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Lee Brilleaux of Dr Feelgood once said that soundchecks were “for poofters and Mink de Ville.” They are  generally regarded as a necessary evil to try and temper the godawful row that your band makes onstage, and to turn it into something that might be termed “entertainment”.
So here are a few tips and rules to try and make that pre-dinner chore more painless and less pointless.
1. Be organised - particularly if you are a support band and only have a short time to souncheck . And with that in mind...
Someone should be in charge of running the soundcheck. This would generally be the FOH (front of house) engineer but is sometimes the tour manager or production manager. Musicians should be waiting ready to play when asked and be quiet when asked, and should resist the temptation to twiddle about. Drummers, in particular, find this impossible.
2. Check everything at the start of the soundcheck. Before the band are onstage the engineers and crew should make sure that all the channels are patched (plugged in) correctly, ie if the lead guitar is supposed to be coming down channel 14 it is, and isn’t coming down channel 10. (We’ll tell you how to set up a PA system another day).
Then check that all the channels are clean and that there are no hums , buzzes or unwanted distortion caused by eg faulty equipment, leads or bad connections, and that any inserts and effects are working correctly.
Roughly set the mixing desk(s). For instance you know that the hi-hat won’t need any low end so roll all that off, put all the input gains at about 1 o’clock etc.
3. Get the band onstage. Start with drums - kick drum first - and get them all to sound as you would like, making sure that the drummer has what he needs in the monitors. Don’t make the drums too loud - remember that you have to get all the band instruments and then vocals on top.
Next check the bass guitar then get the drummer and bass player to play together.
The other instruments are then added. I usually do keys first and then guitars and then anything else, but that’s just personal preference. I generally check everyone who is doing backing vocals at the same time as their instrument.
Last add the lead vocals, don’t take too much time over them at this stage, as it will changed when you start mixing, but try and get the sound or tone you want.
Next get the band to run through a song or part of one. One common problem in a small venue is that the sound coming off the stage is too loud and you can’t get the vocals above it. In that case get the band to stop, get the guitarists (it’s usually them!) turn down their amps and start again. If you think you’ve got the makings of a decent mix, turn the front of house down or off and get the band to do a song to set the monitors. Then go round each musician in turn asking them what they need more or less of in their monitor mix. It’s easy to get bogged down in this so you need to move everyone along quickly, trying to keep them all happy as you go. If an argument breaks out over the monitor mix (they will all want their part to be the loudest) just tell them it will sound better when the audience comes in.
4. Pace yourself! Always run the system with some headroom so that when the band play harder during the show, which they will, you still have something in reserve. Remember that a full venue will absorb quite a bit of sound and the audience will be making a noise so you will need to allow yourself some volume once the band start playing.
5. Rough mix Finally you should do a song or two to check the overall balance. Walk around the room and notice the differences in balance around the venue. There will be more bass under a balcony for instance so bear it in mind but don’t over compensate - otherwise it will sound thin in the rest of the room. Mix it to sound right from the middle of the venue, at the mix position. With regard to how the sound will change when the audience comes in, again don’t overcompensate but generally if it sounds a bit lively and toppy in an empty room then it will be just right when full.
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