Keyboard levels when sending to FOH?

EnjoyRC · Post by **EnjoyRC** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:40 pm

What is your normal level set at on your keyboards when sending signals to the Front of House? Signals being sent through a Radial DIs. 25%, 50%, 75%, or all the way up? Just curious about what was intended by the designers of the keyboards?

michelkeijzers · Post by **michelkeijzers** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:42 pm

It depends a little, but normally I use about 50-75%, so I can add a little if necessary.

Zeroesque · Post by **Zeroesque** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:43 pm

EnjoyRC wrote:What is your normal level set at on your keyboards when sending signals to the Front of House? Signals being sent through a Radial DIs. 25%, 50%, 75%, or all the way up? Just curious about what was intended by the designers of the keyboards?

I usually sound-check at two thirds of max when live. This gives me a little wiggle room of my own if I get the feeling from the crowd that I'm not being heard.

In the studio you should be at max volume on your synths, unless you have a very good reason not to be.

EnjoyRC · Post by **EnjoyRC** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 4:39 pm

So, 100% can be considered Unity? Not boosted or over-driven? I understand about leaving yourself headroom for live performances. To boost certain patches in certain areas of the song, etc...

I've always run my keyboards around 50% for years. But recently I was looking at the input levels on a mixer and noticed how low the signal level was. That's what made me want to start this thread to see what is a good general level.

If I'm sub-mixing my keys on stage with a small mixer, do I set my keyboard levels hotter? Then regulate the level of each keyboard with the mixer faders instead?

apex · Post by **apex** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 4:53 pm

Zeroesque wrote:
EnjoyRC wrote:What is your normal level set at on your keyboards when sending signals to the Front of House? Signals being sent through a Radial DIs. 25%, 50%, 75%, or all the way up? Just curious about what was intended by the designers of the keyboards?
I usually sound-check at two thirds of max when live. This gives me a little wiggle room of my own if I get the feeling from the crowd that I'm not being heard.

In the studio you should be at max volume on your synths, unless you have a very good reason not to be.

max???? are you serious?

HardSync · Post by **HardSync** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:56 pm

apex wrote:max???? are you serious?

It's about the signal to noise ratio. I have all my synths' volume sliders maxed, and then volume trimmed on a mixer as needed.

Zeroesque · Post by **Zeroesque** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:12 pm

apex wrote:
Zeroesque wrote:
EnjoyRC wrote:What is your normal level set at on your keyboards when sending signals to the Front of House? Signals being sent through a Radial DIs. 25%, 50%, 75%, or all the way up? Just curious about what was intended by the designers of the keyboards?
I usually sound-check at two thirds of max when live. This gives me a little wiggle room of my own if I get the feeling from the crowd that I'm not being heard.

In the studio you should be at max volume on your synths, unless you have a very good reason not to be.
max???? are you serious?

Yes, I believe this is essential for proper gain-staging of most modern line-level gear. I vaguely remember reading this in a synth mag in the early '90s. To be more concrete, looking at your list of equipment, I'd much sooner crank those synths than try to add make-up gain with your Mackie.

If you find this advice to be rather suspect, I invite you to take some measurements for yourself. Maybe you find that you've been doing your recordings a disservice. Or maybe you find a unit that really does add a lot of noise or distortion in the top 10% of it's volume range. Hell, they don't even put volume knobs on most CD players, DAT machines and such.

markn · Post by **markn** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:55 pm

Usually I´m on 50%. This seems also to be the "healthiest" level according to the majority of sound technicians, i´ve been working with. Cranking it up to max 70% if the band gets louder and louder sometimes...

drchris · Post by **drchris** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 5:19 am

I'm in the minority, I'm sure. I keep the Kronos at 25% for live performance. I play in a worship band, and the way our sound guys keep the board, my signal clips at much over that point. I'm sure that they like to keep the gain about the same on all of the channels as we change positions over time and are not always on the same patch into the board.

I'm acutely awary of the s/n ratio issues, but really haven't had a bit of problems with this setting.

I have learned that if I'm giving the FOH guy sounds that he likes, I'll be plenty loud in the house. This week I got lots of positives from the Kronos organ sounds!

Chris

JPROBERTLA · Post by **JPROBERTLA** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:39 pm

I also read somewhere that "modern" synths should be set at 100% volume. I was never comfortable with that so I run them at about 85%. I have a pretty good pre-amp/compressor with large VU meters and have noticed that the gain increased very little from 85% to 100%. However the difference in gain from 50% to 100% is much more vivible on the meters and is even audiblly noticable. Meters don't lie, so I will go with them and 85% to leave a little bereathing room for the output stage of the synth.

EnjoyRC · Post by **EnjoyRC** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 7:56 pm

I really appreciate all this feedback (pun intended). I've often wondered about the optimum levels of my keys. Signal/Noise ratios etc... What do manufacturers recommend? I've never found it in manuals.

MarPabl · Post by **MarPabl** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:11 am

EnjoyRC wrote:I really appreciate all this feedback (pun intended). I've often wondered about the optimum levels of my keys. Signal/Noise ratios etc... What do manufacturers recommend? I've never found it in manuals.

Indeed the Quickstart guide of your Access Virus TI (page 16, Outputs) advises you to set the volume to the max in order to get the best signal to noise ratio...

ronnfigg · Post by **ronnfigg** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 4:28 am

Somebody help me verify this... I believe the O/Ps of the Kronos are balanced (1/4" TRS) so that changes the whole game plan. I am getting ready to switch my setup to balanced, since my amp has TRS inputs (Simmons DA200S which is stereo AND tri-amped!). As I learn more I will post results here.

Dniss · Post by **Dniss** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:51 am

Zeroesque wrote:I vaguely remember reading this in a synth mag in the early '90s.

Is there anything backing this up? I'm not trying to argue here, just that I'd like to know if it's the right way to do it.

I never put volume to max. But that's just out of habit I suppose. But I'd really like to do so if it's the way to go.

Dniss · Post by **Dniss** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 6:52 am

MarPabl wrote:Indeed the Quickstart guide of your Access Virus TI (page 16, Outputs) advises you to set the volume to the max in order to get the best signal to noise ratio...

I see. Well it does make perfect sense though.

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Keyboard levels when sending to FOH?

Keyboard levels when sending to FOH?

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