Volume is too low when recording my DJ sets with DJay 2

When I try to record my DJay sets, the volume of the recording is very, very low. I’m using the iDJPro controller with DJay 2 app on an iPad 2 (30 pin). I have the volume level of the iPad set to max - why are my recordings so quiet?

I regularly do mixes on my iDJ Pro and my first mix was pretty low. I had to use WavePad to boost the volume, post-mix, by 200%

A few quick questions: Are you doing at home mixes? or Are you doing live gig set mixes?

If you are mixing at home, you might want to do like me. I set the rotaries to about 60-70% when mixing back and forth and the master on 60%+ (stationary) THEN, I lower the monitor speakers to a comfortable max volume. I monitor with1600 watt PA’s and Subs (each) in my studio, so I HAVE to lower those to like 20% when I do my mixes. Doing it this way, all my mixes come out at a decent volume.

I hoe that helps…

If that’s the case (recording while at a gig), I have done that as well. If you are planning that, then the same methodology applies. You have to get that main volume up past 50% and your rotary knobs as well. Try this: Get to your venue extra early and set your rotaries to like 70% and your Main to 75%. Throw a bunch of the music you’d use for dancing on “automix”, so you have an ongoing variety and then set your PA’s to the loudest they’ll go before clipping. For me my subs are at the 3 o’clock position and my PA’s at 60% gain and 60% volume. In this way you KNOW your headroom and it’ll sound good AND you can record and play your dance set at maximum volume, without blowing your speakers. If you have lounge/dinner music, you set the rotaries down as low as you want. Main thing here is that you have to have the main and rotaries at a decent volume…

Hey there,

thank you for your mail.
Can you send us a screenshot of your setup?

There is plenty of head room on your “Volume” Rotary knob which will increase the recording volume.

Give it a try :slight_smile:

I’ve found that the the master volume has no bearing on the recording volume,however raising the gain does…
When I’m recording,I raise the gain to max and lower the master volume…
The idj pro has an anti clipping feature in Settings-Advanced-Audio Limiter…so it doesn’t distort the sound…
I don’t record live sets but mainly use the recording feature to edit tracks to make them dj friendly…

No,the gain is the sound level on the actual ipad,
Looking at your pic that you posted of your set up,the gain can be adjusted by placing your finger on the dot which is the gain level which is located on the ‘LED’ (it’s not actual LED)part of the screen which is to the far left (for the right channel) and far right (for the right channel…if lm recording then I will set the gain quite high,like I said the Audio Limiter feature won’t allow the sound to distort…

I usually have the rotary dials between 50/60%…and control the speaker output volume via the master…

Unfortunately another issue you will find with your setup (if you’re ipad ios is 9.35) is that if you move the tempo(pitch slider) whilst you have key lock function on,you will experience a slight glitch/hesitation when the track is playing,if the key lock feature is off,then the problem doesn’t appear,The glitch doesn’t appear with ios 10.3.3 (latest ios)

The only fix for this is to either have an ipad that hasn’t had the iOS update
(ios 8) or upgrading to an ipad 4 or air…
I’ve since updated to an ipad air 2 and the problem has gone away,

Are the lights all up in the red zone on the gain?
with the gains up that high and the rotary at the 60% mark l usually get a loud enough recording…

The glitch that l’m referring to happens only if you have key lock function activated,
l tried this on 3 seperate ipads and all pf them had this glitch/hesitation at least every 10-15secs of the playing track,
but only if the pitch slider was off the 0% mark,both slowing and speeding up the track…made beat matching a nightmare,but turning the key lock function off and the problem wasn’t there…

The issue has been noted by myself and a few others on this forum,
if you get a chance,could you see if you have the problem as well…thanks

As I said, I’m using the DJay 2 app with a Numark IDJay Pro controller, which should be 100% compatible with the app. It doesn’t seem to matter what levels the master volume or deck volumes are set at - the resulting recording is barely audible.

And I have the volume level of the iPad set to 100%

Thanks, but I’ve tried that already (I just took this photo as you requested to show the controller/iPad set-up). I usually have my rotary volume knobs at about 50-60%, and master volume at about 25-40%. Are you suggesting that I go lower on the master volume and higher on the rotary volume knobs?

Thanks for this tip. I’m usually recording mobile DJ sets that I do at parties, events, weddings, etc. so I have to keep my PA speakers turned up. I just haven’t been able to find the “sweet spot” of PA volume + IDjay controller’s master volume & rotary volume that will record at a decent level. I can increase the overall volume post-mix, as you mentioned, but I lose a lot of fidelity. I would like to be able to have the original recording at a more listenable volume.

I’ll try that at my next gig and see if it helps. In theory, it sounds like it should work.

By “gain”, do you mean the rotary volume levels?

I keep the iPad (hardware) volume at max. I’ve also got the gain on the DJay app at max. I’m using an iPad 2 (30-pin) with iOS 9.35, but haven’t noticed the glitch you’re referring to. But, I have had the app crash a couple of times recently when attempting to access the Spotify library. To minimize this issue, I connect a 2nd iPad to the external RCA inputs. I use that iPad only for playing Spotify tracks, so if it crashes the app I can just quickly switch to the iPad in the controller with no break in the music during wedding receptions. Last weekend was the first gig using the new 2-iPad set-up, and it worked great (no crashes)!