How Do I “Sound Check”?
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For sound engineers, this is the important start at any gig, get levels right, EQ, Effects. But to some “band members” not so much. Most bands either struggle with a good soundcheck, or just plug in and don’t worry about it. There are many ways to do a sound check, one can ruin your night, and the other will keep you ahead of the game. Not only does this apply to musicians, but also some engineers, these tips apply to all
Write a Tech Rider
Let’s start off with one that can help both musician, and engineer, writing a Tech Rider. Many musicians may not know what this means, but for a sound engineer its their dream. A Tech(Technical) Rider is the name given to the technical information an artist should have on hand to provide to a venue, promoter, stage manager or sound engineer in advance of playing a show.
Having this in advance can help the sound engineer the following night, to prepare the stage for the band that will play. In addition to this, if its a band that has a IEM(In Ear Monitor) set up, that will help the engineer to know to have a channel splitter on hand for this situation.
Be on Time
As a band, it is always kept in mind if you are provided a stage, sound engineer, and a time for soundcheck, please be at least an hour ready. Not only does it give you time to set up, but to also be ready for sound check so there are no problems. If the Engineer is there all day waiting for you, and you show up late, you just take more precious time before the set begins. May not get your monitor tuned in, amp, vocal mic, and when you actually sound check the gig may have started.
Not only musicians do this, some freelance sound engineers also do this. An Engineers job is to reinforce the music the band is playing, and if you don’t have a PA set up before sound check, then you’re the one in trouble. If the venue gives you a time frame to go and set up, DO NOT Forget, if you wake up late and remember when you wake up, and the time is sound check, then you may not be asked again to provide sound.
What to do during “Sound check”
The first part is for musicians, many bands may or may not have done many sound checks. You may run your own band, and literally have the analog mixer taped on the faders so it doesn’t change. But for the ones who haven’t properly have had a good “Fast” sound check, these are need from each musicians:
Drummers
You may have been told “Keep Hitting it” while the “Sound Guy” tries to dial you in. But maybe in a festival type the Sound Engineers asks you to do it, and maybe it’s a shorter time, or longer. No matter the situation, always play quarter notes. Kick, Snare, Rack Tom, Floor Toms, keep them at a steady pace so the engineer can get it set, pay attention on what they ask next, if its a Hi-hat, play quarter notes, with splash hits, Over heads, same deal. Drums usually are first due to how much of mics are on it.
Electric Guitars
This may come as a shock, but you do not need to keep playing after you are done with sound check. Furthermore, you don’t need to solo during your turn, what sound engineers need is your Clean, and Distorted channel to be played, they will ask you to have gain on each channel as the same, so when it does come time for your solo, it isn’t too loud, nor too soft. I’ve had situations where the band is set, and the guitarist decides to turn up the gain on stage, and everyone song the clean channel is too low, but once the solo came it was way to loud and almost hurt the other musicians from their monitors. Keep it the same.
Bass
There are two types of bass players, one with their 7ft rig, or ones who only bring their bass. Either is fine, but for sound check, the engineer wants long held notes, play a simple scale from the E string up to the G string, so they know to EQ the Lows.
Vocal
Almost all vocalist do this “Check, One, Two, Three, Check, Check”. Nothing wrong with doing that, but you at least have to sing so the engineer can dial in how loud you will be, many times the vocalist would not sing during sound check, and when it came to the first set, they were either too loud, or too soft, and the engineer may get blamed for not having the vocal sounding good, be a Singer!
Keyboards
This one can be the same as guitars, have all channels you are using be the same gain, and if you don’t have a amp, make sure there is a Di box to rid of the noise
Sound Check Start
This may be the one everyone needs to learn on, is “What starts first on a sound check?”. While everyone has a different way of starting a sound check, this is the one I’ve been following and has been good to me.
Vocals First, Bass, Guitars, Keyboards, Drums Last
I believe there is no wrong or right way to start a sound check, only one that can be the fastest and easiest to set
Step 1:
Set Master to Unity Gain (0dB)
Step 2:
For Each Channel You Are Setting, Also Set To Unity Gain (0dB)-then turn fader back down and move to next channel strip
Step3:
Set Monitors On Stage, It’s Important To Let Each Musician Hear What They Want
Step4:
Once Monitors Are Set, Then You Can Proceed To To The Mains
MUSICIANS ARE FIRST!
Setting the Master Fader at Unity gain is a good starting point because thats how loud your PA will be. Setting all the channel faders to Unity also is a good way to set the gain on each strip to 0dB(Only on Analog Mixers) Or -18dB(Only on Digital Mixers) then during the show adjust to whats important. By having the Gain on each channel turned up, that means you can set the monitors on stage for the musicians. After all is said and done you can focus on the mains, this should be a span under 30 minutes(latest) for sound checks, you may have a person on your ear telling you “I can’t hear anything” don’t explain it until you set the monitors, remember musicians are first.
Communication Is Key!
Musicians and the Sound Engineer need to be constantly aware of whats next. If you are hitting the kick for a while and stop, and the engineer nearly got it set, keep going until they say stop. During the Sound Check keep your ears opened to see who is next to play, the faster everyone does their part, then everyone can rest before their set. The Engineer can’t have there head planted in the mixer while sound checking, look up because the musicians may need something.
Conclusion
It’s easy to get lost during a sound check, you are about to have a gig and you are worried to tell the engineer exactly what you want. Don’t be afraid. They are there to help you succeed. In addition, be patient with them, the engineer is helping you, so help them. They can’t do monitors without going through each instrument, so be patient and wait until it is your turn, and you will have a good soundcheck
