I have had countless sound engineers compliment me for not riding the levels into the red. I have had at least five tell me they had to turn me up because I was not playing like every DJ. I have always had this mindset when I play; it is not my gear I am playing on which means I do not have the money to replace it if I break it. With that, I have always kept the highest amount of respect for the gear I am playing on and the sound system by staying at the top of the green going no further.

So many videos of popular Djs and producers I see running their shit fully red. I was beginning to think it was normal.

I played on a Meyer Sound system at one point in my career and the audio guy that did the install came up to me one night and said "You see the red lights on those processors, if you turn it down you'll get louder" simple lesson, 1 time, the system was amazing after that lecture. Gain staging is pivotal!

Every DJ needs to know this! As a sound engineer, DJ's often try it on with the volume, sometimes they anticipate a sound engineer who will try to protect his system and get the best sound out of it by getting a sensible level from them - which often in their mind is just you being the 'noise police' and asking them to turn down, thus spoiling their fun... but in actuality it is as per this video important to set your levels correctly so you use the headroom in the system to keep dynamics in your music! So don't set your levels low at the start of a show, and then crank the master up when you think the sound engineer isn't listening.. the compression and limiting that stands between you and a few thousand pounds worth of broken speaker cabinets will only ruin your sound... and if there are no limiters, I hope you're happy to hand over your fee to cover the repairs...

Another great video Mojaxx! Whether I already know about the tips you give out or not, you make it intuitive and enjoyable to watch. Cheers!

Just saw this now. Been a club Dj for quite a while and I didn’t fully understand the problem red lining can have. Thank you so much for the tips🙏

I keep sending this video to young talented guys - that see playing in the red as a status symbol :-)

FINALLY! I've been fighting with DJs in the booth about just this all the time!

" The red lights mean you're a shit dj "

Love your shirt. Over the head for most of the young one. I lived in the Garage listing to Larry and hearing what a sound system should sound like. Love those Larry long horn subs.

It's a good thing you did this, cuz I was clueless ... thanks mojaxx 💪💪

Great shirt Jax. Come to the Chosen Few Picnic in Chicago in July to see Jessie. RIP to all the others other legendary dj's on your shirt. Godfathers

the fact that a video like this is needed makes me sad :(

Every time I DJ with a friend, he insist on redlining the shit out of the system each and every time. It drives me crazy

Great tips man thanks you really helped me out with the tap effects tips for a gig once, I did not know how to use the DJM effects so I just winged it with your advice

Great explanation mate... dj's should really watch this...

Amazing tutorial! I love it, simple, clear and great common ground! Thank you so much!

AS ever Chris excellent work and very informative.

Thank you very informative. As a sound engineer I really appreciate the talk about not damaging hearing.

i have lost count of how many djs i have seen caning a mixer often early in the evening with three levels of red.God knows how they get in the booth

thumbs up for the g1 Soundwave in the back!

Nice I needed this because I suck at volumes, I will step into the audience and hear my volumes. Thanx for the tip, I will share this.

Excellent video.

Great job Mojaxx! You nailed it, and thanks for covering the A&H mixer - I have both and have often wondered about the difference. One other BIG difference with Pioneer is that if you've got a sensitive sound system on the other side of the mixer (e.g.: active speakers that some fool has turned up high), then the master output signal level can sometimes be reading close to -24db but still be quite loud - which of course makes figuring out how the signals sum a PITA! I'd love to hear how you manage that problem if at all.

This is much better then going to school :) Thx! DJcityTV

Excellent advice. I think it's also important to monitor dBA with a sound level meter. I try to play dance music between 90 and 100 DBA. This will protect everyone's hearing, including yours.

Great stuff so many people don't realise how limiters work, so many DJ's think red is good lol

Thanks for the video, great advice

..& I jus love that Pioneer djm 700...fell in love bout 2002!...Guitar Center!

Very informal I always tell certain Djs not to bleed the sound out and it sounds terrible to ears' and to having good quality sounds is a must' I totally agree with you because, I've notice that when it's, your turn is next the EQs are all over the place, and you have to pan everything out to get that warm sound, and hopefully the next person can do the same. Love the prestation and alway try and lean as, much as can. Bless you🙏🏿😇👊🏿

good advice in this video suggestion take a trip around different venues and you can hear the djs who run proper levels their sound will be crisp clean and clear and pleasant to listen to

Nice informative video offering valuable advice .

If you record your mix it helps to stay out of the red , Love it

you're absolutely right I'm still learning

Fin preachhhhhh bro. Good Lord!!! Blows my mind!!

Great video ,most up coming young djs have idea about good sound when playing,big shame,some don't even know how limiter works!

great t-shirt, house music forever

The -4 rule doesn't just apply to Pioneer gear. From what I understand, it applies to any line level signal at +4dBu, so you can get more headroom. Modern gear manufacturers have therefore basically enabled redlining!

