I am not playing live any more so my comments are rather more historical / experience based than possessing current tips. But first, DP is completely right. I can count on the fingers of only a few hands the number of times in a 25 year long professional career playing everywhere from the neighborhood bar to Madison Square Gdns the number of times I was ever really ‘happy’ with my live sound. Here are a few piano-orientated and hopefully pertinent thoughts though, in random order:

* What you hear and what the audience hears are inevitably two completely different things.
* A piano, unless being played solo, can be a very tough instrument to mix. Its frequencies go lower than the bass and as high as cymbals. EQ and some compression can help reign in dynamics plus excessive highs and lows that can make it not so much difficult as impossible to mix in a ‘band’ setting.
* Motifs (in my experience, in general but particularly the pianos) can display some harshness in the top end that is almost invariably best softened. You want it to cut, but not impale.
* Depending on the song, sometimes a very ‘plain sounding’ piano can work wonders (think CP80). Don’t always go for the full concert grand experience. Motif has a lot of pianos to choose from.
* Note your fellow players harmonic playground in a song and try to find to fit in between rather than compete.
* The notes/parts you play are just as important as the sound. If you play a lot of blocky chords in the midrange don’t complain if your sound is accused of being muddy. Try thinning out the chords and/or going up or down an octave.
* Don’t overplay. Don’t overplay ever in fact, but on piano and live, especially don’t overplay. Simple and stark is way more effective than lots of frills and trills unless you’re in a Yes cover band.
* Careful with your left hand unless you have either a very understanding bass player or possibly no bass player.

MM

Excellent points each and every one MrMotif!

Thanks for chimimg in, MM. I have spent the better part of the day working with my mixer and speakers. Yeah, speakers. If I’m going to like my piano at all onstage, it’s gotta be stereo to get closer to the sound I’m used to it being in the studio.

I played it alongside most of the other sounds I use, and got good relative balance. I ran some drums from Steven Slate Drums, a bass track, and played guitar in the room with the piano part sequenced. It’s much more tolerable than it was in mono. Plus, the organs are cooler with the stereo leslie. And it’s less loud to me than it was, as it’s got clarity that was lacking before.

BTW - I play keyboards as a 1st instrument in this band, and I’m pleased at how far I’ve come - but I’m a guitar player first. Overplaying is upstream of me a bit. After all these years, contextually is about the only way I know how to play.

Headed to rehearsal tonight, I’m looking forward to hearing the results of my labors. Thanks to everyone for the words of your experience.

Did you try the original Motif PowerGrand that can be found in “Inspiration in a Flash”? For me, it works much better than the XF’s stock pianos in a live environment, although the samples are less detailed than the “newer” piano samples (S6, CFIII or third-party libraries).

Btw.: I’m using stereo in-ear monitoring on stage. What a difference in comparison to the mono wedges we used before!!!

All the best, :)

Jo

Yes, I did, thanks. It matters to me less what I hear, than what the audience hears. I’ve heard maybe a half dozen sampled pianos live in mono that I thought were convincing. The roland at my church is pretty good. I like the MOXF better for everything else, or i’d have bought one.

Even in stereo last night, I struggled with my piano sound. But, I don’t give up easily.

Just another thought: effects? There are times/cases to use some and times when you’re better off with a dry sound and letting the room create / be the space. Might be good to experiment with this. A piano laced with reverb might be perfect in the studio but live could be very wishy washy and need either less FX or possibly none.

MM

MrMotif - 09 January 2014 08:04 AM

Just another thought: effects? There are times/cases to use some and times when you’re better off with a dry sound and letting the room create / be the space. Might be good to experiment with this. A piano laced with reverb might be perfect in the studio but live could be very wishy washy and need either less FX or possibly none.

MM

This is an excellent point. For live soundsets, I always take the reverb off of the piano sound
I’m using. The room you’re playing in provides the reverb.

When you think about it, a real piano doesn’t come with its own built-in reverb.

I have 9 voices made using 3 pianos. None have verb or any other effect.