Chris Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 as Ian said there's not much point in taking anything to a one-off gig to fix guitars and pedals other than spare strings and batteries. anything else broke during a set, chances are it would take longer than your set time to fix. Better option is to bring spares that you can switch between. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundian Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 First of, the reason for soundchecks. Imo soundchecks are there for the monitor levels, equipment check (i.e. all amplifiers microphones and cables etc are working) and to agree levels with the sound op, if there is one. The actual sound out front doesn't matter so much so don't get hung up on it, it can change dramatically when the venues got a few bodies in it. Trust the sound op to know the room. Now to the actual soundcheck> The standard way is to start with drums Kick ( bass drum, it gets too confusing if you call it that though) snare, hats then the toms on order. The drummer should hit the drum at gigging velocity leaving enough time for the sound to decay before hitting again, repeat until told to stop then move onto the next one. Next is normally bass, play a reasonably slow riff ,covering all of the strings preferably, until you're told to stop. Guitars next (in my world anyway), get you're clean and distorted sounds balanced up (follow the engineers instructions on this once YOU'VE got them in the right ballpark) Keyboards, acoustics etc are normally dealt with next but I'll skip them. Then comes vocals. Preferably sing into the mic rather than shyly whispering "check one two" into the mic. Now monitors (the engineer will most likely have done some of this already). Your band should have a well balanced sound without monitors, you should be able to hear everyone, apart from maybe the guy on the other side of the stage. That should make it easy enough to get the vocals up enough and all the 'bleed' through other mics doesn't fuck with the sound too much. Keep your monitors simple on a small stage, the more sound knocking about up there the more potential phasing problems and just sheer unwanted crap flying into the mics. Identify what you work from at practice and make sure you can hear it. I've probably missed out tons of stuff here but if it's your first gig, get there in enough time to watch other bands soundcheck (if you're sharing drums with another band you'll be spared the evils of a drum soundcheck for your band, lucky people). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scott cs. Posted July 13, 2004 Report Share Posted July 13, 2004 thank you very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeC Posted July 14, 2004 Report Share Posted July 14, 2004 First of' date=' the reason for soundchecks. (follow the engineers instructions on this Your band should have a well balanced sound without monitors, you should be able to hear everyone, apart from maybe the guy on the other side of the stage. That should make it easy enough to get the vocals up enough and all the 'bleed' through other mics doesn't fuck with the sound too much. [/quote']what complete tosh......sound engineers are complete fascist bastards who's only aim in life is to make guitar and bass players sad, they do this by making them turn down so low that only the woodworm living in your 4x12 can hear the fantastic licks you are playing.....Heres what to do.....turn your guitar up so loud that your ears start to blead....what you find is that after a couple of gigs you will be able to turn up to 10 with no problem.... then when Adolf Soundian say's (read in a whingy girls voice)" you'll have to turn you're amp down or no one will hear the vocals" you must then reply...."fuck off you big girl and buy a bigger PA, who the fuck wants to hear the vocals anyway our singer's pish" or words to that effect. He will then respond by saying "fair enough" he will then spark up his roll-up, take a large swallow of his JD and coke, come down to the stage, cut your mains lead in half, kick you in the bollocks and throw your sorry arse out of the venue.....Do what the sound man says kids....most of them know what its all about (you'll soon pick out the ones that don't) be nice, if he asks you to turn down lower than you feel is good for you're sound, tell him nicely, most engineers are muso's and know the score, if you feel you got a good sound and weren't treated like shit, buy the man a beer, they sometimes appear like nasty men telling you what to do, but remember, he has been doing this for 100 years (or more in Ian's case) and you know fuck all about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundian Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 what complete tosh......sound engineers are complete fascist bastards who's only aim in life is to make guitar and bass players sad' date=' they do this by making them turn down so low that only the woodworm living in your 4x12 can hear the fantastic licks you are playing.....Heres what to do.....turn your guitar up so loud that your ears start to blead....what you find is that after a couple of gigs you will be able to turn up to 10 with no problem.... then when Adolf Soundian say's (read in a whingy girls voice)" you'll have to turn you're amp down or no one will hear the vocals" you must then reply...."fuck off you big girl and buy a bigger PA, who the fuck wants to hear the vocals anyway our singer's pish" or words to that effect. He will then respond by saying "fair enough" he will then spark up his roll-up, take a large swallow of his JD and coke, come down to the stage, cut your mains lead in half, kick you in the bollocks and throw your sorry arse out of the venue.....Do what the sound man says kids....most of them know what its all about (you'll soon pick out the ones that don't) be nice, if he asks you to turn down lower than you feel is good for you're sound, tell him nicely, most engineers are muso's and know the score, if you feel you got a good sound and weren't treated like shit, buy the man a beer, they sometimes appear like nasty men telling you what to do, but remember, he has been doing this for 100 years (or more in Ian's case) and you know fuck all about it.[/quote'] Almost accurate. I wouldn't cut the mains lead in half though, it might trip the main breakers. Speaker cables are fair game mind, as is destructive testing of the "stomp" in "stomp box". I actually had a band who's drummer, when asked to calm down a bit on the cymbals cos he was setting up huge washes and drowning out the singer, said "It's alright, he's shit anyway". Almost right there too. It certainly feels like more than a hundred years, I told Eddison that wax would never catch on but would he listen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Jack Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 I actually had a band who's drummer' date=' when asked to calm down a bit on the cymbals cos he was setting up huge washes and drowning out the singer, said "It's alright, he's shit anyway".[/quote']Funnily enough I once had a singer who could drown out my entire kit. 'Wash' however was never part of his vocabulary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
