Nord User Forum

Through various adjustments, I’ve noticed that some piano sounds are louder than others. This creates challenges for the sound engineer and the band. Is there a way to ensure that, despite the settings, the sound is broadcasted at a consistent volume?

It's your job to get the volumes levelled overall. Seems one of the most important ones.

I learned to level pianos at about -6 to -9 dB in order to have enough headroom for softer sounds to crank up to the same level.

And there is a convenient tool on NS3 that will help dial up or down the volumes of all engines at the same time: the utility ProgLevel (Shift + Program 5).

Sietze wrote: ↑04 Dec 2024, 11:47 Through various adjustments, I’ve noticed that some piano sounds are louder than others. This creates challenges for the sound engineer and the band. Is there a way to ensure that, despite the settings, the sound is broadcasted at a consistent volume?

Yep, what @fziegler said, it's your task alone to control the sound levels coming out of your instrument. It takes some effort, but the resulting mix is well worth getting proficient at it.

I approach at two levels. Ahead of the gig, I'll flip between different programs and listen for roughly the same levels of piano sounds, ditto for organ, synth and samples.

But I can only get it 90% right ahead of time, so I've learned to continually mix levels throughout a gig. EPs can be overcooked, organ is often buried, etc. That's where those faders on the NS4 have proven to be very useful. I find that an extra 25% "on reserve" (e.g. faders set no higher than 75%) gives me plenty of room to adjust for solos and similar.

There are keyboardists that use mucho compression to keep their volume levels in line. I, for one, don't like the overly compressed sound, and prefer to make the extra effort to mix during a performance.