Chapter 13
In This Chapter
Setting up and connecting your turntables properly for DJ use
Connecting everything to your mixer, and your mixer to everything
Troubleshooting why you’re not hearing what you should be hearing
You’ve spent a heap of cash on your new turntables, CD decks and a mixer or a digital DJ setup, bought an amplifier loud enough to deafen the back row in a stadium, and everything’s turned on and ready to go – except you can’t hear anything.
You simply have to know the chain of inputs and outputs to check that you’ve plugged all your equipment into the right place.
This chapter assumes you’re connecting turntables, CD decks or MP3 players directly to the mixer; digital DJ setups add some extra complications, so be sure to read Chapter 9 for specific information about digital DJing after reading this chapter.
Some turntables, CD decks and mixers use digital connections to keep audio quality at maximum. In order to make use of them, your mixer must have a digital input too. USB, FireWire and S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format) combine both sides of the stereo signal and send it through one cable. The mixer then separates out the stereo sound and plays it back at crystal-clear quality.
RCA connections are also known as phono connections, but I’ll continue to call them RCA to stop any confusion with the phono/line terminology for inputs on the back of the mixer.
These RCA connections are the most common connections you use as inputs to, and outputs from your DJ mixer. The connections come in pairs, one for each side of the stereo signal, and each of them is a different colour. The left signal cable is usually white, although it can be yellow or black, but the right-hand side of the audio signal is always red. The two ‘R’s make remembering which cable plugs into where easy: simply remember that Red = Right.
S/PDIF digital connections mentioned above often use the same RCA style of connection. These are usually coloured yellow (just to add to the confusion!).
Used for amplifier connections and microphones, XLRs are the preferred connection for professional audio equipment, because they’re capable of reducing interference when using long cables, and because they lock into place so can’t accidentally pop out if a customer falls on them.
XLR connections (see Figure 13-1) come in two different flavours:
XLR microphone (mic) inputs and master outputs on DJ mixers often work with cables and connectors that are both balanced and unbalanced. However, when buying a new microphone, amplifier or mixer, if you’re unsure of the connections of the equipment you use, it’s best to check the specifications.
A quarter-inch jack (also known as a TRS jack), is what you find at the end of your DJ headphones. It’s much larger that what you may have at the end of your iPod headphones (which is a 3.5-millimetre jack).
Quarter-inch jacks also come in balanced and unbalanced varieties like XLRs. Balanced connectors are mono, so you need two of them, but an unbalanced connector can carry a stereo signal, so it only needs one cable and jack plug (as found on your headphones). If you need to know whether the jack you’re holding in your hand is mono or stereo, look at the black bands on the tip; one band means it’s mono, two bands mean it’s a stereo jack – as shown in Figure 13-2.
The first time you look at the back of a mixer, all the different inputs and outputs can seem quite daunting, but after you’ve plugged in a couple of pieces of equipment you’ll find out just how simple it is back there.
For more information on mixers and any functions you’re unsure of that I mention in this section, refer to Chapter 10. Chapter 9 has information about connecting a computer to your mixer.
Turntables are unique in their connection because they’re the only items of DJ equipment that plug into the phono input on the mixer and they have a thin ground wire (also called an earth) connection that you need to connect to prevent electrical hum and static from the turntables.
Connecting is simple:
The red RCA is the right-hand side of the music signal, and white is the left-hand side (see the earlier section ‘RCA/phono connections’).
If your turntable uses detachable cables, connect the RCA cables to the correct colours on the turntable outputs as well as the mixer inputs.
Your DJ mixer will have something similar to a thumb screw on the back to which you connect the ground wire. Cinch the ground wires from both turntables between a washer on the screw and the body of the mixer (as shown in Figure 13-3).
Be sure that you have a secure connection for both turntables to this ground point. You’ll know if you haven’t properly grounded the turntables, because you’ll hear static or a really nasty loud hum playing through the speakers.
CD decks usually use two RCA outputs to connect to the mixer’s analogue line RCA inputs. However, if your CD decks have digital outputs and your mixer has a digital input (both are usually an RCA connection), use a single RCA cable to connect the CD deck to the mixer and keep the music digital.
