Autogain and limiter, how's it work

[rdej47]

Just curious how the limiter and autogain work. Isn't this what programs like Platinum notes are suppose to sort of fix. Also do you guys consider it cheating to use them?

[sarasin]

Def not cheating.

If you playing MP3's, you never REALLY know if they are what they claim to be in regards to quality (unless you bought them).

PN etc are good tools to make sure that they all have a similar level.

Not entirely sure how the auto gain works, but its seems pretty good most of the time.

I use it and then make myself use the EQ's more for getting the levels nice.

I find its better this way.

[Jester]

i wouldnt use platinum notes on a crisp hq mp3. its really best used to boost the harmonics on lower quality tunes, say 192-256. some dudes use the autogain (like brotha sarasin) i dont use it, personal preference really. what i do is run everything thru a wee program galled mp3gain and that does a good job of levelling the tracks out without altering the track as such. if you are worried about your levels that much, get on those headphones my man

[sarasin]

I use the Auto-Gain....but always manually adjust it too.....ADHD!

[Jester]

turn that shizz off lol. i use the size of the wavforms as a bit of a guide as well, handy.

[sarasin]

Thats exactly what I do!



I have it set, but always check it and adjust it.

Might as well turn it off.

It has caught me unawares a few times....so ...yeah....OFF it is!

[calvin01]

+1 jester.headphones are friends

[fullenglishpint]

yeh, there have been a couple of times when you expect a drop, cut the previous track and then it falls flat cos autogain has got it wrong. Poor show.

[sarasin]

Yeah.....seeing as do the whole Cue Point and Sync Lock thing, I don;t have to pre-listen (Cue up) as much.

So I swap to monitoring the Master Out. This helps a LOAD as well.

You can hear it perfectly in the cans ...whether its lacking in OOMPF or not.

[BentoSan]

Autogain uses an alogrythm to determine the percieved loudness of the track then matches the perceived loudness with the track you have in your other deck.

A limiter is way different, theres a limiter on the master output of Traktor to make sure that you never peak the output of Traktor. A limiter acts much like a compressor, it just has a lower attack speed. What this means is that the limiter will never allow the master ouput to go over a certain level otherwise it will drop the volume of the output. Using a limter to make sure that your mix always remains at a certain level is a huge NO GO - if you do this, stop - learn proper gain matching techniques instead and the quality of your mixes will definitely improve.