SETTING ALL THE VOLUME AND GAIN CONTROLS IN A DJ SET-UP
Setting all the volume and gain controls in a DJ set-up correctly is the most
important step to getting a good sound out of it, and it never ceases to amaze
me how so many DJs – even some of the biggest names on the planet! – are
completely unaware of how to do it properly, or worse still, just don’t bother. Yet
if you just take time to learn a few simple rules and techniques, every DJ set you
play will sound as good as it’s possible for it to. So what is this “gain structure”
business anyway, and why is it so important? Let’s take a look…
Put simply, “gain structure” means setting the gain level at each amplifier point
in your DJ set-up to get the loudest possible signal without distortion. The reason
for doing this is to ensure that the level of the signal is sufficiently higher than
the noise generated by the electronic circuits in your set-up, but still lower than
the maximum signal the circuits can handle.
This is known as “good signal to noise ratio”, and while digital files and
equipment have a much lower noise floor than their analogue counterparts, they
are still subject to noise, and digital noise is even nastier than analogue hiss.
Headroom and distortion: Digital vs analogue
I’m not going to debate which is better, as both have their strong and weak
points, and I don’t want to get too technical in this article. However, I am going
to discuss the differences when it comes to setting gain, as there is a huge
difference in the way analogue and digital signals behave when they distort, and
when you understand this you will understand why good gain structure is even
more important for the digital DJ.
All electronic circuits have a maximum level that they can recreate a signal
accurately at. With an analogue circuit the manufacturers will specify an
optimum level to set the signal at (0dB) but the maximum level the circuit will be
able to handle is higher than this – exactly how much higher will depend on the
quality of the equipment. The difference in level between 0dB and the maximum
level is known as “headroom”. As the signal gets closer to the maximum level it
slowly begins to distort in a somewhat “musical” way, and can be used
creatively. (Think guitar distortion and drums recorded to tape at high level).
Digital circuits also have a maximum level that they can recreate, which is known
as 0dBFS, and a digital circuit will accurately create the signal up to this level
with no distortion. Anything over this level will distort because digital circuits
have no Headroom above 0dBFS. Digital distortion is not musical and sounds
horrible!
Guide to volume and gain for DJs
OK enough boring theory; let’s get on with setting the gain structure up correctly
in your DJ set-up.
The four gain stages in a DJ set-up
Every DJ set-up has four gain stages that need to be set up correctly. These are:
1. Input gain – This is the gain knob at the top of your controller’s mixer
channel, or in your software’s onscreen mixer. There will be one of these
for each channel in your set-up. This gain is used to compensate for the
difference in recording levels between the tracks in your collection (on
most DJ controllers this gain is actually after the EQ section in the signal
path to allow you to also compensate for any EQ settings you had to make
to the track)
2. Channel output fader – This is the fader under the EQ section of each
channel in your setup, and again there will be one of these for each
channel
3. Master output gain – This gain knob is used to set the level out the signal
coming out of the mixer
4. Amplifier gain – This is the volume level of the PA amplifier(s), your home
hifi, computer speakers, or whatever you’re listening to your mixes on
How to set gain structure correctly on your DJ system
To set up the gain structure of your DJ system, follow the steps below. It is
important that you do them in the right order:
1. Ensure all the levels in your system are set to infinity (turned right down)
and the EQs are all set to their centre positions
2. Use the input gain knob to set the level of the track so that the average
level of the track is at 0dB (usually the last green LED on the channels
input level meter) and the transients (usually the bass drum) peak
between +3dB and +6 dB (the orange LEDs on most meters). Never let
the levels go into the red.
3. Set the channel’s volume fader to maximum (tip: I sometimes leave it a
bit lower to let me accent beats by pushing it to max briefly)
4. Use the master output gain knob to increase the level of the output signal
until the average level of the track is at 0dB (usually the last green LED
on the master output level meter) and the transients (usually the bass
drum) peak between +3dB and +6 dB (the orange LEDs on most
meters). Never let the levels go into the red.
5. Turn up the gain knobs on the amplifier until the average level of the
track is at 0dB (the last green LED on the most amplifiers’ level meters)
and the transients (usually the bass drum) peak between +3dB and +6
dB (the orange LEDs on most meters). Never let the levels go into the
red. If the amplifier does not have input meters, turn it up until the clip
LED just starts to come on with the transients, then turn it down a bit
until the clip light stops flashing
Congratulations! You have now set up the correct gain structure of your DJ
system, and all you need to do now is adjust the input gain for each track you
play to set its level to 0dB. In other words, you do step two above for every track
you play.
Frequently asked questions
How do I adjust volume overall once this is all set?
We’ve just set the system up to the loudest it will go, and of course you won’t
always want to play at this level. The output gain on your DJ controller or mixer
is the best place.
What if it’s not loud enough having done this?
If you do not have enough volume after doing all this, it means you need to get
bigger amplifiers and speakers, or more of them. Do not be tempted to turn up
the gain at any of the stages stages as all you are doing is introducing distortion,
and risking damaging your or the venue’s equipment.
See that red dot and the word “LIMITER”? That’s the DJ software (in this case it’s
Serato ITCH) telling you you’re driving it too hard and it’s limiting the output to
prevent distortion. This has a detrimental effect on sound quality.
In fact, most venues have sound engineers and they have compressors or
limiters in place to protect their expensive PA equipment so pushing all your gain
stages into distortion will not make it any louder, but will make the music sound
terrible, and will quickly fatigue the ears of your audience causing them to leave
the dancefloor to recover.
What about if I’m plugging my DJ controller through a house mixer?
Same principle applies – set EQs flat in the channel you’re using, set input gain
correctly, put the channel output fader on full, and adjust the master output gain
correctly.
What about EQ?
When you boost part of the signal with EQ you are increasing the gain of the
signal and using up valuable headroom. The biggest culprits of this are the bass
frequencies as they require more power to recreate the long wavelengths they
produce. Of course it goes without saying that these are the very frequencies DJs
love to boost!
Subtractive EQ is a much better way to get a good sound, so next time you are
cueing up a track which is lacking in the bottom end, try cutting the mid and high
frequencies and turning up the overall gain to bring the track up to 0dB, you will
find that the result sounds the same, but you are not driving the signal into
distortion.
Finally…
I hope this article has helped you understand the fundamentals of gain and how
it relates to DJing. I purposefully didn’t go into too much technical detail, but for
those of you out there who want or need to know more just type “gain structure”
into Google and enter geek heaven! For those of you who are thinking of
producing your own tracks, everything I have explained above also relates to
setting levels for each instrument/sound in the track. And while you can of
course break all the rules for creative effect, it still helps if you know them in the
first place!
