Auto gaining is very dependent on the way it is done. I switch it off in all software, always.
I run all my tracks through Platinum Notes, which uses a very good algorithm to adjust the gain of all tracks to the same level. After that, auto gaining in software or players is no longer necessary.
That said, you should ALWAYS keep your eye on the level meters when you are cueing up the next track and use gain/trim knob to adjust. After all there is volume level and there is energy level and dynamic range. Play a 3dB dynamic range high energy dance track with a -12,5dB gain setting and a nice 60dB dynamic range variable energy classical piece at the same gain setting and the experience for the listener will be very different from a “loudness” perspective.
Does Platinum Notes work well with matching volume levels of older recordings from the 70’, 80’s, and 90’s era with more modern songs. I’m a Serato user and I’ve tried both auto-gain on and off and just can’t find a good match for mixing older tracks with the more newer songs.
The major difference here, as I said in my previous answer, is in PERCEIVED loudness, not actual dB level volume.
And perceived loudness is affected mainly by the compression level. And that is something that is hard to change, unless you decide to run your favorite oldies through compression software first.
Google “loudness wars” and you’ll find many postings about the phenomenon
Auto gain, auto tune, auto dj…??? this is not only doing harm to the tracks volume/dynamics/quality some times but also makes djs lazy. I used Traktor a lot and never used auto gain. Gain is something that should be done by ear not by algorithm, that not always takes the right part of the track as peak.
I’m old skool, & generally set gain on tracks manually. But i also recognise that autogain is just a tool that can be used when needed (rather like the argument for driving an automatic car for the convenience, even though you’re licensed/perfectly capable of driving a car with a manual gearbox)
Here’s something to consider though… the Prime Go is coming, & that has metering that only shows the main output levels. So for Prime Go owners, i’d say Autogain would be a necessity.
You are right. But this auto all is sometimes showing how people get lazy and don’t want to perform even a simple task… Well many people don’t even look at the VU meters… But that’s a different story
If you are going to have a piece of hardware where one of the features is a playlist function. You better have auto gain. It’s almost useless without it. Everywhere else in the world has autogain, even itunes uses it. Very dissapointed in denon, and the community for their response to this issue.
Well, most DJ players of the last 10+ years work with playlists, and not a single one has autogain.
Autogain for DJ’ing at least for me is basically useless, as eq, layering/mixing has a great influence on perceived final output gain. You’ll have to adjust gain anyway, depending on where on the track you mix, present elements, etc.
I can’t go eat dinner if i bring my prime 4 because i cannot trust a playlist to play with consistent volume track to track. It is a very big deal for wedding and event djs.
Sure was sounding like you were against it Glad you can appreciate its uses.
Pathetic that i’m literally better off plugging in a spotify list on my phone than i am using quality DJ hardware playing high quality files from a hard drive. The zone output in particular isn’t very useful because it’s supposed to be a set it and forget it type feature. But if you have been buying music for decades a lot of your older files are not going to be mastered the same as modern tracks and will appear very quiet in comparison to modern files.
And to be clear, we don’t need to to as good of a job as our ears, ears will always be best and i’d be tweaking it on the dance floor. But i need a way to ensure one song isn’t going to play 20db louder than another.
No, I’m not against it - any feature is welcome, I understand some features are useless for club djs, but great to other dj’s, and vice-versa.
If you can enable/disable it to suit personal needs, I support it
It will keep one track from being 20db louder than another one, which is really all that i need for dinner music.
Also lets get specific, all i am asking for is peak based normalization. Take the loudest part of the song and bring it up to 0 dbfs (or what ever threshold you want). save that number as part of the meta data and then apply that much gain to the song.
like.
People were coming to the club to listen to the new stuff that djs only had. Cool times 
Glad you can appreciate its uses.