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Topic: volume normalize / restricter??? - Page: 1

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Hi folks,
does VDJ have the function to be able to 'normalize' audio tracks, or limit all audio tracks to play at a certain volume level?
We have a noise limiter in a club which we cannot bypass so I want to be able to set VDJ up to only play songs upto the safety noise level, and not above,
When the noise limiter in the club kicks in it cuts out the amps for like 3 secs, which is terrible? I want to invest in a system which can control the level of 'noise' out??

Thanks,
Phil
 
Posted Fri 23 May 08 @ 5:52 am
Pretty narrow minded way to protect the speakers... Usually a limiter is used that just
compresses the signal heavily at a defined maximum level treshold, not cut the signal
altogehter... for 3 seconds? Awful.

VDj does currently not have any kind of internal limiter / compressor.

You could use the mp3gain software to normalize your mp3s, but that won't assure
a constant output of the soundcard, and you probably have a mixer which sets the
level again, so not really a solution. I think it's now possible to assign VSTs to the
master output of VDj so if you mix internally (no hardware mixer), you could use any
VST limiter/compressor that works with VDj. Or at least will be possible soon.

But the best solution for the club would be to set the hardware limiter to work as
it should, or get your own for the mixer output.

Ps.: The term you are searching for is signal. Noise is a random, usually unwanted
signal.
 
Yes I agree the limiter is awful! unfortunately they're not willing to 'hear' that!
Thanks for the input I will look at 'levelling' all my mp3's so that the volume of every track stays fairly similiar then just setting the external mixer volume to stay under the 'trigger' volume,

Thanks,
 
 

Very Interesting erxon, do you have to re-scan and reset your cue point's after using it.

I've tried one of these types of programs a few weeks ago (only 10 tracks) and it lost my BPM's and cue points.


 
jimmy b wrote :

Very Interesting erxon, do you have to re-scan and reset your cue point's after using it.

I've tried one of these types of programs a few weeks ago (only 10 tracks) and it lost my BPM's and cue points.



Yes, because changing Gain will change file and you have to rescan again.
On the topic, VDJ has good Autogain option in settings, you can try it on demo version.
 
DJ-ALF wrote :


On the topic, VDJ has good Autogain option in settings, you can try it on demo version.


I Know it has, no need to try the demo, lol

Got it set at Always+Remember, the reason I asked about the mp3gain is that I have alot of older mp3 files that have a slightly lower volume, than the rest of my files, due to using a different mp3 converter a while back.

If I have re scan then forget it. I'll live with having to use my gains on my mixer.

 
jimmy b wrote :
I Know it has, no need to try the demo, lol

I was referring to user iniquityclothing ;)

jimmy b wrote :
I'll live with having to use my gains on my mixer.

Not really as you just need to set up Gain in VDJ once per track and it will remember your preference ;)
 
DJ-ALF wrote :


Not really as you just need to set up Gain in VDJ once per track and it will remember your preference ;)


How do you do that then, as I said earlier, I use Always+rememder.
 
jimmy b wrote :
DJ-ALF wrote :


Not really as you just need to set up Gain in VDJ once per track and it will remember your preference ;)


How do you do that then, as I said earlier, I use Always+rememder.


Just by setting the gain internally. Load a song, set it to any value you want, and anytime
you will reload this song it will be set to that value if you use the remember (or auto+rem.)
option. :)

By setting the gain I mean on the internal mixer, you cannot adjust the gain that is analyzed for
the song.
 

Right, get it now.

Personally though it's just as easy for me to use the gain's on the mixer, but's lets just me :)

Thanks erxon
 
jimmy b wrote :

Right, get it now.

Personally though it's just as easy for me to use the gain's on the mixer, but's lets just me :)

Thanks erxon

Of course, hardware gain is the best solution.
 
I see in VDJ in config you can specify "Auto Gain" to 0dB which plays all tracks at 0 gain,
Does VDJ analyse the tracks volume and adjust the gain accordingly?
 
iniquityclothing wrote :
I see in VDJ in config you can specify "Auto Gain" to 0dB which plays all tracks at 0 gain,
Does VDJ analyse the tracks volume and adjust the gain accordingly?

Yes. In latest version you have "Auto" that does the same, but there is also "Auto+Remember" which is even better, if VDJ does not gain properly, if you set it up manually it will remember that preset even the next time you load the track. Nice feature, download latest demo 5.07.
 
jimmy b wrote :

Right, get it now.

Personally though it's just as easy for me to use the gain's on the mixer, but's lets just me :)

Thanks erxon


I agree, I prefer manual beat mixing and level / eq matching. No sweat jim.
 
WARNING WARNING WARNING!!!!!!!!!

Could a VDJ Teamer please tell us, does VDJ do "mean level" analysis, or "peak level" analysis?

Seems most likely to be mean, but I'd like to be sure.

Most if not all free volume levellers (MP3Gain) do peak levelling, which will still leave you with perceptible volume differences. Also BEWARE OF CLIPPING when increasing the volume of quiet tunes.

Apparently 5.07 handles this issue quite well, but if you still have problems try "Platinum Notes"

@ "iniquityclothing" Sorry to hear you're having issues with this too, annoying isn't it?

Have you suggested to your club's managers they give their sound tech a stern telling-off? Don't they get that people will start leaving if the music keeps cutting out? I take it these guys are only interested in the contents of the cash register!! Way too common a problem in the UK!
 
Apologies to bump this old topic...

Is it possible in VDJ latest versions to normalize / restricter / limiter/ same gain etc for mp3s. Some of my old mp3s have low gain so when I cue and play these songs it's less loud. I do know about Auto gain option.

Many thanks
Krish
 
Apologies again as my last post did not elicit any response...can someone respond.. how one can Normalize VDj output, plz?
 
I think the best thing is just to set gain to "auto + remember". Then, for those older songs that don't sound so loud, just turn up the gain a bit in vdj until it sounds right. At least vdj will remember it for next time. Just be careful not to turn it up so much it goes into clipping and sounds distorted.

Like you said, it's just older songs where this tends to happen, and that's because they are not as heavily compressed as newer songs are, so they don't sound as loud. There isn't a built in compressor, but you can download a free "vst"one and use that. It would take a lot of time to turn it on and get it set up right for each song that you're going to play, so you might want to think about getting an audio editor and actually altering the file yourself so then you don't have to do it each time in vdj.

Hope that helps
 
Yeah, the best solution is to actually modify the files themselves, so that you don't need any extra tools running 'live' - because if you set something up to just give a general compression, it probably won't be enough for those old tracks, and it will be too much for new ones (that are compressed to hell already).

Use an audio editor such as Audacity and (if you can) a multi-band compressor which splits the audio into three bands (low, mid, high) and compresses each separately, so as to avoid 'pumping'.

You should be able to make those old tracks sound really modern that way.
 
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