Unless you’re using a mixer specifically designed with a dock for mixing with iPods, you need to use a cable that converts the output of your iPod (or any other personal digital music player) to two RCA plugs. You can get a cable that’s based on the dock connector of the iPod that splits into two RCA plugs (this is how a lot of people play their iPods through a home hi-fi), but without that, and for most of the other MP3 players, you need a cable that splits the headphone output into two RCA plugs.
You can buy these cables from most electronic spares stores, or simply type ‘3.5 mm stereo jack to RCA’ into any search engine or on eBay (www.ebay.co.uk) and you’ll find one for about £5. Just make sure that the jack on the end of the cable you go for is stereo (it’ll have two black bands on the tip), and that it’s a 3.5-millimetre jack, otherwise it won’t fit into the MP3 player’s headphone output.
As with the CD decks, simply plug the RCAs from this cable into the line input on the back of the mixer, making sure that the channel you use for this input on the mixer is switched over to ‘line’.
If you just use two turntables, CD decks or MP3 players, and have a two-channel mixer, connection is simple. Connect the CD deck/MP3 or turntable to your left to Channel 1 and the one on your right to Channel 2.
If you have more than two channels on your mixer, check whether any of them are designed for a certain input device. The Pioneer 600, 800 and the 900 Nexus mixers, for example, all differ in what devices can be connected and used to their full function in each channel.
If your mixer doesn’t have any specific connection requirements, you can connect to any two channels on the mixer. It’s still a good idea to connect the left deck to a lower channel number and the right deck to the higher number.
If you use two CD decks and two turntables and have a four-channel mixer, you may want to connect in the same way that the decks are arranged in front of you. Suppose that you arrange your equipment in this order:
Turntable 1 – CD 1 – Mixer – CD 2 – Turntable 2
A simple setup is to connect turntable 1 to channel 1, CD 1 to channel 2, CD 2 to channel 3, and turntable 2 to channel 4. This may cause less confusion about which channel controls which item of equipment. Just make sure that you switch the line/phono switch to ‘line’ for the CDs and ‘phono’ for turntables.
If you only have a two-channel mixer, you can still use two turntables and two CD decks. Plug turntable 1 into the phono input on channel 1, and CD 1 into the line input on channel 1. Then plug turntable 2 into phono on channel 2, and CD 2 into line on Channel 2. Now you just need to change the channel switch from ‘phono’ to ‘line’ (or vice versa) to use the right piece of equipment. Remember, though, that you won’t be able to mix from turntable 1 to CD 1 or mix from turntable 2 to CD 2, because even though they’re different machines, they both play into the same channel on the mixer.
Plugging in your headphones is as simple as finding the hole marked ‘headphones’ on your mixer and plugging the headphones in, but I want to mention it here so that I can bring up the use of 3.5-millimetre adaptors. These adaptors let you convert headphones with a small 3.5-millimetre jack into the big, 6.35-millimetre (quarter-inch) size that your mixer needs.
Some mixers have the headphone input on top of the mixer; others have it on the closest side to you, or even both. Find your input and plug in. Simple.
You can connect separate effects units to the mixer in two ways:
The drawback to this method of connection is that the entire audio signal will be affected by the effects unit; you won’t be able to play one channel from the mixer (without effects) while the other one gets a whole load of crazy effects applied to it.
You can send the signal from the mixer to the effects processor (and return it) in two different ways:
The connections for send and return vary, but on the DJM600 it’s a pair of mono quarter-inch jacks for each direction. One pair connect from send on the mixer to the input of the effects unit, then another pair connect from the effects unit to return on the mixer. You may find that some units use RCAs or stereo quarter-inch jacks for this purpose, so take a close look at your mixer and the effects unit so that you know what cables you need.
After you have all the inputs connected to the mixer, you need to look at how to connect your mixer to an amplifier in order to hear the music, and maybe also connect to a recording device (tape, CD, digital recorder, PC and so on) so that you can capture the moments of greatness you’ll achieve in the mix.
