Gig Etiquette

[Bigsby]

I remember the drummer from Pure Lead rushing offstage mid-song to go and spew.

Fair dos to him though, he got back and completed the set.

[Afro Droid]

I remember the drummer from Pure Lead rushing offstage mid-song to go and spew.

Why run offstage? I've spewed numerous times onstage. Adds to the show!

[jon]

You are GG Allin and I claim my 5.

[Jim Stax]

Gig etiquette according to me.

Arrival time:

Don't be late. If you're going to be late make sure someone tells the sound engineer your ETA.

Soundchecks:

Be ready to set up as soon as the stage is clear.

Don't play long songs, you're just wasting peoples time after the first 2-3 minutes of a song generally.

Get off-stage quickly, ask the sound engineer what you need to move and where to put it.

Gig:

Be in the venue in plenty of time.

Wait until the stage is pretty clear before setting up.

Stick to your allotted set length.

Get you gear off stage asap, pack it off-stage if possible.

After gig:

Say thanks to the relevant people.

In short: Show respect for other people's time and equipment.

That'll do for me! It's really not that difficult unless your an ignorant twat!

[Fraser Mac]

Bands Checking Mics, that grinds my gears.

Just say "Check. Check. Check." so you can get a good gain structure and ultimately, you should sound better.

if your doing heavy vocals, dont wisper into the mic, put some force into it, if your going to be doing some quiet, soft vocals, then do them as your going to do them,

fair enougth alot of the time the engineer will sort it when you play your sound check song, but this is all time that could be spent by the engineer EQ'ing and adding compressors and what not,

and bands that try and be funny with there checks, its nothing anyone hasnt already heard, and makes you look highly unprofessional.

[waltz]

and bands that try and be funny with there checks, its nothing anyone hasnt already heard, and makes you look highly unprofessional.

Not true. When I was in my old band, we played with Katerwaul once, and Tim (I think he's called? Apologies if I'm wrong) checked his mike with a warbled rendition of M People, and it was the funniest things I've ever seen/heard.

[Guest Bob Double Jack]

Bands Checking Mics, that grinds my gears.

Just say "Check. Check. Check." so you can get a good gain structure and ultimately, you should sound better.

if your doing heavy vocals, dont wisper into the mic, put some force into it, if your going to be doing some quiet, soft vocals, then do them as your going to do them,

fair enougth alot of the time the engineer will sort it when you play your sound check song, but this is all time that could be spent by the engineer EQ'ing and adding compressors and what not,

and bands that try and be funny with there checks, its nothing anyone hasnt already heard, and makes you look highly unprofessional.

what about the old gem, one one was a race horse, one two was one too, one one won one race, one two won one two?

i'll bet soundian loves that old classic!

[soundian]

Bands Checking Mics, that grinds my gears.

Just say "Check. Check. Check." so you can get a good gain structure and ultimately, you should sound better.

if your doing heavy vocals, dont wisper into the mic, put some force into it, if your going to be doing some quiet, soft vocals, then do them as your going to do them,

fair enougth alot of the time the engineer will sort it when you play your sound check song, but this is all time that could be spent by the engineer EQ'ing and adding compressors and what not,

and bands that try and be funny with there checks, its nothing anyone hasnt already heard, and makes you look highly unprofessional.

Personally I don't leave checking vocal mics to the amatuers, I do it myself. I get the levels to where I think they need to be and find the max I can push them to.

As for compression, on the rare occasions when I have a compressor that isn't dog meat and a rig that actually gives me some headroom, I can pretty much set and leave the comp settings for most vocalists.

What grinds my gears are the cunny funts that shout "3,4" after I say "1,2". Highly original you drunken morons!

[soundian]

what about the old gem, one one was a race horse, one two was one too, one one won one race, one two won one two?

i'll bet soundian loves that old classic!

Fairly useless for level checking but great for checking the integrity of the signal path.

It always makes me smile so it'll do for me.

