Volume Pedal Level Consistency Tips?

[Thomas de Bourbon]

Hey all,
I’m looking for advice on how to keep a more consistent output level with the volume pedal. I recently joined a band touring at a stadium level, and overall level consistency has become especially important.

As steel players do, I’m constantly riding the volume pedal for sustain and dynamics, resulting in my output level slightly varying throughout the set and from night to night. However, I’ve been told that even a 5db difference in output level is unmanageable in a live mix for front of house. Because of this, my steel has often been kept lower in the mix than both I and FOH would prefer, simply to avoid unexpected peaks and to not overpower the vocals.

I’m wondering if there are technique based or gear based approaches that can help keep a more consistent average output level. Is it possible to add stops in a volume pedal? Is there a good way to set a reliable "home base" for my volume pedal?

[Sam Inglis]

It's good to hear that there are stadium level touring bands with PSG! But it's a bit surprising that (presumably) elite level FOH engineers can't cope with a dynamic source. They have unlimited processing power at their disposal these days so it would be trivial to put a compressor or limiter on the pedal steel if that's what they feel it needs. I bet they don't complain about 5dB level variations from the singers. Does the engineer have much experience working with pedal steel? Do they expect it to be dynamically 'flat' like a digital keyboard?

Are you monitoring on in-ears? I guess that could alter how you perceive the level changes from the volume pedal.

[Benjamin Franz]

Assuming you have fairly good volume pedal control, You need some sort of compression post volume pedal/post amp. The front of house engineer should be doing that for you. In very large venues small changes in dynamics can seem huge, and it’s easy to suddenly appear too loud or to suddenly disappear entirely, and front of house engineers in big venues will always mix you on the conservative side. I don’t know what sort of music you play, but if you are up against a band that has little dynamic range, you need to let go of big volume swells and keep your own dynamic range and volume pedal sweep pretty tight.

[Jerry Overstreet]

I read a statement from Buddy Emmons concerning this issue. He stated that he would give the engineer a level and tell him "That's as loud as I'm ever going to play". Just set my level there and I'll control the dynamics up to and below that point.

This does seem counter to those who say they dime their amp and control the volume with the pedal, but that takes a very knowledgeable and careful player keeping a reasonable volume range.

Edited to clarify that when players have the output dimed they are likely limiting the volume via the preamp setting. On Peavey amps that would be the pre gain.

I had another steel player sit on my rig once and when he hit the vp it was hard on his ears. He chewed me out and said you always need to, what he called, "set your action". ...so, I don't know what the correct answer is. I guess it depends on who's on the FOH.

[Nathan Pocock]

I am a FOH mixer and have mixed in some big venues. For Steel I have no qualms about whacking it with some healthy compression. You can play with the attack setting to allow more or less transient through.

I have recorded and mixed my own steel and my playing leaves a lot to be desired with the volume control. IMO you can compress a steel pretty hard without it sounding bad.

[Earnest Bovine]

This worked for me. You start to feel the spring when the pedal is about half way down.

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