rekordbox does three things in software that never survive the trip to a CDJ. Bake'n Deck bakes each one into the files themselves, on your Mac. Here is all of it in five minutes.
Prefer the Terminal? The free baken command line for macOS, Windows and Linux runs the same baken-core engine, and always will.
brew install M-Igashi/tap/baken
The whole toolkit in a window, and the fastest way to use it. For DJs who will never open a Terminal, and for the parts of the workflow that only make sense with a UI: one playlist at a time, a preview before every write, a library that remembers where everything is. One-time purchase, no subscription, no account, no network access. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. The baken CLI stays free and MIT.
Apply gain to one rekordbox playlist, resolved from your exported collection XML to the real files, not just to a folder. Unsupported or missing entries are skipped with a count. Same gain-only, limiter-free engine, same -0.5 dBTP ceiling.
The collection XML and your music folders are remembered across launches, and analysis is cached per file, so the rekordbox → CDJ loop (export, sort, apply, export to USB) becomes a routine rather than a project. Re-analysing a large library takes seconds.
Sort shows the exact 1A → 12B order it will produce before anything is written. Headroom shows LUFS, true peak, gain and method per track, sortable, with include/exclude toggles and audio preview of any row.
When rekordbox exports the collection again, a banner offers a one-click re-sort. CDJ Safe refuses to overwrite an XML that changed since validation, so a newer export is never clobbered.
Every apply backs up into its own timestamped folder. Restore swaps the originals back atomically, keeps going past a failing file, and works after a relaunch via Restore from Folder.
Missing files, tracks without TotalTime (their cues would not import) and a free-space estimate before anything runs. MP3s land in a playlist-named folder; the same collection XML you use for Sort is updated in place.
Five macOS causes of a slow rekordbox, from a widely shared checklist: music in Downloads, Spotlight indexing the library drive, missing Full Disk Access, iCloud sync under the library, quarantine flags and AppleDouble files. Checked, and fixed where the sandbox allows. The five settings and the manual steps are written up in the repo, tool or no tool.
No network access at all. Sandboxed: it touches only the folders you grant. One-time purchase, no subscription, no account, no ads. Bundled LGPL ffmpeg, licences shown in-app. English and Japanese, dark interface. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel.
Auto Gain is a performance-mode setting; a player reading your USB stick never sees it. Headroom measures loudness (LUFS) and true peak for every track, then writes a gain into the file that brings the whole library to one true peak ceiling, -0.5 dBTP by default (AES TD1008 §7B). Quiet tracks come up. Loud ones come down. Nothing else is touched.
rekordbox Auto Gain: why it does not reach your CDJ — where the number stops, what writing it into the file changes, and the questions people ask.
How 3.6 measures true peak 15x faster: the ffmpeg loudnorm profile, the in-process BS.1770-4 pipeline that replaced it, and the parity numbers.
Most DJ loudness tools chase a LUFS target and push dynamic tracks through a limiter to get there. That changes the music. Headroom does the one thing a mastering engineer would sign off on: a single gain change per track. Transients, crest factor and stereo image are exactly what the master carried. Only the level moves, and it moves exactly as far as the true peak allows.
The result is the maximum clip-free level for every track and a uniform ceiling across the whole stick, so the trim knob stays where you left it. It is deliberately not loudness matching: a track that was mastered quiet stays a little quieter than a loud one, because the only way to change that is a limiter, and a limiter is what you bought a well-mastered track to avoid.
| Limiter-based normalizer | Bake'n Deck Headroom | |
|---|---|---|
| Target | An average loudness (LUFS) | A true peak ceiling, -0.5 dBTP |
| Loud tracks | Turned down, or limited | Turned down by gain only. MP3/AAC lowered losslessly, never re-encoded |
| Quiet, dynamic tracks | Limited upward until they hit the target | Raised as far as the peaks allow, not one dB further |
| Dynamics | Altered | Untouched |
| MP3 / AAC | Decoded, processed, re-encoded | Gain field rewritten in 1.5 dB steps, bit-for-bit audio |
| Your cues and beatgrids | Depends on the tool | Files rewritten in place, so rekordbox keeps them linked |
--boost-only opts out.
Re-encoding an MP3 or AAC for gain only at 256 kbps or higher adds quantisation noise below -90 dB, far under the audible threshold.
| Format | Method | Precision | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| FLAC | ffmpeg volume filter | Exact | Lossless, bit depth kept |
| AIFF | ffmpeg volume filter | Exact | Lossless, ID3v2 tags kept |
| WAV | ffmpeg volume filter | Exact | Lossless, BWF metadata kept |
| ALAC | ffmpeg volume filter (v3.3.2) | Exact | Lossless, written back as ALAC |
| MP3 | mp3rgain (built-in), up or down | 1.5 dB steps | Lossless |
| MP3 | ffmpeg re-encode (opt-in, raises only) | Exact | Inaudible at ≥256 kbps |
| AAC/M4A | mp3rgain (built-in), up or down | 1.5 dB steps | Lossless |
| AAC/M4A | ffmpeg re-encode (opt-in, raises only) | Exact | Inaudible at ≥256 kbps |
Playlist mode: pick your exported collection XML and apply Headroom to one rekordbox playlist rather than a whole folder. Review table with LUFS, true peak, gain and method per track, include/exclude toggles and audio preview. Analysis cache per file, so re-analysing a large library takes seconds. Per-run timestamped backups with one-click restore. Apply is locked whenever the target or gain mode changed after the analysis, so a table computed for one ceiling is never applied under another.
