Balancing the Band
Balancing the Band
The aim of this guide is get some consistency over the approach to balancing the band and the overall sound level. And also to make sure that, especially on the live-stream, the band sound is balanced not only within itself but also with the congregation. I have broken this down into two main sections: Rehearsal and First Live Song
Before you do anything else, apply any processing libraries to vocalists and guitars.
Next, and of great importance, set the gain and compression on every active channel for today’s music scene. Nb once set correctly it is unlikely that you will need to change the gain later.
Important: You mix with your ears, not by numbers!
Pull down all the faders and start with the lead vocal at around 0dB (That’s the only number, just to get a good reference level for everything else). If there are two vocalists then, by ear, match the volume of the second to the first and then pull them both down by about 3dB (Ok, another number!)
Now we can bring in the melody instruments (flute, violin etc) one at a time to sit just a little lower than the vocals.
Add the piano so it sits well with the melody.
Next bring in the guitar to around the same level as the piano.
Bring in the drums to sit around the same volume as the piano or maybe a tad louder.
And the bass guitar should match the volume of the kick drum.
Use your ears. If something doesn’t sound right adjust it!.
When all that sounds ok, go to the top of the stairs and listen to the mix again. Has anything disappeared? Does anything stick out? Readjust as necessary.
With the band sounding OK, Save the ‘music’ scene.
At this point note the position of the Main LR fader and pull it right down to help you hear the Broadcast mix better. (This might surprise the musicians but it should only be for a short time!)
Select the Broadcast mix (mix 9). This will show the faders that adjust the way that the Broadcast mix differs from the main mix. When at 0 the Broadcast level for that channel is the same as the FOH for that channel.
With the headphones on, PAFL the Broadcast mix and mute the boundary mic.
Make adjustments as necessary to get a good balance in the headphones. Normally these adjustments will be quite small, less than 5dB in either direction. If you find your exceeding this then the hall mix is probably at fault; go back and listen again.
NB if you later adjust the regular fader for that channel then that will affect the Broadcast output too – this usually a good thing!
Unmute the boundary mic
Restore the Main LR fader back to where it was (see point 1).
Save the ‘music’ scene.
First live song
The band will playing/singing differently from when they rehearsed and now we also have to consider the congregation.
Listen again and check how the band sounds now. We cannot change the congregation volume so you will need to adjust the Main LR mix to get a good balance between the band and the congregation.
Check upstairs and listen to the band. Make any channel changes necessary for the band and also the Main LR.
Hopefully now everything is sounding good in the church so save the ‘music’ scene
This is similar to what we did in rehearsal but with the addition of using the Boundary mic channel to balance the congregation to band.
Select the Broadcast mix (mix 9).
With the headphones on PAFL the Broadcast mix.
Adjust individual muso channels if necessary to rebalance the Broadcast output.
Adjust the Boundary fader so you hear a balanced mix between band and congregation. Ie the vocals should not dominate what you hear.
NB adjusting anything here may alter the overall signal level to the live-stream, so watch this (meter on the small a/v monitor) and adjust the Broadcast output to keep it in range.
Save the ‘music scene.