Mixer Issue - Question

[Liftedtrance]

hey peeps.

I'm hoping someone can help me out with a little problem I'm having with my dj setup.

When I'm mixing, the right turntable plays quite a bit louder than the left. It also seems that when I'm playing something on either turntable the right channel plays considerably louder than the left channel.

Both of these problems are verified when I look at anything I record on the computer, and I can see that anything I played on the right turntable is louder than anything I played on the left turntable, and throughout the whole mix, you can see that the right channel volume is higher than the left channel volume.

Now I don't know much about the technical side of things, but I think this is a mixer problem.
like its not balanced or calibrated properly.

can any of you more knowledgable djs out there verify if this sounds like the problem, and know of how I can fix it?

thanks :)
Steve

[Suneel1]

How old are your needles? I am thinking this is most likely your issue.

It could also be the ports from the turntable to the needle connection.

[Steve Synth]

^ exactly what I was going to say. I would definitly check your needles and your connection ports first.

[Liftedtrance]

checked and replaced the needles and carts already. didnt have any effect on the problem.

i checked the cartridge and all the connections and everything in there, and everything seems fine as far as i can tell.

this is the mixer i have btw
http://www.univers-sons.com/media/1900/SKTWO/stanton_mixers_sk2_HI.jpg

thanks for the suggestions. anything in particular to look for when checking the needles/ carts/ connection ports?

or any other ideas of what it might be?

[Skandalus]

Changing the needles may not be the answer. Did you check the tone arm connection? I was having that problem a while back, but it was most definately not the mixer (almost brand new tascam x9). It ended up just being the tone arm in the left table. After I cleaned it out with a pencil eraser and some rubbing alcohol with a q-tip it was fine.

If you haven't already, take your cartridges out and see if you have any rusting.

[IKA'IKA]

naw yo it's your mixer I had the same mixer and had the same freakin problems. Mine turned out to be a grounding problem from the turntable to the mixer which ended up fucking up my turntable cuz it was sending ungrounded power to my turntable. Then I turned that that mixer into a paper weight. Check your jacks and grounding from the inside....

[crisis]

I'd agree that this sounds like a mixer issue. That mixer is a fairly new model, but Stanton also has really only just started making mixers. Didn't they make their first mixer like 2 or 3 years ago or something?

[Liftedtrance]

Changing the needles may not be the answer. Did you check the tone arm connection? I was having that problem a while back, but it was most definately not the mixer (almost brand new tascam x9). It ended up just being the tone arm in the left table. After I cleaned it out with a pencil eraser and some rubbing alcohol with a q-tip it was fine.

If you haven't already, take your cartridges out and see if you have any rusting.

well, i don't remember anything looking rusty or bad when i replaced the cartridges, but it wouldnt hurt to take another look.

[Liftedtrance]

naw yo it's your mixer I had the same mixer and had the same freakin problems. Mine turned out to be a grounding problem from the turntable to the mixer which ended up fucking up my turntable cuz it was sending ungrounded power to my turntable. Then I turned that that mixer into a paper weight. Check your jacks and grounding from the inside....

yea, when i first started having this problem i had no idea what the problem was. but i didnt worry about it too much b/c it didnt interfere with me practicing the basics of phrasing and beatmatching.
but now that i've been playing on this setup for a while, i'm thinking its the mixer.
and now that that i've been practicing for a while, i want everything to work right so i can get used to practicing on a setup that works properly.
i'm hoping if its a relatively normal/ common problem with the mixer, it will kinda be a cheap/ easy fix, but thats probably me being overly optimistic.

[Liftedtrance]

I'd agree that this sounds like a mixer issue. That mixer is a fairly new model, but Stanton also has really only just started making mixers. Didn't they make their first mixer like 2 or 3 years ago or something?

i dont think its actually that new of a model, even though i'm really not sure exactly how old it is.
i've had it for about 9-10 months, and it was given to me by a friend that used to dj, but stopped, and just had this mixer sitting around. i'm not sure for how long though.
and ultimately i'm not too worried about this seeing as how i didn't pay a cent for the mixer.
that is, if the problem is indeed the mixer and not the turntables or something.

[Grandbleu]

Hi Steve,

This is my experience working with mixers and PA’s.
It is more likely that the turntables would produce the unwanted effect rather then the mixer, the easiest way to know is to hook your mixer to another set of tables (if you come to my club, I may be able to do that for you (just pm me to set a time).

If it is from the turntable you need to try the following:
Clean the connections between the tone arm and the cartridge, this can be done with a q-tip and some isopropyl alcohol (don’t use water), or with a pencil eraser (eraser, if possible attached to a drill to reach maximum cleaning).

Good luck!

Aziz

[crisis]

Hi Steve,

a pencil eraser (eraser, if possible attached to a drill to reach maximum cleaning).

Good luck!

Aziz


Have you actually used a pencil eraser attached to a drill? That is some intense cleaning.

