Things You Will ever Hear At A Sound Check

[Track Rat]

Things you will NEVER hear at a sound check.
I ran up on this and thought I'd share. I bet Henry can relate.


From the band leader:

The levels are perfect! Wow, that didn't take long!

Whatever it says on the sound plot I sent you is exactly what we need.

No worries, we can skip the sound check. I trust you to get it right on the fly.

No thanks. I don't drink.


From the singer:

My mic is too hot. Can you turn it down?

I can't hear enough lead guitar.

Too much reverb!

No thanks. I don't drink.


From the guitarist

Of course I can play quieter.

Turn up the singer's mic. She's our real focal point.

The drums need to be louder. MUCH louder.

No thanks. I don't drink.


From the drummer

Yeah, that was me speeding up. Sorry.

Wait. I need to check my charts.

No thanks. I don't drink.


From the bass player

Thanks for adjusting the amp while I was gone. It sounds way better now.

Hey, can someone get these groupies outta here?

No thanks. I don't drink.


From the sound crew:

The sound plot you emailed last month? I have it right here.

We'll be happy to help you load in.

Wow, thanks. I could really use your help running the board.

Take as long as you like to get your guitar sound perfect

Go ahead and move the mic's wherever you want them.

No thanks. I don't drink.


From the club owner:

No problem if your crowd doesn't show, our regulars usually fill the house.

Of course, drinks are free for your girlfriends/boyfriends too.

Play for however long you want. We'll pay you for the extra time.

Thank you.

 

[Armistice]

Not to beat up on sound guys, but I've been to any number of supposed high quality international acts at major enclosed venues that cost serious $ to attend to have the same sound issues, time after time..

1. Can't hear the singer singing a large part of the time (ie. turn him / her / it up...)
2. Too much bass (ie. turn it down...)
3. Can't hear any lead guitar work at the level you'd expect on the record (if it's that sort of band) (ie. turn it up...)

Seems to me that sound guys live in a different aural world and wouldn't be much good at mixing actual albums...

Only exception in the last year was Steve Wilson, whose sound was awesome. What gives????

 

[Greg_L]

99.9% of sound guys are absolute shit.

 

[moresound]

99.9% of sound guys are absolute shit.

Good thing that I fall into the .01%

 

[Greg_L]

Good thing that I fall into the .01%

Yes, you do. I'm pretty convinced that you are one of the few good sound guys out there. Too bad you're a million miles away. The guys down here are total shit.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

One time, after I'd measured my wedges' response and made a custom curve for them on a digital eq, the lead signer goes up to the mic for the first time and says, "Check, check. Wow. That sounds pretty good. I think we're done."

 

[rayc]

Best live sound - Stagedoor Tavern Sydney. Small, odd shaped, uneven surfaces & ehthusiastic sound engineers. Midnight Oil sounded great & Dr Feelgood sounded great.
Best medium venue sound - Wollongong Entertainment Centre/Horden Pavillion Sydney regular shaped but masses of people to round out the sound - Horden used to have backwall reflection problems but they eventually managed that. WEC - Tool sounded great, Leonard Cohen sounded great.
Worst live sound - Sydney Entertainment Centre. Bass becomes one note all through gigs back wall splash back is BAD (yeah, but it is 6 miles from the stage & 200 yards up in the sky). Mega big acts with uber professional sound engineers that just don't listen. Simple Minds sounded worst than I thought they would, Clapton sounded awful, Elvis Costello & the Rude 5 sounded blah.
In other words some venues are inherently awful to work in but CAN be managed.

 

[Armistice]

Best live sound - Stagedoor Tavern Sydney. Small, odd shaped, uneven surfaces & ehthusiastic sound engineers. Midnight Oil sounded great & Dr Feelgood sounded great.
Best medium venue sound - Wollongong Entertainment Centre/Horden Pavillion Sydney regular shaped but masses of people to round out the sound - Horden used to have backwall reflection problems but they eventually managed that. WEC - Tool sounded great, Leonard Cohen sounded great.
Worst live sound - Sydney Entertainment Centre. Bass becomes one note all through gigs back wall splash back is BAD (yeah, but it is 6 miles from the stage & 200 yards up in the sky). Mega big acts with uber professional sound engineers that just don't listen. Simple Minds sounded worst than I thought they would, Clapton sounded awful, Elvis Costello & the Rude 5 sounded blah.
In other words some venues are inherently awful to work in but CAN be managed.

Indeed ray.... I told you about Television at the Enmore... not a great venue but the issue there was one of more volume on the vocals and Rip's guitar... easy fix I would have thought. Redeemed a gift voucher for the Opera House and saw The Whitlams with the SSO a while back... again, couldn't really hear Tim sing, which is sort of half the point with The Whitlams. Fleet Foxes at the Opera House last year was quite average too - completely couldn't manage an acoustic guitar group with a largeish dynamic range...

 

[moresound]

Oh heck yeah. Some rooms can be an uphill battle ... While other rooms just ooze of warmth and pleasant working conditions.

 

[ibleedburgundy]

Most sound guys suck ass. We have some venues around here that get some well known bands and they sound fucking terrible (The Fillmore, Jacks, The Black Cat). -Loud as fuck, bassy as fuck, and completely incomprehensible. There are some good sound guys too though. The 9:30 club in DC is legit IMO -sound guys there almost always do a nice job. The Rock 'n Roll Hotel does a nice job for a smaller venue with a not-so-great room. Same goes for the Velvet lounge to a lesser extent although I suspect their success was tied to this one young dude who may or may not work there anymore.

 

[rayc]

Armistice,
I've only seen 2 "rock" bands at the Opera House: Sky in the very early 80's and Elvis Costello & the Attractions in the late 80's. Neither sounded good in there. It's just not built for rock to start with, ( & given that they ignore Utzon's internal designs) and the doughnuts etc were retro fits to deal with sound probelms in an orchestral environment. Mind you when Costello came out for the final encore solo & played acoustic guitsr for an hour the sound was pretty good but not what I expected from the venue.
I can't even remember where the mixing desk was located, (probably in a projection booth by the sounds of it).
I think the steps outside work better.
The Enmore? It sounds like a cinema used for rock doesn't it but then again it's intimate, no projection screens needed and it has the right level of sticky carpet and smoke stained wallpaper. Mind you if they maintained a live sound chap he'd be able to learn the system, learn the room & have some clue to employ fixes during a sound check. It'd be a bugger to do all that on a fly in.