Mix is great except for my keyboards??

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mrglimm

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I have a nice mix working, but for some reason my keyboards are much hotter than everything else. If I pull the gain back, I can't hear myself when everyone is playing. I'm just running mono out to my own channel...
Anybody want to walk me through what I might be doing wrong?
 
mrglimm said:
I have a nice mix working, but for some reason my keyboards are much hotter than everything else. If I pull the gain back, I can't hear myself when everyone is playing. I'm just running mono out to my own channel...
Anybody want to walk me through what I might be doing wrong?
Click to expand...

best idea would be to stick up an MP3 sample in the MP3 clinic then folks could give you pointers from what they can hear....
 
Good idea, Im afraid they're just going to tell me to turn the keyboards down lol
I'll try
 
mrglimm said:
If I pull the gain back, I can't hear myself when everyone is playing.
Click to expand...
What you need to do is answer for yourself why that is. If your keyboard is being masked by something else when it's level is "correct", you have to pick out the cause of the masking. It's likely a problem either with the actual arrangement, or with panning, or with a lack of proper mix automation to support the arrangement (or any combination of the three).

G.
 
mrglimm said:
I have a nice mix working, but for some reason my keyboards are much hotter than everything else. If I pull the gain back, I can't hear myself when everyone is playing.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I'm having trouble making sense of this. Your keyboards are supposedly too hot. But when you turn them down, they're too low???? There has to be somewhere in between where it's OK.

Or, maybe you shouldn't be mixing the song. Let the guitar player mix it. But, then he'll probably say he has the same problem with the guitar.

See what's going on here?
 
Ok, so when we play live in the basement, the guitarist has his own amp, which we lower the sound and mic. He has no problems hearing. So he has multiple ways of adjustment correct. My keyboard is line in, so I only hear it through the mix on the mackie's (otherside of the room) When I Hear the mix of my keyboards, and it sounds right, it's too hot when I record. When I partially Guess what Im playing hearing only random notes, it's perfecet in the mix. There is something with the way it goes to the speakers, and through thte Sub out that is different than the other instruments...
 
I have some decent mixing recipes for keys.

Saturation/valve plug (optional)

Compressor...LA2A type of setting works well...( I will try and post setting for you)

EQ...roll of highs and lows (highpass lowpass) and boost some mids.

Stereo imager...use this plug to widen the image/keys.

------

Aux send/receive

Split harmonizer

Reverb...hall reverb will put the keys in the back

EDIT...just noticed its more about the recording than the mixing however I would try the mixing tip I posted when you get things sorted out recording wise.
 
Now this makes perfect sense. I had not yet tried lowering highs on the EQ duh. Compressor should be fine since it's compressing the group bus. But I will also try mixing in the reverb, I hadn't thought of that. I am bugeting for an aural exciter now.

D_Vincent said:
I have some decent mixing recipes for keys.

Saturation/valve plug (optional)

Compressor...LA2A type of setting works well...( I will try and post setting for you)

EQ...rool of highs and lows (highpass lowpass) and boost some mids.

Stereo imager...use this plug to widen the image/keys.

------

Aux send/receive

Split harmonizor

Reverb...hall reverb will put the keys in the back
Click to expand...
 
mrglimm said:
Ok, so when we play live in the basement, the guitarist has his own amp, which we lower the sound and mic. He has no problems hearing. So he has multiple ways of adjustment correct. My keyboard is line in, so I only hear it through the mix on the mackie's (otherside of the room) When I Hear the mix of my keyboards, and it sounds right, it's too hot when I record. When I partially Guess what Im playing hearing only random notes, it's perfecet in the mix. There is something with the way it goes to the speakers, and through thte Sub out that is different than the other instruments...
Click to expand...

OK, so you're not talking about recording. Now I get it.

Well, it's obvious that if everyone except you has their own monitoring, you'll have trouble hearing yourself in the mix. You need to get yourself a speaker or monitor. That way you can do the mix so it sounds right in the P.A., and you can turn yourself up and down all you like in your monitor without affecting the overall mix.
 
RAMI said:
OK, so you're not talking about recording. Now I get it.

Well, it's obvious that if everyone except you has their own monitoring, you'll have trouble hearing yourself in the mix. You need to get yourself a speaker or monitor. That way you can do the mix so it sounds right in the P.A., and you can turn yourself up and down all you like in your monitor without affecting the overall mix.
Click to expand...

Well yeah I had thought of that, and still considering, but the other instruments come through fine, as it sounds in the recording...
 
Yes, you need your own amp. When I play keys at gigs, I never just rely on the pa monitors. I have a small GK amp (at minimum) I take and if it's loud I'll put the amp right up by my head on a stand.

Picture when an orchestra plays: to each violinist they can hear themselves louder and sooner than anybody else. That's normal. It takes a very experienced, seasoned player to play a track and mix it at the same time - the natural thing is like the violinist, you want to hear it louder in the mix while you're laying it down so you can catch any crap and fix it. And sooner too 'cause music does take time to travel.

Monitoring through speakers across the room while the other guys have their own amps - that would drive me nuts! :)
 
mrglimm said:
Well yeah I had thought of that, and still considering, but the other instruments come through fine, as it sounds in the recording...
Click to expand...
Maybe that's because they have monitors. So, they can have the right volume in the mix, yet they can still turn up their amps if they don't hear themselves enough.

In your first post, you said your keys are too hot. So, "coming through fine" isn't your problem. Your problem is that you have to turn yourself up too loud in the mix just to be able to hear yourself. Having your own monitor would iliminate that problem.

It's really not that complicated. Or, at least, it shouldn't be.
 
kcearl said:
best idea would be to stick up an MP3 sample in the MP3 clinic then folks could give you pointers from what they can hear....
Click to expand...

That is a really good idea. I have a couple mixes myself that I want to post there. Do you know of any good hosting sites that I could use? I'm having some trouble with Lightningmp3.
 
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