[Mixing] Crossfader or Volume Fader, that is the question

[Pedrotax]

Hello dear forum,

Well a question that might sound dumb to some more experienced DJs here, but though has been haunting my mind last night...

Which fader(s) do you use to fade in/out your tracks?
I mean crossfader is to me both faders in 1, with much less range and accuracy
With a 4 channel mixer obviously this is a bit of an easier question as volume faders would probably become more intuitive to use once we start to get more than 2 decks going.
However, I only own a VCI and I tend to stay on fader fx almost all the time, use the crossfader and compensate by EQing.

There's probably no right or wrong as long as you do it good, but am I missing any important feature/advantage with the volume faders?

[tombruton69]

to be honest do what you think gets the best results. It is your stlye at the end of the day and the only thing that really matters is how good the music sounds.

Having said this as a rule of thumb most dance djs use channel faders and most hip hop use the cross faders. Alot of djs use both. One thing to keep in mind if you are planning to use club mixers you may have to use channel faders as alot hav broken x-faders

As far as hip hop go some scratches are easier to perform on the channel faders some easier on the x fader. Ie fading a song on a channel fader is easier depending how you have it set up. but then you can set ur channel faders to cut and reverse them.

AT THE END OF THE DAY ROCK IT WITH YOUR STYLE, AS LONG AS IT DOESNT SOUND LIKE A CAR CRASH YOUR DOING OK

it will take many years to perfect ideas and techniques just keep on having a play and ur style will form

[djproben]

Yeah I agree do what works best for you, though it's good to ask questions like this to see what others are doing. Personally I mix with the channel faders and cut with the crossfader. I used to mix exclusively with the crossfader until I played a gig in a setup where the mixer was a cheap scratch mixer, no curve control at all -- it was on or off always. I had to learn to use the channel faders and fast! Since then I realized you have a lot more control with them, and it let me focus more attention on EQing as well. I use the crossfader for the occasional scratch or to quickly get out of some crazy effects right before a drop on the other deck. It's also great on the VCI if you're using fader effects since the channel faders won't fade volume anymore.

My problem now is I occasionally forget about the crossfader and accidentally brush it with my shirt or headphone cord... whoops, why did the music stop? hehe...

[photojojo]

Channel

[Bunford]

+1 on find what's best for you. Everyone's different!

Personally, for a straightforward mixing one song into the other, I tend to have the incoming track playing as normal, volume faders on both tracks on full (second one maybe down a bit but never less than half up). Then I have the crossfader in the middle.

The thing I use to prevent the second track being audible is that I turn the filter knob all the way down on the incoming track. Then, I start to turn it up, bringing in a deep subtle bass. As I'm doing that I turn the bass knob on the first track down slowly until the two bass frequencies kinda match and sound right. I then let it settle and ingrain as normal in people's heads. Then, I turn the the filter up more towards the middle dent on the filter knob on the second tracks while turning the bass knob further down on the first track so the bass on the second track is now playing over the first track. Depending on length of the mix, I may loop an intro bit on the second track and if I know the mid and highs ain't gonna sit right I have them knobs turned down a bit and tweak them in with the ones of the first track out, and if it's turn down a bit I slide the second volume fader up slowly. Then when the 'drop' happens I simply shift the crossfader over to the second track making sure the volume is whacked up by then too.

Sounds confusing but it really ain't. By doing it this way I've found that it works as a kind of bass crossfader, blending both songs. Also allows you to filter the first track out easily too without it sounding

[B.Hallowell]

I'm fairly new but I was going to add whatever works for you! I started with the channel faders and using the filter just like Bunford describes to help level out the low EQ but I use the xfader exclusively for cutting and slamming at important points either right at a drop or right before (say like 4 counts prior for lyrics to help pump it up). I still prefer and say the majority of my mixes I prefer blending so it's channel faders for me but if you can make it work with the way you do it, who cares what the status quo way of doing it is.

[MrPopinjay]

I honestly don't see the point in the crossfader. I'd much rather have switch instead.

I mean it's only for cutting, why do I want an analogue control?

[tombruton69]

can you do complex cuts with a switch no u cant tthats y it is needed

[MrPopinjay]

can you do complex cuts with a switch no u cant tthats y it is needed

A "complex cut"...?

It's just changing the volume from 0 to 100% or the other way around.

[djproben]

A "complex cut"...?

It's just changing the volume from 0 to 100% or the other way around.

Uh-huh. Now do that in rapid fire triplets with a switch. Actually, do triplet-eighth note combos (1-and-uh-2-and-3-and-uh-4-and) with a switch at 120 BPM (or 100 BPM for that matter). Not gonna happen.