Yea I agree as a house DJ I am not interested in stopping at 8, I just want to throw the fader all the way to 10. I also dont use the cross fader at all, strictly use the channel faders. I am about to receive my first Alto TS415 today so I am going to see how this method works out for me but seems like it will be nice to be able to set it and forget it. However I see his point, which may have been implied, if you are at 10 on the fader, then you cant get more volume unless you push the trim but then you are out of unity gain territory. Im going to have to play around with this for a bit.

Probably about 95 % don’t know about this or they gives a shit. It’s necessary to convince them how much they contribute to a brilliant and lively sound. Btw even the most tutorials on YT explain it wrongly.

I hear this a lot & use all Pioneer mixers / controllers. Yes, your distortion is lower, BUT your master output dB still matters going to your speakers. I talk about this in the companion video I'll upload soon.

😂 at this point, party is finish. go home all. 😅

I kinda like that too tbh. Some tracks that are older and converted from cassette to digital dont always line up great with digital only tracks. the definition difference between them leaves huge gaps for gain loss :(

@@brandonsummers6360 It's one of the best features of using a digital controller imo

Many DJs have bad sound sense & a must watch. Like @Brian Parker said VDJ users have “AutoGain” brilliant feature.

That's great for your pre-mixer output signal, but there are still hardware mixer settings that need to happen for proper gain structure

@@briansredd Right..but if just using a controller you only have 4 "gains"...master pot, channel trim, fader level, then speaker volume level.

I think it's all how you hook things up. I have my ideas, others have theirs. Ben Stowe recently did a show on external mic / band style mixers & said the proper way to run them would be DJ Mixer / Controller into "external" mixer into speakers. In MOST cases, for DJs, I disagree. None of us are audio engineers & most of our external mixers are of lower SQ than our DJ mixer/controllers. I say, if you are running an external mic mixer, run it thru the AUX of your main DJ mixer / controller. It's SO much easier to control stuff in that regard for most DJs. I've done a video on that, but I'll do another one soon.

Thanks for watching Bryan :) If you MIDI your controller / mixer to your software & kill those "Auto" settings, your software will mimic what your mixer does. I'm not a Serato user, but use VDJ & it's similar in that regard. For me, it's less confusing when you turn the "Auto" settings off

There are a couple of things you need to be aware of. The most important is you need to know the difference between a volume control and a gain control. When you're having issues and don't know this, you'll end up trying all different combinations, and if you finally get it right, it will be by chance. The first thing you need to do is go through the complete signal path of all of your equipment (computer/software, controller, mixer, amp (or the amp in a powered speaker), and any other pieces in the chain, and for every control that adjusts "volume" or sound level, determine if it is a gain control or a volume control. And for your volume controls, determine if the volume adjustment takes place in the digital or analog domain. Once you have all that, this is what you need to know. Gain controls are always on the input of any given component, and volume controls are always on the output of a component. Only gain can distort the signal, volume controls can't. So, for example, if you are having a distortion/gain type of issue, you will not fix it with a volume control. That's why you need to know what each one is, and none of the volume controls can be at fault, so you've already eliminated some potential problems. At this point, you should be able to set your system up like he shows you in the video. Once you have your gain structure set, use your volume controls however you see fit because you can't overdrive an input and distort the signal. Just for clarity, I'll give you another example because a lot people seem to have an issue when I tell them you can't distort the signal with a volume control. This is how you can prove it, so you don't have to take anyone's word for it. Find someone who has a guitar amp. A guitar amp is probably the only type of amp that you would ever want to make distort on purpose. On the front of the amp, you usually have a volume and gain know right next to each other. When the amp making a clean sound, turn up the volume as much as you want, and the signal won't distort. Then try turning up the gain instead. What you hear is exactly what you don't want to do to your DJ setup. You mention auto gain in Serato. That feature isn't typically used to set your gain structure. Its used to keep all of your songs at a consistent volume. I'm sure you've noticed that not all of your tracks have a consistent loudness to them. Some may be louder that others, and some may be softer. Auto gain is meant to correct that issue specifically. That said, if you have your system set up like in the video, its very conservative. So, if you have a track what's lower in volume, use the trim. His settings will give you the ability to use gain properly. One last thing is digital volume controls. Above, I asked you to find out which volume controls are digital. Depending on they type of files you play, you may not have to worry about what I'm going to tell you. It mainly applies if you are using MP-3's, or any other type of lossy compression. When you play digital files, the only way you can get maximum resolution is to have all of your digital volume controls set to max. For example, if you are using an MP3 at 320kbps, the only way you'll actually get the full 320kbps is if all of your volume controls are at full volume. If you lower the volume using a channel fader, its not 320 anymore. The 320 keeps going down as you lower the volume. You basically deal with it by using high quality files. If you're using something like a 192kbps file, there's a good chance there will be audible differenced in sound quality. You shouldn't have any issues using the best MP3 quality (320kbps), and if you are using lossless files, there's nothing to worry about. You won't hear any differences on DJ gear. DJ's that use analog mixers don't have this problem. If you're using a controllers/PC's setup, you should be aware of this. Its called bit stripping.

