This. Take the time to build hype within the crowd. A couple minutes of downtime for people to go grab drinks is not gonna cause any complaints.
The big issue starts at sound chek (if there even is one), generally when I play or am running sound I start with the Dj pushing out almost a maxed out signal but just below clipping (red) then so do the same on my board. This way The DJ has all the headroom in the world and dosn’t start clipping the mixing board inputs half way through the set when things start to turn up. Gain structure is crucial once you start playing on bigger systems. Clipped out sound distorted, is harder on the ear and overdrives the sound system, generally there are a lot retards out there who don’t have a clue and end up with shitty sound due to their ignorance.
yea this is how i find myself alot… Wack ass opener dj’s running +6db then when i get on im like uh… then become one of them lol
Yea the first time this happen to me it felt so wrong hahah. I was like are u sure my shit bangs!!! lol there like we got compressors and limiters and i smiled there just lucky i analyzed all my tracks and use autogain set at -92db
turn up the booth monitor if you can’t hear yourself. stay at 0db and if it’s not loud enough its not your fault redlining is terrible. that is all
If there’s a sound guy you can talk to, figure out how to coordinate it. If not, deal with it. And by that, I mean just play through it.
IMHO, though, it’s a good idea to tell someone if you can. Blowing a sound system can get expensive, espeically when you add all the unsold drinks, potentially refunded tickets, and lost reputation to the equipment costs. I’d want to make sure I at least had something resembling a verbal acknowledgement that I wasn’t at fault.
I had a related - although different - situation last night. Turned up at the venue to play (it’s a pub which gets converted into a sort of chill-out room for the main venue at night), and there was no PA whatsoever in place. The DJ I was covering for normally rigs it himself with gear the club provides. So I went upstairs, sorted out what gear I needed, and lugged it downstairs with the help of the manager. Plugged everything in, set all the levels appropriately, and it sounded wank.
No redlining, no clipping or anything like that (was checking the meters on the soundboard and the amp the entire way through); was just a case of crap speakers. Spent about 30 minutes fiddling with the EQ trying to get something more reasonable out of it, to no avail, so eventually just decided “screw it”, and just got on with the mixing. Half way through, the volume randomly dropped significantly, and all of a sudden the balance was MUCH better. I went over to investigate, and realised that one of the speakers woofer had cut out completely; horn tweeter still going strong, hence the better treble/bass balance between the two speakers combined (the other one had a duff/rattly horn).
So I went over and told the manager, and we tried swapping out the duff speaker with a new one, which was ALSO duff. At that point, we called it a night and packed up. I was worried I’d get a bollocking for blowing up one of the speakers, but I made it clear I’d kept all the levels well below redline and his response was just that the speakers were crap and it was only a matter of time before they went. Luckily, I still got paid.
I suppose the moral of the story is, even when you’re not redlining, stuff can still break, but it’s less likely you’ll get blamed for it lol.
Couldn’t agree more.
The club amp should be doing the work, not the mixer.
Stepping into the booth after another DJ and dropping the volume really kills the vibe.
I play a regular set bi-weekly in a bar/club and have to blast the levels high into the red, gain at 3’o clock and full master.. Just because they refuse to adjust the amp. Apparently it’s limited by the council?!
I don’t know if the council thing is true but never the less.. Sound quality should always be top of the list of priorities and especially with smaller clubs/bars/venues without sound engineers, the management need to really step up and understand how good sound management really effects the venue..
A bad rig/set-up can be extremely off putting for punters and DJ’s alike.
If it’s a modern digital mixer it could easily still be well within headroom depending on the settings. It could be their way of reducing the risk of damage to the system without having to rely on a brick-wall limiter when someone turns up the gains too high.
The amps don’t do more or less “work” if you use a loud or quiet signal (at the same output volume). The volume dial on the amp simply attenuates the input signal.
If a venue isn’t going to take an active role in the sound side of things, then what they need to do is set the amp at the loudest possible volume (with the mixer on full-whack) to both a) avoid clipping, and b) avoid damage to the speakers. Then - as the DJ - when doing your soundcheck you take cues from the management as to the desired volume. They can always indicate “higher” or “lower” during the night, which you can then adjust YOURSELF on the mixer - all without any “forced” clipping to attain the required volume.
