How To Soundcheck a Band Like a Pro | Tips for Musicians, Singers & Drummers

Hello Music Lovers, We are so happy to share this information about sound checking with you. This is the final crucial step before your big show, and it can mean the difference between having a great show and a bust! Get this step right, and when you get to stage it, you can just focus on just PLAYING! 

We hope you find these tips useful! We are here to answer any questions about Live Performance 👍🏼Leave your questions in the comments and we’ll tap u back ✊This tutorial is part of our 15 episode series FUTURE LIVE MUSICIANS. Be sure to check out the rest of the videos here: @t
They are packed full of information for live musicians of all levels!
Happy Playing!
Cheers, Christina Sing & Bobby James
DESTINEAK

💕💕😍😍💗💗

Wow! Who is the absolutely gorgeous stunningly beautiful female guitar player? 😍😍😍😍

This video was fantastic! It's good to hear such insightful information, because I've recently started booking solo gigs using backing-track accompaniment, and setting out on tour soon. These tips will make me look and feel more prepared and professional. Thanks for the heads up!

Cool series! Keep it up

Thing that seems to be missing: let the people that work with on stage / backline effects like pedalboards or rackmount effects switch through their components. Dynamics may vary dramatically.

This whole production felt incredibly "plasticky". Overly earnest Americans really aren't my thing.

I wish bands gave me riders and stage plots!

My favorite is when i can just set my own mix using an app. Wish every board was set up that way

Question? Does it make me a bad guy if "load in" is at 5pm but my band's sound check ✅ is at 7pm and I come in ready right at 7pm?

I just feel like it's a waste of time for me to be waiting around for 2 hours doing nothing, while I could be doing other things, or even practicing before I get to the show.

That south park music in the background

NO SOUNDCHECK PLEASE, it kills the energy of everybody, musicians,techs,stage crews Î did so many festivals were we had around one hour. When the stage manager told us ”THE SOUNCHECK IS AT THE END! )AND WE JUST FINISHED THE SOUND OF THE BASS DRUM ! IF WE HAVE NOT ENOUGH TIME I LIKE BETTER TO ORGANISE. A GOOD CHANGE OVER ÔR TO TAKE TIME JUST TO CHECK THE LEAD VOCAL FOR FOH AND MONITORS,

This background music sound like Soda-Sopa from South Park... it's uncanny

great explanation. thanks

Anybody who starts with the drums (which I know is almost everyone) doesn't know how to utilize headroom. 9 times out of 10 the vocals will struggle to be heard when the band starts playing. Starting with the vocals and guitar at the same time and finishing with drums will get you a more balanced sound. Then if you have to turn anything up (which you will), you'll have plenty of headroom without the risk of feedback.

I was about to add this to our company page, but the ‘minimum watts’ thing tagged me out. Sound systems are measured in coverage, model and spl. Watts are not relevant.

A very good point that was brought up about advancing a "rider". It was mentioned how one seemingly innocuous change to one thing could throw a monkey wrench into the whole flow of production. Allot of the time that Booking agents send out riders, they are sending out several year old riders that reflect no longer used musicians/instruments. Or even the difference from say using a guitar cab and mic system to now using a Kemper or the like. It might not seem like much but, can really throw a kink in the overall flow of how things were planned out. ALWAYS make it a point that one of the first people that you interact with when first arriving to a gig is the A1/FOH audio engineer. NEVER just assume that because you have advanced that you have already been taken care of.
Biggest thing that I can say to young bands is, be flexible and proactive when it comes to the production of YOUR show.
As for the "asshole sound guy", that would be me, I won't hesitate for a second to walk out of a 30 minute only soundcheck if the artist/band is not fully engaged in said soundcheck. Not a time for a vocalist to mumble out the side of his/her mouth as they are watching tictok on their phone while setting levels. If you don't want to take this stuff seriously, neither will I. Like he said, there are dozens of people that have already been working on your show before you even got out of bed that morning, show them a little courtesy by not wasting their time with ass grabbing and jaw jacking, when a solid half hour of your time is all that is asked for.

Very helpful video

Be easy to work with 👍🏽

“Musicians, singers & drummers”

Drummers are musicians too!

Very nice informative video! Great work, thank you :))

i have questions..to all sounds engineering..please help my curiosity and hope can help my Church performance

Am i supposed to hear all the instruments clear and with detail when the band are played or not? because of this.. bugging me so much why? i’ve been to concerts from Jack Johnson, The Strokes, John Mayer and The Script while i was study in US. i can hear all their instruments played each one of them clearly in my ears..as though they were separated from each other but well combined. For me that’s like awesome, i believe a great quality MUSIC is when i can hear all the instruments clearly and with detail.

