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What to play for sound check

Piggy8692

Piggy8692

Oct 2, 2010
265
23
Northern Utah
#1
I'm looking for what you guys think that would help the sounds guy to make you sound better. Also what is tasteful and what isn't.

I usually just flubberjubber in whatever key strikes me at the moment. While still tryin to stay within whatever genre I'm about to play in. I don't do anything too complicated, so I have less chance hitting a bum note, but try to maintain a minimum standard of technicality.

Do you guys have a 'soundcheck riff' that you play everytime? Or just play whatever?

What exactly are the sound guys looking for other than your volume levels?
 
#2
I play a few riffs. From slower, staccato type riffs (say "low rider" or "the joker") something fast and distorted like les claypools intro to NIB or "around the world" chili peppers. I have a few self made slap stuff to, mainly playing with octaves. Gives him a broad range of what to expect.

My sound guy wants to know if the volume he hears out of my rig is what he can expect during play. At minimal, as long as I can hear myself well I'm good. If a song or two in he ask if I can bump up so be doesn't have to take away from vocals clarity I will. Bit at the same time I'm running 800 watts through an 810 cab so I can get way with plenty.
 
#3
I usually play a little of the bass line for the 2nd set opener. Usually bands want to open the 2nd set with a bang. So I try to play every bit as hard as I would all hopped up (just on adrenaline mind you) in the middle of a show. That gives the sound man a "real world" situation to mix. But I also ASK every sound man if he wants something different from what I am sending him from the XLR out on my Mesa Walkabout. (I don't always GIVE them what they want, but I ask and try to work with them as much as possible.)
 
#5
We just don't pluck & plink around. We actually play different songs with different sounds, tones, tempos and dynamics. Even if we've played the venue a dozen times before. Have you ever played a room on a Friday, and for no apparent reason it sounds COMPLETELY different 24 hours later? Besides, our sound man is a seriously obsessive compulsive person when it comes to running sound.
People can call me crazy all they want, but I really think a mix changes with the weather.:eek:
 
#6
You play exactly what and how you will be playing in your set. Dont go up there and do a slap fest bass jam when you will be playing fingerstyle stuff. Play something other than what you normally play in your band and the result will be the sound guy having to fix your sound during the first song or two and that isn't going to make him too happy and most likely you will sound like crap in the mix.
 
#7
millsbass5 said:
Have you ever played a room on a Friday, and for no apparent reason it sounds COMPLETELY different 24 hours later? Besides, our sound man is a seriously obsessive compulsive person when it comes to running sound.
People can call me crazy all they want, but I really think a mix changes with the weather.:eek:
Click to expand...

Yes! Weather, humidity... And something else that nobody could explain!
 
#9
To get basic level:
I like to play a song that has the bass doing the intro. Only time you hear me soloed.

To EQ for room/ set HPF:
I also cover my usual range of notes ie. Low B to High E (9th fret G string). I play Root-Fifth-Octave-Fifth-Root starting from Low B, then Low E, Mid B, Mid E (7th fret A string), then back down to Low B and let it ring out.

To set compression/ check for clipping:
I then play my LOUDEST bass line I'll do that day, often thumping pick line on low notes.

To check gate floor:
Play a single note half way up the neck, let it sustain and listen to it decay.

Recheck:
Play bass intro riff again to compare.

Same sound guy week after week - I can hear him go thru this process each time I sound check. With this approach he can pretty much set and forget for a whole gig.
 
#11
if you get the time and luxury to play entire songs as a band, it's nice to start with tunes that bring in one instrument at a time, ideally in standard soundcheck order; drums, then bass, then guitars, then vocals.

(also works for when there's no soundcheck and the guy has to dial you in on the first song of the show.)
 

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