[Guest idol_wild]

What grinds my gears are the cunny funts that shout "3,4" after I say "1,2". Highly original you drunken morons!

C'mon, Ian, you love your job really!

[soundian]

C'mon, Ian, you love your job really!

Every job has it's good points and it's bad points. Having to soundcheck with members of the public present is definitely in the latter category.

[Guest idol_wild]

Every job has it's good points and it's bad points. Having to soundcheck with members of the public present is definitely in the latter category.

Yeah, I don't think it's ideal for anyone involved.

But hey, you seem to cope pretty well. Would Drummonds ever change that policy?

[soundian]

Yeah, I don't think it's ideal for anyone involved.

But hey, you seem to cope pretty well. Would Drummonds ever change that policy?

I'm not sure what they're thoughts are under the current regime. Normally Drummonds only used to close for higher ticket price gigs (normally the artist requests a closed coundcheck for these anyway).

As for coping, you need 3 things:

Preparation: I quite often go in early if I know I can have a lot of stuff set up before the bands arrive. Then I can EQ etc while they're setting up so no-one has to wait around much and I'm not rushed into making poor judgement calls.

Experience: I've done over 2000 gigs at a rough count. It's all rather mechanical nowadays. If I've prepped properly then it's easy to get soundchecks done quickly and painlessly.

Attitude: The food chain goes (according to me)

1) Person paying me money

2) Promoter (if different)

3) ME (and any other senior tech peeps)

4) Bands

5) Security

6) Punters

I will not take a lot of grief from anyone lower in the food-chain than me. I make this fairly plain by my attitude and I'm not scared to reinforce the point if need be. As a few people on these forums have found out.

[Jim Stax]

I can only applaud your closing statement in last post Ian!

Bands should also realise when they are dealing with a numpty soundman and work accordingly. Something that can generally be spotted quite quickly if you know the signs There have been a couple in Aberdeen in my time but I wont mention any names...

[The Milner]

i dont think ive ever worked with Ian when he hasnt been the kindest most gental person in the world......

[Lemonade]

Attitude: The food chain goes (according to me)

1) Person paying me money

2) Promoter (if different)

3) ME (and any other senior tech peeps)

4) Bands

5) Security

6) Punters

I will not take a lot of grief from anyone lower in the food-chain than me. I make this fairly plain by my attitude and I'm not scared to reinforce the point if need be. As a few people on these forums have found out.

What if the band are deeply unhappy with the sound you've given them, do you still refuse to change anything on the basis that they are lower down the "food chain" than you? Or do you just ALWAYS know best?

[The Milner]

What if the band are deeply unhappy with the sound you've given them, do you still refuse to change anything on the basis that they are lower down the "food chain" than you? Or do you just ALWAYS know best?

do you mean front of house sound? or onstage sound?

[Lemonade]

do you mean front of house sound? or onstage sound?

Front of house.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

Front of house.

I was pretty sure you would say onstage sound.... When I'm onstage, I care about what I can hear onstage, and well, can't really hear the front of house properly because I'm onstage...

I care about the front of house sound obviously, but I would always leave that to the judgement of the sound engineer given that they are out there, and if I can see the engineer coming down and having a proper listen etc and at least looking like they care about how it sounds etc I'll trust that they're doing their best, and that the sound is good front of house. Often at gigs, we've felt the sound was really shit or whatever but folk will tell us the sound FOH was really good, and I've been on the other side when watching other bands and the band members have been concerned about how it went cos they couldn't really tell on stage, and FOH is almost always good sound wise. A few exceptions when I've been at the Tunnels (ages ago now) and it's been a little too loud down at the front (usually fine up the back near the bar).

[The Milner]

Front of house.

how would you be able to tell what it sounds like out front when you are on stage?

