Why are my mixer's light meters hitting red?

[streetspirit]

I finally bought a speaker yesterday (KRK Rokit 6) and I noticed that my mixer's (Ecler Nuo 2.0) light meters hit in the reds. I've tried getting the levels down by having the master volume a quarter of the way up and by turning down the gains but it doesn't seem to do much. I have 2 Technics connected to the Nuo 2.0 with vinyl records.

[DJNR]

Either turn the volume on your KRKs up and turn your master down, or turn your gains down.

[The Blackest]

The red means you are spinning HOT FIYA SON!!!! Play dat ish louder!!!!!!!!!1111


No seriously adjust your monitors.

[streetspirit]

I tried what you guys said above and the only thing that works is turning down my gains all the way down, which sucks because I'm use to running my gains at 12 o'clock, along with the highs, mids and lows.

So should I be worried about my mixer clipping all the way up into 10 dB?

[drop1]

I tried what you guys said above and the only thing that works is turning down my gains all the way down, which sucks because I'm use to running my gains at 12 o'clock, along with the highs, mids and lows.

So should I be worried about my mixer clipping all the way up into 10 dB?
You dont just put your gains at 12 oclock, you put them where they need to be to give you the correct amount of signal.

[light-o-matic]

On the Ecler, the setting of the master knob has NO effect on the meter reading. The right setting to look at is the channel gain.
And yea, you set it where you need to set it.

Since you are using Technics (I assume you mean Technics turntables, NOT cd players), there's no way you could plug it in wrong that could cause this.. unless you are using some kind of external preamp. But some cartridges have really high output and if you have to turn the gains COMPLETELY down and still can't get the level right, then you might have a prob. But as long as you can get the level right at some setting of the gain, you are ok. But according to the specs, the Nuo can handle carts with output up to 56 millivolts, which is pretty high.

[streetspirit]

Well, what I did is put the gains down all the way and turned the master knob all the way up. From there I pushed up the gains some, to about 8 o'clock, leaving me at 0-2 dB. However, with tracks that are heavy on the mids it clips into 2 dB easily so I have to start turning down the mids and lows to get the meter back to 0 dB.

[Capitan]

What you need to do is set your gain structure properly.

The following article takes you through it step by step...

http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2011/09/a-practical-guide-to-volume-settings-for-djs/

[streetspirit]

What you need to do is set your gain structure properly.

The following article takes you through it step by step...

http://www.digitaldjtips.com/2011/09/a-practical-guide-to-volume-settings-for-djs/

Good read. It shed some more light on the topic. Basically what I'm doing now is keeping the gains all the way down and slight adjustments on the mids and lows to keep me at 0 dB, pushing 2 dB a little.

[light-o-matic]

Pushing +2 dB is no problem whatsoever on that mixer, it has a very good amount of headroom. I usually peak at +2 because it's much easier to glance down and know you're at the right level when you have one red light going. It's not a problem. Even +4 is ok on that mixer.

[streetspirit]

Pushing +2 dB is no problem whatsoever on that mixer, it has a very good amount of headroom. I usually peak at +2 because it's much easier to glance down and know you're at the right level when you have one red light going. It's not a problem. Even +4 is ok on that mixer.

How'd you figure how much headroom is available?

[Estacy]

push the gains until it sounds rubbish. For the Ecler thats beyond the meters, when my meters were full in the red (not moving) then the sound became horrid.

[light-o-matic]

There are measurement tools that techs/engineers can use to measure headroom.. but if you listen carefully you can get a pretty good idea without any measurements.. just play some music with the channel fader at full, and turn the gain up until you're hitting like +7 on the meter.. but keep the master pretty low and your controls on the speakers pretty low.. so that the volume is just medium coming out of the speakers... Now, slowly bring the gain up and down and listen carefully... You'll hear how it's nice and clear when the meters are hitting 0.. and it doesn't change really (except for the volume going up) when you hit +2, and +4 still sounds fine.. But if you bring it to +10 it starts to sound just a little bit "squashed" and if you push it up from there (all reds lit) you will definitely hear a difference. Then turn it back down and you'll hear the difference as it cleans up.

[ampnation]

...and if you push it up from there (all reds lit) you will definitely hear a difference. Then turn it back down and you'll hear the difference as it cleans up.

Possibly the difference one would hear with all reds would be silence combined with the smell of smoke coming from the powered speakers' amp modules.

[light-o-matic]

Possibly the difference one would hear with all reds would be silence combined with the smell of smoke coming from the powered speakers' amp modules.

Not if he does as I told him:


keep the master pretty low and your controls on the speakers pretty low.. so that the volume is just medium coming out of the speakers...

[streetspirit]

Good thing I started this thread and you guys provided the info, if not I would have still been running my gains at 12 o'clock with my meters clipping into +10 dB on my new KRK Rokit 6.