Pretzel Logic: Medium tempo, medium loud, and all three singers harmonizing. And one verse and chorus usually does the trick.
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What do you play
- Thread starter gazzatriumph
- Start date
No big deal with the bass guitar, but a much bigger deal with the upright, and an even bigger deal if I'm doubling. That I only do if I'm doing the sound myself, or if I know the sound guy can handle it.
I'm "aggressive" during sound check no matter what
I'm "aggressive" during sound check no matter what
lowest and highest notes and then a little line from a song to make sure i have some clarity and no boomyness.
I usually do some scales up and down the fret board, normal right hand attack, and a bit of slap ONLY IF the set list has any slap tunes in it. Usually doesn't take long...
All of us that have gigged for years have experienced bad sound guys! If I don't know a sound guy, I'm leery. Some have asked that I tone it down on my Bongo 6, so I do, somewhat, the rest being their issue. Evedently some weren't capable of dealing with it. I've even had them dump the bass out of the fronts altogether. A couple of times the drums and bass were removed as well. If they can't blend any better than that they need to give it up.
For the OP. All of us are instrumentally wireless. I'm also vocally wireless. We run through a song we've dumped like, Wishing Well by Blackfoot / Free. That's musically busy. Then one that's busy vocally ,,,,done. While doing so I'm out front with my lead guitar player. My band prefers that I run sound like I have for years. Then there are no issues.
For the OP. All of us are instrumentally wireless. I'm also vocally wireless. We run through a song we've dumped like, Wishing Well by Blackfoot / Free. That's musically busy. Then one that's busy vocally ,,,,done. While doing so I'm out front with my lead guitar player. My band prefers that I run sound like I have for years. Then there are no issues.
^^ thisAs a sound engineer all i want is the musicians to play the way they're gonna play during their set, at the intensity/volume they're gonna play during their set, in the style they're gonna play during their set so i can set the proper gain and maybe tweak the EQ a bit for the PA/Room combination. It can be sections of songs from your setlist or just some pedaled quart-notes in the range where you play. But it's not time to show off or play different fun things. If you're playing in a rock band, chugging through rock tunes with a pick, it's not the time to show off with Jaco phrases, tapping, or slapping/popping. You gain staging will be all effed up.
For the full band, ideally, play a song from your set the way you're gonna play it, get to the chorus (aka the loudest part of the tune) relatively quickly (don't pick your 10 minute long art-piece song), and if there's a solo section, maybe get to that quickly too. (The solo section is less important because that instrument's channel can usually be pushed a little during their solo during the set.) If you want to check a loud song and a ballad, or songs in your set with two different vibes, like the keys play a Rhodes sound and then a Clav sound, ask the sound engineer if it's cool to check two songs because they have different vibes. You don't have to play full songs. And, sound check is not rehearsal time. It's not time to "just go over a few things." That was for rehearsal.
And please please please, don't play when the sound engineer is setting up the other instruments. (Honestly, it's usually the drummer or lead guitarist who are guilty of this, in my anecdotal experience doing live sound.)
All that said, i stopped doing live sound and if i never do live sound again i'll be a happy person.
Side story: Was in a band playing bass once, and we did a verse/chorus of two songs for sound check. The sound engineer said, "Cool. Got it. We're good." And the keyboard player/BL asked if we could go over a few things. I yelled across stage and yelled, "No! Now's not the time. We got it. We're good." And i put down my bass and turned off my amp. The engineer came over and discreetly thanked me. I was like, "i do sound too. I know the deal. I got your back."
This is more important than it seems.
On top of everything Fullum said, I think it's important to prevent pedalboard surprises if possible. I play with distortion and fuzz a lot during the soundcheck, because that's what I'll do in my set anyway. The last thing both my soundperson I want to is my DI'd channel sounding like bees in a plastic bag.
But yeah, important bits from my bands' sets plus "Nice N' Sleazy" and "Caffeine". I rip JJ and Billy off a lot anyway.
