QUESTION ABOUT LEVELLING

caihooligan · Post by **caihooligan** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:54 pm

I dj and I am a freak about sound quality.

When I mix I do my best to keep my Master volume always on 0dB. But I can't figure out how can I adjust the sample's clip volume so that all my samples play at the same level and the audio track's volume never touches the 0.

Before I import my tracks into ableton I open them with Platinum Notes. Even if it says that this software corrects the volume and repairs the clips when I play it in ableton by default the clip's volume is set on 0dB.

So I've been told to lowering the volumes inside ableton using the Sonalksis FreeG plug in to determine each individual sample's volume after I warped a track.

Can anybody explain me properly how do I do this?

Schuft · Post by **Schuft** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:13 pm

Check out Tarekith's Guide to Levels for Ableton DJs (and all musicians) (http://tarekith.com/assets/Leveling.html)

Mr Man · Post by **Mr Man** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:15 pm

check out tarekith's guide mate...

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

UKRuss · Post by **UKRuss** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:27 pm

Isn't this part of mixing though, s'what the track faders are for right?

caihooligan · Post by **caihooligan** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 1:45 pm

Thanx for the link mates.

I've already gone through the guide but I don't know how to put it into practice.

It would be much easier if I just doesn't care and play samples right out of the box limiting the audio channels volumes.

Instead I wanna understand how can I make my sample sound always perfect throughout the all mix.

Could you please tell me step by step what do I do with the clip volume when I finished warping a track??

Green Lemon · Post by **Green Lemon** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:10 pm

Do you ever DJ with a traditional setup?

In that way of thinking, you use the gain knobs on each channel to set your peak input signal to an appropriate level for the mixing style.

in Live, i basically do the same thing using the "clip gain" control- set it once for the cilp, and then work with your volume faders to mix properly.

Don't obsess about using external widgets to analyze your soundfiles. Your not sending a man to the moon, your just setting gain so that the signal doesn't clip. Use your ears and your eyes, make it part of your workflow, and its no problem.

I find it very helpful to map an endless encoder to the clip gain control- that way it is always available for a tweak to the selected clip, just like a gain knob on a traditional DJ mixer.

caihooligan · Post by **caihooligan** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:20 pm

What I actually did was to assign one knob on the UC33 to the gain and limiting it from going from -14 (min) to -7dB(max). The only problem is that the waveforms become very very small.

What do you reckon about this way of levelling samples? Would it work??

Green Lemon · Post by **Green Lemon** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:29 pm

It's not quite clear to me what your difficulty is. Do you have experience DJing, or is this a beginner thing for you?

Levelling for a DJ has basically one purpose- to set your tracks to play at a sufficient volume while not clipping. Between the clip gain control and the track volume fader you find the right balance for the mix. That's one of the DJing basics.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:32 pm

Don't wory about what the waveforms look like, that doens't matter at all.

caihooligan · Post by **caihooligan** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:44 pm

Sorry if I'm posting the same topic here and there but I'd really like to learn those the levelling basics.

The only thing I still can't understand is how do I determine the clip gain of each sample.

UKRuss · Post by **UKRuss** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:47 pm

I just use my ears.

Green Lemon · Post by **Green Lemon** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 2:52 pm

Well, Tarekith's guide will teach you a lot about levelling, and is worth reading several times (<---note to self).

But setting your levels as a DJ is really pretty simple:

1) I usually start with my channel faders at -3dB.
2) Play the loudest part of a track.
3) Turn the gain up so that it the channel meter peaks into the red. (Turn down your master out for this part.)
4)Now turn the gain down so that the channel meters are just shy of peaking- I aim for around -1dB so that I have a bit of headroom.

Now your clip gain is set so that at the loudest part of the song, it plays just short of clipping the signal.