betamax Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 soundchecking is for fagsset up - switch on - play - if the soundperson knows his/her stuff then the sound will be ok*but, to allow a soundperson time to make the neccessary adjustments at the start of your set, simply play one of your most crap tunes for the first song, as they will ruin it anyway in a frenzy of slider movements and knob tweaking....sometimes they might even remember to switch all the audio channels on other stuff:take some spare musical devices if you can afford itdrink lots of neat vodka to help generate feelings of loathing for the audiencetune up / detunecheck lipstick*this never actually works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 and drink silly amounts of red wine afterwards to the point of where 'st anger' by metallica actually sounds quite good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Jack Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 and drink silly amounts of red wine afterwards to the point of where 'st anger' by metallica actually sounds quite good.jeeesus... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sundaram Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 Now to the actual soundcheck>... So typical, the flute/sax doesn't even get a mention. Aye and what about if the guy Yogi is making a guest appearance on 'tambourine/Ian Brown impression's', I bet he gets higher priority as well huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 god i'd never thought about it before but sax/flute players are the biggest ethnic minority in rock/pop/indie/alternative (or whatever you want to call the majority of live music we're talking about here),they have rights, wants and needs too!and yogi plays a better tambourine than Liam Gallagher so does Lester Burnham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sundaram Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 god i'd never thought about it before but sax/flute players are the biggest ethnic minority in rock/pop/indie/alternative (or whatever you want to call the majority of live music we're talking about here)' date='they have rights, wants and needs too!and yogi plays a better tambourine than Liam Gallagher so does Lester Burnham[/quote']Flute's have feelings too you know!Why is the flute such a hard instrument to get a good and loud enough sound from live? My experience of playing live flute has not been very enjoyable as I rarely actually hear what I'm playing, I have to rely on technique and luck inorder to do the job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 its a bit of a poofy instrument though isnt it? and has never been taken seriously in the rock n roll world. in fact i can only think of two flute players off the top of me head - phillip james johnston and erm james galway....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundian Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 its a bit of a poofy instrument though isnt it? and has never been taken seriously in the rock n roll world. in fact i can only think of two flute players off the top of me head - phillip james johnston and erm james galway....... And that bloke from Jethro Tull. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moshulu Rob Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 what complete tosh......sound engineers are complete fascist bastards who's only aim in life is to make guitar and bass players sad' date=' they do this by making them turn down so low that only the woodworm living in your 4x12 can hear the fantastic licks you are playing.....Heres what to do.....turn your guitar up so loud that your ears start to blead....what you find is that after a couple of gigs you will be able to turn up to 10 with no problem.... then when Adolf Soundian say's (read in a whingy girls voice)" you'll have to turn you're amp down or no one will hear the vocals" you must then reply...."fuck off you big girl and buy a bigger PA, who the fuck wants to hear the vocals anyway our singer's pish" or words to that effect. He will then respond by saying "fair enough" he will then spark up his roll-up, take a large swallow of his JD and coke, come down to the stage, cut your mains lead in half, kick you in the bollocks and throw your sorry arse out of the venue.....Do what the sound man says kids....most of them know what its all about (you'll soon pick out the ones that don't) be nice, if he asks you to turn down lower than you feel is good for you're sound, tell him nicely, most engineers are muso's and know the score, if you feel you got a good sound and weren't treated like shit, buy the man a beer, they sometimes appear like nasty men telling you what to do, but remember, he has been doing this for 100 years (or more in Ian's case) and you know fuck all about it.[/quote']*Applause* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundian Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 Which bit are you applauding, the first bit or the second? Unless you're applauding the overall humour, in which case Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 why you no working christie? ur getting too much time off.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundian Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 why you no working christie? ur getting too much time off.... To your benefit it seems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moshulu Rob Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 Which bit are you applauding' date=' the first bit or the second? Unless you're applauding the overall humour, in which case [/quote']The second bit, and the overall humour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hog Posted July 15, 2004 Report Share Posted July 15, 2004 Im sure the first part is tongue in cheek and the second part is really the way it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sundaram Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 its a bit of a poofy instrument though isnt it? and has never been taken seriously in the rock n roll world. in fact i can only think of two flute players off the top of me head - phillip james johnston and erm james galway.......You should have a listen to Roland Kirk and Harold McNair! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Jack Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 its a bit of a poofy instrument though isnt it? Nah' date=' don't think so...[img']http://www.alphotobiz.com/FLUTE%20MUSICIAN,%20THE%20LOUVRE,%20PARIS.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GraemeC Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 Ian Anderson...Jethro tullPeter Gabriel...GenesisThijs Van Leer...FocusYes there have been Flutes in rock music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scott cs. Posted July 16, 2004 Report Share Posted July 16, 2004 i hear Rob Halford likes to play on the flute too....*bad joke* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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