As we've a few gig free weeks, we've decided to set the full PA up, and see if we can get the Kemper to sound better than mic'ed. Any tips/tricks for doing this before we commence. Previously, due to lack of time, and general laziness, we've just thrown a mic in front of the cab, but I've never been happy with FOH sound. Thanks in advance!
Kemper Straight Through PA... Any tips?
- NorthShaun
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Keep the signal sent to FOH around -18db to -12db. Nothing else to do. I have been running that way going on 3 years and the sound is always killer.
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My 2 Main Outs (jacks) go straight to a stereo input on the mixing desk. In Outputs I have set the main out volume at - 12.7 Db. I have a set of 4 powered QSC speakers with a sub which are linked to each other.
Left and Right output from the mixing desk go straight into a pair of those powered speakers. This sounds great! For a number of rigs I included a stereo loop (from the right fx-block and then use browser knob left next to screen. Turn all the way to the right and there it is...Sounds awesome for delays, choruses and other modulation fx. ! -
I use stereo out direct into foth, monitor out into an alto 210 for self monitoring. Perfect setting for me !
Ah, one more thing though: I use a strat along with Bert Meulendijk profiles, they are just perfect with just a bit of output eq! -
My rig is dead simple:
Guitar---Vocal Processor (harmony reference)----KPA----L/R main outputs (either phone or XLR) into the mixer.
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As we've a few gig free weeks, we've decided to set the full PA up, and see if we can get the Kemper to sound better than mic'ed. Any tips/tricks for doing this before we commence. Previously, due to lack of time, and general laziness, we've just thrown a mic in front of the cab, but I've never been happy with FOH sound. Thanks in advance!
Ok, here is the rub .....
Unless you actually practice through your PA (most of us don't), there are some things you have to keep in mind.
Your practice tone will not be the same as your live tone by default. This is true reguardless of if you practice through headphones, or practice through a speaker at home.
What we would all like, is to be able to hear the same thing when you practice as the audience does when you play live.
There are a couple of ways to do this. For the purpose of this reply, I will assume you use headphones for practice (it doesn't really matter).
Start with your practice setup and get your tone the way you like.
Take your rig to the PA, and play the rigs through the PA. Use the channel eq on the mixer to get the same tone (or as close as possible) you get with the heaphones (bring them with you so you can A/B the tone yourself).
I have a digital mixer which is capable of recording the entire band on a multi-track recorder and replaying that through the system at my convenience. This is nice because I can always get my guitar tone tweaked in the exact environment and mix I will have live (or even had live if I recorded the tracks at an actual gig).
When I make ANY changes at home to a rig that APPEARS to sound better than the original rig, I always save the new rig as a new rig to try out. I never overwrite a proven rig that has been equalized to sound good in the mix live. I then A/B my new tone to my old tone through the PA with a recording done with the rest of the band's recording.
You would be very surprised how many rigs you think you "improved" at home that sound worse than the original when put into the full mix and played at volume!
If you do this, you will have live tone that simply melts your heart
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Worth re-stating that you should tweak your EQ at live venue levels, due to the Fletcher Munson effect. Otherwise you'll bump the bass and treble, then get blasted with them at the PA. The sound engineer will probably know about and adjust your EQ at the desk for this.
You can create different EQ presets based on how loud you'll be playing if that varies much.
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Keep the signal sent to FOH around -18db to -12db. Nothing else to do. I have been running that way going on 3 years and the sound is always killer.
Why is it set to -18 db? I tried looking up in the manual but coudln't find any info on exactly this. I feel 0db is way too loud
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I feel 0db is way too loud
there are multiple decibel scales. 0dB in digital gear is dBFSwhich is the maximum level before clipping. Analog isn’t measured in dBFS though.
Ikm not an expert on this stuff so someone else might be able to explain it better but try this for starters.
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Yeah true, but when I record in a DAW, anything way below -6db yo ustart to lose audio information. Figured this also may be the case when setting the KPA output too low.
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The generally recommended approach from pro audio engineers is to track in your DAW between -18 and -12 and only ever hit -6 on very occassional peaks to preserve headroom and obtain maximum clarity and fidelity. You don’t need to hit a DAW with a hot signal like the old analog days. You shouldn’t be loosing an audio information even below -18 because the noise floor is so low and dynmaicrange so high in digital.
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The generally recommended approach from pro audio engineers is to track in your DAW between -18 and -12 and only ever hit -6 on very occassional peaks to preserve headroom and obtain maximum clarity and fidelity. You don’t need to hit a DAW with a hot signal like the old analog days. You shouldn’t be loosing an audio information even below -18 because the noise floor is so low and dynmaicrange so high in digital.
This is very interesting. So I guess the -6db mark (or anything around that mark) is only necessary for analogue stuff, like vocal recordings etc (?), but with the Kemper it becomes digital and therefore does not lose any audio quality at -18db?
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This is very interesting. So I guess the -6db mark (or anything around that mark) is only necessary for analogue stuff, like vocal recordings etc (?), but with the Kemper it becomes digital and therefore does not lose any audio quality at -18db?
Even without the theory I can tell you that at 0db, the inputs clip. I have a "strong signal" to a desk ( way higher than a mike level) at about -12db...so I know its about right...
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This is very interesting. So I guess the -6db mark (or anything around that mark) is only necessary for analogue stuff, like vocal recordings etc (?), but with the Kemper it becomes digital and therefore does not lose any audio quality at -18db?
No -18dB is fine for all digital recording. When I said digital I meant anything on a computer not the source signal. Vocals would be fine at -18dBFS too to preserve maximum headroom.