Thanks for mentioning effects and the volume boost of two tracks playing at the same time. DJs who regularly record sets and master them know this quite well, but if not, you really need to test your levels with two tracks playing at once, maybe even throw an effect on. What I do and I'm not sure if this is correct is that I test the levels with two tracks and ensure it does not go above the two yellow lights on the DJM or I think that would be +3 the sound technician should be able to control the final output better, so be sure to walk through this test with them and let them know, this is about the peak at what I will be playing. Sound check sound check sound check. Always insist on a sound check.

with mixers often having built in effects you need to watch your levels because effects will add a fair amount of extra sound.You need to know how the effects affect the sound and if the mixer is unfamiliar then getting a feel for the thing for a bit first is a good idea

Even during a prerecorded thing for my birthday party, it was difficult to keep song transitions to the same level as the main tracks. I wanted the master to be normalised to 0dBFs. I mixed tracks at around -6dB and muted bass on one of the transitions. Then when they were strung together I could play with the amplitude and get it even then normalise. The whole thing then could just play on a bluetooth phone and I could switch tracks from the dance floor. Due to high sensitivity power amps and low output devices (phone, laptop), the LEDs on my DBX Driverack are barely lit beyond 2 greens most of the time.

if you're not redlining you're not headlining

Good dj tip, alot of djs dont know how detrimental redlining is to proper S/N (signal to noise) ratio... a good line level help or hurts your overall sound output and loudspeaker efficiency and it s a sound engineer nightmare to try to tell a dj to back off the levels when they start to go tone deaf through out the night. long as the dj got a good booth monitor let the engineer do the levels for the FOH sound system.

I was a Live FOH Audio tech for years.... I'd limit and compress the shit out of DJ s that didn't know how to manage their levels. I'd cut good DJ's that coulsmanage their levels soo much slack on the PA as I knew I could trust them and they always sounded better.

Spot on

Could do with a video like this tailored towards streaming to a pc for example when using a USB soundcard like the Behringer UCA202. Are you better having the output from the mixer to the soundcard from the Booth or the Master? What levels do you set in Windows 10 on the "Record" settings to get that optimum sound quality out there to people listening online without any distortion, clear & crisp.

great shirt

That old school radio in the back, dope

Frankie Knuckles, Larry Heard, Jesse Saunders, Ron Hardy

I dont know if they had limiters but the club Paradox in Baltimore use to have the best sound system i ever heard. Scott Henry and Charles Feelgood use to throw on a party called Fever. Some of the loudest but clear sounds you ever heard. My ears never were hurting. I do know that it was a complete custom system all the way down to custom speakers.

Give this man an Oscar!

It's amazing how many dj's you see with their levels in the red. Think of them as a set of traffic lights...red means stop!

most of those so called djs don't give a sheet of music they're playing, so it doesn't matter how it sounds. djing is more like an amusement ride these days

Hi guys, Firstly I want to apologise for this long post and I hope that this make sense. So here goes. I wanted to ask those of you who use Pioneer Mixers and controllers about where you set your maximum levels on your mixer. I use a Pioneer DDJ-SZ2 and I know very well that the gain levels should not be redlining. I fully understand and have seen other videos regarding keeping the meters below the RED, and also the reason for doing so - so to provide a clean signal without distortion to the speakers/amplifier. One thing that I have noticed though is some people are saying it is OK to keep the levels slightly flashing to the beat in the ORANGE LED area of the meter just below the RED. Some are saying keep it out of the ORANGE altogether and keep it GREEN and only just 1 LED above into the ORANGE on the beats. Now I know that some mixers/controllers are different as to where the REDLINING is on the level controls. Also to what each LED represents in terms of + or - dB. Also some people are saying keep the levels at 0db and only just slightly above. Now on the Pioneer DDJ-SZ2, 0dB is the last GREEN LED on each level. Also on this controller/mixer and on most, there is a LED that dances around the top of your level to show your peak output and holds it for a second or two. Is this actual where you are hitting or is this the next LED - i.e. if I am playing at 0dB then the peak LED would be flashing into the next LED which would be +6 and this is ORANGE. Hope this make sense. Also regarding the PEAK LED, some people play in the ORANGE up to +9 but again making sure that the level does not go into the RED. But however, the peak LED can be seen slightly blinking going into the RED. Is this safe and the correct way? Whilst we have been housebound for the last few weeks I have been playing in the spare room with this. I tried the other day to keep all the levels at 0dB so that they are ALL GREEN and only just touching the next LED which is ORANGE +6, however I notice that I need to give my amplifer system more power as I am feeding it a slightly lower input. Is this the correct way? ? Is this straining the amplifer cos it needs to be pushed more. Or is it better to feed it in the orange between +6 and +9 dancing to the beats as long as its not hitting the RED. On a picture taken from Pioneers website, +12 is still ORANGE whereas on the actual controller itself BOTH LEDS +12 and +15 are both RED and I know I should not be hitting these. Please let me have your thoughts on this and what do you play out at. Again I know that on different mixers/controllers the placing of the LEDs and their corresponding dB levels are different.

