Hey DJCity,



You set a reference level. For example 92db.
When you analyze files Serato looks at each files volume level.
-- If the file is quiet it will boost its volume up to the reference level you set.
-- If he file is to loud it will turn down the volume to match your reference level.

This means you should not have to adjust channel gains/trims on your controller.

Thanks.

Thanks Jamie

That was the simplest, most direct and understandable answer I have ever seen on the boards.

Rui is helping me out in another thread and hopefully we can get everything straight.

If you are interested...
serato.com

Feel free to provide any insight you may have.
I believe this will be a good read for others as well that might be having similar issues.

Hey DJCity,

No problem :)

I see you own a DDJ-SX controller....

GAIN STRUCTURES...think of it like this.

1. Serato Virtual GAINS.
-- Track GAIN level.
-- Master GAIN output level.
These levels are the output levels BEFORE they go to your DDJ-SX soundcard
-- So you want to have them at a good level (All Green LED bars pulsing)

2. The DDJ-SX controller GAINS.
-- Track TRIMS - set these so you have all green LED lights and a couple orange pulsing.
-- Use the MASTER output gain to adjust volume to your speakers. (dont worry about the MASTER LED lights, if you only see 2 pulsing its a good thing, you have more GAIN to work with)

3. Your speakers.
-- Set the level at the midway point. Thats usually 0db on a pair of active monitors / PA system.
-- If you have AMPS that power your speakers set the AMPS to near FULL.
-- Again, controller the volume to the AMPS / Speakers from your DDJ-SX master output knob.

Thanks :)

Thank you.

I posted this in the other thread.

"One last thing (I hope).

How do I get the individual tracks to be only in the green?

When I analyzed my tracks, most of them are green, yellow and sometimes touch red.

I really don't want to manually adjust thousands of tracks to get it under control."

This may be where I am having my issues.

Hey DJCity,



To adjust the reference level, open the SETUP menu, navigate to the DJ Preference tab and adjust the Auto Gain reference level to 90/89db.

Most of my music will show all GREEN led and YELLOW LED lights.
It really depends on the style of music you are playing and how its been recorded / mastered.
-- If its electronic stuff it usually sits in the YELLOW with hardly any pulsing at all. (this is normal).
-- If it hits the red once / twice in a tune thats not a major thing to worry about.

Thanks :)

So there is no way to get each individual track to be green only?

I understand the autogain but I was hoping to get the individual tracks adjusted without doing each track manually.

You will have to manually adjust them if you want them to be in the green only.
I find the easiest way to do this is "live" when you are mixing them.

1. Load a track to the deck.
2. Cue it / listen in the headphones.
-- If its showing the virtual GAIN is to loud adjust the virtual gain a little.
3. Mix the tune.


Thanks.

Green and some yellow is fine but a lot of my tracks hit red often.

I spin mostly hip hop, R&B and reggae.

Damn. I was hoping there was a way to get that under control without having to do them all by hand.

Set auto agin to the lowest number in the setup screen.

Is it possible to map that onscreen deck gain to a midi knob? I am nowhere near my rig to test it out but that would be quite helpful in adjusting ":live".

bump!

Agreed. As it stands right now, the only way to adjust actual track gain is to use the trackpad on my laptop, which is really cumbersome to do live. If your controller doesn't have hardware meters, then your hardware trim controls are kind of useless since you can't see what affect they're having.

Hello, I know this is an old thread, but I'm very frustrated with the gains. I have a DDJ-SZ along with SRX815 tops and SRX818 subs. All powered.

I adjust my tracks to be in the green, barely going into yellow. I use the trim knob on my controller to keep it in the green mostly and some yellow, but it's just not loud. It's horribly low. I have to go in the yellow. The signal at the speakers is just not that high. I have the tops set to play over 100MHz, and the subs below.

I literally have my DDJ-SZ controller master volume set at 3 or 4 o'clock. What do I need to adjust in the software, so that it provides a stronger signal?

If I barely go two or three bars in the yellow for the master LED, it starts to muffle the sound. So frustrating.

Hey DJ Joe K,



Are you using the Serato DJ auto-gain feature?

In Serato DJ there is also a track gain LED meter per deck, when you load a track to a deck, what level does this gain meter show?

I have the autogain set to be the recommended value which I believe is 92. But Then I manually bring it down from yellow to stay in the green. This is referring for the track.

FYI, I don't really mess with the master gain much. Not sure how I should set that.

Hey DJ Joe K,

Thanks for that info, so I can get a better understanding of whats going on can you please send me the following image?