So let me try to sum up a few things for my own education. Please correct me if I’m wrong. I’ve played clubs and parties for a few years now, but never on my own system. Well I just started doing mobiles, I have two double 15" + tweeter cabs. Sending 1500w apiece, speakers are rated properly and the amp is matched. So last week I did a gig with 200 people my amps were at about level 7 and my mixer was certainly not clipping but was definitely really loud. But the amp was clipping like a mofo, showing me red on the limiter and sounding like shit. Now I’m sure that system should be plenty for that crowd, but it felt like I had to start maxing stuff out to be heard. Should I have taken my amp to the max? Turned down my mixer a bit, get a bigger system?? Haha idk
Well for starters, I highly doubt you’re pushing 1500w per speaker… your amp would be the size of a washing machine. Sounds like you’ve bought your gear based on PMPO ratings rather than RMS. I’m guessing your amp just isn’t powerful enough; if your mixer’s master output isn’t clipping, then the input on your amp won’t be either. It depends on whether or not the amp’s clipping detection is based on its output stage or its input one; if it’s the former, then having a different load (8 ohms vs 4 ohms, for example) can introduce clipping at less than full volume.
But regardless of all of that, if your gear isn’t going loud enough without distortion, it’s time to upgrade 
If you’re sure the speakers can take much more volume it sounds like you need a more powerful amp. What are your amp+speaker specs?
@Mcdesign Thank you sir for your answer. I will do some investigation 
Some Amps show clipping on the input rather than output
Why ? Maybe Reloops 1500w amps are the size of washing machines ? 
There are tons on 1500w amplifiers on the market that are a standard 19’ 2U size that can push out that kind of power. Crown & Behringer to name just two readily available “real” 1500w (@8ohm) off the top of my head.
However the majority of “1500” Watts Per channel amps are rated @ 4ohms, and 600W into 8 ohm boxes.
Class D architecture is a beautiful thing. Crown’s XLS series make 1500W+, weigh less than 10lbs and fit in 2 rack spaces
Oh look, people still think the number on the spec sheet represents actual RMS power. The largest Crown XLS series is rated at 1550w when bridged at 8ohms. Off the top of my head, I’d estimate that actually levels at around ~900-1000 RMS, and that’s probably just me putting too much faith in JBL. The Behringer and Reloop offerings are a joke, and wouldn’t level anywhere near that.
TBH, I have no idea. I always face the personal dilemma that mentioned previously.
Agree with both of the above points, but I, personally, wouldn’t attempt that without having the sound engineer with me to re-adjust the levels once the music starts back up. Depending on how loud it was, healthy levels on the mixer could be too low for the club and that should be compensated for as well.
In honestly have and probably will again redline mixers, not a constant red line mind you, but flashing into the red.
Example: In a regular Saturday night residency I had the Bar Manager refused to turn the Amp up, leaving me with no option but to turn my mixer up to red-red-red levels by the end of the night. The claim was that “Other Dj’s use it like that” … the other DJ’s also drove the crap out of the mixer which I did not want to do. Although I managed to get the message through after a few weeks by just refusing to turn the mixer past yellow when the owner walked in and cranked the amps up 
Never had the problem again.
A simple gesture to the engineer on duty (if there is one) to let him know that you’ll bring it down if he brings it up normally does the trick.
Another residency I had running for short bursts into the red @ peak times on the master was the accepted norm although it was a formula sound mixer and Turbosound rig, it NEVER ever sounded bad except ONCE !
A particularly big Techno DJ decided he knew best and:
A) Clipped all input channels and ran out of Channel Gain for mixing properly
B) Blew the DJ monitor in my ear - thank christ I was wearing plugs that night!
C) Blew the DJ monitor Amp. Thankfully I was able to pull the amp volumes down before damage was done to the main rig.
Check the Macro-tech & I-tech series
That was a gentle dig at MDC
On our DJM600 we have drunk resistant clear tape across the master fader at about 3/4 volume.
That’s because it’s stupidly bloody easy to accidentally hit the master fader when you’re aiming for the 4th channel fader. Made that mistake a few times tonight. What I wouldn’t give for a house mixer with a master knob.