Boosting CDJ volume

Alexi

Drench Audio
VIP Junglist
Joined
May 21, 2007
Location
Bristol/Southampton
Alright people, I bought a Numark Axis 9 off ebay a few days ago, and so far I've been very pleased with it.

However, the signal seems to be a lot quieter than my turntables, so if I've been mixing vinyl, and then when I mix a CD in, I have to turn the gain up to full on the channel, as well as turning up the master gain on the mixing, and this makes the rest of my mix after this point a lot louder than the first half.

There isn't any volume level on the CDJ (That i can see anyway)

I have an old preamp from my guitar days, and plugged this in between the CDJ and mixer, but although louder, the sound is distorted, and way too many wires.

Is there anything I can do about this, or in general are turntables louder than CDJs?

Cheers

PS Kit (If it helps)

CDJ: Numark Axis 9
Mixer: Numark DM1002 MKII
Turntables: Stanton ST8 - 100
 
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Mate... try plugging the cd deck into the line input.

Mixers have phono (vinyl decks) and line (cd players) inputs.

The volume difference is why there are different inputs on mixers.
 
he hasnt plugged it into the wrong input..... Phono in has a pre amp built into it..... the signal from a deck is VERY quiet............ where as the output from a CD deck is preamped already before it leaves the CD deck unit...... so it can plug straight into a Line In..... a line in doestn have a amp.... so, anyway... just after the phono input of your mixer is a small amp..... if he had plugged it into here it would distort.... and be too loud..... the same as if you plugged two amps into each other..... and ran a signal through them.....

therefore quietness isnt the problem if he plugged it into the phono.... quite the opposite.... Hence why when he used his guiter pre-amp it distorted......


The output of your axis may just be lower than the rest... just pump your gain up.... or.... if you look around the deck there might be a screw that raises the output signal??
 
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You're right Rocksteady, I was mixing shit up.

The Axis 9 is exactly as loud as the rest of CDJs that I know as I've got two - you don't need massive boosts. Either the player is fucked or the mixer inputs are fucked.
 
Well I've tried plugging it into both the phono and line outputs, and switching the switch on the back of the mixer between Phono & Line Aux but the output levels roughly the same

I've looked through the axis manual as well and theres no way of raising gain on the actual player.

Cheers for the help but I guess I'll just have to fiddle with the mixers level whilst mixing. Should make me concentrate on the mix a bit more lol
 
If your burning cd's, check your tunes are 320kbps anythin less will be fairly quiet anyway.
 
the volume depends on various things. mainly to do with cds you use, the burner you have, the software you use to burn and the level of the track itself. trial and error will find the loudest output but at the end of the day, you'll have to get used to using your ears to hear if the tunes are matched equally unless you have ave independent levels meters on your mixer

I use a numark dxm 09 mixer and to ensure the levels are the same before dropping the tune, i set the eqs to howd theyd be when playing by itself, forward the track to after the intro, check the level meter on the mixer, and then re-cue the song as you would.

this way ive found no matter how loud or quiet the cd is, the gains match with my technics.

Btw i use a cdj 800 and almost all of my cds are at different gains. shit but thats the way it goes im afraid.

hope this helps and makes sense.

Russ
 
the volume depends on various things. mainly to do with cds you use, the burner you have, the software you use to burn and the level of the track itself. trial and error will find the loudest output but at the end of the day, you'll have to get used to using your ears to hear if the tunes are matched equally unless you have ave independent levels meters on your mixer

I use a numark dxm 09 mixer and to ensure the levels are the same before dropping the tune, i set the eqs to howd theyd be when playing by itself, forward the track to after the intro, check the level meter on the mixer, and then re-cue the song as you would.

this way ive found no matter how loud or quiet the cd is, the gains match with my technics.

Btw i use a cdj 800 and almost all of my cds are at different gains. shit but thats the way it goes im afraid.

hope this helps and makes sense.

Russ

:ditto:

Even when using vinyl I check the levels are even.
 
yeah me too I look at the level monitor on my mixer, everything fully in the red? Yup, we're good to go... :teeth:


I do it on my vinyl as well. it makes for better mixes all round, only takes a couple of seconds and means i can giggle at all my mates who don't heheh... :not_worth
 
mp3s are always quieter than vinyl, I import my mp3s into magix audio lab, u can trackmark, cut the beginnings off, and boost all the volume to a nice range in an analyzer then burn baby burn, the cd channels dont need the gains whacked up, an each track on cd is similar in volume ;)
 
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