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A song to soundcheck to.
- Thread starter DLI848
- Start date
I usually just play a few scales, followed by some fast single notes (like 16ths on a D or whatever), then a low note sustained, then a high chord sustained. That usually covers the bases (hah) for the soundguy, and he'll hear if there's frequencies jumping out, or anything not cutting through. I trust him and my tone enough to sound good out front.
(this is partly because I haven't actually bothered to learn a new bassline in at least a year.
)
(this is partly because I haven't actually bothered to learn a new bassline in at least a year.
)
It's usually good to play an example of how you'll be playing during your set...
Ie. Dynamic range, technique, tone.
No point slapping during soundcheck if your playing straight ahead rock.
Ie. Dynamic range, technique, tone.
No point slapping during soundcheck if your playing straight ahead rock.
I find playing octave of E or B when I use my 5 works great. Nice and evenly anywhere you can find an E and its octave...back and forth. The maybe a solid little pedal of the low E and the octave on the A string 7th fret in 1/8 notes work great. After the sound man get the tonality and hears how its going to sit in the mix, you could play a little ditty, but *** for? Go chill out before the gig and rest up. Get dressed for the gig. Grab a bite to eat. You don't have to impress anyone until the gig starts.
Play a series of ascending and descending scales that involve every note you will play during the show repeatedly, to allow the mixperson to determine at what frequencies your rig is too hot in the room, so that you can fix things. If the rig has hot spots, you are screwed in the mix unless you turn way down on stage. IME most bass rigs do not have the EQ required to fix these problems.
Biggest sound guy issue is that people play different for sound check.
Most of the time demonstrating that a signal is present is the first step... then balancing with the enitre band.
A bit of this also depends on the sound guy
Most of the time demonstrating that a signal is present is the first step... then balancing with the enitre band.
A bit of this also depends on the sound guy
For individual sound checks I'll just play dont stop believin or a bass lead to a song that my band isn't playing that night. As a band, we play Joel Siriani's "summer song" as soon as we take the stage for the night. A great song for the sound guy to get correct levels on our instruments and for our vocalist to introduce us and get the crowd pumped up. Also it's an amazing song period. We play about 2 mins of it, and break into one of our own songs that follow in the same key.
