This question of the role of the sound tech leads to some interesting situations. Of course, the sound tech should have musical sensibilities and know what sounds should be there. BUT...

The other night I went to a JP Cormier concert--ultra hot Cape Breton/Nashville cat guitar picker/fiddler, you know. 3 piece band--JP plus keyboard & bass. Now it so happens that both the backup musicians were playing pretty busy melodic parts, not just rhythm section accompaniment. (They reminded me of Cream in this regard. I love Cream and these are very good players, but some might have found the arrangements a bit jagged.) During the first set you could hardly hear the keyboard--"Hands moving, no sound" syndrome--a lot of the time.

The sound guy is a friend of mine, so during intermission we chatted, and he asked what I thought of the sound. I said I thought he should boost the keyboard, he said that seemed to be the consensus of opinion, but he'd been trying to keep the level low purposefully to keep the guitar sound in the foreground. (Well fair enough, the guitar was what we came to hear). Cape Breton piano players are pretty flashy and fancy, that's the style down thar, and you can imagine if the keyboard and acoustic guitar were at the same level, which would be louder. Its certainly a tricky balancing act.

Second set, the keyboard level was set quite a bit higher, and yeah, the rhythm was a bit ragged sometimes. (Great band, but they'd benefit by the addition of a tasteful percussionist) This was a case where the sound guy just couldn't win, there'd either be not enough keyboard or too much. But my feeling is, the basic responsibility of the guy behind the board is to make sure all the instruments and vocals can be heard clearly. He/she is not doing the arranging, that has to be left to the performers.

Willie-O