Rookie Question about Live Sound

Ok, I've actually been gigging awhile, so this question is long overdue: How do you control your live sound? I mean, we keyboardists have such a dynamic range of tones and volumes from one song to the next--sometime the lead instrument, sometimes subtle background. How do you know if you're too loud/quiet in the mix? Do your monitors really give you an adequate "feel" for this? Does your amp/speakers (whatever you use on stage) not overpower your ability to monitor? Are you controlling your volume on stage yourself, or driving your sound man crazy, as I am (though we don't have him at every show). In other words, I just don't know what the audience is hearing, and yet I want to make damn sure I hear myself at crucial moments.

Well, FIRST I go through all of my patch/performance setups to try to make sure they are all even in volume so that as I switch from one to another there isn't TOO big of a volume jump. This isn't always possible but it helps. I also adjust volume on the fly with a foot controller to bring the sound up or down as I deem necessary during a song. Sometimes that drives the sound guy nuts but with practice I've gotten pretty good at learning what my upper and lower volume range limits should be.

 

SECOND I make sure that my monitor mix contains my keys at the front of the whole mix - in other words always loud enough for me to hear myself but mixed in with the whole mix of the band - not necessarily sitting back in the mix where they will out front. Again this may change from song to song because some songs use an organ as background glue while others may have brass or piano sitting prominently in front to drive the song.

 

THIRD I depend on our sound man to get the balance right out front, although this isn't always possible (we occasionally play without a sound man but those shows usually don't go very well). I am one of those that believe the sound man is the single most important person in the band and to play without one is to invite disaster. Kind of like trying to imagine a football team playing a game without a head coach to direct things. Unfortunately in this economy the sound guy is often discarded to maximize profit but I rarely hear a band play without one who doesn't suffer from the choice.

 

FOURTH, if playing without a sound man, I depend on friends/spouses in the audience to give me a "turn up" or "turn down" sign if things get too far afoul of nominal - again not always possible but a nice backup to have from time to time.)

 

Finally, I used to think that using a comp/limiter to keep my mix in check would work, but it only worked well if EVERYONE else on stage is also similarly constrained - including drums - and that hardly ever happened so I abandoned that idea early on. Plus it tends to castrate your dynamic range and suck the emotion and nuance out of the music.

 

Honestly, unless you have a quality sound man who can get things balanced out front it is usually a crapshoot as to how well you will blend into the mix, but I have found that we musicians sweat this stuff a LOT more than the average Joe. 90% of the audience can't tell if a mix is bad or not unless something is so buried as to be imperceptible ("Hey man, I can't hear your piano out front at ALL!"). And usually they could give a crap about the keys but God help you if the vocals or guitars are buried (rare but I suppose it can happen.) I also play guitar and have found it MUCH easier to get my guitar to be consistent in the mix than my keys. As always, YMMV. Good luck!!

Yes without a soundman it's pretty hard to know what the mix is out front.

I use a small Mackie mixer, where I send the headphone signal out to the board, and L and R main out to 2 qsc k-12s. What I find myself sometimes doing during the gig is turning the volume right down on the QSC,s just to see if I can hear the keyboards through the mains to give me some kind of idea if I'm still cutting through.

Another thumbs up for having a sound guy, which honestly is the only way to get it very right. Ditto on the audience not caring too much, except for the vocals.

 

If I am playing without a sound guy, and I have time in the setup (which when I am in the cover band, is always the case), I hit a long sustaining patch and try to get what's coming through the mains to sound like what's coming through my monitor. This at least allows me to have a rough idea. However, the mix on stage isn't always going to be what the mix is out front. When I'm playing one of those three-original-band nights when you only have limited time to set up, it's go to it and good luck.

 

Keys really are difficult to self-balance, because in a lot of songs you blend in to provide fill and depth. It's actually easier when you play leads.

Same, same, as is mentioned above concerning the soundman. Oh, and don't just grab anyone at the last minute to mix sound for you. Make sure your soundman is part of the band, and that he/she shows up at many of your practices and is in on discussions of how the songs are to be mixed and what the desired output should sound like to the audiance. And, make sure he/she is well experienced with all of your sound equipment and can fix things that go wrong in the middle of a song or set and how to squelch feedback without freaking out and panicing. Absolutely, the soundman can make or break your show.

So...I should expect to keep my sound man very busy then? That eases my mind a bit. I play guitar for a different band -- NEVER have this problem, even when switching between subtle rhythm and bold leads. I guess, as Johnnydr suggests, on those nights without sound man, I might occasionally drop volume on personal amp to hear my keys through the mains only to get my bearings. Anyway, glad to know this is a common problem.