How do you dial tones for live use?

D

Dirty145

Inspired
Finally had our first gig of the year and first chance to use my FM3 live. Overall, I was pleased with my monitored sound through my QSC10.2, but that’s because I spent countless hours endlessly dialing and redialing my patches. The QSC has over 10 different DSP settings, so my method to this point has been to use the studio monitor setting (the flattest response from what I read, although still not very flat) to dial things in and then switch the DSP to the default setting to mimic what I assume would be similar to a FOH sound. Obviously, they sound very different (much more low end) on the default setting.

So my question is, does this seem like the correct method? I did determine that I’m completely fine with a wedge solution, so I don’t need a cab behind me. Should I consider a studio monitor like the Adam’s A7X to dial in tones and then use the QSC as a wedge at the gigs? Should I replace the QSC with something like an active Xitone wedge and use that for dialing in tones and for monitoring? If I went with studio monitors, could I get just one or would I need two for dialing in my patches?

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions!
 
I would always dial the sound at roughly the volume I would use, together with the band if possible. Then I could apply global EQ to correct it for the room.
 
Place your monitor how you are going to use it, in my case it is backline setup behind facing forward. Turn up to gig volume and play. Use the looper to loop a riff and then tweak while it's looping. Always use what you are using live to dial in patches. If you don't know what will be at the gig, you need to dial in as flat as you can, and at the gig, make a global eq to tweak to fix it.

I usually have to global eq tweak because you never know what stage you'll get, some are boomy, some are dead.
 
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Agree with EQing with the band in the room if possible.

Question I have that may help the OP - do you guys dial back reverb depending on the room?

Seems the reverb of the room could clash with the reverb from the AXE.
 
I used to run my Roland V-Kit thru my Keyboard 4 Channel Amp I had for a while running Bass & Drums really loud.
Now I Jam with a Backing Track on Youtube really loud thru my 2 ASC-10s & my RCF FRFR Monitor, then I run thru my different Presets & Level stuff out.
I also started with the Austin Buddy Live Gold Pack, but you have to be careful to not Wander away from the Balance in the Presets that come in that Pack, so you can grab a New Amp from that Pack & have it still be darn Close.
 
While not perfect, at home I like to play to tracks. It can be obvious when a patch gets lost in the mix and when it sticks out. If find it helps me get in the ballpark. Did this the other day with the patch I usually use at home and I couldn't hear it against the track. It was 100% an eq issue. What sounds great alone doesn't always sound great in the mix.
 
guitaryates said:
While not perfect, at home I like to play to tracks. It can be obvious when a patch gets lost in the mix and when it sticks out. If find it helps me get in the ballpark. Did this the other day with the patch I usually use at home and I couldn't hear it against the track. It was 100% an eq issue. What sounds great alone doesn't always sound great in the mix.
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I agree with that for sure. I dialed in the tones solo, and I thought they sounded pretty thin and “middy”, but they seemed to set well with the rest of the band.
 
I play exclusively at church now using IEMs - so I don't have any "stage volume" in my scenario. With that, I dial my tones in at home using the same IEMs I use at church. I also run into a small mixer (PreSonus StudioLive AR8) so I account for a mixer channel preamp. Since it's the same IEMs both at home and church, and they're at approximately the same volume in both places - I get my preset dialed in playing against the tracks of the songs for that weekend's service.

I have used a similar process when dialing in presets for a live cover band. I would use my band practice time to make some changes - but to also note the other, usually more subtle, changes I wanted to make - get the remaining done at home - then "re-test" my presets at the next band practice.

As others have mentioned - I kept the Global EQ open to be able to adjust for specific rooms - since I'd been thru several iterations of changes at band practices and didn't want to make "preset changes" based on a single location. If I noticed I was doing the same things over and over in venues that I didn't want for the practice space I either a) used the Global EQ to accommodate one of the situation (practice vs gigs) or b) created a second set of presets to use for the two scenarios so that I could still have the Global EQ open for on the fly tweaks.

As for reverb - I do use some reverb on my tones for church since I play via IEMs and that creates a more natural experience for me - but also keep my reverb pretty tamed as I also recognize that the room is going to add in natural reverb.

I use wireless units so I'll periodically go out in the room to ensure the FOH translation is what I expect.

I'm not saying my method is perfect or the only way - but works for me.
 
I read somewhere here that if you feed the FOH and your monitor separately, set up the tones using studio monitors for the FOH output, then tweak or add EQ for your monitor output. I have not yet tried this yet, but seems to make the most sense to me. Global EQ as necessary for room.
 
I actually had a volume issue with output 2 at the gig, so I wound up running output 1 left to FOH and output 1 right to my QSC.10.2. That fixed the volume issue, but for some reason, I don’t think that is what you are supposed to do.
 
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