User:Chrisjjj/Normalising for DJing with MediaMonkey

If you are using MediaMonkey for DJing (not something I recommend), the following info might help you. It applies to MediaMonkey V4.1.3.1708 and hopefully subsequent versions.

This applies to MediaMonkey for Windows V4.

Normalising volume

To normalise the volume of a track is to ensure the track play back at a particular volume. Its purpose in DJing is to equalise the volume of tracks.

You can normalise volume manually by adjusting PA volume during play.

You can normalise volume automatically, as follows:

1) In Tools, Options, Volume Levelling, ensure Level Playback / Sync volume: is set to per Track [1]

2) Select your tracks. On a Mediamoney 4 build earlier than 1185, if you're making that selection in Now Playing, ensure Now Playing is docked (to avoid bug [2])

3) Right-click the selection, click Analyse volume [3] and wait for the progress bar at bottom to complete.

Each track will now play back at very nearly the same volume as the others. Where tracks have widely different dynamic profiles, small volume differences may remain.

Verify each track playback volume is the same as others normalised.

Warning

Avoid the adjacent menu command Level track volume [4], despite its name. Use of this command is disrecommended. If you execute it, the effect cannot be reversed except by restoring the track files from a backup.

This applies to MediaMonkey for Windows V4.

Normalising gaps

Upon playback, the period of silence that separates adjacent tracks is called the gap.

To normalise gaps is to ensure a particular gap duration. For DJing it is used to ensure gaps are always present with duration equal.

A track's recording often includes a period of silence at start and/or end. The duration often varies. On the last track of a CD side, the end silence is usually missing. Hence when a list of tracks is played automatically, the gap varies, and when absent, caused playback to run from the end of one track immediately into the next.

The milonga DJ usually wants the duration of gap after dance tracks to be uniform at two to four seconds, and the duration of gap after curtains to be shorter. Normalisation achieves this.

MediaMonkey does not allow full normalisation of gaps, either manually or automatically, but does allow partial normalisation which ensures a gap is always present.

Manually

To ensure a gap manually at playback:

1) Ensure Clear list & play selected only is selected [5].

2) Ensure Remove silence at the beginning / end of track is checkmarked [6].

3) Double-click to play the first track. When it completes, playback will stop.

4) After an appropriate delay, double-click the next track.

This does not remove any period before track start filled with noise (e.g. hiss, crackle).

Automatically

To prepare a list to ensure a gap is present automatically at playback:

1) Ensure Clear list & play selected + subsequent is selected [7].

2) Ensure Remove silence at the beginning / end of track is UNcheckmarked [8].

3) In the playlist, after each track, insert a gap track -- a track consisting of a few seconds of silence. Such tracks are available in TLIB, from 02480002928928\1\49 onwards.

4) Play the list as normal.

This does not remove any gaps at start/end of tracks.

Curtain endings

If curtain ending is manual (by DJ manually fading the curtain and starting the next dance track), no special attention to curtains is required.

If curtain ending is automatic (i.e. the DJ lets the curtain play to an ending prepared by audio editing (not something I recommend)), the required start and end gap may be included during the audio editing.