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Something like this:
E E E E E E E E E E E E E E EEEEEEEE
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B BBBBBBBBBB
E E E E [slide up an octave] E E E E, A A A A [octave] etc.
then maybe the riff from Whole Lotta Love with my drive on for loudness.
E E E E E E E E E E E E E E EEEEEEEE
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B BBBBBBBBBB
E E E E [slide up an octave] E E E E, A A A A [octave] etc.
then maybe the riff from Whole Lotta Love with my drive on for loudness.
^^ this is the point ^^As a sound engineer all i want is the musicians to play the way they're gonna play during their set, at the intensity/volume they're gonna play during their set, in the style they're gonna play during their set so i can set the proper gain and maybe tweak the EQ a bit for the PA/Room combination. It can be sections of songs from your setlist or just some pedaled quart-notes in the range where you play. But it's not time to show off or play different fun things. If you're playing in a rock band, chugging through rock tunes with a pick, it's not the time to show off with Jaco phrases, tapping, or slapping/popping. You gain staging will be all effed up.
For the full band, ideally, play a song from your set the way you're gonna play it, get to the chorus (aka the loudest part of the tune) relatively quickly (don't pick your 10 minute long art-piece song), and if there's a solo section, maybe get to that quickly too. (The solo section is less important because that instrument's channel can usually be pushed a little during their solo during the set.) If you want to check a loud song and a ballad, or songs in your set with two different vibes, like the keys play a Rhodes sound and then a Clav sound, ask the sound engineer if it's cool to check two songs because they have different vibes. You don't have to play full songs. And, sound check is not rehearsal time. It's not time to "just go over a few things." That was for rehearsal.
And please please please, don't play when the sound engineer is setting up the other instruments. (Honestly, it's usually the drummer or lead guitarist who are guilty of this, in my anecdotal experience doing live sound.)
All that said, i stopped doing live sound and if i never do live sound again i'll be a happy person.
Side story: Was in a band playing bass once, and we did a verse/chorus of two songs for sound check. The sound engineer said, "Cool. Got it. We're good." And the keyboard player/BL asked if we could go over a few things. I yelled across stage and yelled, "No! Now's not the time. We got it. We're good." And i put down my bass and turned off my amp. The engineer came over and discreetly thanked me. I was like, "i do sound too. I know the deal. I got your back."
It's not time to demo your chops.
I play a couple parts of songs from our set list that are very recognizable parts at each end of the extreme (very bass thumpy and then mid tone solo'ish) so the sound engineer can set gain/volume for me. Then we do a quick check for monitoring levels for everyone (ears and wedges) then for sound check we have a song we always do that's not part of our set and when we're done we tell the audience that it was just for sound check and we'll be back on in xx mins. No noodling on stage from anyone.
Solid quarter notes slapped on the low E. No pops or licks. Just quarter notes at whatever moderate BPM Im feeling.... This is my loudest sound (I always run out of my Zoom B3 or B6 to house). Soundguys often appreciate this
When I'm line checking before we check the whole band with a song that has everyone playing, I often play a song that the band does that isn't in the set or set as an encore. I want to stay in the same feel of what's going to happen when I play with the band.
Depending on the audience, but always throw a lick from "Them changes" or "Under pressure".
After a secret handshake, a little jibber jabber, it's ringing soft and loud shizzle — lone (dynamic) ranger — HI HO Silver. Then it's wistful jamming, and waiting for the nod, depending.
I always make a point of having a brief conversation with any new sound person, giving them a heads up on band needs and such; how many mics for drums, vox, guitars and bass direct. I suggest how best to run and mix my bass and inform them of my use of effects. For sound check I play a bass line that covers the range of dynamics and techniques and once a clean tone is established run through a few effects.
Up and down in 5th position and to low E, nothing musical. The problems are almost always lows and mid-low for me in more boomy rooms.
Then we test with a country song with accoustic guitar, something classic rock or 80s, then something with 90s overdrive.
Then we test with a country song with accoustic guitar, something classic rock or 80s, then something with 90s overdrive.
Quarters, footballs on all strings, open and (mostly)fretted. ~10 seconds worth usually.
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