & cut with the frequency gains
more bass, less volume- is a vague but good rule for sorting out dubstep when playing loud
any experiences or additions you lot got then please say
nice1
Although I swear I've seen you red lining shit recently and making it distort, i suppose needs must at inigo. 
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 1:13 pm
I used to work as a sound tech for two nightclubs when I was at uni and the very worst offender for redlining the fucking shit out of the system was Nicky Blackmarket! Now, I like Nicky BM, he's generally a nice guy and obviously BM records is nothing but a good thing, but you would have thought a breh with his experience would appreciate rig management! Nope. He caused this fucking horrible clipping due to the limiters working overtime sorting his red lining, and when I say red lining, he was pushing it so there was no dynamic range coming out of the mixer!
However it goes both ways, I've played night where the sound engineer is a fucking moron, with crossovers set wrong and militant compressors. For which as a dj you really have to battle with.
My key tips, is before dj's start crying about the needles skipping all the time (which is fucking irritating), learn the mechanics of your tools, there's at least 3 or 4 easy things to do in about 30 seconds to a deck to make the needle stop jumping from tone arm height to the frowned upon (but very effective) 5p on top of the cartridge.
However it goes both ways, I've played night where the sound engineer is a fucking moron, with crossovers set wrong and militant compressors. For which as a dj you really have to battle with.
My key tips, is before dj's start crying about the needles skipping all the time (which is fucking irritating), learn the mechanics of your tools, there's at least 3 or 4 easy things to do in about 30 seconds to a deck to make the needle stop jumping from tone arm height to the frowned upon (but very effective) 5p on top of the cartridge.
Re: making dubstep sound better (for djs)
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 3:57 pm
Cold blooded!!delsa wrote: Luke you joker, you used to be the original red liner, good to see that you have learned something
LOL
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 4:00 pm
i hate those douchebags that redline my fucking mixer.
and btw, whoever said something about setting your fader to cut, i do the same thing. when i get on my friends mixers, or even once when i was playing out, i ALWAYS forget that there's a curve.
motherfuckin trance mixers with no curve. if only trance djs knew
and btw, whoever said something about setting your fader to cut, i do the same thing. when i get on my friends mixers, or even once when i was playing out, i ALWAYS forget that there's a curve.
motherfuckin trance mixers with no curve. if only trance djs knew
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 5:33 pm
To get ur levels right in order to record requires a few simple steps..
Gettin to the club early and testin it out for your self.
Tapeing off on the mixer where it starts soundin like ass (damn redliners).
and having a good computer.
Gettin to the club early and testin it out for your self.
Tapeing off on the mixer where it starts soundin like ass (damn redliners).
and having a good computer.
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 6:14 pm
Same here. When I had my Vestax SlimTricks mixer, I was all crossfader. But with the DJM-500, im not feeling the crossfader at all, so I have been adjusting to using the volume.howstrange wrote:i use both. sometimes i need the crossfader as it you can control the volume of both channels with one handdq wrote: Also I'm curious if most people on here use the crossfader when they mix or just the volumes? I've always relied on the crossfader but I know people who come from a house background often don't use the crossfader at all.
Plus I dj hamster style? The decks are reversed on the crossfader. When I started djing, I didnt have anyone to show me anything. So the mixer I had was set that was and I never changed it.
Now when I do tag team sets, and the crossfader is regular, it always fucks with me, so in that case I started using the channel volume too.
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:46 pm
Errr.............................................No.2 basslines playing together sounds crap. full stop. that's what the EQ knobbles are for.
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:50 pm
ok yeh chopping them up works - but having them both playing at once is generally cause for a really muddy mixDigital wrote:Errr.............................................No.2 basslines playing together sounds crap. full stop. that's what the EQ knobbles are for.
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 10:43 pm
I always find it amazing how many DJs don't really seem to understand the concept of clipping and what it'll do to your tunes...
Re: making dubstep sound better (for djs)
Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 11:19 pm
ha shabby. least i werent clangin delsa u tartmoldy wrote:Cold blooded!!delsa wrote: Luke you joker, you used to be the original red liner, good to see that you have learned something
LOL
we played some mad parties in some mad different places,
shall we take a year off and do it all over again but with earplugs
Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:18 am
two sub bass lines playing together will usually result in an arrhythmic messDigital wrote:Errr.............................................No.2 basslines playing together sounds crap. full stop. that's what the EQ knobbles are for.
Re: making dubstep sound better (for djs)
Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:32 am
Sounds like a plan.luke.envoy wrote:moldy wrote:Cold blooded!!delsa wrote: Luke you joker, you used to be the original red liner, good to see that you have learned something
LOL
we played some mad parties in some mad different places,
shall we take a year off and do it all over again but with earplugs