Mixing Music Live

I talk a lot about getting great sounds from the source.  This includes balancing keyboard patches and playback tracks.

When you’ve got a keyboard player with a variety of keyboards, synths, and rack full of sounds it’s very important to work to get not only the levels but the tones balanced.

It’s equally important with playback tracks or stems that can come in many different configurations and from many different sources.

I’ll start with keyboards.

There can sometimes be a big difference in what the keyboard player hears coming from their rig in IEMs and wedges, versus how it translates through the PA.  For example, they could be compensating with extra high end to cut through their monitor mix while that extra high end is far too much for the FOH mix.  

This becomes a problem when you've got for example;  a string patch where the high end is screaming and an organ patch that is too muddy and needs more highs.

The ideal thing to...