My band has 15 members and we have never spent anything close to an hour and a half to sound check. We really only ever do a sound check if we are playing somewhere huge, anyway.
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Soundchecks all that worthwhile???
- Thread starter Shaun_Bass0
- Start date
What is this "sound-check" of which you all speak? Isn't that what the first song or two is for??
Nate (sound guy) walked up on stage and started unplugging their equipment. They were subsequently kicked out of the venue. I felt horrible for the band...they were apologizing profusely and they seemed like decent guys, they just had a complete tool for a singer. Pretty sad.
So I guess I'm the only one who thinks dealing with douchey musicians sort of comes with the territory for sound guys and they've gotta have a thicker skin than this. Not to mention I don't know too many sound guys who have the authority to just unplug a headliner. Depending on the nature of the show, such a move would result in the club having to issue a whole lot of refunds...
Not saying I have no sympathy for the sound guy in this situationn, prima donnas like this singer suck to work with....but getting insulted in this fashion is hardly the worst thing I've seen as it relates to band members and sound guys and if every show was cancelled after a flap between musicians and sound guys, half the shows across the world would be cancelled nightly.
A Strohman said:
Yup. I'd probably get my ass handed to me by the club owner if I decided to end a concert like that. But I'd still wish I had the balls to do it if I was in that situation.
In the similar situations I've been in I usually mute the vocal mics until the dbag in question calms down, then carry on, although no longer really caring about making the band sound good.
Yup. I'd probably get my ass handed to me by the club owner if I decided to end a concert like that. But I'd still wish I had the balls to do it if I was in that situation.
In the similar situations I've been in I usually mute the vocal mics until the dbag in question calms down, then carry on, although no longer really caring about making the band sound good.
Exactly....that's the kid of thing I've seen...piss the sound guy off and all of a sudden the monitors go dead or some feedback magically appears or some other thing of that nature. Its kinda like insulting a chef while he's making your dinner....not smart since you don't know what he'll do to your meal. But the chef doesn't come out and tell a big dinner party to leave the restaurant.
I'll embellish a little more on this. No ticket sales. Local bar. The owner/bartender and sound guy were the only 2 employees there. This "headlining act" showed up on a tour bus (despite the fact that they live here in Tampa and weren't touring) and brought about 5 people with them...5 really skanky looking women in Batman boots to dance during their set. They might've had another 5 or so folks show up to see them...not sure. This was a Susan G. Komen fundraiser, and as soon as the singer called out the sound guy the folks representing the foundation left. I'm sure the sound guy either got the nod from the owner before unplugging their stuff, or already knew from working there for years that behavior like that wouldn't be tolerated.
You could tell the folks there weren't into them, and about 50-75% of the audience left during their 2nd song. So yeah, I'm not surprised they got the boot.
Come to think of it, I wonder if he did that so he could blame the sound guy for the club emptying out when they started playing?
Our band takes several hours to set up but in fairness we bring everything but the stage, including our own soundboard and PA. We set up much quicker on the rare occasions when its just instruments. We do 2 songs for sound check - a ballad and a rocker.
I have spent almost 25 years as a sound guy as well as a musician. IMHO, there are 2 answers to the sound check. Yes they are needed. More to get monitor mixes and such dialed mostly in. The second answer is No they are not needed. If a sound guy is on the game, the system should be mostly dialed in and rolling when the band shows up and within the first song is where all the adjustments can be made and then you waist far less time.
The first night of a club gig we always do a sound check but 1 1/2 hours is ridiculous. Even in a touring act it doesn't take that long for a bassist to do a sound check. IME most of the time is spent getting the drums balanced out and I don't need to be around for that.
For everyone who says a sound check is not needed, please post a video of your first two songs of the night.
I find a LOT of players and soundmen don't give a single poop if the vocals are over the instruments in the mix, and when I go to clubs, I hear band after band where the sound is garbage.
I'm just sayin'...
I find a LOT of players and soundmen don't give a single poop if the vocals are over the instruments in the mix, and when I go to clubs, I hear band after band where the sound is garbage.
I'm just sayin'...
Here you go. This is from a reunion show I did with my old band. 5 years since last time we played live.
Austin Torpedo - Ice Blue Eyes (Live at Ritz, Kirkenes. Jan 20th 2012) - YouTube
Recorded with a Zoom handheld recorder-thingy from the FOH position. This is actually the second song, not the first, because the guy who recorded the show didn't turn the recorder on before halfway through the first song. So it's a mix between the overdriven camera-mic and the Zoom. Therefore I haven't bothered to upload it, but I can if you want to hear.
About 2-300 people venue. The PA is a Turbosound TQ (2 subs + 2 tops per side) and 4 monitor lines (git, git, vox, bass, drums). A 15" Tannoy for the drummer and 12" Tannoys for the rest of us. Yamaha 01v96 mixer. All drums (inc overheads) and guitars are mic'ed and I use the DI out on the GK Fusion head.
The PA and backline was rigged beforehand by the soundguy who also tuned the PA and monitors, but we didn't soundcheck the band. We only did a quick monitor check and rigged the sheets over the amps, the backdrop, some additional lighting and a bubble-machine 20 minutes before we started.
No recordings on hand, but I will say that the first song or two of every gig of mine is generally our sound check. Playing to an empty room vs a room filled with bodies will sound VERY different and will require a different mix.
Just sayin'....
Here you go. This is from a little less than a month ago.
Fight Another Day at Collage Ybor 3-9-12 - YouTube
To anyone that actually has time to watch/listen to the whole thing, our newest (and best) songs are at the end.
That's a good mix. I'm impressed. Vocals on top; nice and clear; no mud; you did it right.
Oops! At :59, suddenly the vocals take a turn for the worse! Why is that?
I just listened to the first song. Vocals start out buried, but you got on top of that pretty quick. Whenever the vocals are a little quieter, they are still a bit buried. I would not be satisfied with the mix, but it wasn't bad.
I'm going to assume neither band is mixing from the stage, like we do, and you both seem to have somewhat competent sound people. That's a plus.
But you are both maintaining that you did absolutely ZERO sound check?
There was no band before you, and it was your first night at that club? (I don't mean EVER, I mean on a two night stand)
Actually we didn't do any tweaking to the mix at all...that was just our vocalist warming up...
Our sound check consisted of 3 chords (about 10-15 seconds). I told our lead guitarist to turn up, and that was about it. I might've tweaked my tone slightly (I honestly can't remember). But no sound guy, nobody messing with the board while we were playing...just a very quick check of our levels and we started our set.
Unrepresented
Something Borderline Offensive
Soundchecks are there to let my guitarist know his stage volume is too loud, so we can actually hear vocals f.o.h.
