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Is it impossible to play a gig without sound check?

#21
derrico1 said:
While not ideal, even on unfamiliar (but decent) gear, it should be possible to get workable tones and set reasonable volume in under a minute.

The drummer should recognize he's too loud, and he should adjust. If he can't listen and he can't vary his volume, that's not a problem sound check will fix.

Getting ideal guitar tones on unfamiliar gear is hard, but getting to a reasonable clean tone, setting *roughly* the right amount of distortion, and getting volume in the ballpark should be quick. Bass is more or less the same story: you should be able to get a pretty good ballpark tone even on unfamiliar gear in about a minute.
Click to expand...

This all hinges on musicians knowing what they're doing. Unfortunately most don't.

I do gigs with no sound check from time to time. With my own rig it's a piece of cake... my setup is practically incompetent soundman-proof. Using someone else's rig is usually a matter of not using drastic tweaks at the amp and controlling the rest from my bass with my hands and/or EQ. Get a good clean tone at the max volume you'll probably need and you should be fine.

Then if everyone LISTENS and PLAYS WITH EACH OTHER TO THE CONSTRAINTS OF THE VENUE things usually work out fine.

So yeah, it can be done.
:cool:
 
#23
My old band pretty much soundchecked on the first few songs of the first set. It just depends on what kind of venue you're playing in. More often than not there are people already at the bar when you're setting up. If there's already a decent crowd, bar owners don't want to expose a bunch of patrons to;

"check... check... check... (feedback wail).... check 1... check 1.... (guitar checks various tones, with varying degrees of feedback as soundman struggles to get proper levels)... check 2... check 2.... (drummer bangs on toms for 5 minutes, cymbal crashes for 3 minutes... snare pounding for 3 minutes)... check 3... check 3...".

Then the band starts playing "Running down a dream", for example, and the crowd thinks the band has started playing. But no... it was just a soundcheck... and something is wrong. The band stops, the crowd gets pissy.

If something was seriously out of wack we would address it. Otherwise, we'd just constantly be tweaking the sound as we went along.
 
#24
podiumboy said:
Then the band starts playing "Running down a dream", for example, and the crowd thinks the band has started playing. But no... it was just a soundcheck... and something is wrong. The band stops, the crowd gets pissy.
Click to expand...

We have had that happen to us a few times during soundchecks. We usually play a short bit of Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress and Pink Cadillac for soundchecks and sometimes somebody will jump up and start dancing or the crowd goes AHHHH when we stop after one verse and tell them it's a soundcheck. The funny part is that we tell them we are going to do a soundcheck before we play or hit anything.
 
#25
I dont think We've ever done a "sound check" per se, where a song is actually played. Individual instruments are leveled with minimal playing prior to starting of course. We play at several house provided PA's with their own sound engineers and this has never been a problem since I started gigging in 1991.
 
#26
In a cover band, if you are using the your own gear, I have rarely sound checked. We make sure everything is working (mics, monitors, mains and subs). With the digital boards out today, we normally just play the first tune, I check out the sound in front with my wireless and then make some adjustments as we go.
 
#27
My band's usual sound check:
Drums usually take the longest to get levels set and eliminate weird rings/feedback, monitors next to make sure they're clear, check the guitar levels for clean and dirty, pound a few notes on the bass, and we run through half of a song to balance everything out and we're done.
20-30 min maximum if the drums are acting up.

The first song usually sees some needed level adjustment between channels.

This is when we're playing a full night somewhere, if we're doing a set in a rotation at a benefit/fund raiser there's usually no sound check at all.
We adjust our stage volumes and tones if necessary during/after the first song and let the soundguy take care of the mains.
If the guitarist or I are too loud we turn down, or if we can't hear one of us we turn up enough to get a decent balance.

We basically try to match the drums and monitor levels, our drummer is not a hard hitter and loves dynamics, so usually it's just the monitors that determine stage level.
 
#28
Depends. If you're micing all the drums/instruments, its very difficult to get a good sound without a soundcheck. But in that case, you really ought to have a soundman, and he should be able to get reasonable quickly. Your monitors may be a mess in that case though.

But if you're running a basic setup, vocals in PA, instruments from stage, basically Joe has it right. Once you get used to what it sounds like on stage when the balance is right, you can get by without one.

The trick is having musicians that understand what question to ask.

The question is not "how loud do I have to play to make sure I am being heard?" The question is "how quiet do I have to play to hear everyone else?"

Randy
 
#29
And I wonder why the club scene is dying.

Every time I go to a club, the band sounds like total crap.

Now I get it!

People aren't doing SOUND CHECKS!!!!!

You absolutely need to do a sound check, and you need to make sure your band sounds FANTASTIC.

"It's Only Rock and Roll" is just a saying.
 
#30
mellowinman said:
And I wonder why the club scene is dying.

Every time I go to a club, the band sounds like total crap.

Now I get it!

People aren't doing SOUND CHECKS!!!!!