rekordbox sorts by key or by BPM, never by both at once, and a CDJ plays a playlist in the order it was stored. Sort rewrites the track order inside every playlist of your exported collection.xml: Camelot key 1A → 12B, ascending BPM inside each key. Names and folder structure stay; only the order changes. Point rekordbox's Imported Library at the file once and the rekordbox xml tree becomes a sorted mirror of your Playlists. Because the order lives in the playlist and not in a view, it survives the export.
Lexicon's multi-column sort is a display sort. DJ.Studio's Harmonize builds a mix timeline. rekordbox's own sort is a view. None of them changes the order a CDJ will follow. Sort writes the order into the playlist itself, for every playlist in the library in one pass, and re-running it is a no-op.
Mac only The Mac app shows the exact resulting order for a selected playlist before anything is written, checks that your export uses Camelot notation, and offers a one-click re-sort whenever rekordbox exports again.
How to sort a rekordbox playlist by key and BPM — the steps, the sort rules, how it compares with single-column sort, and the questions people ask.
Older players are only dependable with MP3, and rekordbox will export a FLAC playlist to USB without a word. CDJ Safe converts every track in a playlist to 320 kbps CBR MP3 @ 44.1 kHz (ID3v2.3 tags, artwork kept) and writes a matching playlist into your collection XML where each converted track inherits the source's beatgrid and hot/memory cues verbatim. Import, one right-click, export to USB. No re-analysis, no re-setting cues.
Pre-NXS2 CDJs only play MP3 reliably, and the failure shows up in the booth, sometimes mid-set. Instead of hoping the venue has NXS2 or newer decks, bake a CDJ-safe copy of the set and carry it as your emergency stick.
Sources already at exactly 320 kbps CBR @ 44.1 kHz are copied byte-identically (zero generation loss, LAME header untouched). Lossy → lossy re-encodes are flagged in the report so you can refresh those from lossless masters later. Missing files are skipped and listed rather than aborting the run (v3.2.2), so the stick still gets everything that is there.
Mac only The Mac app runs a pre-flight first: every track location resolved, missing files and tracks without TotalTime (whose cues would silently not import) listed, and a free-space estimate for the output volume. The MP3s land in a folder named after the playlist and the same collection XML you use for Sort is updated in place.
baken cdjsafe collection.xml --playlist "Sets/Friday" --out-dir ~/Music/cdjsafe. Mac app: pick the XML and the playlist, Validate, Convertrekordbox xml tree → CDJ-safe (MP3) → Friday-CDJ-safe, right-click the tracks → Import to Collection. Beatgrids and cues carry over[cdjsafe] comment marker; the playlist is named <playlist>-CDJ-safe so it cannot collide with the original on import. Your original tracks and playlists are never modifiedThe DJ prep tools that overlap with Bake'n Deck, one job at a time. Vendor prices and features are as published on their own sites on 2026-09-07; if something has changed, tell us. A dash means the vendor does not document it.
Two philosophies. waveAlign and Platinum Notes match tracks to a loudness target and use a limiter or other processing to get there, which changes how the music sounds. Headroom lines every track up under one true peak ceiling by gain alone and never alters dynamics. If you want loudness matching with a limiter, buy waveAlign. If you want the master untouched and the trim knob still, this is for you.
| Bake'n Deck Headroom | waveAlign | Platinum Notes 10 | DeckReady | rekordbox Auto Gain | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approach | True peak ceiling (-0.5 dBTP), gain only | LUFS target (recommends -12 LUFS) with a mastering-grade limiter | Loudness normalisation plus clipped-peak repair and tonal shaping | Preset mastering: loudness, EQ, dynamics, clip removal | Gain offset toward an average loudness, applied at playback |
| Alters dynamics | Never | Yes, limiter | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reaches the CDJ on USB | ✓ baked into the file | ✓ rewrites the audio | ✓ rewrites the audio | ✓ rewrites the audio | ✗ performance mode only |
| Lossless MP3 / AAC gain | ✓ global_gain rewrite, bit-for-bit audio | Not claimed | Not claimed | Not claimed | n/a |
| Works on a rekordbox playlist | ✓ Mac app (CLI: folders, files, globs) | ✗ folders and USB drives | ✗ folders | ✗ per-track upload | n/a |
| Cues and beatgrids stay linked | ✓ files rewritten in place | — | — | — | n/a |
| Backup and restore | ✓ per run, one-click restore (Mac) | — | — | n/a, in-browser | n/a |
| Open source | ✓ MIT engine and CLI | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Your files leave your machine | Never. Mac app has no network at all | — | — | Yes, upload required | No |
| Platforms | CLI: macOS, Windows, Linux. App: macOS | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS | Browser | Inside rekordbox |
| Price | CLI free (MIT). Mac app one-time, about the price of an EP | EUR 79 one-time (EUR 49 launch price until 2026-09-30) | USD 98 one-time | USD 6.50 to 13.20 per month, 5 free tracks a month | Included |
Also in this space: MP3Gain and aacgain (free, ReplayGain-based, no true peak, unmaintained) and generic Mac App Store normalizers with yearly in-app purchases and no DJ context. Bake'n Deck's built-in engine for lossless MP3/AAC gain is mp3rgain, a modern MP3Gain successor by the same author.