[Matt Sanborn]

Do you have the option of running 1/4" balanced cables?

[Matt Sanborn]

BTW-im moving this to the dj/producer forum, you may get a better response in there

[djane]

although this problem def sounds like a defective product, does the mixer not have gains you can adjust to temporarily solve the problem? If not simply lower the volume of the right turntable to match the other. Same technique as if you had two pressings at different volumes. Again not a permanent fix, but at least it could help you in the meantime

[Liftedtrance]

Do you have the option of running 1/4" balanced cables?

Um, i dunno.
never heard of them. what are they?

[Liftedtrance]

BTW-im moving this to the dj/producer forum, you may get a better response in there
k thx. i thought about putting it there in the first place.
but, ya know, didnt.

[Liftedtrance]

although this problem def sounds like a defective product, does the mixer not have gains you can adjust to temporarily solve the problem? If not simply lower the volume of the right turntable to match the other. Same technique as if you had two pressings at different volumes. Again not a permanent fix, but at least it could help you in the meantime

mixer has gains, but yea thats kinda a temporary and incomplete fix. i try to compensate using that, but with limited success; the difference in volume between what i'm getting out of each turntable is pretty big.
i am getting better at it though.
also, i've tried to use the pan to balance out the left and right channel with very limited success.

thanks again all

[Heider]

does the right turntable still play louder than the left if you switch the phono ports they are plugged in? if say, the table that is always in "phono2" is the louder one, then i'd say it's a problem with the mixer. also, sometimes if you use headshells that didn't come with the turntable, they don't fit the best and might result in problems like this. i have a pair of ortofons that i've tried using on 1200's a few times, and they only work half the time because of the connection with the tonearm.

[Skandar]

Um, i dunno.
never heard of them. what are they?

It's a different kind of input/output cable (as opposed to the red and white RCA cables). He was asking if your mixer has two large 1/4 inch ports on the back, which might solve the problem. For one thing, these give you a little better sound quality. You can buy cables at radio shack that go from 1/4" to RCA.

[Liftedtrance]

does the right turntable still play louder than the left if you switch the phono ports they are plugged in? .

yes



if say, the table that is always in "phono2" is the louder one, then i'd say it's a problem with the mixer. also, sometimes if you use headshells that didn't come with the turntable, they don't fit the best and might result in problems like this. i have a pair of ortofons that i've tried using on 1200's a few times, and they only work half the time because of the connection with the tonearm.

hmm. i have stanton headshells, numark tables. i'm think the stantons are pretty standard headshells that should work with my tables, but i cant say i'm 100% sure about that.

[Heider]

yes



hmm. i have stanton headshells, numark tables. i'm think the stantons are pretty standard headshells that should work with my tables, but i cant say i'm 100% sure about that.

seems like you have a couple issues then. since the right turntable is loud no matter how you switch the inputs (or switch needles), then there's a problem with that deck. what the problem is?....no idea. you could try droppin it by the modern music shop in b-more. i think chris does a bit of turntable repair on the side.

as for the other issue of unbalanced volumes on the mixer...if you are getting the unbalanced volumes to show up on the volume meter, then trying the balanced 1/4" outputs like someone said previously, will not solve it. i dunno how old the mixer is, but could be that the faders are getting old/or suck. (or it could be a problem with the rca input connections,....i dunno, i'm just talking out of my butt now)

[Liftedtrance]

seems like you have a couple issues then. since the right turntable is loud no matter how you switch the inputs (or switch needles), then there's a problem with that deck. what the problem is?....no idea. you could try droppin it by the modern music shop in b-more. i think chris does a bit of turntable repair on the side.

as for the other issue of unbalanced volumes on the mixer...if you are getting the unbalanced volumes to show up on the volume meter, then trying the balanced 1/4" outputs like someone said previously, will not solve it. i dunno how old the mixer is, but could be that the faders are getting old/or suck.

no, i think that got communicated wrong. lets say my turntables have names, Peter and Dick.
now if i plug Dick into the right phono port, then Dick is the one that plays louder.
However, if I take Dick out of the port, and put Peter in the right phono port, then Peter becomes the one that plays louder.
in other words, regardless of which of my 2 turntables i plug into the right port, that one is gonna play louder.

[Heider]

no, i think that got communicated wrong. lets say my turntables have names, Peter and Dick.
now if i plug Dick into the right phono port, then Dick is the one that plays louder.
However, if I take Dick out of the port, and put Peter in the right phono port, then Peter becomes the one that plays louder.
in other words, regardless of which of my 2 turntables i plug into the right port, that one is gonna play louder.

oooooh (good names btw :P). ok, seems like your mixer is the issue then and i'd say your decks are cool. is there a 3rd phono port on the mixer you could try? if you put the rca cables from peter and dick in backwards (meaning red in white, and white in red), do you get the lower volumes still on the same R/L channel?