Crisp quality while playing tracks via traktor is gone

[Elexxior]

Hello everyone,

to start off: i'm a massive noobie when it comes to dj hardware. I use Traktor 2.10.3 to adjust some tracks with effects and then record them for further use etc. etc. nothing special. I quit these activities a couple of months ago, but I thought I'd put some time in it again. Now for the problem:

When I play tracks with Traktor the quality is skewed, especially at the low tones. It's not really noticable unless you always listen to music in 320 kbps quality like me, so it's quite aweful to listen to and I certainly can't use that in further stuff. I added 2 tracks to this topic, both from the same tune. 1 is the original mix, the other is recorded with Traktor. Try and hear the difference (especially around the bass), I'm sure you will. It's sounds kinda like very minimal volume switches, as if my speakers can't handle low tones or something, especially when the kicks pitch up...

It's weird because I've never experienced this before. Itried several things in the options menu, putting mono on or off or try put it on external or internal and vise versa (as I said, I'm a massive noobie).

For the record: I'm not using an external controller or anything, just my pc and my pc-speakers. The only thing I want is to record tracks with traktor while preserving the same quality, like I used to do. My pc system is way over the required stats so that isn't the problem. My speakers are Logitech X-530 5.1, which are the same speakers I've used before when nothing like this ever happened. My soundcard is onboard.

I tried the ASIO4all driver and trying different settings in the driver but nothing made a difference. I've also read on the internet the load might be the problem, but the bar never goes beyond 20% or so, so that isnt the case either.

I've also tried resetting the settings and start from scratch. Didn't work either.

Then I consulted my fellow DJ friends who referred me to this forum, so that's why I'm here.

Could anyone give me advice or, even better, a solution?

Thanks in advance,

Elex


http://www44.zippyshare.com/v/sM6CDmno/file.html

Naamloos.jpg

[DJAdeSands]

Do you have the limiter activated??
At a glance your audio meter is riding pretty high, might be clipping on the recording which will contribute to bad quality when the track's going well.
Try reducing your gain so that the EQ meter's not going off the scale.

[Elexxior]

Do you have the limiter activated??

I don't think so? Where can I check that?

[Elexxior]

Btw I can reduce the gain indeed but doesn't that make the recorded file have lower base volume? I'd like to keep the same volume, and this is something i've never touched at all after installing Traktor, neither was it required previously

[Elexxior]

It looks like reducing the gain indeed solves the problem I descriped in my first post. But as I expected, the base volume is lowered when I record something. This is a problem because then I won't be able to turn it louder on, for instance, my phone when travelling.

[padi_04]

You can also try disabling the auto gain feature in Traktor to check if you can get a clean recording without touching the gain knob on the recorder.

Worst case scenario download Audacity to normalize the volume back up.

Keep in mind you are in fact taking a lossy MP3 file, recording it and then most likely re-encoding it as MP3. Each time you do this part of the audio quality will be lost with the re-encode. That's just how lossy formats work to decrease file size.

[keithace]

it looks like that track is clipped like a mofo. Can we get a better view of the wav form? if the original source is clipped there is no fixing it.

[DJAdeSands]

it looks like that track is clipped like a mofo. Can we get a better view of the wav form? if the original source is clipped there is no fixing it.

Thought that too, it looks quite loud alright..

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[keithace]

Thought that too, it looks quite loud alright..

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

He said he rerecords the tracks. Maybe he ran one too hot and didnt realize it.

replay the original track in something other than traktor. If it sounds like garbage your source material jacked. If it sounds like normal then you have a wonky setting in traktor to find.

[Elexxior]

it looks like that track is clipped like a mofo. Can we get a better view of the wav form? if the original source is clipped there is no fixing it.

http://i.imgur.com/tOWdUNT.png

Why would the original source be clipped? It's the original mix in 320 kbps that sounds perfectly crisp like all my other tracks. It's not like it happens only with this tune. It happens with everything I drag into Traktor.

He said he rerecords the tracks. Maybe he ran one too hot and didnt realize it

No, I never said that. I record original mixes 1 time using traktor. After that I use the recorded samples in Audacity to make my own sets by exporting it to 320 kbps mp3.

As I said: I've done this 1000 times before, and I'm quite aware of quality loss when recording/editing music. Even so, this type of quality loss never occurred before at all. As a matter of fact, I actually had practically zero quality loss recording with Traktor and implementing them in Audacity.

You can also try disabling the auto gain feature in Traktor

Where can I find that?

Worst case scenario download Audacity to normalize the volume back up.

That cetrainly is not an option. As I said, I've never experienced this before, so that isn't supposed to be the eventual solution ^^

Tnx for all the replies btw!