No sound check?? My vent thread...

[Bass Man Dan]

So we had our monthly gig last night. We all arrive on time, two hours prior to start. Plenty of time. Except our singer and guitar player are just kind of hanging out. But they finally get everything in place well before start time. The place empties out about 45 minutes before we are to go on. I'm asking the guys to do a sound check. C'mon, let's run through one. Yawns and farts all around. I've brought a brand new amp. I want to see how it sounds.
So, no sound check. We start, and to me back behind the mains I sound fine. Should also mention I brought my 2x10 monitor as usual, but nobody wanted to use it so I just went without it.
We get into the first song, guitarist is telling me to turn down immediately. I'm later told certain notes were coming through very loudly, which sounds like a PA/mix issue...Which could have been corrected with what? Oh, yeah, a sound check! The trouble persisted and I continued to turn my amp down until I could barely hear it despite standing 3 feet in front of it. Master on my Rumble 500 combo ended up at about 2.5.

Sorry guys. Just had to vent!

 

[sean_on_bass]

Did you at least have a sound guy? Doing no sound check with no sound guy is a recipe for bad sound every time.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

No sound check gigs suck big time. Even if you aren't just doing it for sound set up, does everything even work as it should? Did everything get plugged in correctly? Hate when that happens.

 

[buldog5151bass]

We have a couple of SOs with decent ears, so on the rare occasions when we can't do a proper outdoor check, so if there are issues during the first tune, we can make quick corrections.

 

[Bass Man Dan]

Did you at least have a sound guy? Doing no sound check with no sound guy is a recipe for bad sound every time.

No, our singer does the sound. His PA is fairly sophisticated stuff, and he has a pretty good grasp on it. But we still need a sound check.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Wolf notes should be EQ'd out of the PA first. Everyone blames the bass when it's the guitar.

 

[Bass Man Dan]

Wolf notes should be EQ'd out of the PA first. Everyone blames the bass when it's the guitar.

This is exactly right!

 

[godofthunder59]

No sound check is always a recipe for disaster.

 

[Bass Man Dan]

Update: Had a "come to deity-of-your-choosing" with the singer and guitar player, politely pointed out that our FOH sucked and we cannot expect PA settings to carryover from one venue to the next and we need a sound check EVERY TIME. They agreed, both kind of smacked their heads.

So, last Friday we played the same venue but did a three song sound check...guess what???
We sounded 1000x better!! Jeez!

 

[richntiff]

your bandmates have stopped caring.

 

[PullThePlug]

Update: Had a "come to deity-of-your-choosing" with the singer and guitar player, politely pointed out that our FOH sucked and we cannot expect PA settings to carryover from one venue to the next and we need a sound check EVERY TIME. They agreed, both kind of smacked their heads.

So, last Friday we played the same venue but did a three song sound check...guess what???
We sounded 1000x better!! Jeez!

I love happy endings.

 

[Bass Man Dan]

your bandmates have stopped caring.

I honestly think they just got too comfortable. Everything's well and good...until it isn't.

 

[Kevan Campbell]

Yup, sounds like a common problem when you play a “throw ‘n go” like that. Sounds like your bandmates are kinda green to how live sound and playing gigs in public works.

 

[bearfoot]

Your bandmates aren't actually interested in making music. Sorry.

Also, since they flaked on the sound check, which is part of the gig, technically they quit the band already, and then re-joined it for showtime.

So if you decide to leave, you will not be the first to go, technically speaking. They will not see it that way.

 

[Ender_rpm]

Update: Had a "come to deity-of-your-choosing" with the singer and guitar player, politely pointed out that our FOH sucked and we cannot expect PA settings to carryover from one venue to the next and we need a sound check EVERY TIME. They agreed, both kind of smacked their heads.

So, last Friday we played the same venue but did a three song sound check...guess what???
We sounded 1000x better!! Jeez!

Holy crap, they LISTENED?!?!? Keepers!

 

[Bass Man Dan]

Holy crap, they LISTENED?!?!? Keepers!

I usually just shut up and play bass, so when I do say something they know it's not just drama!

 

[Bodeanly]

I usually just shut up and play bass, so when I do say something they know it's not just drama!

Story of my life.

 

[Runnerman]

The guitar player and I both have wireless transmitters to we take turns going out in front during sound check. Now with the wireless digital board we just tweak it on the Ipad while standing there. The board also saves setups so we have a starting point for the most popular venues we play. Usually only minor tweaking needed....unless someone has new gear. Definitely want to do the sound check if anybody has new gear.

 

[btmpancake]

No sound check? ha! Just go ahead and dime out all the knobs on the first note.

 

[Omega Monkey]

"We don't want to do soundcheck" is usually code for "the guitarist just wants to play as loud as he feels like playing and doesn't want any accountability".

Who was it that told you that "notes were jumping out"? Was it the guitarist or some unbiased but credible person in the crowd?