How would you approach eq'ing a band's live sound where the ranges each instrument plays shifts? For example, the band I'm in features keys, synth, guitar, bass (as well as twin lead vocals and drums). We end up playing across various octaves, taking on different roles etc., within the same song. I'm sure this is common with a lot of bands. How do you approach eq'ing the live sound when the instrument ranges shift around so much? What works great for each instrument in one song/section is bound to be less than ideal for another song/section. Then again it's hardly practical for a sound engineer to have to keep shifting EQ constantly throughout a gig, especially when they're not familiar with the songs. Appreciate any info on how this is dealt with.
Comments
Keyboards in particular can need some very brutal hi passing if the player does a lot of left hand bass notes and octaves. One trick here is to switch the filter out if the song starts with keys only (so it sounds nice and full range fat on it's own ) and then switch the high pass filter back in when the whole band comes in
Although it's certainly possible to change EQ on the fly, especially with snapshots on digital mixers you need to be careful on some boards as often monitor sends can be post EQ ... so wedges and IEM's will change etc.
You can have a modern digital desk with HUI do an automatic mix if you play with a click and use the same arrangement every time. In this scenario your using the same automation you would mixing a song in the studio but in reality with every venue being different and stage volumes from amps changing gig to gig it's probably not a practical solution
So I agree with @Stuckfast. It starts with arrangements. Secondly it’s what sounds we each use. We have to remind our singer to cut the bass on his guitar. It sounds nice at home, but is audio sludge in a band mix. There are things you can do from the desk, but that’s not much help if you’ve got a sludgy backline and no soundman.