Several tools can show a key + BPM order. Only one writes it into a rekordbox playlist so the CDJ follows it.
| Bake'n Deck Sort | rekordbox | Lexicon DJ | DJ.Studio | Mixed In Key | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compound key → BPM order | ✓ Camelot 1A→12B, BPM ascending inside each key | ✗ single-column: key or BPM | Display only (Cmd-click). Playlist Sort reorders playlists, not the tracks inside | Harmonize orders tracks by key and BPM inside a mix timeline | ✗ Energy Level sort |
| Written into the playlist, survives USB export | ✓ into the exported collection XML | ✗ a view | ✗ track order is changed by drag and drop | ✗ output is a mix or timeline | ✗ |
| Whole library in one pass | ✓ every playlist, idempotent | n/a | — | — | — |
| Preview before writing | ✓ Mac app | n/a | — | — | — |
| Price | CLI free. Mac app one-time | Included in rekordbox | USD 199 lifetime or USD 9.99 per month | USD 129 Pro, USD 299 Ultimate | USD 58 |
Rekord Buddy and DJ Conversion Utility, the older XML tools DJs used for this kind of work, are both end-of-life. Open-source rekordbox XML scripts on GitHub cover cleanup, conversion and analysis; none we found writes a Camelot-then-BPM order back into the playlist.
rekordbox device export copies files as they are. The usual workaround, a batch conversion, produces new files that rekordbox does not know, so every cue and beatgrid has to be set again.
| Bake'n Deck CDJ Safe | rekordbox device export | Manual ffmpeg / batch converter | Lexicon DJ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transcodes a playlist to MP3 for pre-NXS2 decks | ✓ 320 kbps CBR @ 44.1 kHz, locked profile | ✗ exports formats as they are | ✓ any profile, by hand | ✗ moves libraries between DJ apps |
| Cues and beatgrids carried over | ✓ verbatim, into the collection XML | n/a | ✗ new files, links broken, re-analyze everything | n/a |
| Already-safe MP3s copied byte-identically | ✓ | n/a | Only if you script it | n/a |
| Missing files | Skipped and listed; the rest still gets written | n/a | Error, or silently absent | n/a |
Start with the Mac app: nothing to install, nothing to configure, ffmpeg bundled. The command line needs ffmpeg; package managers install it automatically.
Bake'n Deck for Mac. Native app, no Terminal, nothing else to install. One-time purchase, no subscription. macOS 14 or later.
Download on the Mac App Storebrew install M-Igashi/tap/baken
winget install M-Igashi.baken
yay -S baken-bin
cargo install baken
ffmpeg must be installed separately. Pre-built binaries on GitHub Releases. Embedding the engine? It is on crates.io as baken-core.
Same baken-core, same numbers. Pick by how you like to work.
| baken CLI | Bake'n Deck for Mac | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, MIT-licensed, forever | One-time purchase, about the price of an EP. No subscription, no IAP |
| Platforms | macOS, Windows, Linux | macOS 14+, Apple silicon and Intel |
| Headroom: folder mode | ✓ | ✓ drag and drop |
| Headroom: one rekordbox playlist | ✗ | ✓ |
| Gain only, no limiter, two-directional | ✓ | ✓ |
| Lossless MP3 / AAC gain | ✓ | ✓ |
| Review table, audio preview, library stats | Text report | ✓ |
| Analysis cache | ✗ | ✓ per file |
| Backups | ✓ backup/ folder | ✓ timestamped per run, one-click restore |
| Sort: all playlists or one | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sorted-order preview | ✗ | ✓ |
| Watch the XML, one-click re-sort | ✗ | ✓ |
| CDJ Safe | ✓ | ✓ with pre-flight and free-space check |
| Mac Tune-up | ✗ | ✓ |
| Scriptable, pipelines, CI | ✓ | ✗ |
| ffmpeg | System install (package managers add it) | Bundled LGPL build, nothing to install |
| Network | Optional daily release check, --no-update-check | None. No network entitlement |
| Languages | English | English, Japanese |
Renamed from headroom at v3.0.0. The old headroom packages on brew, winget, cargo and AUR no longer receive updates; reinstall as baken. Details.
Trim-riding and tag-hunting belong in prep, not in the mix. Bake'n Deck moves both off the deck and into your files, and leaves the music exactly as it was mastered.