Your mixer has two (or sometimes three) outputs:
The master out is affected by the master level control on the mixer, so if you turn that down, the volume of the music to the amplifier reduces.
Like the master output, connect the record outputs to the recorder’s inputs using a stereo RCA cable, making sure to continue to plug the red RCA output to the red RCA input and the white output to the white input. (For information on how to set the record levels on your recording device, see Chapter 19.)
The connection is the same as record out and master out: connect one end of a stereo RCA cable to the booth output on the mixer and the other end to the booth monitor’s input.
Connecting to your home stereo (hi-fi) is similar to connecting to an amplifier. You make the connection using a stereo RCA cable from the master output on the mixer to the hi-fi – but you need to pay attention to the input you choose to use on the hi-fi. On the back of a hi-fi, you’ll probably see some of these inputs: line, CD, TV, DVD, aux and, if you have an old (or really good) hi-fi, a phono input too.
If a CD or MP3 player is already connected to the hi-fi, a TV is connected to the TV input, and the DVD input is in use too, you’re left with aux (auxiliary) or phono (which is meant for turntables only). Therefore, you should use the aux input to connect your mixer. Even though the music may be coming from turntables, by the time it’s played through and outputted from a mixer, the signal’s transformed into a line-level signal. Of course, if you don’t have a CD player or TV plugged into the hi-fi, you can use the TV and CD inputs too. Just stay away from the phono input unless you’re connecting turntables directly to the hi-fi.
Sometimes, powered speakers only have a jack input (like the headphone output on your mixer), so check whether you need to buy an RCA-to-jack cable (RCA for the output from your mixer) for each of the speakers (left and right). You can find more information on using amplifiers, powered speakers and home hi-fis to play your music in Chapter 12.
Whether you’re using the computer as an amplifier or you plan to record the mix to edit it or upload it to the Internet, the connection between your computer and your mixer is similar to all the other equipment you’ll connect. Take a look at the line input on your soundcard. Some use a 3.5-millimetre jack input – in which case you’ll need an RCA-to-jack cable to connect to the soundcard. Others use RCA inputs, so you can use an RCA-to-RCA cable. In either case, use the record output from the mixer if you’re only using the computer for recording, and use the master output if using the computer as an amplifier (this frees up the record output for a recording device).
If your soundcard comes with instructions and software for setting up the computer to be able to accept a line input, please refer to the manual carefully. If it’s a Windows-controlled soundcard, you can activate the line input through the volume control or recording devices window – found either by double-clicking the speaker icon in the taskbar or through the hardware/sound properties in the control panel. Mac users can access audio input controls through the sound section of system preferences.
Sometimes you’re sure that you have everything plugged into the right place, you’ve turned everything on and everything’s playing, but you just can’t hear anything. To wrap up Part II of this book and the equipment information as a whole, the following list of troubleshooting issues may help to answer any of your connection and turntable setup problems.
Ask yourself the following questions:
Try the following:
The first thing to do is look at your needles. Are they caked in dirt? (Remove the dirt from around them carefully.) Are they really old? (Replace them.) Are they inserted into the cartridge properly? (Check and re-insert them.)
If you think it’s a malfunction, try swapping the headshell from one turntable to another or try swapping the needle from one headshell to the other. In case you have a connection problem rather than a needle or headshell problem, try swapping around the turntable connections to the mixer.
If you’re having a problem with your needles jumping around, try working through these possible solutions:
You may not have connected the ground wire. Make sure that it’s securely attached to the earth/ground connector on the back of the mixer.
Check whether you’ve accidentally inserted the outputs of your CD decks into the phono inputs of the mixer. If you have, plug into the line input instead.
Make sure that you’ve plugged your turntables into the phono input. If you’ve put them into the line input, they’ll be very quiet.
Answer the following questions:
Try the following:
Check that you’ve connected the line out from the soundcard and not plugged into the mic or line in by accident. Check the volume control found in the taskbar, too. Make sure that you haven’t checked the mute box thinking it was the select box from the record control (I do this all the time).
Answer these three questions:
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