Ableton Forum

uuurgh....first time out live last night with mac/korg combo having given up gigging 9 years ago. checked pad volume levels in the afternoon and all sounding nice and balanced....levels on the night sounded totally out of whack however,some pads almost inaudible and others so blisteringly loud i had to bale in the middle of a song and let the guys finish on their own...excruciating.
we didn't have time for a soundcheck other than a basic level out of the mac...1st lesson well learned there. anyone else experience this problem?

sounds nightmarish . but what exactly is the pdkontrol to blame for the levels of the sounds it triggers.. ?

Yeah how is this an error on the padKontrol? Unless it's related to velocity, but you could just put the velocity plugin or a compressor on the other end to reign this in?

not the padkontrol's fault i know - noob to this so difference between headphone levels and how it sounded through [a very small] mixer was a big surprise....

sounds like a good idea - add a compressor to the drum rack right?

This happened to me the 3rd time I ever brought my laptop on stage with me. I did a set where I played guitar and and sang, while triggering scenes in Live as I went. In the weeks before the show I practiced non-stop. I practiced plugging my rig into different things around the house. I did my set through the near-field monitors. I did my set through the home stereo system. I did my set through a rehearsal PA system.

The night of the show I did sound check. Immediately I noticed how fucked the levels were, and it took me by total surprise. One scene would sound like the proper level. Then a scene would be just a tad too low. Then BAMMMMM! a scene would be louder than hell and hurt everyone's ears. The trouble was that I had a guitar + amp + vocal mic that all needed attention during sound check, so I couldn't sit there and diagnose the scene volume issue. After sound check I made some adjustments. During my show the levels were still pretty badly uneven, but thankfully not uncontrollably loud.

I still don't know what I did wrong. I probably should of had a limiter on the master or something. That was back during the Live 5 days and I didn't really know my shit. I still don't know my shit, but that's what makes audio so interesting.

yup - even a two minute soundcheck would've allowed me to make some quick adjustments but i was shitting myself anyway so there was absolutely no chance to do anything about it. in twenty years of playing drums i never once had to abandon ship mid song...nobody died though and some important lessons were learned...i think

Thanks for sharing that. I think a sound check is essential no matter how quick.

You just never know what kind of effect your mixes will have at a given venue,
the compressor thing is a good idea but wouldn't help imbalance's in the mix.

i.e track to track volume just overall but even there I'm sure the audience would be thankful!