Keyboard compression?!

[jacobrownoly]

Hello, I play in a 5 piece wedding band and I am just looking for some advice on live compression.

I have a 2 channel DBX and 4 channel behringer compressor in my P.A, normally i use a little compression on the vocals which works quite well but I am looking for help on setting up a channel for our Keyboard player. He plays a wide variation of sounds Piano, strings, brass ect most of the time his volume is all over the place and hard to control His typical piano sound is quite compared to the loud brass sounds. So I am guessing a compressor will help, but what setting?? Should I be looking at almost limiting his keyboard so that all his sounds are the same? Any help and advice will be much appreciated!


p.s (a noob question here) but if I want to run a monitor into an EQ then the mixer what are the inputs and outputs I would use.

Many thanks

 

[EastCoastThump]

Using outboard compression as the fix will play havoc on the keys sound(s). Part of being a pro keys player is menu-editing your patches' volume levels.

I'm assuming a main piano sound is one of his most-used for your wedding gigs. If so, have him set the volume level for his main piano patch ~ 6dBs or so below max and use that as the reference point when editing the volume levels for the other patches he uses in your sets. The goal isn't to get all the patches to the exact same dB level, but to get them in the ballpark of how they're used in your sets. (Here, "ballpark" = within the playable touch sensitivity of his main controller.)

 

[morgansterne]

I play keys in a bar band 2-4 times a month. My sounds are edited to give the right volume for each, but I'm still adjusting the volume knob quite often. I find i need to bring up the volume for little leads and then back it off for background chords. For one song the piano sound might be at a perfect level and then for the next it might need to be brought up depending on what I'm playing in that particular song.
Compression on the keyboard is not a good way to even out the volume of different patches. The piano would have very little compression if it's set quieter, the brass would be blaring at maximum for every note without any dynamics. (plus, brass sounds really work best if you can have notes swell in volume like a real brass player would!)

 

[walterw]

Hello, I play in a 5 piece wedding band and I am just looking for some advice ...

p.s (a noob question here)...

forgive me, but this sticks out; if you're in a 5-piece "wedding band", that usually implies good money gigs. that doesn't square well with "noob" soundman questions!

maybe you should be hiring a pro soundguy instead.

 

[jimfist]

it's very difficult to get all the different sounds perfectly balanced with the band for ever song in every situation, though the keys player should do his best to achieve this ideal first and foremost. Good results can be achieved by doing this at gig volume with the whole band, or short of that, with a two track recording of the band sans keys, again, at healthy gig level.

Though it may be an impractical solution, what I would do to solve a continuing problem is run two channels for keys, one fairly compressed, and a second without compression, and then ride the two faders to suit taste depending on what works best as needed. The uncompressed channel provides the necessary dynamic range to compliment the comp channel.

If a single channel is only available, then I'd use a multiband compressor (3 bands minimum) inserted on the keys channel, which will help get the best of both worlds. Typically, bass heavy content will force the onset of compression in an unnatural way. The multiband comp will allow you to compress the different frequency ranges so that you can walk that tightrope between "automated gain control" and preserving dynamic range. I agree that a typical broadband compressor set with enough gain reduction to even out things across wildly varying sound levels would be a less than desirable. Small amounts might be helpful to a point, though.

Neither of these solutions are necessarily newbie friendly, unfortunately. A tough nut to crack, and in my experience, usually it is the better, more experienced keyboard players who have a good grip on this. A limited sound palette also helps limit this problem.