to all the scratch dj's

i notice alot of heads have their volume faders at 10( or the highest on their mixer). but this causes your levels to be mad hot unless you turn the gain down. how should i have this set up properly? also will this damage my studio monitors?

if anyone is going to comment saying this has nothing to do with mpc's some of us like to record scratches over our beats. peace

I usually leave the line faders at their very top. My old vestax is running straight into a digital console mixer, I guess this gives me a little more advantage when it comes to controlling the levels. How´s your setup? Running the scratches straight into your comp? Even at high volumes I´m sure that scratches won´t damage your monitors. You can normalize the data in the end jus in case you record with minimal gain, not a big issue.

I never control the volume with the line fader. IMO the correct way to set up the volume is:


1. GAIN (cue the channel and turn up the gain till the LED meter hit the red sometimes)
2. EQ the channel (but watch the LEDs) If they are now always red readjust the GAIN)
3. Linefader up to the Top
4. Master to 3/4

peace

It all depends on where unity is on the input fader, most scratch/club mixers now days have unity gain at the top of the fader which is the reverse to a studio board or old skool club DJ mixer.
You should always set the gain first using the PFL level and have it bouncing around 0db, then fully open the input fader and raise your main out level to your desired level making sure you don't go above 0/+3db and so on just in case you clip your amp's input (Depending on how good they are or what protection you have in place)

peterpiper wrote:I never control the volume with the line fader. IMO the correct way to set up the volume is:


1. GAIN (cue the channel and turn up the gain till the LED meter hit the red sometimes)
2. EQ the channel (but watch the LEDs) If they are now always red readjust the GAIN)
3. Linefader up to the Top
4. Master to 3/4

peace

This is good advice. Also remember when Eqing to cut frequencies, not boost. Use the gain to normalize the level. This sounds much better than boosting an eq. Remember a sculpture takes away from the stone.

im running 2 tech 1200 mk2, vestax pmc 05 pro3, orton nightclub on one and shure m477 on the other. if i have the line faders at 10 then i need to turn down the gain substantially. if i leave them at like 7.5 then the gain is almost maxed for it to be near 0db.

klassik.one wrote:im running 2 tech 1200 mk2, vestax pmc 05 pro3, orton nightclub on one and shure m477 on the other. if i have the line faders at 10 then i need to turn down the gain substantially. if i leave them at like 7.5 then the gain is almost maxed for it to be near 0db.

Gain should be used appropriately based on the songs volume. Use you ears to determine the correct volume. Mixing can't be done with the eyes. Keep your master volume turned up and your gain knobs turned down, then mix to taste. It's like making curry.

no i understand all that but when i see alot of scratch djs spin they always have the line faders maxed.

i use 2 technics 1210 and a vestax samurai pmc 06 pro d
the channel fader at max
the setting of gain level depends on which record i'm scratching with at the moment
some are louder than others
sometimes i turn down the bass level if it rumbles when i touch the record
usually i turn the gain level up until the led meters are near 0db

klassik.one wrote:no i understand all that but when i see alot of scratch djs spin they always have the line faders maxed.

That's cos Unity is at the top of the fader so really nothing is maxed out as there is no gain or attenuation going on.
It's done for a few reasons on DJ mixers... Mainly if a dude is cutting with the up faders it's quicker to return to the top than to say 8 on the fader...if unity was at 8 dude would over shoot and it would sound all over the sho' anything over 8 would be more gain and sound shit

Look at DJ Kentaro working the upie downies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Fy_tr2 ... re=related

thanks vinyl junkie that was a realy helpful reply