AudioBanter.com - View Single Post - How often do you do a show with no soundcheck? Exception or rule?

(Shawn) wrote :

As a result we fought most of the night with feedback and generally
bad sound. The more she tried to fix things the worse things got.

1. have the drummer play with the DJ and set his levels, listen to the
kit on PFL to more or less have a balanced mix on gains.

2. Have the bass, gitar and keyboard player play with drums and set
levels using gain (or on a subgroup using channel fader) to set a
reasonable starting level.

3. stick a mike about 2 feet from the wedges, pointing at the wedge and
EQ the monitors so they do not feedback (uto a reasonable level).

4. If you have a hornsection have them do a short ensemble to set a
starting balance on PFL

5. Get the band to play an instrumental when they start (short) to set up
basic music balance.

6. Use your subgroups (if you have them..) for a basic Band and vocal mix

This is an issue that I would likely have noticed and fixed when I did
a real soundcheck.

Is this that common?

Yes, but any half decent engineer should be able to pull up a reasonable
mix before the second verse of the first song. Mix should be done when
the first song ends..

Also this is why many clubs have their own engineers, it is my belief it
is more important to know the gear/venue then to know the band.. If
playing a club I usually ask their engineer to set up the basics while I
do the stage setup (and monitor check) and fine tune after he is done..

It's usually the 'We bring our own soundman' bands that cannot handle
these situations and most seem to be unable to understand why..

--
Bill Gates can't guarantee Windows,
how are you gonna guarantee my safety..
--John Crichton - Farscape pilot