Can you please provide more details about the metal box that lights up indicating limiting and clipping? Thank you

Great video as always! Any chance doing a review on the Reloop RMX-60?

The first and foremost way to keep levels out of the red is setting gain structure. Once you set gain structure all you have to do is turn the channel gain controls so levels do not go into the red lights, it really is that simple. I always set gain structure using a 400hz sinewave and a piezo tweeter and connect it to the outputs of the dj mixer and run the 400hz sinewave through the system. You said if the dj runs the levels into the red when compressor or limiters (which are compressors with a very high ratio) are used but you're right AND wrong depending on what settings are used. If the limiter is a brick wall limiter by raising the levels and going into the red lights you're bringing the average level up and that can burn out drivers due to dynamic range being squashed. The reason the dj after you was playing quieter is probably because the club would of been using a compressor with fast attack and release. The worst effect is pumping and breathing from compressors. The best limiter is the Drawmer SP2120.

Good info for rookie did like myself 👍

I play once every month in a small club in Viena where there is no sound technician. I play from turntables with timecode vinyls and I always try to avoid the reds on the mixer. I experience every time that the sound from the PA-s is much quieter than in the case when someone uses cdjs. I have already asked the manager why is that and he just said "it's just like that with turntables" but he didnt give me any explanation. For example when someone plays from cdjs (or the music comes from the bar from a laptop) its much louder with the same levels on the mixer. This means when I use a lower level, it sounds too quiet to enjoy the music when there are people in the room and its getting to be louder only when I use the red range (for example around 0 db on the mixers pfl sounds like when I dont want to bother my neighbors at home so I keep the volume down, around 4-6 db is a bit better but its still not enough loud to realy feel the beast in the music and when its in red still not sounds enough loud but its getting to be distorted). Any thoughts on it bcz I do everything to avoid red when I can but in this case when I stay away the red that means totaly quiet sound on the PA-s. Can that be because they use only the digital master output of the djm 850 mixer?

There was a club I went to in Bath university who's speakers looked like they were plenty for the room but I always found the sound to be a bit "mushy" e.g. the treble was muffled and whilst there was some bass, the sound was loud but not that clear. There was a big subwoofer mounted by a pillar on the dance floor so reasonable potential for bass. I'm not sure of the DJ mixer levels although one time in the adjoining bar the speaker music just sounded distorted. It was loud enough to drown conversation and annoying to listen to, kind of similar levels to when you crank a cheap car stereo all the way up and a similar sound. I'm not sure what gain staging issues there were but I'm sure a better sound could have been gotten out of that speaker. I don't know what brand it was. It looked like a 15" co-axial in a white trapezoidal cabinet. The speakers in the club section were black trapezoidal cabinets of unknown brand. The other gain staging error was at a friends' 18th. Plugging an ipod into the phono input sounds terrible as there is lots of bass boost on a phono (so the grooves on the vinyl can be made finer on tracks with lots of bass, they boost it afterwards rather than cutting it into the vinyl to keep needle movement down). Of course, running a sony midi system at part volume into cheap 15" + horn cabs (one of the speakers had a hole) wasn't going to damage anything.

How does this theory work if I'm using active monitors as my master outputs? should I adjust my monitors during use or just manage the master level? I always keep my channels out of the red

Shouldnt it be at 0db? With the individual fader only hitting the top of the green with the occasional amber. But mojaxx is asking to get to 3 Amber led.

can you make a review for the pioneer djm 700s mixer ?

The meter shows peaks on the top LED you light up, but the scale on the side is actually for bouncing around the zero to get your average volume or "loudness" consistent from song to song. If you use the meters properly in combination with your ears, you'll never even get close to cliping or limiting anything. Your peaks from track to track shouldn't be all the same, so just "staying out of the red" is problematic, not to mention some mixers' meters are all read or are red above the 0dBVu, which again, is just where your average volume should as the dynamics bounce. I also recommend people turn the look-ahead limiters off. They will be abused. These digital mixers already are hard brick wall limiters... brutal, unpleasant-sounding ones, which is good. Otherwise you're gonna cook drivers from people pushing into it.

Bruh i want to deadline, that's what makes it great

What do you do, if the DJ before you is pushing it into the red and then you're taking over? Do you just sacrifice volume for quality/dynamics? Because sometimes i feel like louder feels better, which is actually backed by science, but what's the best compromise here?

