DJ: always clipping?

[grillwrecka]

When I drag songs into ableton to warp them, they always clip if the fader is at "zero" so in order for it to not clip I have to bring the fader way down. So what I did to overcome this is change the volume of each clip individually while the fader was at "zero" until it didn't clip. This makes it easier for me to bring an incoming track with the fader at "zero" without it clipping. However, as a result I get a much smaller waveform which makes it difficult to visually see cues like drops/builds etc. Is there a better way to do this? Sorry if it's confusing. Thanks in advance!

[rbmonosylabik]

You could put an Utility plug-in as the 1st device in your track set to -6 dB or so.

[Pregame]

trying using the re-pitch warp mode ( only if you are mixing tracks in a somewhat similar bpm )
this emulates mixing on vinyl or cdj with the pitch adjustment...and should give you proper clip levels...

[geddy]

I have my master at 0db. Then each track is at -3db then with a further -4db on top by using the Utility plug-in.

[Donnie]

The eq might be adding to the problem as well. Eq 3 tends to send peaks flying.

Not sure if you are using an Apc or any other device but if you max volume is +6 on your faders you may need to pull your utility to -6 as mentioned.

If you are happy with what's coming out volume wise, you could try a saturator on each channel. I personally put an analog clip saturator on each channel so I can run things just a tad hot (helps live from sounding flacid when playing tracks) and at the same time keep the levels in check.

[Tarekith]

You're doing it the same way I do, clip volumes work great for this. You get used to seeing the waveforms smaller, they're still bigger than similar displays in Traktor and Serato usually. This might help some too:

http://tarekith.com/assets/DigitalLevels.html

[grillwrecka]

Thank you guys so much for the input! That Tarekith deal is super informative! I'm gonna have to experiment now.