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  • Mix Club - The Remedial Class

Mad_Cyril Swapped the filters for the gain controls this week, miles better (relatively speaking). Have more control and time.

Having spent a fair bit of time on both I would urge you to stick at it and get good on your faders. In my highly unprofessional but time served opinion, once you get stuck in, there really isn’t any difference.

What mixer are you using at the moment?

    Amps
    I’m not great at describing so echoey might be there wrong word. If you flick through most if the transitions on the first ½ hour here you can hear the same.

    Ref the channels, there’s no really difference to using the gain than the faders is there?

    I still eq, but using gain knobs, as opposed to sliders, just feels easier to make adjustments amd establish the tune in the mix to me.

        Mad_Cyril I still eq, but using gain knobs, as opposed to sliders, just feels easier to make adjustments amd establish the tune in the mix to me.

        you sacrifice the ability to properly gain stage if you use the gains pots to mix instead of faders, but that’s up to you to decide if it’s a problem or not. not saying one is right or wrong, just something to consider.

            Mad_Cyril Not sure I can hear what you’re hearing… you don’t have the phaser or the flanger stuck on do you? 😆

                Amps
                Haha no. But is what it sounds like, I’ll post something in the next few days.

                And probably read the manual again!

                Forget to add I’m not using a proper mixer, just a ddj400 controller (Fisher Price)

                    Mad_Cyril just a ddj400 controller

                    I would assume Pioneer haven’t spat out a completely useless item here, so yeah, learn the thing inside out, know what every dial or button does and then you can start to get an idea of it’s limitations.

                    As regards the bigger picture of your next purchase and dials vs faders, do you know anyone you can borrow a proper mixer off? Even if it’s only for an evening? That would be my move.

                        Mad_Cyril
                        Don’t know if you really liked that mix I sent you but it was done on a Numark mix track pro which very a basic controller so you I wouldn’t spend more money on something more expensive just yet.
                        The echoing does sound a bit strange mind.

                            Amps
                            There are more limitations with with operator than the equipment 👍

                              i’ll qualify this with i haven’t actually listed to the mix so maybe this is way off, but is it possible that the eq’s have really steep curves? using a 48db/octave cutoff, as an example, can cause phasing issues, but i can’t say i’ve ever noticed it out of any dj mixer.

                              Dubman Don’t know if you really liked that mix I sent you but it was done on a Numark mix track pro which very a basic controller so you I wouldn’t spend more money on something more expensive just yet.

                              I did mate, think I posted at the time that it opened my eyes to the importance of phrasing to maintain energy / flow. Great learning listening.

                              I’m not spending anything for a long time, just beginning to think I prefer dials to sliders.

                              Enjoying finding my way and an hour I did tonight sounded smoother

                                303abuser you sacrifice the ability to properly gain stage

                                I don’t even know what this means, so doubt I’m sacrificing anything just yet 🤣

                                    Mad_Cyril it’s probably more a thing with vinyl as volumes were all over the place with different pressings, but i’m sure the idea still applies.

                                    basically, track 1 is playing at whatever volume at it’s peak, we’ll call it 8/10. when track 2 is at it’s peak, it also needs to be at an 8, but the file is mastered quieter and it’s a 6 when the faders and gain knobs are at the same positions. you need to gain match track 2 to track 1 before bringing it in by increasing the gain knob. that way when the fader is at the top, the tracks are volume matched.

                                    if you’re leaving the faders up and using the gains to bring the new track in, you have to have really well trained ears to make sure the volume stays level from one mix to the next. otherwise you’ll get volume swings that become really noticeable, especially on a recorded mix.

                                        303abuser
                                        I see, that makes sense.

                                        Have auto-gain on at the moment so hopefully helps with that element.

                                        Something to bear in mind for the future maybe.

                                        Appreciate the patient explaining 🙂

                                            Mad_Cyril no worries, like i said, maybe doesn’t matter as much with digital files that you can normalize with software.

                                              Mad_Cyril I sort the gain out on the incoming track before anything else. You have more control with the channel fader then. In my shit humble

                                                Spent a good 20 minutes perusing this thread, and I’ve now got loads more to think about in terms of my own DJ stuff. I was recently in the market for a replacement for my aging DJM-600, but after looking at my 1200 & 1210 which I hadn’t even turned on for a good year or two, decided to splurge on an XDJ-700 (2nd one gets purchased when the Musician’s Friend reward points unlock in about a month…~$113 savings, woop-woop!).

                                                Both will be used as standalone Traktor controllers, seeing as I’m sick of looking at my laptop so much while mixing, and I also wanted to get back that old feeling of “manual” control. About the only thing I’m unsure about right now is controlling loops within Traktor itself, seeing as I tend to loop the absolute fuck out of tracks that don’t really fit together until they finally do. I’ve been using an NI Kontrol S2 that has Move and Loop control knobs (handy little bastards), but I don’t see any capability like that with the 700.

                                                /lifestory