Question for those of you who use Kemper in the studio as well as for gigging

Personally, I don't care much about sounding "just like the record", actually I like to push for new sounds when I can get away with it so I'm not too anal about it. However, when I want a live sound to translate to recording, I feel I need a bit more treble and reverb (and often some gain adjustments too) and vice-versa. It also depends on the guitar being used (may not be the same used for recording.)

Edit: Usually, I just compensate this with the "definition" parameter instead of messing around with the front eq.

The pattern I've noticed from reading others' experiences, Diego:

For live, lower (or remove) 'verb, back off the treble, bump the mids a little and lower bass.

The 'verb tweak helps to avoid doubling it up with the natural reverberant space of the venue. The tone tweaks are essentially a nod to the Fletcher-Munson effect due to the massive increase in volume.

Although I don't record albums and tour them, I agree with Jed that live and studio can often be treated as two different things and nailing the exact sound from a recording isn't necessary in most cases. In my case with cover band type function gigs the analogy would be for me to try and totally replicate the sound from the original recording. I never do that. Even if I could do it those kinds of gigs often involve a potential set list of 100+ songs but the choice of what song to play next can be very flexible depending on how the audience are reacting. Setting up 100 presets and trying to find the right one in the heat of battle would be a recipe for disaster. Live the old mantra K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) is worth its weight in gold.

I would suggest that most effects can be lowered slightly in a live situation with Delay often being reduced significantly and as Nicky said Reverb often OFF completely unless it is a special effect type reverb.

Although I would generally agree with removing reverb (unless it's a reverb sound that's intrinsic to your sound, such as a 'surf' sound or reverb swells et.)... otherwise, I would present the same sound you know works well to the FOH mixer and let higher either tweak it or let you know what you need to change.

I never completely remove reverb from live sound because in many types of gigs it most certainly ends up being recorded from the board (ie, tv shows, concerts, etc). I've done it in the past and found the playback to feel very dry. Consequently, I have a very light reverb that is pretty much always on - to which I add "effect" reverbs if needed.

That’s a great point Jed and makes perfect sense.

But by adjusting your reverb for the ‘dry’ direct deskmiut mix, you are at the same time making the in house audience mix wetter than it wants to be.

^ A very low reverb setting is mostly negligible in the in-house band mix. I might agree for bass or certain specific parts but in my experience, totally dry sound both on the playback or in the IEMs can feel very unnatural for guitar, especially on sections where guitar is exposed such as fingerstyle acoustic intros or whatnots. After listening to many concerts playbacks, I came to the conclusion that I prefer to provide a sound as close as I can to my idea of the final result rather than bet on the fact that a dude might or might not add it after.

I use a wet/wet/wet (it really is everything/everything/everything) system live with DXR10's and a 4x12 V30 cab.

Generally I wouldn't bother using the same rigs live. I find that while 90% of the rigs I have are great for recording 1% works live with full volume.

For some reason I also have to lower stereo delay significantly when playing live compared to the level I use while recording/practicing on monitors. Still not sure why that is.

Quote from JedMckenna

^ AAfter listening to many concerts playbacks, I came to the conclusion that I prefer to provide a sound as close as I can to my idea of the final result rather than bet on the fact that a dude might or might not add it after.

This is a good approach if you are listening to desk recordings, but you forget what the audience hear is affected by the sound of the room. Often reverb levels from the studio will cloud the sound. I guess it depends on the musical style and how busy the sound in the band is.

From speaking with my live engineer, I agree with musicmad. Most recording sounds for rock and metal need addressing differently for live. More mids and less fizz, as Monkey Man said. At volume, the Fletcher-Munson has an impact.

My live sounds have a little delay for ambience, but, up into this point, I’ve only used Reverb as an effect, not as a default.

But, when it is available in a Production Release, I am likely to add some Natural Reverb to a set of Performance Banks for the occasional “In ear only” gig. I really like what I have heard so far

Quote from deigoruellez

I guess my question is, those of you who make records with your Kemper and then tour those records, do you make separate copies of each patch and tweak them for a live setting? I'm sure there is no easy answer to this. Just thought I'd ask and learn from some of you more experienced Kemper users.

Well it will never sound the same as the recording (can be better or worse but not identical ) so just use the same patch ... and I hope the success of your show doesn't depend entirely on the guitar. If there is a good singer (male or female) and especially an attractive signer (charisma , good look, sexy one) or at least very good voice (think of the best singer you know) this will grab 80% of the audience attention so your Kemper tone is not as important as you think, for the audience it's even a detail . So in short just use the same rigs than the recording and stop thinking that the world turn around you

Quote from DennisJ

Well it will never sound the same as the recording (can be better or worse but not identical ) so just use the same patch ... and I hope the success of your show doesn't depend entirely on the guitar. If there is a good singer (male or female) and especially an attractive signer (charisma , good look, sexy one) or at least very good voice (think of the best singer you know) this will grab 80% of the audience attention so your Kemper tone is not as important as you think, for the audience it's even a detail . So in short just use the same rigs than the recording and stop thinking that the world turn around you

If everyone in the band thinks like that and doesn't care about details within their own responsibility, the band will start to sound sloppy. I would encourage each musician to try and wring the last bit of quality from their gear and performance.