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[Pat Latimer]

Back in the "club" days, I've seen TE's do 1.5 hour sound checks because of everyone fiddling around on-stage.

Never understood that. The rig was tuned and monitors would rip your head off. Why take so long??

[Mike Karseboom]

Back in the "club" days, I've seen TE's do 1.5 hour sound checks because of everyone fiddling around on-stage.

Never understood that. The rig was tuned and monitors would rip your head off. Why take so long??

Some bands are still trying to figure out their parts during sound check...

[Steve M Smith]

So I figure why not just get my gains right, then make sure the band members can hear what they need to hear and not even worry about the front till the very end.

That's what we do in festivals with no sound check. Be accurate with your gain setting, get the monitors right, then the initial FOH mix is done visually by fader position based on importance.  It can then be refined later.

An audience wants a good sound from the start of the first song.  They don't want you messing around with it, trying to get it right.


Steve.

[Tim McCulloch]

That's what we do in festivals with no sound check. Be accurate with your gain setting, get the monitors right, then the initial FOH mix is done visually by fader position based on importance.  It can then be refined later.

An audience wants a good sound from the start of the first song.  They don't want you messing around with it, trying to get it right.


Steve.

At some point they're witnessing the sound check, whether it's the first song or a verse/chorus of a tune after the line check unless it's the headline artist who did their sound check long enough ago to be irrelevant and still require some or a lot of "messing around".

[Debbie Dunkley]

At some point they're witnessing the sound check, whether it's the first song or a verse/chorus of a tune after the line check unless it's the headline artist who did their sound check long enough ago to be irrelevant and still require some or a lot of "messing around".

This is true especially in the bars/restaurants/ clubs - there are always going to be folks already there before the band and they are going to hear everything that goes on through FOH, backline and monitors.

I am pretty good at guessing where the faders should be visually for levels, EQ etc and of course I tend to mix the same bands and types of bands so that makes it even easier.
So I'd rather keep any form of sound check heard through FOH to a minimum as it is less intrusive to folks already there drinking, eating talking etc. In fact I have had bar owners tell me they love the way I do things and thank me for my consideration.
Literally within seconds of the first note played ( all instruments involved), I have a good basic balance and  I very much doubt that any tweaking I may have to do through that first song to get everything right would be noticed by most.
So many bands in my area run their own sound from the stage anyway so the bar scene crowd is used to having to 'read between the lines' bit anyway.... Having a sound person makes a huge difference to getting that balance right not only early on but keeping it right throughout the night as players turn up/ down, crowd numbers go up/down, energy levels go up/down.

[Miguel Dahl]

Yup, sometimes time trumps everything.
Forget whether drums go first or not.  Sometimes, I've chosen to soundcheck without drums at all, if the drummer is late.  At least everyone else is then nearly good to go.  (Why are drummers so often the last to arrive...?)

They are usually on the can backstage or forgot something.

I love the vocals first thing. Dial them in, keep the faders up. Any drum bleed, (especially cymbals) will be close to how it will sound during the show comapring if you do drums first, then vocals, and open up everything for the first song and realize you have too much cymbals and reverb on the drums due to them leaking into the vocal mics up front. Usually (if I have them time) I do whichever mics are closest to the audience and work my way backwards on the stage. Since everything behind a microphone will leak into it at some level.

If it's a shoot-and-go situation it's whoever is done first, but my monitor sends are always dialed in from my guesstimate of what I guess people needs to hear, before the soundcheck starts.

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