Rant?

I guess this is a rant because I'm not sure advice will help me, tho feel free to weigh in if you have some ideas.
 
I'm playing keyboards in our church band.  (this is not to be confused with playing piano - piano is a paid position, keyboard is volunteer and is usually just playing some strings or organ parts).
 
There are actually 2 of us who play keyboards.  the other guy is an older gentleman who only plays hymns.  I play on the contemporary stuff.  This makes for an odd arrangement because it means during any given Sunday, we might swap back and and forth on the keyboard 3 or 4 times since we play about 1/2 contemporary and 1/2 hymns, but in no particular order (well, there is a "theme" to the order, but it means we might have 1 cont, then 1 hymn, then 2 cont, then 1 hymn, then 1 cont then 2 hymns...).
 
The keyboard belongs to the church and that's what we play.  it's a Casio 88key weighted.  (personally I prefer to play synth keys for organ and strings, but this is what we have).  we have a monitor for all of the band and the monitor that was being used for the keyboard itself was only the built in speakers.
 
I couldn't hear the keyboard that way because the band monitor has the keys turned way down and those speakers on the casio are crap.
 
so I brought in my keyboard amp and plugged it in.  sweet!  now I can hear myself!
 
however, the other guy refuses to touch it, and also refuses to touch the volume on the keyboard itself.  so when he goes from playing strings (low output) to playing organ (high volume output), he gets blasted by the keyboard monitor and then proceeds to gripe about it.
 
so I end up having to change the keyboard amp settings after each time I play before he steps up to play a hymn.  personally I prefer to leave the keyboard amp volume alone during a set and adjust the volume on the keyboard itself if necessary (and the FOH is good with that - they can adjust me if necessary in the house).
 
but this is a little frustrating for me - not just the adjustment of the keyboard amp, but the whole situation.  going back and forth during a set has been more than a little frustrating, especially when the other guy complains about the extra equpiment, the volume, and he hasn't said anything yet, but I suspect he doesn't like his patch settings changed either (I really have no choice in that sometimes).
 
so... like I said, it's really just a rant...I will probably talk to the leader about it soon and see if he has a better solution.  otherwise, I'm afraid the two of us will likely have "issues" soon.

I suppose taking the old guy outside and adjusting his opinion in a dark alley (the UK approach) is probably not acceptable for church members...

In other words, I think you'll find it's easier to just change the volume each time than to change this guys opinion.

craigb


I suppose taking the old guy outside and adjusting his opinion in a dark alley (the UK approach) is probably not acceptable for church members...

In other words, I think you'll find it's easier to just change the volume each time than to change this guys opinion.

I agree.  it's just frustrating to have to remember to change it after I play and before I play. 
 
yesterday I played on a song that was for a featured soloist and I played the intro and the outtro. I remembered to change the volume on the keyboard, but forgot that I had turned down the volume on the amp for Doug and so my intro was not as loud as it should have been (and the FOH missed it, too).

bapu

Beagle

bapu


Turn it off when you switch to him playing and then turn it on when you play.

Simples (since he refuses to touch it).

that would be a good solution for that part, but the LINE OUT of the amp is connected to the snake for the FOH.  so if I turn off the amp, there would be no signal to the FOH.

sigh.  yeah, I thought about that.  I hate those things because they split the volume load, but it might be necessary (I also thought about buying a small behringer mixer for this purpose also).

Edited for clarity of where I'm going with this ...

I'm playing keyboards in our church band ... There are actually 2 of us who play keyboards ... The keyboard belongs to the church ... we have a monitor for all of the band and the monitor that was being used for the keyboard itself was only the built in speakers ... I couldn't hear the keyboard that way because the band monitor has the keys turned way down and those speakers on the casio are crap ... EEEERRRR! Screeching halt here ----> I brought in my keyboard amp and plugged it in.

Dude. You didn't? OMG.

You already lost this one Beagle. You pretty much just bypassed everyone and royally pissed them off.

You're only option is to disconnect it, tell them you are sorry you brought it but you can't play anymore unless they turn up the monitor so you can hear yourself just like they do for everyone else, and let nature take it's course.

Or, switch the old farts heart pills with some Viagra and let nature take it's course that way.

Bub


Edited for clarity of where I'm going with this ...

I'm playing keyboards in our church band ... There are actually 2 of us who play keyboards ... The keyboard belongs to the church ... we have a monitor for all of the band and the monitor that was being used for the keyboard itself was only the built in speakers ... I couldn't hear the keyboard that way because the band monitor has the keys turned way down and those speakers on the casio are crap ... EEEERRRR! Screeching halt here ----> I brought in my keyboard amp and plugged it in.

Dude. You didn't? OMG.

You already lost this one Beagle. You pretty much just bypassed everyone and royally pissed them off.

You're only option is to disconnect it, tell them you are sorry you brought it but you can't play anymore unless they turn up the monitor so you can hear yourself just like they do for everyone else, and let nature take it's course.

Or, switch the old farts heart pills with some Viagra and let nature take it's course that way.

lol - well, I can hear myself better this way even if they DID turn me up in the monitor!  and this is what the guitarists and bass does, too.  they have their own amps as well as a monitor for hearing drums, piano and (low volume) everything else.
 
but switching his heart pills with viagra, that's GENIUS! 

Do you have a keyboard you could lug to and from the church every Sunday?

Reece, can you just use ear buds to hear yourself? Because they aren't closed backs....you should be able to hear the live performance and yourself in the buds. That may be the fix there. Unfortunately, the whole he plays you play thing needs a fix for sure. They need to set up the songs to cater to each guy. Sort of like the bassist in my band. He needs to use a 5 string for some songs and he prefers his 4 for all others. So when we do songs that use the 5 string, we segue them together so he doesn't have to make a change.

Ohh I've got the fix. If the ear buds thing is too loud or not loud enough....how about one of those little Rolls headphone amps? I think they are like $40 bucks. Plug it into your head phone out of your amp, then you'll have a level control using the Rolls amp. This of course will depend on whether or not your keyboard amp has a headphone jack. But that's what I'd try. :) Good luck man...at the end of the day, God is watching you and appreciates what you do even if it's sometimes a bit frustrating.

I had a few issues with my church band too. It really bothered me the way they ran things. Funny story real quick...I always got to church early so I could play my acoustic guitar and hear it resonate all through our huge Catholic church when no one was there. The sound was just amazing. One day I was frustrated and really didn't want to be there because of the band leader.

I said a little prayer and said "God, show me a sign if I'm not supposed to be here...so and so is really annoying me but I'm willing to put up with it for You." On that note, I started playing the intro to Ozzy's Diary of a Madman...which is a beautiful piece of acoustic guitar music.

I woke up about 8 minutes later with people all around me wondering what the heck just happened. Either God didn't like Ozzy, or he gave me my sign. The cello that was next to me, fell over and knocked me out cold. LOL!!!! :)

-Danny

LOL @ Danny's Cello story!

thanks Danny and Bubba - good info.

thanks Michael, but since we have to have music (both of us) that won't work because it will cover up the music stand on the top of the church keyboard and putting a stand behind the keyboard stand is a little high.

There's always room for Cello.....

tbosco


There's always room for Cello.....