Sound Check Process…

Some of you know I’ve been actively working towards learning and implementing a consistent sound check process for Kensington at the urging of our music director a few months ago. Remember that we do not have monitor engineers at KCC, so everything is done from FOH at all of our campuses. While my personal process has worked, based on my time spent as a monitor engineer on the road a few years ago, many of our campus engineers or guys who mix when I’m off weren’t having the same luck getting monitor mixes up and going fast and effectively. Sometimes it took as long as 45 minutes to get a 5 piece band checked and in our fast-paced world, this just isn’t acceptable.

I’ve been so focused on the importance of effective leadership from the engineer lately and a lot of that came out of the creation of this process. Here it is and it really is pretty simple. Are you ready?

LEAD.

Talk one on one with each band member as they arrive for rehearsal, help them setup and get comfortable, then go out to FOH and set their preliminary gain and signal integrity while they noodle by informally asking each to play a bit as they come online.

Then once you know everyone is ready to go, tell them where you’re going, then do it. My words are this:

“Ok guys, we’re going to get our check done and your mixes up quickly so you can get started rehearsing. Here’s the plan: I’m going to have each of you play for me one at a time. Once you start playing, everybody motion to me up, down, or stop with your hand when you have enough of the player in your monitor. Once we’re good with the first guy, we’ll move on until we’re through everybody. Ok? Here we go, let’s start with the…”

That’s it. Then do it. There are a couple tricks I’ve found that I think are helpful to making it work from here:

1. You have to be fast. If this takes too long to get through building the mixes, you’re no better off. So know your console, know where your mixes are located, have them labeled, and move fast.

2. Bring up the input in the house first before you put it in everybody’s monitors. Don’t worry about tone in the house, just get the level in a place where the fader is in the range you want it, tweak the gain so you’ll be comfortable creating your house mix since once you commit to channel gain and build mixes, you have to live with it. Then put it into everybody’s monitors. I missed this for a while and if you do, you end up with hotter monitor mixes than is normally needed since they don’t have the reference of what the house will add to the equation.

3. Think for your musicians so you can move fast. Assume someone is going to need a little bit of everything and let them tell you when they don’t. This is much faster in practice than asking everyone who wants each input before you actually start bringing it up in their mix. Same goes for the kit…assume everyone is going to want some kick/snare/hat and treat them as a group. You’ll waste gobs of time if you have to ask everyone who wants kick, then who wants snare, etc etc.

With some practice, you should be able to sound check a band in no more than 10 or 15 minutes. Bands you work with all the time will be even less than that. The most amazing part I’ve found is that, especially when working with new guys you’ve never been with before, at the end of the day when you’re wrapping up, you’ll be very surprised at the feedback you hear. Countless times, band members do not tell me about how great their mix was on stage (although it was) or that so and so said it sounded great in the house (although it usually does). They thank me for a smooth sound check and getting them what they need so quickly because it set the tone for the entire day, made everyone feel comfortable and set them off on the right track from the getgo.

Try it. It takes guts to be willing to take charge and lead, but I promise you it works. I’m watching some of our other engineers start implementing and it’s going to work for them too. Thanks Danny for the advice!

UPDATE: The question came up about not really dealing with rough EQ before starting monitor mixes.  First, for some channels, like kick and snare, the rough EQ is a part of my default scene on our console, so it is already roughed in when we start the day.  For guitars, acoustics, and bass, I’ve been running our monitor mixes for these channels pre-EQ as well as pre-fader.  That way, what the player hears on stage is exactly what the mic is picking up and I can do whatever I need to do for the house without effecting him.  Our guys have really liked this because it makes it easier for them to turn down their guitar amps when necessary and still trust their tone coming from the wedge.  If the tone doesn’t sound right in the wedge, we need to address mic placement, mic choice, or their settings because what they’re hearing is what I’m starting with in the house as well.