I completely agree with everything Notes wrote about live mixes.

This is exactly why when I do a gig with my arranger keyboard I keep the parts limited to bass, drums and guitar. No horns or voice patches trying to emulate background vocals. My Korg Pa1xPro has nine sliders that double as a mixer or organ drawbars. As a mixer I control the mix instantly live. I don't have to worry about trying to guess what a live mix should sound like at home.

Guessing what the mix should be when you're putting backing tracks together at home is the real hang up for most people. You've been doing it for so long Notes you simply know what it should be but most folks have no idea. They mix at home using a set of studio monitors or computer speakers or whatever then go to a gig and it's running through a PA and the PA completely colors the sound from what they heard at home.

If someone is going to do that at home, you should mix through your PA in the largest room you have like in your garage maybe to simulate the acoustics in a live venue. Or at least test it on your PA before taking it to the gig. Some may remember Silvertones threads from several years ago describing how he set up Real Band to output live multitracks through a 12 channel interface into a mixer so he had the same live control I have using my arranger keyboard. This is expensive and complicated to set up at a gig but that's what's necessary to get the right sound if a solo or duo act is seriously trying to emulate a live band.

Bob

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