Is it a bad idea to play "free download" tracks on a big system ?

DJ Life & Community General Discussion
1

Is it a bad idea to play “free download” tracks on a big system ?

So I got CDJs a while ago and I’m burning CDs almost everyday.
And I have got more than a hundred really good tracks that were given away for free by producers.
(Christmas, xyz facebook likes, just because…)

And today I was burning some and I thought, wait a second, this isn’t released by a label, so is it even mastered ?
And I contacted the producer and he advised against playing it on a big system. But he was a small time producer.
But I’ve got a lot of free tracks from big producers like Skream as well.

I’ve burned more than a dozen CDs with free tracks, but are they useless at a party ?

Tracks given away for free by producers, are they mastered ? Are they safe to play on a big system ?

2

Play them on your own system, decide if they sound good enough to play on a big system,

I play my own tracks on big systems week in, week out, its not the mastering that makes it sound good, its how well it has been mixed.

Larger artists will have well mixed tracks, newer artists, not so much

3

^I don’t have a big system.
I have studio monitors and a 2.1 system, and the tracks sound well on them, but how is that comparable to a club system ?

4

lol, no?

5

depends on the track of course, but as long as they’re mixed down decently (which you should be able to judge on your 2.1/headphones), there’s no problem.

if it sounds good, just play it

6

i didnt say big system, i said system. if the tracks dont sound muddy then you should be fine, if you play it and it sounds shit, never play that track again :slight_smile:

7

Okay, I’ll take my chances then.
But the track from the producer that said not to play it out also sounds pretty solid and not muddy at all.

8

I dont see why a producer would give away a track and tell you NOT to play it out, i pester DJs all the time to play my tunes lol

9

lol THIS is what Eq’ing is for, if the track does not sound good, well that’s why we invest huge $$$ money is fancy mixers with state of the art eq’ing and headroom. Fix Em!!!

10

For the most part songs that are comming out from artists are either A. eq’ed well or B. Mastered themselves.

I only play 320 or better and you can tell by the spec sheet if all the freq’s are taken up vs are shittier quality.

11

Even some mastered tracks can sound completely shite … use your ears, play them on multiple sources and decide yourself if they will hold up in a club.

12

Take as an example Get Lucky- Mysto & Pizzi remix
A f’n great track, mastered, given out for free.
Pumps up the energy as no other track can.

So yeah, there definitely is a place for free tracks on a big system.

13

Can’t polish a turd, dude. DJ eq’s are designed to be subtractive. Boosting levels on poorly mixed tune only amplifies the ugliness. If a tune is mixed really poorly, no amount of eq’ing on a dj mixer will change that. If a tune has bass thats overdriven and has no headroom, dropping the bass on a dj mixer won’t suddenly make it sound good. It’s the same if you’re playing a 128k mp3.

The EQ on your mixer is designed to allow 2 tunes to sit in the mix properly and not cancel frequencies. I play a tune a lot that has a baseline that’s sitting around 40-45 hz with no mid bass (Gremlinz and Homemade Weapons - Ruff Age). The bass sound real fat on a good system, but if you drop it on a system that can’t produce those frequencies, it’s really quiet and loses all effect. Naturally you want to boost the EQ to compensate. Doing this just makes the tune clip and sound awful.

14

no i cant deny that. But undoubtedly with more modern mixers with huge headroom,And also mastering becoming easier for small-time producers to do.

You can use your eq’s to get the track up to where it should be.

Theres already a different thread with a WAR going on over eq’ing, so i’m not gonna bring that stuff in here.

15

That thread wasn’t about eq’ing. It was about a newer trend for producers to over compress everything for loudness at the sake of dynamics. Loud drums and mid-bass have killed sub-bass and head room.

16

your right. now i remember :slight_smile:

well…isin’t there always a war over eq’ing hahaha :laughing::laughing:

17

There should be.

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tl;dr listen to them closely, decide for yourself

19

Yup - “free” does not equal poor quality.

Poor quality = Poor quality.

If a DJ can’t tell when a free/bought track is poorly mixed/mastered, then he/she shouldn’t be playing on a “big system” (<<<what the hell is that anyway?) in the first place.

20

Anywhere outside his bedroom i assume