Nord Electro 3 - problems with volum control

[arntkaare]

Hello.
I hope this is the right forum for postning this .

I currently play in a cover-band (hoping to making our own projects or finding someone else to play with in the future). We cover an american band called Clutch, which use/used a lot of organ sounds in their music.

Here is a short youtube-video from a gig we played last year -

This is very loud and fun rock-music, which for me is very challenging finding the right volume/balance when playing. When I practice at home, everything sounds good, but when playing with the band, I find it very difficult to have exactly the right volume/gain. I use many different customized programs for the different songs, but I find it difficult to have the right set of volume on the different programs. Even if the gain control is at the same level, some are even hard to hear when playing with full band when i turn it at max volume.

We usually only play 3-4 gig a year, because of a drummer working in the oil business, traveling a lot abroad, so when playing at smaller pubs/rock scenes, and it always seems hard for the "sound guy" to give me the right set of volume out to the audience. I know that my role is to build up the "soundscape"(?), and to spice it up with a few solos, but sometimes it can be a bit frustrating after a gig when someone tell me that they didnt hear me play because of loud guitar, bass and drums :p

Anyone have any tips/experience, or are there any accessories that can help?

(English is not my first language, so I am sorry if my descriptions are awkwardly worded )

[arntkaare]

Yes, this can indeed be tricky! First of all it's important that your monitor mix is right, so that it sounds right to you. Once this is in place, the sound guy can adjust the out volume to match the rest of the band. Make sure your main volume on the keyboard is only about halfway up at this stage. This is all done during sound check.

Later on at the gig, I bet the other guys play louder than before, so you should too! So just raise your main volume until it sounds good to you. This should sound good to the audience too!

I can also recommend using a volume pedal so that you can easily change your volume while playing.

Also, if you know someone in the audience, ask them to give feedback after a few songs.

Finally, make a habit of recording your gigs, preferably with video. It's a really good way to get accurate feedback on the performance.

Good luck!
/Anders

[arntkaare]

The best accessory here is a louder stage amp

There's nothing more miserable than putting all that effort into learning songs, rehearsing and gigging just to be told that no-one can hear you anyway.

Sounds like your PA system isn't loud enough to compete with the onstage volume the other band members are using. (An additional problem is that many sound guys just don't mix keyboards very loud; they often seem to think that the keys aren't as important as the rest of the band).

Even if that's not the case, you need enough volume yourself on stage so that you can hear the keys loud enough without your instrument being turned full up - halfway up as elekromin suggested should give you enough "in hand" to be able to boost yourself for solos.

But if you don't have enough power to hear yourself clearly in the first place, there's nothing you can really do about that.

There's also the problem of balancing your different sounds within themselves. As you've found out, what works at home often doesn't work properly with the rest of the band, and adjusting the relative volume of your different sounds is a slow process of trial and error. Even the same sound at the same volume can seem to vary according to the song and arrangement. There are some tricks you can do to help. Try playing in a different register from the guitar player - if he's play a low riff as on your YouTube video, try playing a bit higher (and vice-versa), or adding a little more brightness with some higher drawbars. Adding a bit of overdrive can work wonders - even if the organ sounds a little bit too dirty by itself, the distortion will be obscured in the mix by the guitarist's distortion and it might just give you the extra volume and brightness you need. Unless you're doing the "Jon Lord" thing, trying to compete with the guitarist on his own terms won't work - he's got a Marshall! - so you should think in terms of finding the spaces which he isn't using at that moment. Actually, on that video, the organ level is a little bit quiet, but not too bad. It shouldn't take too much to get your volume where it needs to be.

And as ever, take great care not to go too far with volume; your hearing is vitally important and you must protect yourself from hearing damage at all costs. If the band are so loud that you can't safely compete with them volume-wise, find another band.

Oh, and try standing instead of sitting - it's rock and roll, dude!

[arntkaare]

Thanks for great tips!

I was actually planning to play standing at our next gig this saturday, but I know myself good enough to know i will get a little extra nervous standing, start shaking in hands and legs, very very annoying. Lol. I guess the only way is to play standing at rehearsals over and over again until it feels natural. I have been sitting playing the piano and keyboard all my life .

[RedLeo]

It is a little strange at first (OMG the audience can see me! Help!) but it makes you more a part of the band on stage and you will feel more energy than sitting down. And now all the pretty girls will know you're there