Four ways to record, planning a set with histories, reviewing each other's mixes, and mastering a mix for upload.
Four ways to record
- DJM-REC. AlphaTheta's iOS app. The phone plugs into the mobile device USB port on the mixer's top panel, next to SEND/RETURN — not the two computer USB ports on the left. It records the master, adds a limiter and uploads. The simplest if you are on a DJM.
- rekordbox itself, if you are on a controller: the REC button captures the master to a file and tags the tracklist for you.
- Audio interface into a DAW. The mixer's REC OUT into a two-channel interface, into Ableton or Logic. Highest quality, and you can edit afterwards.
- Portable recorder. A Zoom or similar on the REC OUT or booth output. Set the input level so the loudest moment sits around −6 dB; it will not tell you it clipped until you get home.
A laptop on the mixer's USB or REC OUT is the cleanest recording chain.
Planning a set with histories
Every track you play on a linked player is logged to a History on the USB, and rekordbox imports those histories when you plug the stick back in. That is your set, in order, with the timings. Use it: turn the good ones into playlists, look at where the energy dipped, and build the next set from what worked. Playlist palettes let you keep two or three candidate sets open side by side while you plan.
Playlist palettes: a set plan, a backup list and a wildcard list, all in view.
Reviewing each other's mixes
Everyone plays twenty minutes to the room. Listen for four things and say them out loud: were the mixes on a phrase; were the levels even; did the energy go somewhere; would you have stayed on the floor. Nothing else matters yet.
Mastering a DJ mix
A recorded mix is not a track and should not be mastered like one. The aim is even, not loud.
- Trim the start and end. Fade the last ten seconds.
- Level: a gentle compressor (2:1, slow) to even out the tracks you trimmed unevenly in the booth.
- A limiter at −1 dBTP so nothing clips on upload.
- Loudness around −10 to −12 LUFS integrated. Louder than that and the streaming services turn it back down anyway, having squashed it.
- Export as WAV for the archive and 320 MP3 for the upload, with a tracklist in the description.
Share Mix straight from rekordbox, tracklist included.
Do this now
Record a thirty-minute mix by two of the four methods, master it once, and upload it privately. Bring the link and the history to class 9.