Shrill – large sound systems

[Bob the Builder]

I don’t often get to use very large Sound Systems. If they are set up right they are not too bad at all. However, I do have problems with sometimes the mid / highs getting very shrilly sometimes.
The basic problem is that in most set ups, the DJing console is behind the speakers and there is no fallback monitors. So what you are hearing in the booth is very different from what the dancers are hearing on the floor.
I’ve tried to get around the problem by,
Walking out into the middle of the dance floor every few songs, to make sure the volume level is not too high.
Listening out for the high trumpets (and sometimes female vocals) while in the booth and reducing the mid highs on the equalizer.

However I’m still missing shrill points, in particular when you have the head phone on previewing or, if you are just trying to study the floor and your attention may not be on the sound quality.

I think in an ideal situation the DJing booth would be facing the speakers (a bit like a sound booth at a live gig) but in reality this kind of set up would be very uncommon for DJ’s.

Has anyone come across any other fixes to this problem?

Brian

[LazyP]

I think in an ideal situation the DJing booth would be facing the speakers (a bit like a sound booth at a live gig) but in reality this kind of set up would be very uncommon for DJ’s.

This is the way we have it at the local venue were we usually have our dances. It's a concert hall and the dj booth is next to the sound booth which is behind and above the dance floor so you get both good sound and a very good view of the dance floor.
Almost perfect, the volume on the floor can be a bit different though since I have a larger distance to the speakers than the dancers so the volume check is still necessary from time to time but not very often.

[Skippy]

BTB,

I don't think its possible to capture and prevent ALL "shrill" points. Unless of course all of your mp3s/accs/oggs etc have been "levelled" or you are using dynamic/on-the-fly levelling. Lots of the music i have has been recorded at different volumes and rendered digitalling using different settings, making it hard to capture these changes quickly enough.

I do run a dynamic leveller which helps sort out about 85% of the spikes and also run an anti-clipping tool at the same time.

It would be nice to have speakers in front of us and be djing like a proper concert, but in Aus there's not that sort of sophistication or space available in the setups at the venues you get to. Take for instance the fun pit, there's just not the space to do it.

Have I missed the question? (having a vague day)

[Bob the Builder]

I do run a dynamic leveller which helps sort out about 85% of the spikes and also run an anti-clipping tool at the same time.

I think this may be the way to go. I've read about this kind of software in regard to automatic equalising in the recording and matering studio.
What are you using?

Thanks

Brian

[Skippy]

I do run a dynamic leveller which helps sort out about 85% of the spikes and also run an anti-clipping tool at the same time.

I think this may be the way to go. I've read about this kind of software in regard to automatic equalising in the recording and matering studio.
What are you using?

hahaa, can you guess what I am going to say? I should be getting predicable by now. hahahahaha

JRiver Media Center is what I use. hahaha. It's soooooooooooo gooooood. (and no I'm not being paid to sell it, i am just happy to share good product with people).

[Skippy]

see this image. It shows the options available and were the "current peak %" is for the track playing. You can either go auto or manual on your replay gain. The clip protection is a beautiful thing also, no more will you hear those gawd aweful ear piercing spikes.

[Bob the Builder]

He he, you the man.
I'll have to take a good look at it real soon.

Thanks Skippy.

Brian

[Skippy]

He he, you the man.
I'll have to take a good look at it real soon.

Thanks Skippy.

Brian

hehe, I'll remember you said this. I'll be using this setup again in lismore - but not from a laptop, probably will use my main server machine.