By Ryan Hicks
Have you ever wondered why the music at a club doesn’t sound quite right?
Have you ever wondered how much of that has to do with the DJ, and how much has to do with the sound guy and the speakers?
Have you ever wondered if there is anything you can do about it?
Ah ha! Read on.
My basic pretense is this: The easiest way to kill a show is the have the DJ in control of the master volume of a room.
Let's think about this for a minute.
From the Top:
On a mixer, there are several different volume controls the DJ has to work with.
Channel Gain
Channel Fader
Booth Monitor Volume
Main (Master) Out Volume
Headphone Volume
Channel Gain:
The channel gain lets the DJ match the track volumes to each other (different production values and mastering techniques make the actual and perceived volumes different for different tracks). The *ideal way to set the channel gain is to have your EQ's set to where they are going to be when your track is all the way in and at its loudest point, and slowly turn the gain knob until your peak level is just touching '0'. Depending on your mixer, that usually means that one light of a different color (orange, blue, etc) will be blinking over the '0' mark.
That, right there, is the ideal way to set the channel gain - and I have seen very few people do it that way. To tell you the truth, I don't even know how most DJ's decide to set it. Every time I see red lights flashing, the gain knobs set all the way up, or signals going through the mixer that are so hot that the reference lights don't even move up and down, I cringe. You're ruining the music! I’m thinking about making a device so that when the DJ turns a level up to where it starts distorting the track, he’ll get a mild but extremely uncomfortable electric shock and a voice in the headphones will start saying “No no no, turn it down. Bad DJ”.
I'll get back to that later. Anyway.
Channel Fader:
After the channel gain is set, the channel fader is the slider on the mixer that allows the DJ to control how much of the available signal to put into the mix. I set my levels so that I'll have the slider all the way up when the track is at its peak. Some people like to have it down a little way so that they have some wiggle room to go up and down as the track is playing.
Booth Monitor Volume:
So the booth monitors are the speakers that are pointed at the DJ's head. Sometimes the monitor a single JBL Eon, sometimes it's a stereo pair of powered Mackies, sometimes there are the upward pointing speakers on the floor, sometimes it's a mishmush of whatever. The point of monitors is for the DJ to be able to hear a replication of what’s on the dance floor, without the delay of sound bouncing around the room.
The volume of the booth monitors are controlled by a knob on the mixer. The DJ can adjust the volume of the booth monitors so that he can do his beatmatching, listen to his headphones, or turn the volume off completely so he can listen to the main outs and get an idea of the room acoustics.
Main (Master) Out Volume:
The main out volume from the mixer goes either directly to the main speakers, or to an amp rack that controls the main speakers. If it were up to me, the main out knob (or slider) would be set in concrete so the DJ could never touch it.
Headphone Volume:
The headphone volume is a knob on the mixer that controls how loud the DJ’s headphones are. There are also different combinations of buttons, sliders, and knobs that let the DJ hear different ratios of previewing tracks to main out volumes to channel volumes – just different ways to make sure your beats and volumes are matched. At home when I’m practicing, I try to have my headphones on the lowest volume possible, so I can *barely hear. This forces me to really listen. But let me tell you, when you’re out playing, when the room is loud, when the monitors are *louder so that you can hear them over the room, you can’t hear *anything, so you have to crank the headphone volume up; and then, when you take the headphones off, because your ears have adjusted to close-range high-volume sound, you have trouble hearing your monitors and the room.
At that point, most DJ’s that I see will turn the channel gain or the master out up in order to hear the music again. This is one of the primary reasons why volume creeps up unnecessarily! The DJ’s sound experience is entirely different than the audience’s. So why should he be in control of what the audience hears?
The Point!
The DJ should be playing so that the music sounds the best (ie, by setting the channel gain properly), and the main out should be immobilized. That means that the ONLY person in charge of determining how loud the room is for the audience is the sound guy. He should have control over the amp settings and be able to determine, for the size of the room, the number of people on the floor, and the time of the night, how loud the overall volume should be.
The DJ should have control over the booth monitors so that he can hear what he needs to when he needs to, and the sound guy should have control over the volume of the room.
There is no way for a DJ to know how loud it is on the floor, so stop letting the DJ turn the main out up! People should *never have to wear earplugs; they should never have ringing ears the morning after a show, never have to run screaming from a room because the DJ wanted it louder. This is the easiest and worse way to ruin a night, is by making - it - too - loud.
And for Pete's sake, DJ's and sound guys – stop using the monitors as room fill!
Your audience should be getting about the same sound no matter what volume your monitors are at. Your monitors are for you to monitor with. The only time you should every use your monitors as room fill is if they are the only speakers you have.
Yes, if we all had a million dollars to spend on speakers and equipment and amp racks and sound guys, all of this would be easy, but we do have to make do with what’s available. However, I don’t understand how it is that major clubs that make money haven’t figured these basic things out, and why people don’t complain more to the owners about volume issues. People pay money to see world class talent, but then resources and knowledge aren’t being used properly to make the experience as good as it could be; and then people come back for more! It’s time to say something. Club-goers – you are selling yourselves short.
And, to really get things fixed, it has to be a multi-faceted change. DJ’s and sound guys and club owners have to start talking about appropriate levels for equipment.
Examples of doing it right:
Lee Burridge, before one of the Get Weirder parties in San Fran, went in before the show started and worked with the sound guy for quite a while; they were checking levels, telling each other how loud they expected to be at different times in the night. Awesome.
At the Jesse Rose show at Neumos, right when Jesse came on, one of the speakers started clipping, and one of the sound people ran up on stage, turned the mixer down, and told Jesse what was going on. Thumbs up everywhere. Perfect.
At the Sunday School for Degenerates show, the sound guy sat and watched the mixer on the indoor stage like a *hawk. Every time I heard any distortion, he would go up to whoever was DJing, didn’t matter who it was, and turned their channel gains down. Fantastic.
Examples of doing it wrong:
DJ Dan playing at Monday Night Social not too long ago, everything turned all the way up, red lines everywhere; Josh was running sound, went to turn the levels on the mixer down, Dan got up in his face yelling “Dude, you’re killin’ my energy!”.
Trust the sound guy there, buddy, people had been telling him to turn it down, and you were distorting the system, and the speakers that you were cooking were worth far more than they were paying you that night.
At one of the USC shows, I can’t remember which, they had a drum & bass side room, and it was so loud that even the hardcore jungle kids where jumping around with their hands covering their ears, and I’m talking half the audience; it looked like they were trying to keep their brains from leaking out. DJ’s – if you see something like that, turn it down, yo. For real.
Conclusion:
So everybody, pay attention.
DJ’s - learn how to set your levels right, and if you see somebody doing it wrong, tell them. It’s embarrassing that so many people that have been doing it forever still aren’t doing it right, just because nobody’s willing to tell them.
Sound guys – don’t set up and then leave. That sucks. Over the course of the night, the volume and EQ should change to fit the music and the mood. And that means that you have to be there to adjust things. Don’t trust the DJ to know how to do that on his own – he can’t hear! And don’t use bad cables and other equipment – do regularly scheduled basic maintenance. We can hear the difference. Also, look to see if people have ear plugs or napkin pieces in their ears. Clarity, punch, and balance are good; pure volume does not replace good sound.
Party-goers – if it’s too loud, tell somebody! The owner, the manager, the sound guy, somebody. Call your mom, I don’t care. Speak out.
It’s not going to get any better if nobody says anything.
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