Why are my mixing transitions louder

Elevated volume during transitions

Hi Greg Baker,

can you tell us a bit more about your settings and your setup are you using an external controller for mixing with djay?
Especially settings like the Auto Gain, Reset EQ would be interesting.

Cheers,
Lukas E.

Hi Greg,

thank you for the follow up. Can you tell us which Crossfader Curve setting you are using?
If you are connecting your headphones straight to the Audio Jack of your Mac without using an external soundcard/ controller the master represents the recording volume. Can you tell us the approximate position of your levels (gain)? Or send us a screenshot of your usual settings?

That would help us a lot.

Cheers,Lukas E.

Hi Greg,

thank you for your the follow up.
Regarding your settings, i think the most things are looking good, you could try the audio limiter though, it prevents your audio signal to clip.
Also are you using the gain while mixing? If you don’t use the gain try to set your volume to a nice level and only use the left (- minus) side of the eq’s with an active auto gain.

This will lead to a constant level of your songs.

Cheers,Lukas E.

Hi Greg,

you can of course do that, but keep in mind that if you do so the tracks are not at the same predefined volume, because the auto gain is not taking the gain+eq into account. You can also try to work without the auto gain if you feel like you can adjust the levels while pre cueing, I would try that, it adds another dimensions to your transitions.

The limiter prevents sound clipping, if you manually adjust the gain and the sound is getting into the “reds” the limiter will prevent dropouts.

If you have any questions or suggestions, or if you would like further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Cheers,
Lukas E.

I’m not using an external controller however I am using auto gain within djay the only eq are within the day app and a bit of eq on the highs and mid range. Only seems to happen during the transition. Also, while audio input levels represented by green lights in the app never reach the red light my recordings always seem to be way over when brought into Audacity, and must be normalized each time. For some reason seems to be connected to the volume level of my headphones. Can I use the apps limiter without sacrificing sound quality.

Thank you so much for any advice
Sincerely,
Greg Baker

I’m plugging my headphones directly into my imac’s headphone jack. The volume on the imac’s volume bar is set about half way up.

Cross fader curve is set to default.
Tempo range 25%
Auto-sync BPM is checked

Mixer-mode is internal
Main Output is built-in Output
Pre-cueing is none

Auto-Gain is checked
Limiter is not checked

Green levels stay mid to upper rarely bump the red

How will the in app “limiter” affect my sound quality?

When bringing my recorded mix into Audacity or Bias Peak it always shows clipping very hot volume levels, I then have to normalize my mix to bring volume into acceptable range. Though while recording my levels were never in the red.

If you need any more info please just let me know.

Thank you for all your help, I really appreciate it

Sincerely
Greg Baker

Since I am connecting directly into my imac’s headphones how can I mix at an acceptable level and yet not exceed my master volume levels?

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I believe what you’re saying is if I have auto gain selected I, cannot or should not, increase the mid and high eq except left (- minus).

The reason I use the eq to the right is to bring midrange and highs up a bit, because without the mix sounds just a tad muffled, most people can’t tell, but it drives me crazy. LoL

Is there any way around this? So that I may use the eq (+ plus) while auto gain is selected.

I have not selected the limiter yet, will that make the recording sound more compressed, for lack of a better word.

Lukas, just wanted to let you know much I appreciate all the time you have taken with my issues.

I will try all your suggestions.

Sincerely,
Greg