Hi,
Do you have any plans to improve the Auto-Gain function in the near future?
When playing tracks in djay, I experience significant differences in volume levels across tracks, despite having “Settings > Sound > Volume > Auto-Gain” enabled. My previous experience with software like Traktor Pro was much more consistent.
I’m wondering if this is a known issue and if improvements are expected.
It would help if you were more specific. Which tracks?
Please give an example of at least 2 tracks which have an audible level difference between them.
Typically auto-gain does not work as a compressor. It just looks for peaks and sets them consistently between tracks.
I know it doesn’t work as a compressor. Only looks for the peaks and normalises.
Even then it differs too much.
I’m curious to know whether there’s a way to see how (high or low) DJay has assessed the volume of a track and to what extent in dB it has adjusted it?
Is there a spot where I can see this?
This might help me better understand the differences I’m experiencing before I send some examples.
Why don’t you tell us the track names and explain what the differences are?
Because you need the tracks themselves as well anyhow otherwise you cannot check anything.
So I wanted to first lookup the analysed/corrected Gain by Djay by myself in order to pinpoint the problem.
So is there a place where I can see (or correct) the volume perceived by Djay myself?
We’re all DJs here. We have plenty of tracks. We also have access to streamed tracks on the offchance that we don’t have it stored locally.
We could if you told us the artists/titles as requested.
You posted for help. We’re trying to help. There’s no need for YOU to pinpoint the problem.
I use the Mixon pro … With a Mac book pro M3 … The Auto features are terrible! I’ve tried all kinds of settings to get the output volume consistent. Suddenly it can blast out really loud, then low. I’ve read that people have returned the controller, I’m not convinced it’s a hardware issue. I will, re Install again the latest update for the controller, but I think it’s an issue with the software on this occasion.
Sorry for the wait.
Just for your insight, here are some random examples:
Dance for Love - Chill & Groove
Sterrenstof - De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig
Circus C-Mon & Kypski (feat. Amsterdam Klezmer Band) - C-Mon & Kypski
The Hippy Hippy Shake - Chan Romero
I’m Specialized In You -Time Bandits
I Like To Move It - Real To Real ft. The Mad Stuntman
But I think that streamed tracks on Tidal or Music are not a good source for my case because these platforms possibly normalize (auto-gain) the tracks themselves as well, so they don’t accurately reflect my issue. Even if you have these tracks in your own collection, they might differ in level because they come from different master sources (CDs) and could be leveled differently.
Having said that I think that the Auto-Gain option in DJ software is just a very helpful tool, but for many reasons never perfect. Even when Djay could improve the auto-gain engine.
So for me it would be a great solution if users could at least SEE the dB level that Djay has chosen during the auto-analysis and have the option to manually correct it. Just likt such a feature is available in other DJ tools like RB and Traktor.
In reply to @Chris_Gibson: I think this only can be a software problem. Because, like the name already says… A controller is just a controller that controls the software.
My experience last night using djay pro for the first time at an event was almost disastrous. With auto gain on, as I load a song into my deck and cue it, the levels sound and look perfect (for me that’s slightly touching the yellow). But when I actually mixed the song in it was red line city. Every mix, people at their table were getting startled and looking at me like I was crazy. I’m not dj qbert, but I scratch a little and need to max out my upfaders so I can do certain tricks and effects. Every mix I had to touch the gain knob and it dramatically affected the volume. When I sat down to eat I put about 10 songs on automix and the same thing happened. Each time a new song came in the volume went through the roof, and once again I received stares from my couple and my guests. So every song I had to run over to my decks to lower the gain, and I got a dramatic drop in volume that I needed to tweak back up. I really looked and felt like a rookie last night and I’m not lol. Ultimately I had to turn off auto gain and manually set them each mix. This just made quick mixing a little bit harder and slower. I’m worried about intros at my next wedding because I’m going to have the song start from load feature turned on so I can auto load a track to start playing, and am afraid I’m going to blow someone’s ear drums in the front row. With my approach to wedding intros, I don’t have time monitor the gain of each individual track. Am I just not understanding algoriddims approach to auto gain, as compared to serato, where it auto adjusts the songs gain perfectly but allows for precise adjustment with the trim knob? For everything the software can do amazingly, I’m really perplexed at how the auto gain is supposed to work.
Have you unchecked “save and restore manually set gain values” in the sound settings?
It can cause very dramatic jumps and dips in volume and is better left off
hmmmmm
this issue may be a good argument for running your music thru Platinum
Notes or MP3 Gain ahead of time to make sure tracks are okay at the same level.
Personally I’ve only ever used MP3 Gain on older tracks that had a history of playing at a low volume
Yes. It just doesn’t make sense. Mixing the song in with upfaders shouldn’t make the song redline when it was perfectly balanced in the cue.
Here’s an example of what I mean. These are two songs I would never play together, but you if you look at the waveforms of the song in the left, they are flatter than the song on the right. Therefore you would expect auto gain to compensate, and be a greater value than the song on the right, which it is. However auto gain has increased the volume too much as you can see by the much higher levels for the song on the left.
If you turn auto gain off you get what you’d expect. The newer, most likely better mastered song to be louder and it is.
Have you changed the gain knob to"pick up mode" in the midi mappings?
That also helps avoid dramatic changes.
I think that, at least in the screenshot you posted, the playhead in the track on the right is in one of the track’s breakdowns. This would account for the lower level. Can you post a screenshot comparing the loudest section of each track?
I think this might be the problem - normalising peaks rather than LUFS or, at least, RMS values.
Normalising peaks will just highlight differences between mastering practices.
Instead they should normalise loudness, like the streaming platforms do.
And I agree, I think all other DJ software does show the auto-gain calculations somewhere. It should be visible in the information pane on the right in DJay Pro.
