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This month's blog is for those who are fairly new to gigging — and also for those of you who consistently notice that the sound person snubs you at the end of the night. Perhaps you don't know why you're getting the cold shoulder? Let me clear up some questions you might have, and tell you about some things that can really throw the show in a BAD way.
If the club booker/manager/owner gives you a time to show up for soundcheck, be there absolutely, completely on time. (This means finding parking at least five minutes beforehand.) By "on time," I mean everyone — especially your drummer, who usually tends to show up late, has the most gear, and needs the most time to set up. If one of your bandmates always runs late, tell them the soundcheck is half an hour earlier than you were told to arrive.
Practice setting up everything within a 15-minute timeframe. If it takes you half an hour to 40 minutes to set up and break down, you won't be invited back, no matter how much you rocked. Therefore, plan on arriving a little early and FOCUS when you are setting up your gear. Pretend it's your big night on Rock Star and you've got to hustle. In other words, gang, don't stand around and joke about last night's antics or the last episode of Lost as you slowly set up your cables, pedals, and drum hardware. Get it together, set it up fast, and get ready for a professional soundcheck!
Soundcheck is where the club's audio engineer sets up the sound the way you need to hear it through your monitors. This is really important — you're completely in the dark if it's not set up correctly. Every time you set up at soundcheck, think of it as the final exam for the most important class you've ever taken and need an "A" in. It may be rock, but it's a serious business. And the business of soundcheck is mostly for YOU, and how you'll hear yourself during the show.
If you play guitar and you haven't tried out your amp or pedals in a space larger than your garage or a 9' x 11' rehearsal room, this is not the moment to crank the settings and "check it out" in the big club. Because it's probably NOT a big space, and the first several rows of people in front (if you're lucky enough to have that many) will have their ear canals reshaped from the feedback you're generating because the gain setting is on 10 and your master output level is on 2. WRONG!
There's a delicate balance between your gain settings (the input on the amplifier that gets its signal from the output of your guitar pickups and stompboxes) and your master volume, the output of the amp speaker it that sends your sound out to the audience. Sometimes the sound engineer may put a microphone in front of your amp to make your guitar sound "blended" in the PA system. Don't turn up your amp after the engineer has done this, or it'll throw everything out of balance (and possibly create howling feedback).
Do not let your guitar player
determine the decibel level
of the entire PA system. |
We all know your guitar amp can kick ass above the house sound system in most small clubs. Ok, cool. Take a bow; we're all applauding your power, man. But for Pete's sake, get it out of your system in your practice space! If you do this live in a real venue, you'll drive 99% of the people out the door — and also ruin the sensitive or sexy mood your singer is trying to create. It's all about dynamic range: moving from the softest to the loudest parts of a song. These are usually the bits that grab an audience's attention. If your guitar player has just sent the crowd running for earplugs, those quiet-to-loud parts are lost on them. In other words, do not let your guitar player determine the decibel level of the entire PA system. If the guitarist doesn't understand this, replace him/her with someone who does.
Make sure you tell the sound engineer what instruments and vocals you'll be featuring during your set so they can set up all the mics you need before you start playing. Onstage in the middle of your set is not the right time to remember that the next song includes a couple of accordion lines. Tell the sound engineer during soundcheck, and ask him or her to mic the instrument. Better yet, write up a stage plot that explains what instruments each band member plays, and who sings. It can be a simple line drawing that shows where all of your people stand onstage, where the gear sits, and where you would like your stage monitors. If your keyboardist and drummer also sing, and need boom mic stands to reach over their instruments, put that on your stage plot too. Some bands these days put the drummer up front and off to the right or left. This is REALLY good for the engineer to know the minute you arrive. If you hand them a stage plot, you've made a happy camper out of her/him immediately.
YOdiddly YOdiddly Eh EE OH! Yes, that's typed yodeling. It's a shout-out to all my vocalist brethren to stand front-and-center on the microphone. Don't be afraid of it. It's not a spider! In live performance, you must put your mouth as close to the mic as possible to get a good sound out of it. It's not like the mics we use in the studio that require you to stand farther back. Definitely eat that microphone so that it picks up the most tone from your voice and the most loudness from your vocal cords, and eliminates as much feedback as possible from that monitor in front of you.
At soundcheck, sing as loud as you intend to at the show. A simple "check one, two" (yes, the mic works) is not enough. Nine times out of ten, you're going to sing way louder than your speaking voice. Give it a good shout-out and tell the engineer what you need in the monitor. We're not practiced in the art of mind reading, and we can't hear your monitors with the house speakers in our ears. So make sure you tell us what you need, preferably in advance, during soundcheck. If your guitar player is too loud and you can't hear yourself, ask them politely to turn down. Forcing the monitor to go louder and louder won't help much. Later, when you're playing arena shows, this will be possible. But in small to medium-size nightclubs, it's not.
Make sure the sound engineer has
muted your mic channel before
you plug in your microphone,
and before you unplug it. |
If you're a wee bit sickened by the idea of getting really close to a mic that's been used countless times at the club and smells like beer, cigarettes, or something worse, you're not alone! It is disgusting. Therefore, you should buy your own microphone. Always remember to bring it with you and bring it home. And here's a VERY important tip: Make sure the sound engineer has muted your mic channel before you plug in your microphone, and before you unplug it. It's not good to plug any instrument into a live channel. It makes the entire PA system go "THUNK," which is not good for the PA or your microphone. Keep your mic in a mic bag, and keep it protected. Don't throw it loose inside your gig bag where sharp or heavy items might damage it. It's your instrument! Treat it with care.
For you vocalists who really dig the sound of effects processors on your voice, make sure you buy a real vocal effects box or pedal. DO NOT attempt to sing through guitar pedals live. It's fine for low-budget recordings, if you're going for that garage sound. But live, you've got all of that voltage and system gain, and you have no idea how much of the processed signal your audience is hearing. That's why the sound engineer usually manages effects. She/he is standing out in the house listening to the main speakers, and can blend in the right amount of processing to make it sound good. If you plug your mic into that pedal and that pedal goes into the PA system, you're likely to sound like a sports announcer at the ballpark for your entire set — especially when you're talking to the crowd between songs while your guitar player tunes. Get a good vocal processor (and yes, they cost more), or leave it to the sound engineer. And remember to turn off the effects between songs to talk.
One last tip: Give props to the club before you leave the stage. Thank the booker, and remind people to tip the bartenders. It's a great way for the bar to remember to invite you back. Then get your gear offstage as quickly and efficiently as you can.
Okay, great! Setup, soundcheck, gig. See you soon!
Posted January 2007
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anonymous commented, on January 15, 2007 at 2:49 p.m.:
amen