Mixing between different sound qualities?

[DJ-Veaux]

I wanted to bring this up as even though many of the tracks I mix are 192-320 (cd quality to itunes quality), there are still some tracks I mix that are 128 (I try not to mix lower than that). I've noticed that when you go from a 320 to a 128 things start to sound drastically off when you're mixing them (i.e. the kick is louder than the other, one track sounds brighter than the other, etc.)

And yes I know some of you don't mix lower than 192, but for the ones who have to take on this challenge I'd love to know what you guys do when you stumble on this sort of problem. Right now all I do is just do a regular transition (maybe with some eq work) and it sounds like absolute crap.

[Skasja]

The obvious answer is: try to get the track in higher quality. Why doesn't that work for you?

[DJ-Veaux]

The obvious answer is: try to get the track in higher quality. Why doesn't that work for you?

Because sometime of the songs I want to play you can't get in 320kbps (*cough* *cough* Laidback Luke's Bootleg of Will Smith's Miami *cough* *cough*).

[Skasja]

I would 'switch' that song...

[oddnumber]

Maybe stop steeling music and start DL from legal sites like beatport


Because sometime of the songs I want to play you can't get in 320kbps (*cough* *cough* Laidback Luke's Bootleg of Will Smith's Miami *cough* *cough*).

[DJ-Veaux]

Maybe stop steeling music and start DL from legal sites like beatport

You can't buy this bootleg :blank:

Look, I know the easiest way is to buy higher quality, but I wanted to know that for the few tracks that don't have that option if anyone had any special tips on mixing these lower quality tracks?

[oddnumber]

low quality file is low quality file
there is nothing you can do to make it sound good
can you make a sport car out of ford pinto?

[alazydj]

Use a bitcrusher on the outgoing track :zany:

[DJ-Veaux]

low quality file is low quality file
there is nothing you can do to make it sound good
can you make a sport car out of ford pinto?

No, but even though you will never be able to make a sport car out of a ford pinto you can still mod the ford pinto to be a bit more like a sports car.

[Andrew B]

Just to clarify, iTunes quality (256kbps AAC) is the same as a 320kbps mp3. That's the lowest quality I would play (or own). CD quality is 1411kbps.

If you can't find a high quality version, then don't play it.

[DJ-Veaux]

Just to clarify, iTunes quality (256kbps AAC) is the same as a 320kbps mp3. That's the lowest quality I would play (or own). CD quality is 1411kbps.

If you can't find a high quality version, then don't play it.

I thought cd quality was 192kbps?

[Andrew B]

I thought cd quality was 192kbps?

No, it's 1411kbps. That's the same as WAV, ALAC, or AIFF. No mp3 (or any lossy format) approaches CD quality.

[thehadgi]

The best is when someone comes up with a song pulled up on YouTube on their phone in 240p mode for a request. :blank:

[TCMuc]

If you can't find a legal high quality version, then don't play it.

Fixed that for you. ;)

But that's basically the point: just because a track isn't legally available does not give you the right to pirate it!


So if you stick to legal sources of music you will never have the problem of mixing low quality tracks, which is why noone here will/should give you any advice on how to deal with it imho.


Besides: even 192 kbps is probably not good enough for DJing... 320 kbps should be the absolute minimum. The difference in quality usually becomes more obvious on bigger (and better) systems, so if you play in clubs using anything below 320 kbps probably won't go unnoticed..

[Raahil]

I wanted to bring this up as even though many of the tracks I mix are 192-320 (cd quality to itunes quality), there are still some tracks I mix that are 128 (I try not to mix lower than that). I've noticed that when you go from a 320 to a 128 things start to sound drastically off when you're mixing them (i.e. the kick is louder than the other, one track sounds brighter than the other, etc.)

And yes I know some of you don't mix lower than 192, but for the ones who have to take on this challenge I'd love to know what you guys do when you stumble on this sort of problem. Right now all I do is just do a regular transition (maybe with some eq work) and it sounds like absolute crap.

I can relate to you. I play Bollywood music and some of the bootlegs that were produced 6 years and earlier are in lower quality, can't be bought and have not been remastered by the producers. I still play them sometimes (although I try to avoid doing so. There's nothing you can do about it imho. As long as they don't ruin the mood on the dancefloor, you just need to listen and adjust the track gains accordingly, obviously with a sacrifise on actual sound quality at the end.

Another way to get round it is, try making your own bootlegs!

[JackStalk]

If you can't find a high quality version, then don't play it.

This. There's a ton of tracks I'd love to play if they had a high quality version available. If I absolutely HAD to play a shitty youtube ripped track, I'd mess with the EQs to make it sound as good as possible (but it'd still sound terrible). I stay away from anything I can't either purchase in high quality or download from the producer's website or soundcloud account.