On the contrary… in my country..most of the bands..whether it’s regular, wedding or church band..they sound so loud in their drum and bass, and that makes me can’t hear the guitar, the acoustic guitar, the piano…even the violin, harps (if there are any). All i hear is the drum and bass and some blending other music playing on the background.

Please inform me, what is the standard of hearing good sounds live?

Thank you so so much.

Great video! Very instructive. By the way, the singer‘s voice is beautiful❤

Is there a reason that there is delay on your talkback?

...Sound checking should always be done BEFORE DOORS. No one pays their hard-earned money to hear 5 noisy sound checks for 5 different bands during the course of the show.

38 years and 5000+ shows as a sound guy- I noticed after a few years that after each show, the console and outboard gear (or digital console these days) looked very similar show to show, act to act. Going into a soundcheck, I'm always ahead of the band, providing them with what they need before they even knew they needed it. If I'm familiar with the band, and I know they're a pain in the butt, I prefer no sound check and hope they show up late. I've got my act together, as long as the band is halfway together it works out better with no soundcheck.

Great points! As I started working with more professional acts, I realized they are very used to a certain type of soundcheck. It was very cool to learn and made everyone's day easier. The key is this: as you get a level and begin to eq your channels in FOH, any player on stage that wants that particular instrument or sound in their monitor holds his hand up. They keep their hand up until you have it where they want it. So as soon as I'm done eqing and have it where I want in FOH, I just look up and start feeding monitors until all hands go down. Next instrument... If no hands up, move to next channel. Sound check is amazing with these guys. I'm talking acts like The Fab Four and Beatlemania revisited. Not famous, but professionals for sure! Most bands don't know this method but I mention it when I can and when the band is willing to play along lol. Adjustments are made during song run throughs, but it gets a huge chunk of it out of the way. If you go through each player and monitor mix one at a time, then each player has to play over and over for each mix. It's frustrating for everyone. Cheers!

Man got FX on his talkback. Real pro.

What a load of crap

👍

cheating

You will NEVER need a tech rider for a bar gig. In fact, you might piss some people off if you provide one.

I’m a street performer. How do I find a good sound person and adviser? Thank you.

I am a street performer. How do I find a good sound person and advisor?

The sound guy at the horseshoe tavern is the greatest. He says everyone shut the f up until I tell you to play. Ok see you at 11 guys.

Can I sing a song with Her😊? I like it good job 👍🏻

🎶🎶🎶🎶

This is incredibly helpful for someone live mixing a band just getting started. And the featured band sounds amazing.

There is so much useful stuff in this video. I hope all bands and techs see it. One thing that I don't need on a tech is a rider suggesting power of pa in watts.... This is typically futile as volume should be measured in dB... Firstly because of venue size and layout but other reasons too. My opinion.. please correct me... is loud bands need maybe 110 of headroom other bands can usually manage comfortably on 105 measured from in audience area and jazz or acoustic or similar 95db might cut it. Do they require extra sub head room? Watts mean very little to audience experience.

The guitar is a little out of tune

love

Great stuff,,really helpful for all Sound guys. 👍Tq guys.

Is it Jeremy of Enso in Vancouver?

Amazing information and I totally agree with all the details mentioned here. I personally have gone through this and I know that being prepared and have everything well communicated with a proper technical rider is super mega important. Love you guys. I met you guys at a Tim Horton's here in Toronto that is by Fairmount Royal York Hotel back in 2012 and took a picture with you both amazing people. It's so good to see you guys here. Much love guys.

Thank you!

Great video!
As a sound tech myself I kinda missed something though: when soundchecking your individual instrument/vocals, be prepared to perform a riff/song on your own and don't stop until the sound guy(s) tells you to. Nothing more annoying than for example singers coming up to soundcheck and giving me a nearly whispered "uhm.. check...? long pause is this on? .. ah yeah.. uuuhhhm.. one, two....? You need more?" Then I am like "yes please, just sing something like you do in the show" and they are standing there struck by lightning not knowing how to perform on their own.. and then when show time comes they nearly blow my preamps cause suddenly they sing much much louder than in their unconfident soundcheck. So please be prepared.
Also shut up when others are checking. Be on stand-by and be patient. You will get your time to shine, trust me 😅

This I say from experience with a lot of smaller local shows with young bands/artists.

Hope to see you live in Hong Kong and hear your sounds output according to your kind explanation 👍

Why is the talkback mic going through a delay?