A question about peaking/volume..

[Maxy]

When you are djing, do you tend to have the channel faders up at the full 100% all the time? I used cruise at full volume when I had a shitty set up with horrible sound issues (Vestax CDX05s and a Numark DXM06), but I recently acquired some pioneers and a Xone 42. I was kind of surprised when I read the Xone 42's manual. The manual recommends keepin the peaks of the VU meter around +3 db. In order to do that, I find that my faders are chilling roughly around 80% the whole time I mix.

I actually really like doing it this way because it sort of makes sense: what if the next track I am bringing in is too quiet compared to the currently playing track? If I have my faders set to 8ish, that means ideally I have 2 dbs of headroom to play with without having to up any EQ knobs.

So does everyone out there cruise at full volume or do you tend to keep it down a notch or 2?

[Jayvee]

Aren't the gain knobs for that?

[Maxy]

Aren't the gain knobs for that?

It would make it louder, sure, but you risk the possibility of unwanted distortion/clipping and sounding like crap

[makar1]

Gain does not mean "louder". You should turn your gain knobs down until you get no clipping with the faders at 100%.

VU meters should ideally be kept at 0dB and below.

[aaron altar]

I don't use a crossfader and I always have the channel fader at 100% when the track is playing by itself. Small adjustments from track volume differences are made with the gain knob. I also play at 0db.

[Era 7]

use your gains.

[Tornesoul]

My volume faders are at 100% all the time.

I find having them slight off the top, kinda distracting, like what if i'm aiming for 80%, but i get 84% or 78%.

With the top, you get 100% all the time (And its satisfying to hit the top anyways)

I use gain for increasing volumes.

[johney]

My impression is that you use faders for actual mixing,and gains for setting the volume of the track.
You should check the volume of the track you're about to mix in before you do, just skip to the main part and look at the channel VUs and set the gain accordingly.

I, for one, tend to do quite a bit of quick fader cuts and stuff, and it's pretty hard to hit the exact same spot with a quick flick of wrist, with fader fully up, you don't have to worry about that

[CountenanT]

Personally, I use the gains to set the "maximum" volume of the channel according to it's loudest part, but then ride with the faders at 8/10 - and use them to control the balance between tracks, and then I can raise them a bit if the main volume is still lacking. I find it useful to have a bit of room to play with on the faders - you don't want to keep cranking the gain knobs.