Mastering a digital DJ-set!?!

[volcomicity87]

Hi Guys,

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to audio engineering and the like, so if it shows (horrifically) - please bear with me, your patience on this is much appreciated

I've just been drawing to an end a DJ-set (mixed digitally with software) that I've been working on for the last few months or so. It's sounding much better than I had planned on (definitely a perfectionist on that front), however on closer inspection - I think it could be taken down a few notches by the overall audio quality - hence my coming here for the advice of a few craftsmen in the know!

I think for the better part this drop in quality is down to me using VirtualDJ 'Pro' v7.0 (or treating the process with utter nonchalance, in other words! haha sorry about this.. ). All the tracks are in 320 kbps and I have a soundcard which helps to give a reasonable latency/quality, but played on a sound-system I think the overall quality would definitely take away from the mix in a big way (unless I do a little magic before putting it out there). So...

1) Should I just give up on VDJ pick up a new mixing software (if so, which would you recommend)? Is the audio quality going to suffer to such an extent to make it absolutely necessary, or can I record in WAV and do some mastering to make it reasonably acceptable (given that this is just sort of a hobby, and I doubt I'll be "going pro" anytime soon)?

2) What would be the general process (or mastering techniques) necessary to get the mix upto a decent level?

Ideally, I'm aiming for the 'warm' sort of sound that can so often be missing from digital recordings. As a general sort of outline, I was thinking about using audacity to normalize all the files to about 3-6db below peak to give a bit of headroom, and decreasing the mid-high EQ ranges 1-2db whilst increasing the low ranges about the same, as a method that has a mechanism currently beyond my understanding (I read it up in an article called 'Warming up your Mixes' on mpc-tutor.com - for anyone that would like to know where I plucked that from! lol).

After that I was thinking about using the 'PSP Vintage Warmer' compressor to touch it up a bit.. (unfortunately I'm not sure exactly how I'd go about that either?). On a whole, I'm just aiming to do the set as much justice as possible considering how excited I am about it

Does this sound like a good plan-of-action to you guys? What advice could you give (if any)? Thanks for your time, your advice is massively appreciated on this!

Ryan

 

[Red Mastering]

so are you gonna master your dj set yourself ?
oh dear...
this in no way to give you answer for that, it takes years to learn mastering skills, possibly 10 years or so,
how it could be even possible to give you prescription for this ?

 

[volcomicity87]

so are you gonna master your dj set yourself ?
oh dear...
this in no way to give you answer for that, it takes years to learn mastering skills, possibly 10 years or so,
how it could be even possible to give you prescription for this ?

Hi Red,

Well, I wasn't thinking about mastering it to a high-level - one that an experienced audio engineer would aim for, as I know that takes years of practice, an acoustically treated room, the right equipment etc etc. I was just thinking to do some basic adjustments to the initial tracks (normalization, noise filtering), the EQ settings (have a look at what I wrote above ) and some adjustments afterwards to the whole mix (such as compression, amplification) to replace the digital feel of the mix with a warmer, more organic one. Do you (or anyone else) have some basic advice on how to do this and how to definitely NOT do this?? As I was saying before, the main aim is to make sure the final product isn't ruined by the overall sound quality.

Thanks, Ryan

 

[Red Mastering]

ok.
definitively left normalization and noise filtering, what the heck you want to filter if it's all mix from mastered music ?
you can use delicate compression at the end and limiter with 1-2dB GR, but it really depends on your dj set mix,
does it need it ?
using compressors does not necessary add organic warm to the music,
but it gets to the point I started, you asking me how to build a house, right, never done it before -
and I tell you - it ain't easy,
do you want to try mastering yourself ?,
grab some books and get some basic theory about audio engineering,
read those books and try to utilize it yourself,
repeat,
get back here when you understand what normalization, compression and digital feel is,
seriously I am not trying to be smart a$$,
I am honest and reading your posts means your knowledge about audio is very minimal (no offense though as everyone started somewhere)
mastering is result of years of learning and practicing,
get basic terminology first - my sincere advice

good luck