You absolutely need to do a sound check, and you need to make sure your band sounds FANTASTIC.

"It's Only Rock and Roll" is just a saying.
Click to expand...

Cool story bro
 
#31
It's a pretty big stretch to think a band can plug into somebody else's amps with no sound check and have anything resembling good sound. I laugh when someone says "there's already a bass amp here, you don't need yours"

Aside from an occasional outdoor major festival with a supplied back line, I won't play unless it's my bands gear, we have too much money and time invested into sound and each of us has spent thousands of dollars on guitars/basses and amps and years making it work together to do otherwise.

A beginning band may not be able to make that choice, and I feel for you, we've all been there! Take two to three minutes individually and attempt to get a workable sound out of the supplied rig. Then take another two minutes playing a verse/chorus of something not in your setlist. (Back as far away from the amps as you can to try to hear what the room sounds like).
Make any quick tweaks you can and then tear it up!!!!! Five minute sound check! Then just concentrate on playing your best
 
#32
Thanks for the input on this. Like many of you stated, I realized that it is pretty risky to just play without sound check. Although I wish I realized that before we actually performed together as it is kind of too late now.

Anyways, some of you are asking about details. We were mainly using the amplifiers backline with our own instruments (guitar and bass but not drums). Drums were not mic'ed considering the room was on the small size. Nevertheless, the acoustics were terrible in there.
 
#33
I don't think I've done a serious sound check in over a year. We may do a level check of each line 15 minutes before downbeat, but that's about it. Last night, we did just that. In that band, I run the board from the stage, and the band likes the monitor mix to be the same as FOH. So it's easy to make any small adjustments during or after the first song.
 
#34
almightycrunch said:
I dont think We've ever done a "sound check" per se, where a song is actually played. Individual instruments are leveled with minimal playing prior to starting of course. We play at several house provided PA's with their own sound engineers and this has never been a problem since I started gigging in 1991.
Click to expand...

You have never experienced any type of stage or house sound issues in over 15 years?

Blue
 
#35
swell9 said:
Hello all,

A few days ago, myself and a couple of friends played together when we were auditioning for a local organization.

Our performance was terrible. Guitar tone was too distorted that you couldn't make out the individual notes, bass was either too thumby or too trembly and drums were too loud. This combination has even led to bigger mistakes such as playing off rhythm every now and then.

It sounded like it was our first time picking up our instruments even though we have been jamming together for a few years.

Did any one ever face such circumstances? I am starting to think it is really not possible to play using someone else's equipement without spending at least 30 min sound checking with a few warmup songs.
Click to expand...

In my band were lucky that we travel with our own sound person.We do a levels check and a short check with the band playing together.

It's not a science (you can't win in some rooms), however I am a big believer of low stage volume and loud clear clean sound to the house.

We just invested in new higher quality powered stage monitors which has helped a lot.

blue
 
#37
podiumboy said:
My old band pretty much soundchecked on the first few songs of the first set. It just depends on what kind of venue you're playing in. More often than not there are people already at the bar when you're setting up. If there's already a decent crowd, bar owners don't want to expose a bunch of patrons to;

"check... check... check... (feedback wail).... check 1... check 1.... (guitar checks various tones, with varying degrees of feedback as soundman struggles to get proper levels)... check 2... check 2.... (drummer bangs on toms for 5 minutes, cymbal crashes for 3 minutes... snare pounding for 3 minutes)... check 3... check 3...".

Then the band starts playing "Running down a dream", for example, and the crowd thinks the band has started playing. But no... it was just a soundcheck... and something is wrong. The band stops, the crowd gets pissy.

If something was seriously out of wack we would address it. Otherwise, we'd just constantly be tweaking the sound as we went along.
Click to expand...

Just curious... what could be so wrong that you'd actually have to stop that song?
 
#38
bluewine said:
In my band were lucky that we travel with our own sound person.We do a levels check and a short check with the band playing together.

It's not a science (you can't win in some rooms), however I am a big believer of low stage volume and loud clear clean sound to the house.

We just invested in new higher quality powered stage monitors which has helped a lot.

blue
Click to expand...

This is definitely much easier to control but I'd bet the vast majority of musicians/bands never figured this out. It's all about "How do I sound?" vs. "How do WE sound?".
 
#39
derrico1 said:
While not ideal, even on unfamiliar (but decent) gear, it should be possible to get workable tones and set reasonable volume in under a minute.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

99% of my gigs involve a soundcheck - that is the first song.

Of course, that's for weekend warrior bar/restaurant stuff.

If I was playing a colliseum in front of 10 thousand people, yeah,
I'd expect some significant soundcheck. But for the bars and restaurants, nah.
 
#40
we normally do a quick lvl check and let the soundman adjust on the fly during the first song
unless we are opening wiht a particularly powerful first song then we wanna come out swinging. in which case we need to sound great right off the bat. depends on the dynamic of hte gig.
 

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