[Lemonade]

During the soundcheck I'll usually go out front and have a listen to the rest of the guys playing, just to see what the levels sound like. They're our songs, we know how we want them to sound, which guitarist is going to be playing the lead parts, etc, and which instruments should be louder than others. If I think the guitar / bass etc is too loud or too quiet I'll say to the sound guy the bass needs to be louder, the guitar needs to be quiter etc. If I get told to shut up because I'm "lower down the food chain" I'm going to take my ball and go home.

[The Milner]

During the soundcheck I'll usually go out front and have a listen to the rest of the guys playing, just to see what the levels sound like. They're our songs, we know how we want them to sound, which guitarist is going to be playing the lead parts, etc, and which instruments should be louder than others. If I think the guitar / bass etc is too loud or too quiet I'll say to the sound guy the bass needs to be louder, the guitar needs to be quiter etc. If I get told to shut up because I'm "lower down the food chain" I'm going to take my ball and go home.

there is a big difference in sound from standing in front of the stage to where the sound desk sits, you may think your hearing the proper front of house sound but you wont be. There is no way for band to know exactly how it sounds out the front no matter what you do. The sound engineer is the guy who knows what he is doing (most of the time) and will try for the best sound. Would you expect him to storm off in a huff if you suggested something about his side of the job he didnt agree with?

[Jim Stax]

During the soundcheck I'll usually go out front and have a listen to the rest of the guys playing, just to see what the levels sound like. They're our songs, we know how we want them to sound, which guitarist is going to be playing the lead parts, etc, and which instruments should be louder than others. If I think the guitar / bass etc is too loud or too quiet I'll say to the sound guy the bass needs to be louder, the guitar needs to be quiter etc. If I get told to shut up because I'm "lower down the food chain" I'm going to take my ball and go home.

I dont imagine an engineer is, always, going to dictate your sound and from experience they will prefer to be notified of the preferences so they then have a an understanding what is to be acheived. If you then start telling them their job then that is stepping over the mark. An engineer, if familar with a venue, will know the dynamics of a room and how things will change when the hundreds of punters appear and are rammed at the front of the stage. Therefore it is best to listen to him/her if they tell you different from what you are suggesting. Although, if an A class clown is doing the sound some gentle and polite persuaion may be needed.

Thankfully, due to changes of job description etc, we have a plethora (handfull) of good sound folks in Aberdeen!

[Lemonade]

there is a big difference in sound from standing in front of the stage to where the sound desk sits, you may think your hearing the proper front of house sound but you wont be. There is no way for band to know exactly how it sounds out the front no matter what you do. The sound engineer is the guy who knows what he is doing (most of the time) and will try for the best sound. Would you expect him to storm off in a huff if you suggested something about his side of the job he didnt agree with?

I dont imagine an engineer is, always, going to dictate your sound and from experience they will prefer to be notified of the preferences so they then have a an understanding what is to be acheived. If you then start telling them their job then that is stepping over the mark. An engineer, if familar with a venue, will know the dynamics of a room and how things will change when the hundreds of punters appear and are rammed at the front of the stage. Therefore it is best to listen to him/her if they tell you different from what you are suggesting. Although, if an A class clown is doing the sound some gentle and polite persuaion may be needed.

I'm not suggesting that I know what I'm doing better than the sound engineer, far from it. Just that the guy above makes it sound as though he's saying his word is absolutely final, which I don't agree with. As I said, they're our songs and we know how they're supposed to sound, so if something sounds off to me I'd like him to at least take into consideration that he might not have our specific sound set up properly. I wasn't saying I'd "storm off in a huff" if he disagreed, but if he wasn't even willing to listen to me and consider that he might be wrong, there's a fairly good chance that I would avoid that venue in the future. Surely the sound has to be a collaboration between the band and the engineer? Which is why I merely asked the question above, if his word was always final.

[Guest Exposure @ Lemon Tree]

I like Jim's suggestion that Cobra Kai will get 100s of punters rammed into venues

Generally, when The Underkills soundcheck it's much easier cos 10 folk in a venue don't make much difference to the overall sound.