11 years later from the upload date, this video is still very helpful with an awesome, straight to the point explanation. Thanks a lot mate

Thank you for these tips and mixer fundamentals. This new-to-me info will greatly improve the quality of my DJ mixes.

Gain knob is channel input. Faders are channel output. You won't distort by having your faders at 10 but you'll need to compensate by reducing your master. 0dBu is -18dbFS too so if you're running digital, aim for -18dBFS

EXCELLENT video Brian! exactly what I like to see. Encouraging people to maximize their sound quality by using their gear correctly. thanks!

@RRollergod If you have trouble keeping your lines at 8 or below, try putting a piece of tape across the top of your faders lining up the bottom of the tape on the 8 line. That's what I've done in the past and it works pretty well.

Very nice, thanks! The principle can be used on any mixer, but the crossfading on a DJ mixer here really makes the gain staging very clear.

@GroseBeatz Your mixer may be different, brians " 8 " or the part of the channel fader that has a bold marking is also known as " U " or Unity gain. you want to keep all levels in the audio Chain the same or at " unity " . The pfl meters are there so you can maintain a unity gain structure and a clean, non distorted signal chain, as brian was speaking of. This gives your amplifier the cleanest signal possible and the best sound quality.

Love the video Bryan with the volume fader and the Trim and the Master volume at 8 clock. Awesome!

Wow, Brian, we were just discussing this on a forum, and I had asked questions about this very subject. I had been clipping my QSC K12's, and was wondering how to set the gain structure. NOW I KNOW! Awesome! Thanks.

"The DJ was too loud!" Great tips on avoiding a distorted, ugly sound. When I'm in multi-event halls I hear distorted sound from other DJs a lot. I hear this complaint from brides and grooms even more when we talk about weddings they've attended in the past. All those knobs and sliders on that board? . . . use them! Thanks for the great tips on fine tuning it all Brian.

@GroseBeatz Your knobs or sliders should have physical lines next to them indicating 1-10. If for some reason they don't, then think of %. 0% being all the way down and 100% being all the way up. The spot for your main should be 80% and the most you want to turn your channel fader up with the PFL on that channel hitting 0db is also 80%

something to consider when running amps and passive speakers. 0 db (1.4v) going into the amp is going to make the amp put out it's max voltage (wattage) so if you have an amp that can put out 450 watts at 8 ohm and your speaker can only handle 200 watts you are going to have a problem. so just don't forget to listen to your speakers and make sure they are not distorting.

good tips there was having a debate with my Dj colleague today about mixer settings especially the gain / trim setting. Rob was right on that one and I on the fader volume level. haha

I am going to use this for my mobile DJ company to all my DJ's. great work on the explanation. Great tutorial Video.

I could not agree more this is the best way to go when setting the gains on your system. But some people. Can so hard headed and they just want to crank it up all the way

Awesome video! Very helpful in understanding this essential part of mixing.

I agree, ive watched, enjoyed, and referenced MANY of your old videos..

@123scottsdj What we mean by "Pre Fader" is knowing what the output will be via your line level meters BEFORE you turn up you fader.

@zkxlz You do have to adjust an amp too. Moreso than powered speakers because if you have a quality powered speaker, the amp and components are already perfectly matched

Perfect! Exactly as I did it, since I also do PA artists/bands

Now why is it wrong if I have my line faders all the way up and run my meters to the 0db mark by using the gains? When mixing and I accidentally bump my line faders up higher, that isn't much better. So why is it wrong to move those up to 10 and then moving the gains?

Brian, thanks for all your videos! Made me a way better DJ! Where you you recommend setting the computer volume when using these settings?

best advise I ve heard , simple and to the point. thanks

Very helpful. Great video

@VJbasti Your mixer will have an infinity symbol on your PFL meter. I have an X-1600 and it is marked after 3 orange leds. Your goal is to bring the level gains until your signal hits infinity as this is your best signal to noise ratio is. Hope this helps.

