What kind of setup do I need to play live with keyboard sequences and a metronome??

[TheComposer]

Hello, I'll rehearse with my band very soon, and we'll be performing as a power trio it seems (A drummer, a bassist and me, playing guitar and singing), the songs we'll play include keyboards, but since we haven't found a keyboardist to do the job, we'll play with sequenced keyboards + metronome for the drummer.

My question is, what's exactly what I need??

Here's what I've been thinking of, and some people have told this could be an option, not sure though:

1.-Tracks will be panneled: Keyboards at the left side, Metronome click at right

2.-Music sequences will be played from my cellphone probably.

3.-Cellphone plugged to speakers, then using a Y cable to split channels (Did I skip steps here?)

4.-One channel goes to the drummer's mixer ( Maybe this one "Behringer Micro Amp HA400" )

5.-The other one goes to speakers as I said.

So in the end, I play one sequence, the drummer can hear the click, and and the rest of us (drummer included) listen to the keyboards. Is this the right way to do it??

Please let me know if I'm missing something, I'm not really sure how this is going to work, so I'll ask my bassist about it, thanks.

 

[MrWrenchey]

I wouldn't suggest using a Y-cable in live sound applications under any circumstances... Let me suggest my preferred way of running this kind of setup (note, this will be a long post, but informative, so if you're really curious, read through it all. There will be a test at the end of class).

The way I understand it, you're sequences are saved as a .mp3 or .wav file, yes? If this is true, playing them out of a cell phone probably isn't the greatest idea. The sound cards on those things are terrible, and will result in a shoddy reproduction of the sounds. Not to mention you were talking about using a Y-cable to split channels. If you use a Y-cable, you're going to load the signal coming out of the cell phone down and it'll sound even worse. This is because you're trying to pull more current from the device than the device can push out. What this also does is if you're sending one signal to the main mixer and one to your drummer's headphone amp, every time the drummer tries to turn up his headphones, signal level will DROP at the mixing desk. The engineer will try to compensate by turning up the trim on his desk, which makes the drummer lose level, etc etc ad infinitum.

Ideally, you'd have something like an interface with two DEDICATED outputs running from a computer or something. This way, if you have the mono keys coming out of the left channel and the metronome coming out the right, you have individual control of each channel without loading anything down. This is what my band used to do when we had just an M-Audio Fast Track, and is a better way to do it than y-cables, but if you want to run stereo synth, you'll want something with more than just two outputs. That way, you can run the stereo synth out to outputs and the mono click out another to the drummer's headphones (which is what my band is doing now).

So MY suggestion is to get an interface with at least 3-4 dedicated outputs, and use maybe a laptop to route the synth/metronome out of a DAW. Most bands use MacBook Pros, but my band was originally just using an ancient Dell laptop set up next to the drummer... Any laptop that you can connect the interface to will do. Then you can just have the drummer set up a 2 bar pre-roll before each song so he can press start, hear one bar of click, then count off 4 beats to the band with rim shots or clicking his sticks together.

Right now, my band's running Ableton (we used to just use FL Studio) through my Firestudio Project on an HP laptop. We have a dedicated track sending the metronome to the drummer, and then two more outputs are for the stereo synthesizer. Runs like a charm and we haven't had any issues with it. Hope this helped. =]

 

[TheComposer]

Ok I'm considering another option: An active speaker with Left / Right inputs so I can connect the cellphone/mp3 player there, then I could easily adjust the volume from each channel, is this an option?

 

[MrWrenchey]

I'm not sure I understand what you're asking...
You want to run the output of the cellphone to a single active speaker, and then just turn up the speaker for the audience to hear? It sounds like that doesn't solve the problem of the drummer getting to hear a click, and the sound guy wouldn't enjoy you bringing your own single speaker just for synthesizer/keys output.

 

[TheComposer]

Hey, well, I got some equipment right now, and I'll upload some pictures so you tell me what will I need.

I have speakers too.
I still haven't bought the Xenyx 502 but I will.
And my cellphone as my mp3 player, with panneled wavs (keys and clicks)

So, what else could I need to run my setup?? I've been researching and the Xenyx 502 is a good option it seems. So let me know if you read this!

 

[MrWrenchey]

I guess that'd work. It looks like you could just set up the mixer with the click track in the left, synth in the right. Then just send the left to a headphone amp for the drummer (or just use the headphone out if he wants click AND synth), and then send the right main output to the soundboard. You'll probably need a DI box to convert the line level signal into mic level though.