Ringing out rig at sound check.

[mapleglo]

It doesnt take long. Literally a few seconds.

I think this is the "money" quote.

To start, I don't think we're talking about a pro touring band situation here, though it's not stated either way, and there's nothing in the Op's profile. As a weekend warrior, I can set my sound in literally a few seconds, and I don't have a complex pedal setup - just a few effects which I rarely use, and an EQ, which I always use. And yes, I need a few seconds to play a few notes so I can hear how my bass sounds in that room. You know, play a few notes at volume, make a few tweaks, play a few notes to confirm, and done.

There's been a few gigs where I likely should have taken a little more time, maybe 10 or 15 seconds to dial everything in. One, a couple of weeks ago, where we were set up in a corner on a low stage, and there was this weird resonance going on around 55 to 60 Hz, and every time I hit a note anywhere near an "A", it sounded off key. The first song or two we played sounded weird, but I was able to make adjustments as we played to fix it. The weird resonance wasn't picked up by the camera recording the gig, but the guitarist mentioned it after our first song. I think it was a stage vibration or something.

Here's a pic of the stage:

Anyway, a few seconds of sound testing is fine in my opinion, before the sound check, even at a restaurant while people are eating. Any more than that, it becomes annoying.

 

[Wasnex]

It's OK to disagree But you went off on a tangent with the line I bolded above.

Here's what I wrote: "Let's keep in mind, I am talking about full time pros and not weekend warriors."

I am not sure how this is off tangent. It was intended to provide context about the consistency, competencies, and expectations of the people I typically work with. They know their gear, can make fast corrections, and expect to get it right. IMHO, that seems to describe the OP as well.

If you think I was casting shade, it was not intended that way, and I apologize for communicating inartfully. There are definitely some weekend warriors that are every bit as skilled, talented, and quality focused as the people I work with. There are also many who are not.

As an audio tech, I need to recognize differences in the artist's talent level and adjust accordingly. Sometimes it makes sense to balance levels during sound check, and some times it does not. Rather than making a hard and fast rule, I assess the situation and do what I think is best under existing circumstances. It's something that I build into the timeline. Most of the time we get to it, but not always. If time or talent is lacking, it doesn't happen.

 

[BwanaDust]

I had to deal with that

Without being there, and based on your post, my "guess" is that they don't think you should be ringing "this out at sound check and make sure its all levelled correctly."
IF that is the case, then I would agree.. That should be done BEFORE any gig -at rehearsal, practice, etc.
If you need to do that at a gig, then (IMHO - and maybe theirs too) you haven't done your homework, as all one "should" be doing at sound check is making sure you have sound and it's balanced with the rest of the band.
If you have a bunch of effects then level setting should NOT be done at sound check. Doing a bunch of "tweaking" during sound check if not very professional.

MY $0.02 and no offense intended.

I had a guitar player who did that to the extreme. He would go through the entire set list at full volume. Not only would he annoy everyone in the venue, he also gave away our entire set list, which included a bunch of tunes no one else plays. Had to fire him.

 

[Rooster009]

Rent a place with sound tech for a rehearsal with FOH. You will have plenty of time to adjust your sounds. Consult with the tech as much as possible.

That single piece of advice right there, is the most important IMO.
If you dial your signals and tones in as a band on a PA that has been EQ’d to a flat response, then your band will sound so much better. It’s important that each change made in your effects has the same signal level. Guessing by ear will get you part of the way there, but a meter on a mixer gets you even closer when it comes to signal levels.

The idea is to make everything the same from one PA system to the next.
Now not all sound engineers will use a flat response PA system, but they usually know how to dial in your signal if you send them a signal that has been set up on a flat response system.

Hiring a full PA and a good Sound Engineer can get expensive real quick.
What I suggest to start with, if you happen to have a mixer available, it doesn’t have to be expensive or anything, but it needs to have a LED meter.
1. Run your pedal board to the mixer and leave all pedals bypassed.
2. Pluck your open E string repeatedly and consistently and adjust your raw bass signal to 0db on the mixers LED by using the trim/gain knob on your channel at the mixer. This is considered the unity gain Point.
3. Now start at your first pedal in your effects chain and adjust it to the same unity gain on the LED Meters.
4. Do the same with each pedal individually until all of the pedals are set to unity gain.
5. If you use combinations of pedals. Set each combination to unity gain.

This should get you closer to a better outcome at your next show and it will definitely please the sound engineers because it just makes things easier and more consistent.

Note that any future adjustments of the pedals, will need to be verified for unity gain again.

 

[hbarcat]

I'm not going to offer "advice" on the subject but I'll just say that this is what I would do if this was my problem.

I'd arrange my extensive chain of sound effects and various tone presets along with my amp and cab so that my stage volume was quiet enough that the room environment would have zero effect on my sound.

The idea is this: If my stage sound is loud enough that windows and concrete walls and open or closed spaces force me to adjust my settings to compensate, then my volume is just too loud. Every venue I play, I keep my stage volume to a bare minimum and use the PA to carry the house and a monitor mix to hear myself.

With this setup, I need only make my adjustments once, at home, and never touch them at the gig. I do a 20 second soundcheck so the sound person can set my levels and that's all.

The fact is, in the earliest bands I played in, we all played loud on stage so we could hear our instruments without running through stage wedges and only used monitors fir vocals. After too many years of that nonsense I discovered the benefits of minimal stage volume and using monitors (or some prefer IEMs) to hear our rigs. We solved a number of problems doing this.

 

[4Mal]

I love you man ;-)