EQ on Keyboard Outputs

[Ibarch]

When playing gigs, what would be a good general guideline for setting EQ levels on my keyboard sound? Should I leave it flat and rely on FOH to sort out or set to what sounds best to me?

I play in a 5 piece originals band with guitar, bass and drums, mainly pop and light rock. I'm using a variety of sounds including pianos, organs, electric pianos and synths all from a single board. 

 

Whilst I can (and do) tinker with  EQs on each patch and within each of up to 3 layers within the patch, I can also set the EQ for the main outputs. It is this I'm referring to for my question. At the last couple of gigs the bass seemed a little too much, so I'm considering a small reduction to the low end below 200Hz. Is this a good idea?

[Stokely]

I don't tend to EQ per se, though I do think about timbre when making patches.  Pianos I tend to make a bit bright for a band situation for instance.

If a FOH engineer wants keys to sound a bit different through the main speakers, that's up to them--I can't hear what it sounds like in a particular room out front.   More than EQ I do think about reverb, in a really "live" room I'll turn it down (I don't tend to have much on in the first place).  Having a master reverb control on a keyboard (or on a pedal/rack unit) makes this easy...if baked into patches, not so easy.

When we run sound, I do roll off the very low end but I rarely play down there anyway.  Your idea of doing that on the keyboard would be valid IMO.

[David R]

I would leave it to FOH for the EQ of your main outputs. They will (hopefully!) have a better sense of the resonant frequencies in the room. Sometimes there are big bumps in the 200-400 Hz range that have nothing to do with your patch.

 

We’re also usually standing behind the mains, and hearing how it bounces back or what’s coming through our wedge (which is often not the same frequency response as the PA).

[Reezekeys]

I would start off with getting the EQ right for hearing yourself and fitting in with the band, then let the FOH person adjust as needed for the room. Most of the time, in my case at least, that involves rolling off lows and notching low-mids. Doing this lets you push your levels higher and hear yourself better, as there'll be less of those frequencies to "compete" with the band mix. I do this when playing solo gigs too – it just sounds better to me.

[Ibarch]

Thanks for advice. I'm playing outdoors this evening so will sound a little different anyway. 

[RABid]

One area that can use some extra eq is strings and pads. If anything is going to create mud in your mix, it is strings. Well, and reverb. But, narrowing your bandwidth on strings and pads will help you find a space to sit in the mix.

[CEB]

It totally depended on the gig.  There are no magic beans.  EQ the Keyboard mix so it sounds good.   What I do for the Pop gig where I am holding down hip-hop synth bass parts is different than a piano gig.   I mean  I can play two piano gigs and do two totally different EQ curves.  If it is easy listening piano gig the curve is fairly flat and I try to use the appropriate piano sound.  If I am doing a Skynyrd tribute gig I will somewhat high pass the pianos.  

 

Let FOH production do their job.  If production guys really really suck then practice hard, get better and get better gigs.

 

 

[Baldwin Funster]

Hopefully a sound man that knows how to do sound for keys has EQ in control.  Since what I described doesn't exist except at the highest level in our business I really got no advice. I suppose you get your patches sounding as level and EQd as you can and be pleasantly surprised if someone tells you the keys sounded great tonight. 

[Docbop]

You want to send FOH the sound you want amplified to the whole room.   FOH will EQ for the room as necessary.  

[Ibarch]

To sum up everything so far, 

Yes I understand that there isnt one magic setting that fits all. 

I've been lucky that almost every gig we have played this year,  the sound has been ok. From audience feedback, keys has been audible in FOH. I can't ask for more - especially given some of the other threads on here. 

Taking the low end off certain patches like strings yesterday did seem to improve the sound for me.

 

I do wonder if the keys signal can be a bit hot if there is too much low end on some sounds, resulting in getting turned down for the night for everything. So I'm going to take a patch by patch approach and leave the main outputs for the Sound techs. 

 

Thanks again for your thoughts. 

 

[Stokely]

Low end is especially a problem if the sound person puts compression on keys (which in my experience they often do).  The low end might cause the threshold to be crossed well before the main part of the sound, and you end up with more compression than you really need.  This is why when mixing at home if I'm going to use a high pass filter, I do it first...there's an age-old discussion about EQ before compression, or compression before EQ, but when cutting lows I think I'd always do that first.  Otherwise, I'd be more inclined to EQ after compression unless I'm trying to "fix" something (like taking out an obnoxious frequency or the lows).

[Mighty Motif Max]

It depends on the situation - in a band that doesn't have electric guitar, I'll generally leave the EQ to the sound tech. As soon as electric guitar enters the picture, I will try to work with the guitarist to jointly EQ our patches to work well together (if they're willing). In that situation, it's generally a larger band anyways, so I will pull out a lot of lows (roll off around 200hz) and duck some mids around 750hz for starters. I like to take sort of a "comb" approach if the guitarist and I are tweaking to work well together - I'll cut in a place that they will boost a touch, and vice versa. If the guitarist isn't particularly interested in EQing tones and/or doesn't have the gear to do it well, I will just pull out some lows and cut mids. Sure, maybe one could say that the keys lose some presence; but I would rather have the band as a whole sound less muddy than be heard more clearly than the guitar.

[Delaware Dave]

I Eq my board for my monitor, tweaking each input channel on my mixer and let the FOH worry about tweaking what comes out of the mains, that's his job.  In  reality when we're playing I cant hear what comes out if the mains anyway, I can only hear what's on the stage. I use EV ELX 112p's which are equivalent to small FOH main output speakers that we often run into.  If he runs the EQ flat then what I'm hearing out of my monitor should be what is coming out of the mains.

[Stokely]

This topic reminds me of a silly run-in I had with our old bass player/PA owner/sound guy.  He got after me at one rehearsal where the goal was to work out patches and sounds with the new PA in a big gig-like space (actually a worthy goal).  Anyway, he asked me to pull up a hammond patch (of a few that I use) and proceeds to tell me to bring up 500 hz or something.  I didn't know where I'd even do EQ on that keyboard, I simply don't EQ patches much or set a master (I might on the mixer to high pass).  If I need a bright piano, there's generally one on a keyboard I'll use, etc.    He started harassing me about not knowing my gear.  I'm like, you know that organs have drawbars right, when I start using them it changes the frequencies.  And this is one f-ing organ patch out of a few, and out of 50 or so patches I might use at a gig on one of my two keyboards.  I pissed him off even more (on purpose, by then) by suggesting we order some dinner, because eq-ing all my patches would mean a few hours while everyone else sat around.    The whole escapade was ludicrous, just a control freak trying to put his thing down.  Don't miss that clown after the bandleader finally had had enough of his grumpiness