Thank you sir it helped me a lot and your songs are not terrible😊😊and i am from India🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳

This is wrong on multiple levels. Most DJ mixers have unity at max on the faders, and increasingly on the master out, too. Lower unities are a studio mixer carryover that's not done as often anymore on DJ boards. Furthermore, 0dBVu is not where your peaks should be. That's where the middle of the program material's bounce on the meters should be. Troughs and peaks should be distributed around zero equally. That's why Vu meters were used like that: to give you a crude sense of dynamic range in addition to peak levels. Your max intentional peaks should be about -6dBFS, which means on the dBVu meter you should be peaking (depending on the content, dynamic content needs more) anywhere between +2 to +8dBVu. There is no universal standard for the color coding used, but the numbers should be informing you of what the colors on the particular mixer can be quickly used for in a dark environment.

Buddy, you know what you're doing. props!!

@DjRyBiz The mic is different. The loud noise is feedback. Start low and slowly turn up your mic gain to adjust it

Thanks so much, this has been really informative for me! Subscribed.

@massman1974 Like I said in the vid, it depends on the speakers. With my RCF's, I'm actually going with the recomended settings that John Krupa at RCF suggested, which was a full 10. I've also done this on my amps with passive speakers so it makes sense to me

@Kelson43 You are very welcome!

Hi Brian, absolutely perfect video / tutorial! Thank you very much! From time to time, I record some mix just for fun / at home for my friend and this was quite a issue for me. This could help me a lot. Cheers from Prague... :)

@DXOFTX Yeah same deal. Be it CD or LP or MP3, the same rules apply :)

@dadge35 HA! Yeah I did that tute maybe 3 or 4 years ago. great tip for scratchers

Hi Brian!!! Thanks for this video, very helpful! Oh and I see you have had that DN-X1500 for a few years now. How do you like it? Should I get one (found a good deal) or buy a more recent mixer? Thanks!

I have a Denon DN-X 1100 and I don't have 8 highlighted! Is that because my mixer doesn't have this 'headroom' ? Thanks for the video, your doing a great job! Greetings from Austria. :)

i always love the house music you play

Thanks, great video

@djyak999 Yeah does happen, Yack. I'm not sure if Gary is doing mash-ups or riding two channels at once long enough to worry about this. Good add-on though

great info - straight and forward thank you

@RMSENTERTAINMENT hmm well, Jasper brings up some good points, but yeah if you can, do upgrade to something with PFL's. I feel it's a very important tool to have

super video,Thanks This is real impotant when you are mixing oler songs to newer songs.

This is very usefull for beginner djs :) Thank you for this vid!

awesome vid! I've been doing it all wrong for years! I had a gig this weekend and noticed I had to keep messing with my subs volume. Hopefully this helps out..

I have a Behringer DDM4000 - I don't see any markings at the '8' position (on anything) but over and above that - why would you not want to take your line faders all the way to max ? I see DJ (like on DMC level and below) take the line fader all the way to the max when they introduce the next song

@RMSENTERTAINMENT Your mixer is very very similar to my very first mixer I purchased, the Numark DM1075. PFL's are nice to have, but you can still gauge the level of the song with your headphone and cue. Also on your mixer, you can hit 0 every now and then...but try not to let it stay red (or in the 0)

Thanks a lot Brian, very helpful video!! I have tried it with my Powered Mixer, and it sounds a lot clearer. So I was wondering, as mine isn't the most powerful of mixers, if I need the volume even louder I should buy a bigger mixer and not push mine past the limits, as in 0db master and 8 on the gain and line volumes?

cheers for the info brian, very insightful. could you tell me the name of that 1st track you are playing cheers

The info is GREAT The hair is WOW....

@lifeatlast26 you put it on 8 Because 8 Means the fader is not attenuating or amplifying the signal. the more times you amplify or cut a signal the worse it gets.

