First gig with a soundguy!

[bppubjr]

Hi, all!

Don't want to take up too much of anyone's time, but I was just really excited about last night's gig, and I wanted to share it...

For background, I have been toying with the bass for the last 15 years of so, but only last year did I really get serious about it when I joined a band. We play rock originals (Think The Smithereens). We've played out about half a dozen times in the last few months, but last night we played the first show I've ever done with a Soundguy! This little place we were at had a great sound system, and it was so trippy to have some guy buzzing about the stage mic'ing and DI'ing and what all else. I use a 112 combo, 'cause we mostly play small places and it would have been plenty even here but I also have a DI out, which pleased Mr. Soundman when I told him. Anyway, I have NO IDEA how we sounded, but I could hear myself, both through my amp and through the monitors, so I just put my trust in the guy standing at the back of the room with the faders under his fingertips.

I REALLY wish we could've gotten a recording from the board but I found out later, you have to bring your own recorder (someone said MP3 but that doesn't sound right.)

One thing I need to work on is the vocal soundcheck. I can't seem to make the leap from my volume with the full band to how I sound when he's trying to check me. I'm a good singer and I have a powerful voice, but when it's just me, alone, I sound so loud. I've been singing for thirty years (choirs, classical, etc...) so I'm accustomed to tailoring my volume for the situation, background noise and all that, but I want to get a good sound check. I also don't know what to sing since I don't like the idea of singing our actual songs naked in front of an audience who's gonna hear those very songs only a few minutes hence. What do you all do?

Anyway, insert the usual lead singer rants here, i.e., unprofessional, unprepared, impaired, for example, off by two bars for the entirety of his OWN F***ING SONG. Confusing as hell! But all chemical enhancement aside, I really enjoyed this gig and I look forward to many more in the future...

Kevin P. Miller
---------------------------------------------------------
Squier P-Bass --> Zoom 505 --> Behringer BX1200 (120W!)
Yes, I am a cheap bastard, but I like the sound I get so p*** off!

[Esquillama]

Glad you got a chance to have that experience.

As far as a soundcheck goes, what do you think about doing
a cover tune such as, "At the Hop"? With the Ba,Ba, Ba, Ba at
the beginning it gives the sound guy a chance to hear each
person, and then the whole group together with instruments.
If you don't like that idea, why not just do the usual "test,
check, 1 2 3, test, check, 1 2 3". Just make sure you're
speaking as loudly as you'll be singing.

One other thing to consider is making sure that the soundguy
is clear on your signals. For example, if you get going and part
way through the first song you realize that the monitor isn't
loud enough, you could point to your mic and the monitor and
then point up at the celing, this would let him know that you
need your vocal louder in the monitor. Other signals could be
agreed upon before you start playing so you don't have that
frustrating "why isn't he fixing this problem" stuff happening.

Best of luck to you, enjoy!