Fat Sound, Maximizing levels in a DJ mix Options

[KarlBakker]

I am a DJ who uses a Hi-Fi CD recorder (Pioneer) to record continuous dance music mix sets. The sound quality is very good, but I want to get that Fat Sound you hear on professional Mix CDs.

I have tried the Limiter, Compressor and the Normalizer in Pro Tools (Free) but are unhappy with the result. Everything I try seems to result in a quieter, duller and less dynamic sound, which is the opposite of what I am trying to achieve. When I use a compressor, I cannot get the Gains anywhere near 0db without clipping.

Also, I only run a Mac Titanium.
Can anyone suggest a better approach?
Does anyone know of an inexpensive software option like Sonic Forges Wave Hammer but for the Mac?

Cheers
DJ Anton

[Synthetic]

Echo just came out with a card for laptops that offers 24bit/96khz audio input via 2 1/8" inputs and it is reasonably priced at around $140. I had bought an Emagic EMI 2/6 late last year for my laptop. It looks neat and has good sound quality except when I try to use it with ASIO output from Reason. I am thinking about the Echo card as a replacement but I am not sure it it has audio out at this point. I like the idea of not having another gadget to lug around plus the EMI uses a USB port as well plus I bet the card uses less battery power than the EMI.

Another idea worth looking into if you want good quality and multiple inputs is the Halo Matrix device. It has 8 analog inputs and I think it is firewire based. But it is a nice size box that is about as big as the footprint of a 15" Tibook but it has gotten some realy nice reviews in a couple of mags.