Ok Brian I learned a lot from this but what about the high and low on my powered speakers? I never know to use the mixer high and lows or the speakers high and lows.

nice vid, just wondering if there's a way to increase the volume without it distorting? if I have set the level to zero, and have my speakers maxed.

@jeansim It's pretty nice, but it does get hot! I just use it in the studio with the acception of one year when I took it to State Fair

Very nice tutorial brian ... Gracias

@lifeatlast26 not dissing on anyone, but if you put your faders at 10 and the gain at 0dB its just not going to distort...

Hey thanks for the tutorial , I tried this way sometimes the track sounds louder or quiet , any tips ?

@BlueTT The way I understand it, that's about as loud as you are going to get without distorting. If you need a louder PA & want to actually notice the difference, you need to double your power. So let's say you have a set of powered speakers that are maxed out giving you 350 watts each (total 700), you will need not just one, but two more 350 watt speakers to increase your overall power to 1400 watts. Adding just 1 more speaker will not give you a noticable difference. Crazy, eh?

eversince the gain knob was put on mixers, most dj's, especially turntablist put their line faders all the way up, but the gains set at a respectable level. I don't hear distortion setting it this way.

@RRollergod It's not true 0 db on your main. You'll notice a jump in db on your main by doing that. Is it "Wrong" per say? I guess not, but I wouldn't record like that. My theory is that if it's perfect for recording, it's perfect for listening

Fantastic video!!

I am using the technique Ellaskins showed it in one of his videos and thats by staying in the orange area just right under the red area of the meter.

what is your fave type of mixer

@audioh0lic dude. you put it on 8 instead of 10 as a precaution to prevent distortion. if you dont agree with his settings, use your own... this was a pretty legit tutorial

@zhhrah I wouldn't record that way. The way I see it, if it's optomized for quality & distortion free for recording, it's got to be the best possible sound quality you can get from your system

@audioh0lic Probably not on a real noticable level, but I wouldn't try to record like this because there is indeed some distortion

nice video it helps me out!

thank you so much!!!!!!!!!! very helpfull

thank you

What if you dj off of a laptop? would the levels be the same?

Thanks for the tutorial man!

Good vid brain....

nice stuffff

Hey brian, if i keep my main volume at 8 my mic does that.. dont know what to call it but like that really loud noise that happens when a mic is too high. Because my mic input doesnt have a volume nob it goes with the main volume

good video, thanks

What if we have a mixer that doesn't have a PFL meter for each induvidual channel and only a master?

Thanks man!

What if we have a mixer that doesn't have it's own PFL meter? Mine only has a master

so set it to 3 o'clock on the master knob?

On your powered Speakers it Should Have a 0db mark and thats where you should be. but im coming for a Live Mixing Standpoint where everythign is kept at 0 most of the time

thx!! helped a lott

How to set high quality sound while roadshow dj

the fader can go above 8... I mean why wouldnt they be able to go above 8? what if you're a fast mixing DJ that only uses faders? its a lot of work trying to get them at 8, much easier to just smack em to the top. And sound quality wise, a fader on a DJ mixer will never add more volume than what the gain is set like On some PA mixers and even older DJ mixers (like Dateq) the last few cm act as a gain, but not on modern day DJ mixers

Thanks man👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽😂😂

@Boomdoggles truth.

I won't get a mixer without PFL's anymore. I've been spoiled since about 1999 with my Pionner mixers that feature this.

@briansredd yup i know

I usually only do 1/2 volume on thoes

What's the first song?

are there any mixers that have coaxial digital inputs?

MORE LIGHTING REVIEWS!! (;

Man Brian i should show this vid to the managers at the club i dj at.... to them if your not bouncing in the red its not loud enough..... its really sad the way they think there

@djyak999 +6 db is pretty hot, Yack!

Gain is pre fader....whats comming into the channel

@MrKelith1 You'll need voice drops. Check out my friend Wavey Davey B on KZfaq. He does them very reasonable and professional

Thats why powerd speakers suck.....you have to adjust them ....nothing better then running amps with crossover...

Lol 909 vids