I think it's all how you hook things up. I have my ideas, others have theirs. Ben Stowe recently did a show on external mic / band style mixers & said the proper way to run them would be DJ Mixer / Controller into "external" mixer into speakers. In MOST cases, for DJs, I disagree. None of us are audio engineers & most of our external mixers are of lower SQ than our DJ mixer/controllers. I say, if you are running an external mic mixer, run it thru the AUX of your main DJ mixer / controller. It's SO much easier to control stuff in that regard for most DJs. I've done a video on that, but I'll do another one soon.

@@briansredd oh ok interesting. I run 1/4 TRS from speaker outputs of controller into a channel on my external. Then of course, speakers coming out of external. Seems to give me more head room. Especially for mics and other external devices for music like a IPAD

@@briansredd but good point about us DJs not being audio engineers lol

Yeah it can be. I'm talking about achieving the best SQ here, and if that's something you are interested in while running an open Xfader for more than a few bars, I'd make that compensation with the line faders. Maybe try 7 instead of 8 when in the mix. That should get you close.

Great question

Think of it as a chain...the chain starts with the output level coming out of your controller. This level should be at that 0db or so that brian alluded to. Then once it's sent to your mixer, now your mixer needs to decide how much it's going to send to your speakers and/or subs. Your mixer also has trim, which is where you start the mix out chain..set that to an appropriate non-peaking level, and then your fader level is how much will actually get sent to your speakers. I'd also suggest sending a different level with appropriate eq, using one of your aux outs or monitor outs, to your subs. That way you have separate control of your mains vs your subs. Your master volume level on your mixer will now be your mains master, and your aux/monitor pot will now be your subs volume level.

I think it's all how you hook things up. I have my ideas, others have theirs. Ben Stowe recently did a show on external mic / band style mixers & said the proper way to run them would be DJ Mixer / Controller into "external" mixer into speakers. In MOST cases, for DJs, I disagree. None of us are audio engineers & most of our external mixers are of lower SQ than our DJ mixer/controllers. I say, if you are running an external mic mixer, run it thru the AUX of your main DJ mixer / controller. It's SO much easier to control stuff in that regard for most DJs. I've done a video on that, but I'll do another one soon.

@@briansredd thank you @briansredd . I’ve always have run out from my controller out to say channels 5/6 then my XLR out on my mixer to my speakers or if I’m using my sub I run them into the sub.

@@briansredd I have done that for years, but got too frustrated with dj controller mic preamps, and the lack of eq they provide in order to get higher gain before feedback. I also like to eq the subs to tighten them up and put a compressor on so I can hit them a little harder when needed. Personally I use a qu-pac, but that’s pretty advanced for most.

You can do small temporary loudness gains by turning the speakers up a bit, maybe +2 dB, but you may experience a more steady clipping & eventually overheat your powered speaker's amp & cause thermal shut down, distortion, etc. Your best bet, if you feel you constantly need more SPL, is to buy a more aggressive speaker system.

@@briansredd thanks!

I still readjust the gain knobs for most tracks. Remember, that's your input signal & not all recordings are created equal. Once Gain is set to 0 dB, I use the line faders to control the volume of that signal

Yes. At 10, you'll send a hotter input signal to your master & won't achieve unity gain

Yeah you can do it that way, but you won't get the best SQ that way. Your input signal will be weaker with that method. The way I'm demonstrating it will give you the best SQ :)

@@briansredd thank you again. It’s not easy keeping the fader the same volume while djing. Its easy when you know your fader is up as far as it may go.

@@briansredd hi. I am sorry you mentioned that my input signal will be weaker if I have the faders up higher.? I don’t understand. Doesnt sound get louder if faders are up to the max?

@@superdad8274 Sure, you get more volume, but with a weaker input signal, which effects sound quality. Again, a 0 dB input signal is your cleanest, strongest signal before distortion. You could adjust your PFL line input trim, to, say something like -3 or -6 dB, crank your line fader to 10, and with your master set to 8, hit 0 dB on that master, but that's not "Unity Gain". You are just boosting a weaker input signal.

@@superdad8274 A trick we used in the old days was to take a piece of black electrical tape & lay it across "8" on the line faders, so we wouldn't go any higher than that. Kind of like training wheels until you got used to just going to 8. Some clubs used to actually install screws in the liner faders right above 8 so you couldn't crank beyond that. I strongly would warn against that :P It worked, though

Yes you do! Because all audio tracks are not created equal, the Trim / Gain gets adjusted with every new track

Mp3 bitrate really has nothing to do with volume levels.

That's another video. I made one a while back on how to run an external mic mixer, but I suppose another one is in order

Always turn your gain to 0 unless ( check the manual) on digital audio mixers. A lot of those you want to stay at -12. You will notice that the green lights wil change to Yello or amber at -12 in those cases. In general stick to green in all cases.

You do it however you want. This is just how to achieve unity gain