Soundchecks

Submarine · July 11, 2015, 09:03:57 AM

This is a fairly accurate representation of my life: https://www.facebook.com/gamperanddadoni/videos/534172180055323/

Mr. Foxen · July 11, 2015, 10:09:34 AM

As if the guitarists pedals are all matching volume ever.

giantchris · July 14, 2015, 05:44:04 AM

Sadly as a bassist I've had that soundcheck a bunch of times. My favorite is when you ask them for yourself through your own monitor and they get pissy. I'm 6'6" and standing right in front of a 4x10 or 1x15 I can't hear shit! Thing comes up to my knee WHY IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND!

The drummer part where he is playing the whole kit looks like a baby throwing a tantrum, glorious performance.

mortlock · July 16, 2015, 02:03:25 AM

sound guys that want to control you suck..

Danny G · July 16, 2015, 01:15:55 PM

Yeah. I don't like when they can't understand that yes, we are being totally conscientious on our state volume and none of the amps will be any louder than the drummer.

"Turn down anyway! I'll feed you thru the monitors"

I just have to say, DI bass thru monitors sounds absolutely asstacular and I refuse to subject myself to it.

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Submarine · July 16, 2015, 08:14:38 PM

It should be stated that putting anything in the monitors can and will affect the stage volume and not necessarily in a good way. If you are in the audience, especially the front rows you get the ass end of the monitor which is mostly lo-mid information - more in the wedge more mud in the room. One act I work with has 22 wedges onstage as well as side fills and a drum box with a sub. Stage volume alone is 105+db without even turning the mains on. I have to mix at 108db minimum - otherwise my mix is muddy and unfocused.

On small stages, the trick is to get amp volumes equal to the drums without any mics. I have done lots of club mixes with just kick and vocals in the mains and vocals and a touch of kick in the monitors.

Danny G · July 17, 2015, 03:54:13 AM

^^^ This.

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giantchris · July 17, 2015, 05:14:30 AM

Quote from: Submarine on July 16, 2015, 08:14:38 PM
It should be stated that putting anything in the monitors can and will affect the stage volume and not necessarily in a good way. If you are in the audience, especially the front rows you get the ass end of the monitor which is mostly lo-mid information - more in the wedge more mud in the room. One act I work with has 22 wedges onstage as well as side fills and a drum box with a sub. Stage volume alone is 105+db without even turning the mains on. I have to mix at 108db minimum - otherwise my mix is muddy and unfocused.

On small stages, the trick is to get amp volumes equal to the drums without any mics. I have done lots of club mixes with just kick and vocals in the mains and vocals and a touch of kick in the monitors.

I know what you're saying but we do halfstacks not full stacks and usually play around 5ish on volume to avoid too much stage volume. I'm really tall if I'm standing 2 feet in front of a 1x15 or a 4x10 (I usually bring my Epifani PS115 because it has a great quality sound) I literally can barely hear it no matter how many watts or how nice of a cab it is because I'm standing so close on a tiny stage. I don't think a bit of myself in my monitor is going to drastically affect the sound as much as if I can't hear myself playing.

I have bigger cabs I just don't want to get into volume wars and neither does my guitarist.

Submarine · July 17, 2015, 09:41:38 AM

Guitar amps are highly directional so your knees hear your amp much more than your ears. Bring full stacks and unplug the bottom cabs

?

Danny G · July 17, 2015, 12:17:30 PM

True story tho no one yet believes me:

Was setting up for an Ironclad gig and the sound guy came up to the stage as I'm about to fire up my Marshall full stack.

Sound guy: "Hey man, the PA here pretty much sucks. So just turn up as loud as loud as you want."

Me: (shocked and confused) "Did you just tell me to turn up as loud as I want?!?"

Sound guy: "Yeah man."

Me: (looking around to see if any band members or friends in ear shot, there are none) "Ok. I've never been told that before, and no one is going to believe me...!"

So I turned up from 1.2 to 1.5.

