{"id":9026,"date":"2012-10-30T12:04:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T12:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=9026"},"modified":"2022-10-26T11:52:53","modified_gmt":"2022-10-26T11:52:53","slug":"church-band-sound-check-method","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/church-band-sound-check-method\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn an innovative sound check method that makes musicians happy at 7am!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Efficient sound check method<\/h2>\n

A while ago I played at a festival where the most eventful memory of the whole day was the sound check! Not that the event wasn\u2019t good, its just the sound check was the best organised, well thought out and most efficient one I\u2019ve ever been to despite taking place at 7am! (Quite frankly for any musician there should be only one 7 o clock time per day and it shouldn\u2019t be before lunch!)<\/p>\n

Many sound checks can be time consuming, but the way this early morning check was organised meant that some of the unnecessary stages were cut out leaving much more time for rehearsing.<\/p>\n

Most sound checks have three stages. Firstly each instrument is line checked. If you\u2019re not familiar with the terminology this means that once the instrument is set up and mic\u2019d or DI\u2019d the sound engineer briefly checks that a level is coming through the PA and makes basic EQ adjustments to the amplified tone.<\/p>\n

Once everything is line checked the engineer would generally ask each band member what other instruments they would like in their monitor and crucially at what volume.\u00a0 This is normally done by getting each instrument to play individually and then every musician says how much of it they want in their mix. And here lies the problem\u2026. you have no overall volume level reference of where each instrument needs to sit in your mix until the whole band starts playing together. Once they start and you add in acoustic stage volume, everything changes. It\u2019s then very difficult to communicate back to the desk what\u2019s too loud or soft whilst you are trying to play. When you have stopped you try and remember your list of what was too loud or soft. Adjustments are made and the band plays again but because everyone else\u2019s levels have changed, the mix you hear onstage is different and you need to tweak your monitor again, but you can\u2019t because it\u2019s very difficult to attract the soundman\u2019s attention whilst playing\u2026<\/p>\n

The other outcome can be that volumes keep rising as everyone asks for a little bit more – especially when the congregation begins to sing.<\/p>\n

The 7am alternative goes like this\u00a0<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Have one person leading the sound check from the stage and liaising with the desk. This could be a second sound man or musician.<\/li>\n
  2. Line check instruments in this order: vocals, then instruments and most importantly, drums last.<\/li>\n
  3. Once the drum levels are established get the drummer to drop into a straight simple groove at the volume he is likely to play for a loud song. As he is playing get the sound check leader to stand at each instruments\u2019 wedge and relay to the desk what elements of the kit each member would like in their monitor one member at a time. Don\u2019t stop playing!<\/li>\n
  4. When each member has a drum mix, get the bass guitar to add a one note groove as a layer on top of the drums. Repeat the same monitoring procedure with each member until they have enough bass in their mix and then check all other instruments in the same way. After this the best order is probably rhythm instruments first such as acoustic guitar, then textual sounds like keyboard pads and electric guitar chords followed by single melody instruments such as flutes. Think of it as adding layers to the same one chord groove. Don\u2019t change the groove! It\u2019s probably worth leaving any instrument that doesn\u2019t have its own amplifier such as strings till this point too.<\/li>\n
  5. Lastly, bring in lead vocals and then backing vocals. Don\u2019t do the BVs first as they need the lead vocal level to know where their own volume sits in context.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When we soundchecked this way we found it not only saved time but also yielded a better and more detailed mix much sooner.<\/p>\n

    The key sound checking rules are:<\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Have a second sound person or musical director with a microphone communicating mix requests to the sound desks<\/li>\n
    2. Go straight from line check into building a layered groove.<\/li>\n
    3. Start with drums, then rhythm, textural, lead, un-amplified instruments followed by lead and backing vocals.<\/li>\n
    4. Keep playing the same simple groove at consistent volume.<\/li>\n
    5. When the band does stop playing, resist the temptation to twiddle!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Try it this way. If it takes a while first go don\u2019t worry, as you do it more you\u2019ll speed up and leave much more time for rehearsing.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      What do you think of this approach? How do you sound check? Any tips for others to learn from?<\/p>\n

      Do check out Musicademy’s\u00a0Sound Tech and PA Training for Churches DVDs.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Other posts you might like:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      50 Tips \u2013 Worship Soundchecks<\/a><\/p>\n

      Top 10 Do\u2019s and Don\u2019ts \u2013 Soundmen\/women<\/a><\/p>\n

      In-ear monitoring for churches \u2013 Yes or No?<\/a><\/p>\n

      The sound engineers role in the worship team<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 video clip<\/p>\n

      Sound man. Church hero<\/a><\/p>\n

      Worship leaders, you\u2019re killing us<\/a><\/p>\n

      What you need to run church sound<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 free survival guide handbook<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Efficient sound check method A while ago I played at a festival where the most eventful memory of the whole day was the sound check! Not that the event wasn\u2019t good, its just the sound check was the best organised, well thought out and most efficient one I\u2019ve ever been to despite taking place at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":9029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[676],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLearn an innovative sound check method that makes musicians happy at 7am!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Five steps to implementing an effective and innovative sound check method plus five rules for sound checks.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/church-band-sound-check-method\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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