How to Switch Your DJ Kit On

0:00 You've been working all day and you want to spin a couple of tunes

So you've been working all day and you want to spin a couple of tunes. You turn your kit on and away you go. Well, do you realise that there is a sort of way how to turn your kit on to get the best sound as well as making sure that you don't get any nasty clicks or pops? Now, we've all done it. I still do it to this day. You turn something on and then you turn your PA on and all of a sudden you get a click through the PA system. Well, what's actually happening is you're turning your PA system on so that's ready. It's good to go. And then you turn everything else on and as it powers up, it could send some form of electronic signal through your PA system which is why you get that click.

I have heard that click many times and it may not do much damage. It could not do any damage. But, let's imagine you've got a massive PA system in a nightclub or a mobile DJ and you get that clicky sound. Well, you don't really want it. So, in this video, not only am I going to show you one of the correct procedures, how to turn things on and which ones to turn off first and off, but also the best way of setting levels so you get a really good sound. And it's not about how to turn it on. It's about how to turn it off. It's not about having everything max. That won't work. It's about just using common sense. So, what I'm going to do first is I'm going to turn the players on over there. I've also got the level volume or the master volume on the mixer down. So, I'm going to turn that on as well. Give it a second to just like do its stuff and now I'm going to turn my PA on.

But also, I have got the volume down on the PA. So, I'm going to turn that on and there we go. So, that's now on. So, it's all on. So, why did I do it like that? Why did I put the kit on first, then the PA, not the PA on first, and then the kit?

2:17 Click sound, master volume, volumes

So, when you then turn your kit on, that's firing up. It's getting ready. So, you've got this boost of electricity rushing through the kit and in turn, that rush of energy could possibly get a click sound through your PA. Now, of course, there is a way around this. All right? So, it's not as easy as kit first, then PA because so long as all the volume is on, it's going to be a bit of a hassle. So, if all the volumes are down, there is less chance of getting that click sound. But to be quite honest, if you put your kit on first, then your PA, you're fine and then it's the other way around. So, when you've finished doing all your mixing and whatnot and picking your nose, turn the PA off and then your kit.

But of course, before you turn your PA off, make sure that the volumes are down on your powered speakers or your amplificators. So, if all the volumes are down on your PA, you're fine and then it's the other way around. I do believe some PAs have like what's known as a soft start. Don't want to go there at the moment, but it stops, let's say, that click sound. So, right. So, what I've done, I turned this on and then I turned the PA on. And I've also made sure, I made sure... ...that the master volume was down on the mixer and the master volume is down on the PA. Now, this is a pitfall that everyone falls into. And that is that what they tend to do is they have the master volume quite high on your mixer, volume up.

So, for example, if I just grab a CD now and put it in... And again, I'm not going to play too much, just for copyright issues. And make sure we're on line...

4:18 I haven't got the speaker on at the moment though

Hold on. There, okay. So, we've got volume. So, what I'm doing now is I've got the volume up. I haven't got the speaker on at the moment though. And I can see that... Let's put the master volume really high and I'm in the amber and then I can turn the PA up. Right. So, what's actually happening is I've got a lot of audio signal going into... The PA and as I turn the volume up, that kind of a lot of signal will be inside the PA, whether it's at a low volume or at a high volume. So, let's kind of reverse engineer here, all right? I'm going to turn the volume down on my mixer. What I'm going to do now is I'm now going to turn the volume up on the PA. So, what I'm doing is... I am now imagining... Let's imagine you've got and I've made...

I've put this analogy out beforehand. Let's imagine you've got a field full of sheep and you've got... Yeah.

Yeah. You've got a field full of sheep. Sneeze. And all of a sudden, you've got a gate and you open that gate a tiny amount but you want all the sheep to go through that hole in... Or that gap. Of course, they're going to be desperately trying to... To get through that gap. And the analogy there is the equivalent of you having a full volume on your mixer, which is the sheep desperately trying to get through that gap and the volume in your PA, which is the gate, very, very low, whereas what you really need is you need the gate full open or at least three-quarters of the way, which is the PA system being turned up quite high. So then the volume of sheep... Coming through that gap can be quite big or small.

6:44 You'll be letting over time

So you could have one or two walking through, or you could have lots at the same time. So again, I'm going to turn that up to about three-quarters. Leave it there. And now if I turn this up... Now I'm going to turn my master up. It doesn't really sound different. And if you do this correctly, it probably won't sound different. But what you will be doing is... You'll be letting over time. Number one, the sound will always be at a constant. And also you'll be looking after your PA system more because you're putting less pressure on the PA system. Now I hope this is a bit of a help and... Okay, so we started the video by turning everything on. Let's turn everything off. So what I'm going to do, I'm going to turn the volume down on my PA speaker.

I'm now going to turn that off. So I'll turn it off. There we go. And now all I've got to do is just... Oh, alright, eject the CD of course. Which then comes out. And now all I've got to do... I mean, I can turn the level down on the mixer or up. It doesn't really matter now because whatever I do on this mixer, nothing is going anywhere because the PA system is now completely off. So I can just turn that off whenever I want. Turn that off and turn the CD players off. Or for that matter, if I had a controller, the controller would be one unit anyway. And that's it. That is it. Hope that's been a help. And by the way, what I'm going to be doing now is Q&A, live Q&A. Earlier on this morning, I did a video and that video is still live now.

This video will be uploaded today which is the 30th of November 2020. And in between the time of upload of this video and an hour from now, I'm going to be doing a Q&A. Question and answer. But the questions will be the questions people have posted on the video I did this morning. So go back to that video and if you'd like to ask me a question then put your question in a comment in that video. I will go through them and all being well be able to answer as many as possible in an hour from now because this video will be uploaded at 6 o'clock UK GMT the 30th of November 2020. Practice and enjoy. Thank you.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.