Playing festivals - Soundcheck woes for a newbie.

slacker

My drummer did a dep for some mates at a local fete. apparently the band blamed him for being out of time even thou there wasn't a single monitor on stage and nobody sidewashed the backline.

ICBM

slacker said:

My drummer did a dep for some mates at a local fete. apparently the band blamed him for being out of time even thou there wasn't a single monitor on stage and nobody sidewashed the backline.

It wasn't the drummer who was out of time then .

slacker

ICBM said:

slacker said:

My drummer did a dep for some mates at a local fete. apparently the band blamed him for being out of time even thou there wasn't a single monitor on stage and nobody sidewashed the backline.

It wasn't the drummer who was out of time then .

I do get your point but I did a pub gig on bass a few years ago without monitors and had to count for the drummer as he couldnt hear the band. I've also played drums in one of those awful screen boxes and couldnt hear much of the band. 

IvisonGuitars

I played a 'festival' the other week - a gazebo in a beer garden - and the lovey old fella on the hired in desk hadn't worked many multi band bills before...

I asked for a touch more acoustic in the monitor.....he had to get the instruction manual out....I kid you not.

Cirrus

The worst one I ever did was a festival near Leicester about 7 years ago where the sound guy put a mic pressed hard up against the wooden baffle between the two speakers in my AC30, and took a moment out of his busy schedule to explain to us about something called "feedback", which was going to limit what he could do for us that day.

ICBM

Cirrus said:

The worst one I ever did was a festival near Leicester about 7 years ago where the sound guy put a mic pressed hard up against the wooden baffle between the two speakers in my AC30, and took a moment out of his busy schedule to explain to us about something called "feedback", which was going to limit what he could do for us that day.

I'd probably have just taken that as an opportunity to turn the amp up further . The guitarist in my band used to have one of those Marshall 2061 2x12" cabs, where the speakers are mounted diagonally and the grille cloth is thick enough not to be able to see the speakers. For some reason soundmen always seemed to mic up the wrong corner, and when it was one of those who like to have the guitar amps down to about the volume of the kick pedal creaking we wouldn't tell him…  Curiously enough it always sounded better like that!

stefjudd

I tend to try and get as much setup as possible at the side/back stage before loading on (pedal board wiring loom etc.) to give more time on stage. Whether it's just a line check or not I'll always ask the drummer to play hard just for a couple of bars quickly so I can crank my amp to a point where I can hear it well enough. Then ask for plenty of lead vocal in my monitor for cues and know that in worst case scenario I can live with that!
ive played a lot of those 'fake festivals' recently depping with a Blondie tribute and I have to say they are very well organised events and the sound guys are great.

mudslide73

We played a fete festival today. Nice EV tops and wedges and out front I Pad mixing. This thread came in very useful - a bit of toe in for the guitar amps and we got away with it. Very enjoyable but it felt weird setting up to only play 45 minutes.

maltingsaudio

Cirrus said:

The worst one I ever did was a festival near Leicester about 7 years ago where the sound guy put a mic pressed hard up against the wooden baffle between the two speakers in my AC30, and took a moment out of his busy schedule to explain to us about something called "feedback", which was going to limit what he could do for us that day.

I've had loads of riders specifying what mic to use on guitarists amps but only once have I had a guitarist position his own mic on his amp. ( he also revalved his Ac30 during sound check because it wasn't quite right)

Cirrus

I do it sometimes - particularly if there's a short changeover before our set. Usually the mic will just be on a stand on my side of the stage, haphazardly placed. Once my rig is set up I'll put the mic where I like it, on the basis that if the sound guy wants to, he can place it as he prefers, but if he doesn't have time/ forgets/ sees it's in front of a speaker and is fine with that, he doesn't need to bother.

Trude

One thing to never say:   "Can I have a bit more monitor please?"  
I cringe every time I hear a bandmate say this - more of WHAT in your monitor exactly?  Nine times out of ten they're actually referring to their own vocal but who's to know?