I want my sound to be FAT not FLAT.....
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  1. #1
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    Default I want my sound to be FAT not FLAT.....

    Hey Guys

    I have a problem with my sound when I play on a big system ... what happens is it sounds really flat compared to the C DJs or the decks... I have just been plugging my sound card into the the club mixer and mixing internally ... all my tracks I play are at 320 kbps...
    Any ideas?????

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  2. #2
    DJTT Moderator Dude Jester's Avatar
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    Hi dude and welcome to DJTT! Ok i think what you should try is when you run through the club mixer, on the channel you are using try upping the mids and highs a fraction to compensate. It may take a bit of tweaking but you should be able to get it sounding pretty good i would say.
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  3. #3
    Dr. Bento BentoSan's Avatar
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    This is one of the areas where mixing internally in Ableton is quite advantageous because you can model your own distortion to make your output sound quite unique. The key is to not go overboard, a bit of tube or tape saturation will compress your track a little bit without sounding so much like it has been compressed. It will also add a bit of fatness to your sound in the low end which is probably what you are going for.

    Another possible solution is to use an external hardware tube compressor to help fatten up your sound.

    Also make sure that your not pushing your internal gain structure too loud in your mixing in Traktor because that will suck the life out of your mix, the limiter in Traktor Pro shouldn't have to engage at all in a good mix.

    Another solution is to mix externally, the mixer itself will compress your mix in its own way which on a good mixer will add some warmth to your mix - i personally don't take this route as it starts to put limits on what i can actually do inside the software, but there are many who take this approach.

  4. #4

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    also make sure your soundcard is sending the strongest audio signal (not amplyfiing it in TPRO though).
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  5. #5
    DJTT Moderator Dude Jester's Avatar
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    Hey bento i was just thinking he should try mixing externally also. i cant think why such high quality tracks would sound "flat" as vomito mentioned. It could also be the mixer as well ya reckon?
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  6. #6
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    I was thinking the same thing ... next time what I was going to do is take the cables out of the mixer and put them straight into the sound card.... and try that .... but saying that the guy played after me with the cdjs at the beginning it sounded fat but half way though his set one track sounded really tinny...

  7. #7
    Dr. Bento BentoSan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JesterNZDJ View Post
    Hey bento i was just thinking he should try mixing externally also. i cant think why such high quality tracks would sound "flat" as vomito mentioned. It could also be the mixer as well ya reckon?
    I think mixing externally its going to sound much the same, especially if he is A->B mixing, he will still get the same distortion from the mixer because the audio still gets passed it though the mixer anyway.

    The only time you hear a difference is during the actual mixing of 2 or more tracks together on analogue gear and even then i think the difference between a digital summed signal and a analogue summed signal isnt as huge as some people like to make it out to be - especially when the digital dj is doing his job properly

  8. #8
    Tech Mentor Jo3's Avatar
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    try another sound card?
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jo3 View Post
    try another sound card?
    +1


    I'm not too sure about adding extra distortion and things to the track, they're already mastered to sound the way the engineer wants it to sound- that should be enough. You're venturing into some shakey territory when you start adding extra compression... If you don't know what you're doing it'd be best to leave that alone.. even still... :s

    The problem could be as simple as your soundcard or cables... i know cables make a HUGE difference if your not using high quality ones- trust me I've learned my lesson lol !

  10. #10
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    I guarantee you the cdjs are not bit-transparent in terms of the signal flow from the disc itself to the cdj outputs. What that means is, even before the cdj hits the analog mixer, the signal has been altered via the cdj A/D converters and any other exciter or maximizer-type circuits in the unit. Traktor alone, routed to a sound card, is bit-transparent (these kind of enhancement operations are not occurring), and it may sound flat or lacking in certain frequencies when compared to the cdj. It's not missing any information, it's just a very dry signal.

    Now, as a very picky listener, I quickly became obsessed with how to return the warmth I was used to, after I made the switch to digital. Bento and others have made some great suggestions in this thread. My personal preference is to emulate in-the-box, so my own solution (re: Traktor) is to run Ableton Live simultaneously and virtually route Traktor into Live where I doctor up the sound. Tape saturation, tube emulation, compressors and maximizers/exciters are all great tools that can fatten up the sound (don't use 'em all at once ) . Don't forget about good ol' eqing as well. Prudent use of eq on the master channel is just fine in my book. One or two small things can make a huge difference in how you are perceiving the sound, you don't need a huge chain of processing. There's really no rulebook, but you need to use your ears and be aware of when you've pushed the signal too far. Do what sounds good to you - define your own sound!
    Last edited by Zac Kyoti; 08-27-2009 at 05:35 PM.
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