Hey,
sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but I thought this will fit best here...

So I just received the offer to do a 1 hour live gig at a Goa party here in Germany. Of course I accepted - this will be a great opportunity for me to get some promotion and first of all it will be fun
Anyway, I want to make my tunes sound good on a PA sound system. I think my tunes sound quite solid when listening to them on my home speakers or headphones, but I dont know if they do on a PA.

I thought maybe I could get some recommendations what the characteristics of a good "live sound" are..
I know the bass is usually being boosted - but to what extent? The sharp heights are cut a little I think, but in which relation to the bass and mid?
Also I'd like to know about panning. I heard too much panning is not good on a PA. Are there any channels that have to be mono?

Plz help me out a little on the live sound characteristics, thanks.

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Cybernetika albums (free DL): Atropos (2009) | Nanospheric (2008) | Neural Network Expansion (2007) | Promo #1 (2006) | Paralysis (2005)

homepage: http://www.cybernetika.de

Live sound can be is tricky (I'm actually taking a course on it next quarter actually).

I just went to a show where Atmos, and Osiris Indryia played. The Mackies they had set up were AMAZING.


Really. There's not a huge big difference with live sound. It only sucks, when you suck and/or the speakers suck. And we all know you DON'T suck. But for God's sake (this should be obvious) make sure you have proper grounding. I've been to shows, and helped out at shows were somebody doesn't hook up something correctly and there's all kinds of hum.

Panning: Should be fine. We've all been to clubs, and there are plenty of tracks that sound just fine with crazy panning effects.

If you're worried about bass... then just have any kind of EQ with you. (if it's a good gig, the FOH will have a good engineer and be able to control any weirdness; like they're supposed to)

Blah, I could prattle on. But basically, I wouldn't worry about it too much. IDEALLY. Get some practice on the system BEFORE you play on it live!

Good luck cyber.

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when yuou say yur doing a live gig what do you mean? you cud be a dj wich im gueesing yur not, but doing a gig playing yur own tunes has got to be difficult unless yur just playing yur tunes dj style, what equipment do you use for that man id love to able to go to my mates gigs and do something other than let them play my tuneas, take my keyboards with me and make a riot, but im -prob just dreaming lol

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Are not most club systems mono?
Good luck. Live A/V setups are so damn problematic!!!
Id spend alot of time making sure everything is working and sounds fine. If your songs sound good at home on all different types of systems then dont worry about the PA. It will probably have some extra bass and the overall sound wont be as sharp as your moniters. Its only when you have very faint sounds maybe a light synth that you may not hear on PAs. I dont have moniters but i know that when i use my headphones I will hear more elements of a song then i would when im using my speakers.

play both yours and a commercial track on your hi fi and get them sounding about the same.. (eq wise)


loudness is definately an issue. i recommend that if you play one of your tracks against a commercial release of the same style through a mixer.

get them both running about as high(on the vu meters) so they both start to enter the red...

you will find (probably) that you will need to boost the mid and high on your own tracks) maybe boost to +4db on the mid and +4 db on the high. this will get your tracks sounding about as loud as the pro mastered vinyl track...(when they are both hitting red)


this is all dependant on how good your mastering is but works well when i play my own stuff i havnt had mastered....


hope that helps.

oh. and about the bass boost in a club.. make sure your kicks are nice and well comped! a slow kick really shows on a big system...

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Hey guys, thanks for the replies

chrisspob: yeah, a live gig means I will just play my own tunes dj style, in a mix. I still have no idea about the equipment I'll have there. Only thing I know about is that I will bring my midi controller.
...im excited

So thanks again for your replies, they help me a lot

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Cybernetika albums (free DL): Atropos (2009) | Nanospheric (2008) | Neural Network Expansion (2007) | Promo #1 (2006) | Paralysis (2005)

homepage: http://www.cybernetika.de

Congratulations mate. Doing a live gig sounds very exciting. Id be nervous as hell as I have never djed or played live before & have no idea how to use a CDJ or similar (though I know the CUE buttons comes in handy!). I am curious; how is it going to work? Will you make up a pre-mixed CD before the gig & just play the cd? That sounds like the safe way, but Id feel silly just standing there & letting the CD play. I guess if you have a mixer there you can pretend to look busy...?

Post pics of the event. Best of luck with it.

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gonna sound really 'sad' now... but maybe make some more cd's of all your tracks you ll play, but timestretched so they are the same bpm's

just so if you roll up and they are using numark 'budget' cd players or similar- non pro cd players.. you ll just have to cue them up..

if they have decent cd players you can mix conventionally.. if not then you can resort to your 'safe bet' versions(all at the same bpm). there have been occasions when i have played using numarks and they truly are hell!

i might do this actually! ha ha

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Thanks for your replys, guys.
This saturday the time has come for me
I am now hoping that my tracks sound alright for the live performance... we will see about it

As far as I am informed now, the livegig will be done on a Laptop with ableton Live. My friend said he will tell me how to do some cool transition effects with it.

I'll tell you how it all worked
Thanks for your help already!

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Cybernetika albums (free DL): Atropos (2009) | Nanospheric (2008) | Neural Network Expansion (2007) | Promo #1 (2006) | Paralysis (2005)

homepage: http://www.cybernetika.de

good luck mate

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If I can make a reccomendation, instead of working with simple stereo masters break your tracks into stems all identical length (From bounces), so if they all play together with all the faders at 0db it sounds like the stereo master.

I'd split to: Kick, Basslines, Percs & FX, Synths at a minimum, though more can be tough 1st time out.

That way when you get on the PA you can adjust your mix balances on the fly, also apply fx to one part separately live. Kick too quiet? Turn it up! Bassline too loud, turn it down.. :-)

Drop the kick out for a couple of beats, you get the idea. Also you can mix your tracks together in a more interesting manner..

That way you are really are permforming..

im sure it'll go off!

good luck cyber!