Balance Levels/EQ's?

    Hi all,

    Newish to the Kemperverse as of Dec last year, with a wonderful Kemper Stage joining my gear family.
    So far, cos Covid, it's only be used for simple home recording and practice, which has been a case of "pick rig I like the tone of, hit record, adjust recorded level/EQ to track".

    However, I have a gig at the end of March/early April time, and I want to have the Kemper set up with 2 performances of ready-to-use presets for that gig. It's a livestream gig, so the soundtech will be set-and-forget, not adjusting my levels throughout.

    My question is, What's the best ways to get even levels and EQ's between rigs in performances? Like I said, so far its been record/adjust levels after, but now I need to have it set so when I change from rig to rig, levels and EQ's are as close to sit in the mix well.


    Any tips on this? Or is it a case of just using every rig in the rehearsal and dialling it to taste during the songs? Anything you can advise I do before the first rehearsal, the first time I use the Kemper with a real band situ?


    Thanks

    As far as volume balancing goes, if you’re using a stock Kemper profile, they are already balanced to each other. If you’re using 3rd party profiles, then the best thing you can do is use your ear to get them balanced as close as possible. I usually compare the profiles in my DAW and look at the meters, but i only do this as a start. It’s important not to just look at the volume meters because volume meters aren’t the same as “loudness”. Another thing to keep in mind is that EQ will effect volume or perceived loudness as well depending on what frequencies you turn up.


    So I’m the end, use your ear. Then once you get a couple profiles balanced, use those as references for future balancing.

    Quote from OhG

    the best thing you can do is use your ear to get them balanced as close as possible

    This!


    But please do this at reasonable volume, in best case at gig / stage volume. Otherwise different frequencies might mislead you based on loudness effects when you do it the balancing at low level, i.e. at home and on bedroom level (google Fletcher/Munson for the details if not known already).


    And by the way: Welcome, have fun here in the forum and with your Kemper. Enjoy this incredible machine as much as most of us here do. For me it even gets better every day :thumbup:8)

    Quote from paults

    Welcome!


    Ten Performance Slots? Is that because of song-specific effects? For a gig with no active mixing, I suggest using the fewest possible number of profiles (based on gain level), and adding the song-specific effects after you volume balance the profiles, and copy them to the ten Slots.

    No, only the 2 slots with 10 total presets set! Didn't think about copy/pasting things across, thanks!



    Quote from OhG

    So I’m the end, use your ear. Then once you get a couple profiles balanced, use those as references for future balancing.

    That's what i was guessing would be the best way, just gotta get used to diving into menus instead of just leaning back to the amp and changing BMT pots!

    Quote from deadman42

    But please do this at reasonable volume, in best case at gig / stage volume.

    Just gotta wait til I'm in the room I guess! Understand FletcherMunson Curve fairly well, gigging with 40watt valve amps for 3yrs, start to get used to having to cut bass at home!

    Quote from deadman42

    And by the way: Welcome, have fun here in the forum and with your Kemper. Enjoy this incredible machine as much as most of us here do. For me it even gets better every day :thumbup:8)

    Thank you very much! Already been a super addition to the rig, haven't really dived far enough into what this can do yet, so much to explore. Main reason for getting this bad boy is for transport between uni/home later this year! Gotta be easier to cart this around that a 25kg valve amp?


    Thanks all!

    The first thing to do is make sure your Clean Sense is set properly for your guitars and playing. This does a great job of balancing loudness between clean and distorted sounds. If this isn’t set correctly you will find that clean sounds all sound too loud or too quiet compared to crunch or hi gain tones. If this is set correctly the Kemper does a great job of basic level matching. Then you just need to tweak relative volumes for specific roles. i would usually use the rig volume but amp volume in the stack section would also work fine.