Sound check etiquette for musicians.

dokkodo (42) in music • 7 years ago (edited)

On sound checks

Last night I played a show at my favourite live music venue in my hometown, Cape Town. My band mates and I ran into some traffic on the way in and as we only had 60 minutes to sound check, we were cutting into (what I believe to be) valuable time.
We arrived with 30 minutes to spare and quickly unpacked the car. I grabbed my bass guitar case, my multi-effects pedal, my double adapter and phone charger (damn this battery life), and bass amp and quickly rushed into the venue. The sound guy is somebody I've had the pleasure of working with on multiple occasions and is fast becoming a preferred engineer of mine. I greeted him and apologised for our late arrival, jumped on stage and put everything down.
I plugged in my phone, pedal, and amp then unpacked my axe and hooked up the DI and through to the amp from my pedal. Done. Simple. Easy. I tuned my guitar and put it on the stand and walked off to the bar to get a beer and wait for the rest of the band to set up. I always love sound checks because it is time where you get to feel the stage and the venue, and as the setting up can always be more efficient, I try my best to improve on my etiquette with every gig I play.

I want to make a quick post to deliver some information on how to use the allocated time effectively.

Don't be late!
But if you are, apologise and set up as quickly as you can.
Make sure you have all your gear.
Instruments, cables, plectrums, reeds, jack/RCA converters, everything!
Work on your tone to improve the quality of audio your engineer can work with.
Be professional, get professional gear. Ground those single-coil pups, tune your vellums and warm up that voice!
Don't play until the sound engineer tells you to play.
And then, play through all your tones and dynamics so that they can adjust gain, compression, and EQ appropriately.
When it's time for the next performer to play, stop.
Or you're really just being annoying.
When the sound guy wants to check the whole band, play a snippet of a song where all the instruments are playing and at their loudest, then play your softer dynamics.
Do this until the sound guy is happy with the front of house mix.
Don't wait until after the show to complain about your monitor mix!
If you aren't happy with your monitoring, you only have yourself to blame. One by one, communicate exactly what you need to hear from each monitor to your engineer and they will happily oblige.

And the most important point of all:

Thank your sound engineer, stage hands, promoters, organizers and hosts for making you sound great and having you all there, then thank your gracious audience for supporting live music!

Like, re-steem, follow :)

-- dokkodo out!

music creative musicindustry dokkodo

7 years ago by dokkodo (42)

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ronfuller (38) · 7 years ago

This is a very good, informational post for the aspiring pro and pro alike! I'm new to steemit and what attracted me to you is your comment "Thank you for breaking the monotony of low quality posts on the music sub.
I'm always looking around here for people who post informative and inspired content.
Thank you!" on aguitar instuctors post

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ronfuller (38) · 7 years ago

@pechimena is the poster/guitar instructor...the link didn't stick!

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dokkodo (42) · 7 years ago

Haha thank you. Yeah, I'm also new but I read almost every new post on the music sub and most of it is either links to other people's music or self-promotion and very low effort posting. I think as a music community we need to be active in ensuring this platform doesn't get drowned out by low effort posting.
Appreciate the kind words

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ronfuller (38) · 7 years ago (edited)

Perhaps it's due to the relatively low population so far but with the nature of the way it's set up, shouldn't the cream rise to the top?
I only post my protestee/public service announcement type songs and videos and have not released any of my commercial love song type material but I thought or think I see the beginnings of a possible new Music Business or paradigm.
The old 1920's to say 2008, get the song past the gatekeepers to the artist, get radio play etc. n have the PRO'S (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC, (sounds kinda rude) SOCAN etc.) collect the cash.
Now that no one buys music anymore and it takes 1 million Spotify plays to earn enough for a T-Shirt (a nice one not a cheapo Mexican or Malaysian thing!) the musical middle-class songwriter has been made nearly extinct! Some people that have had some success in the old system in Nashville have hung up the guitar in trade for a taxi license!
With all the devolpers and app people climbing on board maybe we can create a new music Buisness....What do you think?

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dokkodo (42) · 7 years ago

shouldn't the cream rise to the top?

I agree completely, and just to adjust my statement: It's not that I have anything against steemit as a platform for self-promotion, but you can tell that there are a lot of people coming on here with the mindset of capitalizing on the platform without actively contributing to the community. The whole circle-jerk culture of "Follow me; I follow you" is going to ruin the quality around here and I find myself having to slap my hand away from flagging posters like this. It's the same in real life, I find these mediocre "musicians" and DJ's patting each other on the back for releasing anything or playing any show. Celebrating each other's existence without criticizing the art that's created and the means by which it is distributed and appreciated.

I hope that this (and other similar platforms) takes off, but in the current state it is not possible to earn an income off of posting your own music to steemit.
As is, the platform is not suited to "new release" type posts which aim to make money. It is first and foremost a blog, so if I were looking to punt my own music on here, I'd start by writing a weekly (or even daily, provided I had the time and content) post on the production schedule, recording techniques, inspiration behind the music, interact with the audience and possibly include them in the music in some way. This approach would be the accompaniment to a crowd-funding page with donation incentives and pre-order bonuses for the final product. A lot of artists all over the world are doing this and it's helping people connect with their market in a much more personal way than before (meet-and-greets before concerts, letters/emails, etc.) but with the inclusion of the investor into the creative process there is a tacit obligation to cater to their desires and therefore the possibility for the art to be compromised by the involvement of money before the art's completion.

Some people that have had some success in the old system in Nashville have hung up the guitar in trade for a taxi license!

This is always sad to see, along with the burnouts that "retire" into music retail stores.
The industry is transforming and right now there seems to be a clash between "the old way" and the streaming industry. Both methods have taken the money away from those deserving. I have been saving up this angst for a series of posts about the history and development of the global music industry so thanks for getting the ire flowing—makes for great inspiration!

Just got home so I'm gonna check out your page now :)

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ronfuller (38) · 7 years ago

Glad I found you!!!!!!
As a disabled but competent player/creator, the "giging" option is out for me.
You are a good writer and I will follow you n add my 2 cents as you develop your "ire" and posts on both the history of the musical Industry and perhaps some speculation on the future of the Bizz as well!

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dokkodo (42) · 7 years ago

If it's some small consolation, my jazz brethren in NYC are still gigging for pennies. Live music is not getting the support it needs, might be a waste of time for most musicians anyway.

By the way, your voice is monstrous and your guitar chops are equally mean!

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ronfuller (38) · 7 years ago

Nice of you! Thanks! dokodo!
As a songwriter with an average voice, I love it when someone that sings really well, sings one of my tunes....which is what writers do right?

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steemitboard (66) · 7 years ago

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dokkodo (42) · 7 years ago

STOP

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minnowsupport (70) · 7 years ago

Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by Dokkodo from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews/crimsonclad, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.