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What do you play at sound check?


oldslapper

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Anything from the comedy basslines selection-

another one bites the dust

ice ice baby/ under pressure

billie jean

that bit from the chain etc etc.

What I don’t do is let them know about the really loud bits with octaver/ gain and filters on. I want those bits loud and if they know it’s coming up invariably you’ll be set to ‘barely on’ for the rest of the entire set, unless of course you have an engineer you believe is actually listening. 

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Always something from the set, usually a couple of contrasting lines.

Then I'll play the same lines with the drummer so that we can get an idea of the bass and drums level together. 

Then we add each instrument in the same way. Our main emphasis at the moment is to get everything to a nice low volume on stage and let the PA do the work. 

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Money for nothing - it has the sax start with the guitar and everyones vocals. If we have enough time, the start of brown eyed girl, then fortunate son for the drummers vocals, then surfing USA for my vocals, then the middle bit of brick in the wall for the footpedals. 

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Depends on what I feel like, but either open strings or a little bit of improvised lines up and down the strings, usually a bit of both.

What I make a point of is hitting the strings as hard as I will when playing live, and playing within the range of notes that will be covered, with particular focus on the bottom end, especially the low B string if that is going to be used.  If I'm using more than one bass then let the soundman do most of his work on the main one, then swap for the other so that he can check for any change in level.  Same with any effects that i will use during the set - quick on and off so the soundman can see the levels.  No point playing anything that doesn't represent what I will actually sound like - that's wasting everybody's time (but seems to be what a lot of guitarists will do)

Don't care about my on stage sound as long as I can hear enough to tell whether I'm in tune, so ask for just enough through the monitors for that (or will use the backline instead if that's easier) and let the singer and guitarists worry about what they need to hear.

Then when everybody has been individually checked, do whatever song(s) the band think best to check for overall levels - something that uses as many of the relevant sources as possible (so, if half the songs have BV's do one with BVs; if the band had two lead vocalists then do a song where they both have lead vocals, or do a bit of two songs where each sings the lead) and only need to play them for as long as the soundman wants.  If there's a problem with the monitors then it's better to stop and sort that out, then start again, rather than playing the whole song just for the sake of it.

Get it done as quickly and easily as possible

Edited by Monkey Steve
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Once, I barely touched a string and I was told "that's ok, now guitar stage left?". Seriously, I didn't even pluck properly. I found it so amusing that I just burst laughing with our drummer who was in tears, as he had had a long check and I had said to him "it looks like this guy will do a thorough job during sound check!"...

So I just laughed, left my bass on the stand and went away until it was time to play (we were opening).

It actually sounded pretty good onstage and FOH from what I was told. (shrug)

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My standard is annoying my singer. I usually say down the mic to the soundman "you know this is the main one, right?"

At our first really decent gig he asked for more bass in his monitor and I replied down the mic "it's always nice to meet a fan". Nine and a 1/2 years later he's still scarred by that one!

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6 hours ago, mcnach said:

Once, I barely touched a string and I was told "that's ok, now guitar stage left?". Seriously, I didn't even pluck properly. I found it so amusing that I just burst laughing with our drummer who was in tears, as he had had a long check and I had said to him "it looks like this guy will do a thorough job during sound check!"...

TBH - one note tells them that the signal chain is working, and what a rough level is, and then it is very easy to adjust the level when you are playing.

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1 hour ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

In the Hall of the Mountain King, by Edvard Grieg.

It just became a bit of a running joke when the band was still doing the Camden Toilet Circuit, and I'd like to think a few soundmen appreciated something a bit different from the slapathon that they tended to get from the other bands.

I think I might have been on the bill with you then! Can’t be many people soundchecking with that. I won’t have slapped by the way.

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The main riff from one of the songs we'll be playing at the gig, followed by a couple of notes of one or two of the more extreme sounds I'll be using. If I'm playing with the band where I use the Bass VI I'll alternate between a "bass" and "guitar" patch so that the PA engineer can get a feel for balancing the two different types of sound, though because its all going through the Line 6 Helix, all they should be doing is EQ'ing to compensate for any deficiencies in the PA plus a little for the room acoustics.

I always make sure that as a band we do at least a verse of the opening song, so there is a fighting chance that we'll sound at least half-way decent from the start.

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For me it varies.  I do not play, nor have I ever played, in a funk/soul/disco band.  So if I remember I will do my soundcheck by embarking upon my 'Disco bass line medley' but generally get no further than the first bar or two of Disco Inferno :)  

One time in a rock covers band we supported a Black Sabbath tribute and I did my soundcheck with the start of NIB, mainly because the other guy did and he fluffed it :) .  

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