LOOKING FOR EXPERIENCED ADVISE

[awanteelpsyvieja]

finally, after a long wait, my brand new cdjs arrived and i spent the whole day mixing and having fun and some questions arised. i've been listening and downloading goa and psy and have my little and evergrowing collection. the only problem is that all the files i own are .mp3, whichh is not a problem in itself, but i know that mp3 have a much lower quality than .wav.

so my question is, which is the most used method to carry music, because, even with a 32gb pen drive, you dont have much space if you use .wavs (and carrying two 1tb hard drive seems unpractical and expensive)

another question: can the regular raver really differenciate quality sound btw mp3 and wav? does it really matter?

another question: which is in your opinion the best way to complement a 2 cdjs + mixer eg: launchpad, effect machine (not english speaker and dk how it is called), etc.

any mixingwise recommendation for someone whose first real encounter with mixing was yesterday?

people here seems to be really experienced both in mixing and in psyknowledge so im all ears:D

[mars]

Your post is likely to raise 2 or 3 fights alone!

 

First, I assume you're unwilling to play in CDR, which, IMO is a good idea nowadays. Most CDJ's have USB sockets and you create much less waste like that.

 

IMO practically noone is able to make a difference between a wav and a mp3 encoded with Lame -V 0 or in 320 kbps.

Many people here won't agree despite very serious studies, and I accept that, and I will let them argue over who has the most perfect ears...

I will agree though it's a destructive encoding (removes some frequencies that don't fall into the human's psychoacoustic model). In any case please don't play mp3s that aren't encoded with Lame, or that are <= 192kbps.

 

Another solution is to encode in FLAC. You save 1/3 of the space. Now your CDJ's might not be able to play them.

 

Yet, the best solution is just to keep Wavs on a couple of 128 or 256GB USB drives. One minute of music in wav takes 44100*2*2*60 = 10.584.000 bytes = 10 MB.

You can fit 12.094 minutes of wav music on a 128GB drive. ~160+ albums, or ~1450 tracks.

Anoebis on this very forum still plays CDs, and he wanders from party to party with a suitcase full of them. That must be close to 100 CDs. And he plays three different styles.

 

So, can't you make your choice for a DJ set over 1450 tracks, or can't you afford two times $30 ?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_hi_5?rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A541966%2Cn%3A1292110011%2Cn%3A3151491%2Cp_n_size_browse-bin%3A10285018011%2Ck%3A128gb+usb+3.0+flash+drive&keywords=128gb+usb+3.0+flash+drive&ie=UTF8&qid=1481903757

 

 

The only thing you can complement your CDJs with right now is a very good set of headphones. Apart from that what's important at your stage is to focus on your technique.

So the best piece of advice I can give is: practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice...

...and be patient! The reward will come.

[Padmapani]

another question: can the regular raver really differenciate quality sound btw mp3 and wav?

let's phrase that a little differently:

can your average psytrance producer differentiate quality sound wise between 320kbps mp3 and wav in his studio?

my answer to that question is no. some might disagree, but even those would most likely fail to differentiate them in a double blind experiment.

your average raver in a club (with much worse acoustics and a lot more background noise than in any studio) definitely won't notice.

[mundo]

The average raver is already with damaged hearing...

Use any good monitors/headphones and ask any healthy small kid. It should be able to distinguish between mp3 and wav.

Even if you don't use iphone/crappy headphones/living in a industrial zone/ listening to loud/harsh music, you will naturally lose some hearing, because of the aging process.

[technosomy]

kind of depends on the venue and your monitors, accoustics etc doesn't it??

if you have mp3 cranked, as apposed to wav, no where near as much distortion

but you gotta keep it the same, if you mixing mp3 with wav, depending on your encoding, you gonna have issues

 

good headphones

 

and yes practice practice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and no full on!!!!!

[acid-brain]

320kbps mp3 is fine, even 256kbps is fine, listen to the double blind studies, not what people tell you.

[Lightforce]

Now AAC is preferable. The quality of a 256 kbps AAC file is equivalent to a 320 kbps mp3 and your ear will not ne able to notice any differences above.

[the goa constrictor]

your average raver in a club (with much worse acoustics and a lot more background noise than in any studio) definitely won't notice.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^ 

this.

1000%

[awanteelpsyvieja]

the question about sound quality was just something that occurred to me but i dont want to start a hearing-war (?)

i am more interested in what experienced dj's can advise me about mixing, though practice a lot seems to be the only

important advice.

 

Your post is likely to raise 2 or 3 fights alone!

 

First, I assume you're unwilling to play in CDR, which, IMO is a good idea nowadays. Most CDJ's have USB sockets and you create much less waste like that.

 

IMO practically noone is able to make a difference between a wav and a mp3 encoded with Lame -V 0 or in 320 kbps.

Many people here won't agree despite very serious studies, and I accept that, and I will let them argue over who has the most perfect ears...

I will agree though it's a destructive encoding (removes some frequencies that don't fall into the human's psychoacoustic model). In any case please don't play mp3s that aren't encoded with Lame, or that are <= 192kbps.

 

Another solution is to encode in FLAC. You save 1/3 of the space. Now your CDJ's might not be able to play them.

 

Yet, the best solution is just to keep Wavs on a couple of 128 or 256GB USB drives. One minute of music in wav takes 44100*2*2*60 = 10.584.000 bytes = 10 MB.

You can fit 12.094 minutes of wav music on a 128GB drive. ~160+ albums, or ~1450 tracks.

Anoebis on this very forum still plays CDs, and he wanders from party to party with a suitcase full of them. That must be close to 100 CDs. And he plays three different styles.

 

So, can't you make your choice for a DJ set over 1450 tracks, or can't you afford two times $30 ?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_hi_5?rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A541966%2Cn%3A1292110011%2Cn%3A3151491%2Cp_n_size_browse-bin%3A10285018011%2Ck%3A128gb+usb+3.0+flash+drive&keywords=128gb+usb+3.0+flash+drive&ie=UTF8&qid=1481903757

 

 

The only thing you can complement your CDJs with right now is a very good set of headphones. Apart from that what's important at your stage is to focus on your technique.

So the best piece of advice I can give is: practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice...

...and be patient! The reward will come.

thanks man, i'm feeling quite discouraged after my first mixing sessions. but i will endure the quest for my very own psysound

[awanteelpsyvieja]

kind of depends on the venue and your monitors, accoustics etc doesn't it??

if you have mp3 cranked, as apposed to wav, no where near as much distortion

but you gotta keep it the same, if you mixing mp3 with wav, depending on your encoding, you gonna have issues

 

good headphones

 

and yes practice practice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and no full on!!!!!

why no full on? there are some excellent full on tracks.

[psytones]

You know the Gain knob above the EQ? It can be (careful now) used to adjust the intensity of the sound, so if your playying an old album with low sound quality or smth, you can Gain it up to become more equal to the other track you might be mixing it with. I think the mp3 and wav thing, can be more felt then heard,

 

About DJing. EQ is key, timing is everything