1. Load up Serato DJ with your SZ connected.
2. Load a track to decks 1 & 2 and press play.
3. Take a screenshot and upload it to this thread.

Cheers
Jamie.

Ok, I'm at work right now. When I get home tonight, I'll setup my system and take a screen shot.

I really appreciate the help. It's so frustrating. I just invested $5K on speakers, and I can't even fill up a room of 200 guests with enough sound.

The SRX815 & SRX818's should be plenty loud. I've also have considered going into an external mixer if that helps.

Hey DJ Joe K,



Just looking at your setup... I think this maybe your issue.

The SRX815 speakers are "passive" speakers, which means they need to be powered by amplifiers for them to be able to play sound correctly. ("active" speakers do not require amplifiers, which is what your subwoofer is).

I would recommend you contact the store you purchased the speaker setup from and get some recommendation's on an amplifier you can use. Im pretty sure that will resolve your issue.

Thanks
Jamie

Sorry, they are powered speakers. I should have clarified. Amplifiers are built in.

Actual model numbers are:
SRX815P & SRX818SP

Ahh ok, well then flick me that picture once you are home and we can look into it further :)

J

I'm not home yet, but how do you attach images on here?

Hey Joe K,

Your best to use something like dropbox or google drive and send me a link via private message so I can take a look.

J

www.imagevenue.com then just share the url link.

Thanks. I actually called JBL explaining the issue. They went over the gain structure, which I already understood for the most part. But what I did know is that the SRX815P speakers have a setting at each channel of either Line, Consumer or Mic. I had it set to Line, which seems to be fine if you are connecting from a mixer, but from my ddj-sz, it limited the sound dramatically. Once I changed it to Consumer, it sounded great. Almost ripped a whole through my ear drums....so that's what I was looking for. I hope this helps somebody out there.

nice work Joe!

Glad you have resolved the issue :)

Thanks Jamie. It was so stressful. Spent $5K on this setup. Sounded like crap when set to line. I literally was going to return everything. Sounds amazing now. I'm looking forward to the next gig when I know I'll have enough sound now and can actually focus on the music instead of stress over sound quality.

Just disappointed that it took so long to figure out.

Best of luck fellas.

Quite often, active and passive will refer to the type of xover design. A powered speaker can be labeled either passive or active. Some powered speakers have active xovers, and others passive.

By definition, this is what I found:

Active vs. Passive: You'll see those terms frequently when you're shopping for PA speakers. An active, or powered, speaker has a built-in amplifier, so you can connect it directly to a mixing board. A passive, or unpowered, speaker does not, so you'll need to plug it into an external amp.

If you read my post, I said quite often, not always. Here's another definition.

pmc-speakers.com

The definition you quote is more of a consumer grade explanation. With pro gear, active and passive almost always refer to the xover design. This is because the need for one over the other is critical and the system has to be designed around what type of xover is being used. Overall, it doesn't really make a big difference if the power amp is inside the speaker or inside a separate box. Everything still works the same way. Not so with xovers.

Thanks for the link. I didn't know that. Most of it is actually over my head a bit. I'll have to read up on it some more when I have a bit more time. It gets pretty technical.

Hey DJ Joe Kingsteignton

I've just read the bulk of this and thought you might find this useful. I have an SZ too. Just thought I'd share a little gem I have been using on this controller since midi mapping became a reality.

The software gains. (NOT THE HARDWARE)

I manually adjust every song when I play it out for the first time rather than messing around with auto gain. I like to be in control. Adjusting gain on the display is very hit and miss when playing live, so...

I have mapped - Channel 1 software gain to 'shift+fx rotary 3
Channel 2 software gain to 'shift+fx rotary 4
Channel 3 software gain to 'shift+fx rotary 2
Channel 4 software gain to 'shift+fx rotary 5

(Recorder level is shift+rotary gain 1, master output level is shift+rotary gain 6.)

This allows me delicate control over each song as and when I need it. When you eject the song, and changes you have made are saved.

I have a few amazingly useful mappings for the SZ, but this one is sooooo simple, but really effective :-)

That's a really good idea. I didn't think about it. Thanks for the suggestion. I have auto gain on, but I typically manually adjust as well. I haven't been using the midi mapping, It's probably time I start. I'll look into it.

I just read my post again. I didn't mean for it to have such a negative tone. Its not your fault there's 2 definitions for the same thing.

All good bro. No worries. Thanks for the info.

I have never thought about mapping the software gain controls to the hardware using shift key and fx pots .
I am going to give it a go with my mc7000

Thank you