Someone needs to send this to four color zac. Every video i see him clipping on his s9

Can you do a video on how you set up your crates? just curious to see another one

Bless up to my main man master yoda in the background

question: When I DJ with my ddj-sx2 I have to turn down the trims on each channel a few db to get out of the reds! If the space between the last orange and the first red led signifies 0 db, how can that be? As far as my knowledge goes, a digital audio recording can't exceed 0db! My recorded mixes are also very quiet...

yo, gain has always been an issue with me!! I feel like an idiot but I'm a red-ass'd dude! Recently I have been getting bigger gigs, including an online show, and I have found out really quickly that I cannot go in the red! I am use to playing on mixers or programs that have built in limiters. My djm 450 does not have a built in limiter because I have been going into the red a lot! I think I am going to start playing at 10am on the gain, because otherwise, the effects and mixing in new tracks throw me in the red everytime.

You would think by now there would be decks that wouldn’t let you go into the red altogether. A set limiter, job done. Can’t go into that red even if you tried. One less thing to worry about.

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The problem for me is that I play at times in a bar with old knackered speakers. I always do my best to keep to the ambers however even when stepping out to hear the music, it's quiet and kills the atmosphere when people want it louder to dance. Any advice? I'm confused lol.

I have a question... im a mobile dj and have events that require an MC... now is it a good idea to use my mic directly from my Djm900nxs or should i use an example a 2 channel mixer seperate ?

You wouldn't believe how many times I have told other DJs about that...^^

grait teacher

Dude I just saw Benny Benassi last night and noticed the meters on the balcony wall of the club were completely fucking redlined. I was honestly surprised. How normal is this practice?

One simple rules- don’t go over 0db - it doesn’t matter what mixer are you using or sound system-by this way you make headroom for effects, u don’t distortion tunes also you not take a risk of damaging sound systems and your ears - if you gonna follow this simple rule you can even become friends with sound engineers from that club 😉 - everything above 0db is distorted even your ears can hear that !!!

dont see the point of this video when 98% of todays music is mixed in the red aka beyond 0 db hell even beyond +6db

serious question.. i play mostly digital tracks i buy digitally, but sometimes i play some vinyl rips as well. ripped into my daw, normalized when exported, but obviously no further processing like limiters, or compressors, since the song is already mastered. but when i just go with the LEDs on the mixer, the vinyl rips just have lower volume. just based on my hearing, i have to turn the gain up quite a bit, so that the the volume sounds the same, but it is obviously hitting the red light. what to do in these situations?

Why on earth does Pioneer decided that a display of 0 would mean -4 in reality ? What's the point ? oO It's like saying that 1liter is in fact 0.8 liter !

I see a lot of big name dj's go to the red... I don't fucking get it... They should know better...

I'm finding it's about getting your music from a decent source where... They recorded their music at the same level

Nice tshirt

If someone is redlining so bad that it cuts off the bass speaker for a few minutes.. what does that mean? After experiencing that I had to say I'm sorry unless you can send me a decent demo I can't book you for this style of music any more since it is sounding terrible and damaging system lol

Hi DJ City TV, So I play at a club where the manager likes the music very very loud and I haven’t been able to keep my tracks from redlining at all. Do you have any tips for getting it loud enough for this manager but also keeping it out of the reds? I use an XDJ RX2 but I have to go through a DJM 850 that’s set up to their main sound system

Im assuming his shirt, he gives a shout out to Frankie Knuckles, Larry Levan, but dunno the other 2. =[

Ive got a sign in the road case with my audio desk. says "red lights are for hookers! bring down the gain!" seems to work half the time

Where can i get that shirt?!

"Keep it in black and out of the red and you won't get nothing for two in the bed" Jim Bowen knew this shit back in the day

Blast that shit man,

Maybe mixer manufactures should employ an accurate scale instead. Mixers are not amplifiers.

sometimes what it is - is that even though we know this, we are in control of the room, and sometimes we have a paranoid sound engineer - between us, and the fun - even though they have a 5000 £ limiter they still paranoid about there system and enjoy being the noise police, and telling us to turn it down, coz there too precious and dont know how to hav fun LOL -- i understand sound and levels coz im also a producer - I know its wrong, but its hard to stop it happening - at big sweet gigs obvs u dont have to redline, but a lot of the time at smaller gigs its just sometimes a battle with the sound engineer, and we dont trust them to let us have the most fun, so we cant help but push it ---

Limiters 😐

does redlining the mixer channels damage it? (DJM900nexus)

...gotta sell it👍✌

Binhodj só coro

Hey Mojaxx, whats the clipping knobs for, on my Pioneer DJM-250-MK2 Mixer? Im trying to learn how to correctly use my mixer 100% at its best, & could use some advice, thanx man......... 👍👊💪🙏😎

you guys need to listen to dj james compressor mix its shit I mean da shit the volume is so low you can barely hear it fuckin awesome if you ask me