What do you play at soundcheck?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

In a previous band I had the responsibility for setting up the PA. Once everyone was set up we used to run through Steely Dan's 'Do it again' as I could play a simplified version of the bass line mostly one-handed allowing me to fiddle with the mixer at the same time.

 

What does your band play at soundcheck? Do you play the whole song or just one verse/chorus to check the sound is okay?

[asingardenof]

Yeah, usually a verse and a chorus of Enola Gay as it's pretty simple, or maybe more if it's a particularly faffy setup.

[BigRedX]

Usually the newest song, just so we can hear what it sounds like in the foldback as it will probably be different to how we are used to hearing it in the rehearsal room. Then we'll do a verse of the opening song which we are very familiar with so we know at least the first 3 minutes of the gig will sound decent.

[cetera]

Normally 3 songs. One with our female lead vocal, one with our male lead vocal and then a 3rd with big backing vocal harmonies and both vocalists.

[Len_derby]

Invariably something from that gig’s set list. For the covers band it’s been Tennessee Whiskey for the past couple of months. For the originals band, usually the newest song in the set.

[nilorius]

2 sound check situations. 

1. When sound engineer wants to hear just a bass, I usually play Jaco - Continuum.

2.When the whole band is asked to play - Guns n Roses - Knockin on Heavans door - whole song, if he doesn't say it's enough. 

[TRB5]

We  use Gaslighting Abbie as a P A and monitor check to gauge the room and then plunk a few notes as a line check. That’s normally it.

Nothing much changes on our desk, our backing singer/ driver/ lighting switcher goes for a wander about in the first number to  have a listen.

If working with a proper P A system, once in a while,  we tend to play something nice and simple with not too much going on.

[chrisba]

Miss You - Rolling Stones. The only cover we do, it's not normally in our set.

Also, whatever it is, not something that's in that days set list. Myself and others have trouble playing songs a second time, 'cos we think "have we played the middle 8 already, shouldn't there be a chorus now ? " or similar.

[tony_m]

Usually it's a quick verse and chorus of our opening number (Green River) to check our basic sound's OK, a quick chorus of Dead Flowers to check the mandolin level, and a quick chorus of Learning To Fly (the Tom Petty one) to check the backing vocals. If we're adding a new number, we might give that a quick run-through as well.

[Lozz196]

Just a song which has got lead singer & both backing singers on the choruses, plus a lead guitar solo, this covers everything we do.

[BigRedX]

For the band where I play Bass VI, we'll do one of the songs that has both "bass" and "guitar" parts in it, so the PA engineer has a decent idea of how wide-ranging the sounds I use are going to be.

[Woodinblack]

Money for nothing for the sax and guitar, brick in the wall for keys.

[neepheid]

With the covers band it's safe to play a 'Spoons song, no bugger knows them I once made the mistake of noodling "I Wanna Be Adored" (a song we don't do) and some pished guy was all "STONE ROSES, YAAAAS!". Thankfully he was too drunk to remember by the time we got started, phew!

Edited June 28, 2023 by neepheid

[Norris]

We've played together for so long and are so familiar with each other, we just individually noodle to make sure our own equipment is working. The first song is the soundcheck, and it's usually spot on or very close

[SteveXFR]

Maniac from flashdance but a stoner metal version. I love the reactions as people start to recognise it and then realise exactly what it is.

[lurksalot]

Used to play roadhouse blues, it was great to set the levels , bring the vocal in then play it through.

 

 

then of course the guitarist just turns every thing up for the set proper ! 

[toneknob]

5 hours ago, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

What does your band play at soundcheck?

 

Instruments.

 

[lozkerr]

For me alone, riff and chorus of Pretty In Pink, as it uses all five strings. For the whole band, it depends on the set, but Whole Of The Moon and There Is A Light crop up quite frequently.

Edited June 28, 2023 by lozkerr

[northstreet]

We do the same two songs, so we have a consistent baseline (no pun intended) to work to. I go out front and do a line check of each input. Then the rest of the band does You Really Got Me while I get the vocals, guitar and drums balanced. Then me and the lead vox swap places, and we play the song again just long enough to get the bass level right. Then we do That's Entertainment (which our backing singer leads on) to get their vocal sorted. Barring any major technical issues, all done in 5 mins.

[casapete]

We do a few songs, each one for as long as the sound tech needs to get things right.

Songs chosen to fine tune bass and drums / guitars / keys / strings and then vocals

in that order. Can take longer if it’s a bigger venue which means the tech going

all over the theatre with his iPad to make sure there are no areas where it’s dodgy. 

Always do stuff from our set, and finish the soundcheck with our opening song.

Usually takes around 20 mins, longer if the IEM’s are not behaving.

 

And then of course it all changes once the punters are in……😆

[tauzero]

Going to have to decide that, we've only played one gig so far and I didn't think ahead enough. Need to play a song with all three of us who do vocals singing and both guitars playing, and then I need to try and work out what Mrs Zero's gesticulations mean in terms of turning vocals, one guitar, and the bass up or down (other guitar goes through backline).

[Geek99]

Groove is in the heart 

 

the bass player’s choice 

[Owen]

To sound check the bass I play the riff from Peaches. The more inappropriate it is to the the venue, the better. It will always raise a smile from that one person who knows. 

[Burns-bass]

7 hours ago, Geek99 said:

Groove is in the heart 

 

the bass player’s choice 

Bring down the birds - that’s that riff (it was a sample)

[Tait]

Wishing Well - Free. It used to be on our setlist and we dropped it a while back, but we realised it was a good soundcheck song as it uses clean & driven tones for guitar and bass, and has a good range of high and low notes for both so we can check the full frequency range is cutting through. I also have a few little keyboard parts here and there so I check my keyboard balance in the bridge since the bass drops out anyway.