Even when given free reign to be bad/stupid fucking loud I still prefer good/smart loud.

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Submarine · July 17, 2015, 02:47:03 PM

Quote from: Danny G on July 17, 2015, 12:17:30 PM

Even when given free reign to be bad/stupid fucking loud I still prefer good/smart loud.

Precisely.

A rather famous punk bassist kept asking me to turn up his voice in the monitors. I had 6 Clair Bros 12AM wedges in a semi circle around him. I could part your hair just by talking into the mic with those wedges turned up. The problem was his 5 SVTs directly behind him which were also going into his microphone - his voice, one inch from the mic, was no match for the roar of his amps.

Danny G · July 17, 2015, 05:22:46 PM

Bad loud is pretty punk rock tho.

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RacerX · July 17, 2015, 05:41:25 PM

A few years back, I had an issue with a local sound man who kept insisting that I turn down and down and down until my guitar signal was toneless and barely audible. This was is in a venue I play regularly & where my usual stage volume had never been an issue before.

I finally got annoyed & told him, "Take your mic off my rig, NOW," took my amp off the 15 watt "Club" setting and hit the joint with roughly 100 watts of stereo power through six 12" speakers, likely instantly deafening/sterilizing any number of audience members. Even though the place was packed, there was a huge open space in front of my rig the entire set.

Clearly, that was bad/stupid loud. Placed in the same situation again, I wouldn't do the same—instead of letting the sound man be the asshole, I became the asshole.

Danny G · July 17, 2015, 08:08:15 PM

"Ghost knob turn" yo

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liquidsmoke · July 18, 2015, 04:10:42 AM

Quote from: Danny G on July 16, 2015, 01:15:55 PM
I just have to say, DI bass thru monitors sounds absolutely asstacular and I refuse to subject myself to it.

Even the cheapest Radio Shack mic sounds better.

Quote from: Danny G on July 17, 2015, 08:08:15 PM
"Ghost knob turn" yo

I hear this works even in Europe.

I'm fine with playing drummer volume.. our drummer is extremely loud

Submarine · July 18, 2015, 09:09:33 AM

Quote from: RacerX on July 17, 2015, 05:41:25 PM

I finally got annoyed & told him, "Take your mic off my rig, NOW," took my amp off the 15 watt "Club" setting and hit the joint with roughly 100 watts of stereo power through six 12" speakers, likely instantly deafening/sterilizing any number of audience members. Even though the place was packed, there was a huge open space in front of my rig the entire

Maybe you were an asshole then, but now you are legend.

justJon · July 18, 2015, 11:55:04 AM

Quote from: RacerX on July 17, 2015, 05:41:25 PM
A few years back, I had an issue with a local sound man who kept insisting that I turn down and down and down until my guitar signal was toneless and barely audible. This was is in a venue I play regularly & where my usual stage volume had never been an issue before.

I finally got annoyed & told him, "Take your mic off my rig, NOW," took my amp off the 15 watt "Club" setting and hit the joint with roughly 100 watts of stereo power through six 12" speakers, likely instantly deafening/sterilizing any number of audience members. Even though the place was packed, there was a huge open space in front of my rig the entire set.

Clearly, that was bad/stupid loud. Placed in the same situation again, I wouldn't do the same—instead of letting the sound man be the asshole, I became the asshole.

IMO, that was one of our better sounding gigs.

RacerX · July 18, 2015, 01:31:18 PM

Mr. Foxen · July 20, 2015, 08:21:06 PM

Got a guitar cab made so you can hear it stood in front of it. Guitarist turns it upside down to avoid hearing the gross treble AIDS from his million boss pedals.

chille01 · September 19, 2015, 03:06:52 AM

Once had a sound guy do the usual "turn it down turn it down" routine through most of the night, which we - as usual - half heartedly complied with. He then suggested the drummer tape wads of paper towel to his cymbals to muffle those out, and we promptly stopped listening to that asshole.

Have also had more than one sound man suggest we turn the cabs around to face the back wall of the stage.