What can you do to help the sound guy, help you get a great sound?
1. Make sure your instruments are set up well, serviced, tuned up and in optimum condition.
2. Set up your backline quickly so that the sound guy can mic up all your drums, amps and vocals.
The backline consist of all amplifiers, drums, stands and other accessories your band needs.
3. Supply the sound guy a stage plot and an input list in advance. It is even more crucial especially if you have special requirements, like DI for ipod/sampler/keyboard or if you need converters etc.
The stage plot is where your instruments, backline and your band members will be positioned on stage.
The input list is a list of instruments that your band plays.
4. It doesn't hurt to introduce yourself to the sound guy and get to know his name. Everyone loves to be called by his name and not "hey, sound guy!!!".
The difference between a line check and a sound check
It is your duty to find out from the organiser/venue/mixing engineer whether you get a line check or a sound check at the gig.
A line check is where the engineer will quickly get the drummer to hit each drum, the guitarists and bassist to play a few notes and the singer to say a word or two to make sure there is a signal in each line. It has to happen very quickly. While you launch into the first song, the engineer tweaks as you go.
A sound check is similar to the line check, except that there is slightly more time for the sound guy to EQ and set up other intricate details like effects, compression etc. The process of a sound check usually goes like this:
Kick, Snare, Tom 1, Tom 2, Floor Tom, Hi Hats, Cymbals (if there are overheads). after all the individual drums are done, the sound guy will usually then say this, "time", which means, play a beat while rolling the toms and cymbals to get the overall drum sound.
Next would be Bass Guitar, Guitar 1, Guitar 2, Keys/Sampler/Ipod and lastly, vocals.
Important: A sound check is not a rehearsal for your band, it's for the engineer. Once the individual instruments are done, you play half of the quietest song in your set and half of the loudest song in your set. Next up, ROCK N ROLL!
In Closing
It's great to have heaps of confidence and all but when it comes to working with the sound guy, please leave your ego at the door, thank you very much.
It's great to have heaps of confidence and all but when it comes to working with the sound guy, please leave your ego at the door, thank you very much.
so kevin, as a soundguy, you are saying "be nice to me?" haha just kidding
ReplyDeleteseriously, I study music, and no one teaches stuff like this! performers always mess around during soundcheck and then they complain that the sound was bad during their set. gah. the struggles of a girl soundguy.
i hope everyone reads this post!
These are the things they don't teach at school. You'd pick these things up in magazines, forums, and real life experience or even by hanging out with musos and talking to them to find out what the "standard procedure" is.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, that's another good point. Stage sound and FOH sound is two different worlds. That's why in an ideal situation, you would have a monitor engineer just taking care of what the band hears on stage and an FOH engineer that takes care of what the audience hears.
Learning how to handle/manage/cope with egos is just part of this job description. It's all good.