Fix Your Soundcheck! (For Drummers)

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Do you need to fix your soundcheck?

Drummers are notorious for taking the longest to get ready on stage. If you want to throw that stereotype out the window and surprise your fellow musicians and sound engineers, here’s how to optimize your soundcheck so it’s quick, efficient, helpful, and stress-free:

Step 1: Introduce yourself to the engineer 0:11

Step 2: Check your tuning 1:00

Step 3: Check each microphone 1:49

Step 4: Listen to the engineer 3:02

Step 5: Stay focused and relaxed 13:30

Own your soundcheck
The drummer can make a big difference in how smooth soundcheck goes. Introduce yourself to the engineer, come prepared, and communicate. Listen and follow the engineer’s routine so they have time to adapt your drum sound to the PA system. You’re working together. There should be no yelling and no competition – only synergy. Do this and you’ll be fine for the rest of the day!

[kevinonthedrums]

I love the energy and really great interpersonal tips.

Some corrections from my experience:

1. 10-15 minute soundcheck? Unless you are a national act and you soundchecked before playing and you leave your drums on stage, most drummers here get a 1-2 minute soundcheck in front of the crowd that they'll be playing for. The drummers that need this video are new who will only get 1-2 minutes. By the time they have enough experience for a 10-15 minute soundcheck, they'll already know what to do.

2. As for tapping the mics, most sound guys have your monitor muted until after you have soundchecked.

3. No sound guy has ever said to play Bass/Snare/Hihats. It will always be Bass -> Snare -> 1st Tom -> 2nd Tom -> 3rd Tom -> Maybe HiHat -> Full Kit

4. You are going to get yelled at and people will think you are stupid if you play a cymbal when the sound guy asks for you to play a tom.

5. Don't change what tom you are soundchecking until they tell you. They will get annoyed. They will think they need to rush because they are taking so long.

The whole tone of the video was spot-on. I just wanted to offer the experience that most drummers watching this video would run into.

[jamodrummer]

You forgot: “Don’t hit the snare, the bass, or a crash while the sound guy has his head close while adjusting the mics.”

[tickbox_]

Ok I’m sorry but speaking as somebody who has been on both sides of this (sound engineer and regularly gigging drummer) half of what this guy is saying is wrong. Sound engineers are very busy and have to work very fast, do not start asking them questions about cymbal panning while they’re are trying to sort everything out. 9 times out of 10 they’re not going to appreciate it, they’re not going to think “whoah this guys paying attention”, they’re going to think “why is this guy interrupting me to tell me how to do my job”. If you have a question about panning or anything like that then either ask before the soundcheck or wait until they ask if you’re happy (which all good sound engineers will do). DO NOT START TAPPING YOUR SOUND ENGINEERS MICS. Can’t actually believe that has to be said. It’s going to make you look like a dick. It’s going to frustrate and stress out your sound engineer cos they’re going to think you’re trying to speed him up, and that you think you know better. Chances are they have you muted until it’s your turn to play anyway. Also definitely don’t start adding in drums on top of what they’ve asked for. If they’ve asked for the kick, they want ONLY the kick. Adding in snare is not going to impress them or be helpful to them, they’re just going to ask you to stop or put up with it but not be able to do their job as well. Sound check each element of your kick in the exact order they’re asking for, for as long as they ask for. Don’t do things like if you’re checking the rack tom “suggesting” moving on by starting to play the next drum. That’s a genuinely terrible piece of advice. The sound engineer doesn’t need your help speeding things up, they’re not stupidly (mostly), if they haven’t asked you to move onto the floor tom it’s for a reason, all you’re doing by moving on is wasting people’s time and making yourself seem arrogant. Don’t start doing cymbals before toms unless they ask for that. Good bit of advice for any drummer that I can give is to come prepared with a “soundcheck song”. He partially covers this in the video but I wanted to expand on it. This is for when they ask you to play the whole kit. A lot of drummers at that point will start just randomly soloing or playing something that doesn’t incorporate the whole kit, so come to your soundcheck with a beat prepared. Make it something fairly loud, the point of them asking you to do that is so they can balance everything and get a good overall level, if you play something super quiet it’s going to make thing difficult for them later when you break into some blast beats. And make sure it involves every element of the kit in some way. Also make sure it’s something that is similar to what you’re going to play in your set, whether that’s one of your songs or somebody else’s within a similar drumming style. My go to for this when I’m the drummer is the main verse beat from “Song For The Dead” by Queens of the Stone Age. It’s fairly loud, it’s similar to my usual playing style, and it involves every element of the kit (including the hi hat foot pedal if you’re playing it right). Plus usually half the other drummers in the room look up when they hear it because they recognise it which gives a nice conversation starter later. But yeah anyway, this is an excessively long comment. No offence at all to the guy in this video but a lot of his advice is legitimately bad.

[PainFullyUNcool]

Some good tips in here with some sketchy ones.

1. Don't feel the need to ask them what mics they're using, it can come off as interrogating
2. Don't. Tap. Microphones. They're made to withstand acoustic energy, not getting physically rattled.
If you really have to check on a mic then lightly scratch the grill.
3. Don't hit anything the engineer doesn't tell you to.
4. A lot of these "helpful suggestions" (e.g. reminding the engineer about the floor tom so they "don't forget") will actually bug them out in real life

[RoeShamBoe]

Ace a sound check:
1. Be on time.
2. Have all your gear ready and in good condition.

3. Don't noodle.
4. Give the engineer exactly what is asked for; no more, no less.
5. Continue not noodling.
6. If you don't have an aviom/personal monitoring solution, don't waste time trying to dial in a perfect monitor mix. Get the couple things you need for reference and move on.
7. Continue to discontinue noodling.
8. EDIT: forgot to say play with the same energy and volume you will during the show/recording. They are trying to set levels accurately, give them accurate information.
You're done.

[RoeShamBoe]

You guys should do a follow up video where a sound engineer reacts to this video

[takecover]

Sound engineer here.
>>>DO NOT<< touch the microphones once they're set up!
Especially in the studio environment microphone placement is a highly delicate thing and you can mess up the previously carefully dialed-in signal chain with accidentally moving a microphone few millimeters.

[StudiodotCom-Real]

As a live sound engineer, DO NOT tap my mics. First thing you do is set your stuff up when you get there. After that, my team and myself will do the basic line check so we know if things are working or not. After that, I do a quick "this, that, the other thing" around the kit as a basic re-test of the line check, then I tell the drummer to just play the kit as if playing a song but with fills every 2 bars. and then I bring up a basic mix. Then I'll go into specifics again to fine tune, re-play to re-check mix(it will need tweaking). DO NOT speed up my process, I will let you know when to move on. Typically, a drum set can end up being anywhere from 5-15 minutes. Once the basic mix is done, then it's into the drummer's specific mix for his drums only. All monitor checks will need to be adjusted once the rest of the band is done as well. As a sound engineer, I'm fine with dialing in the monitor mix as we add elements. I can typically run an entire 4-7 piece band in 30 minutes or less, and then another 5-10 minutes for the monitor adjustments.

[MrLR]

As a sound engineer myself, I really don't agree with this video. If drummers started doing what you have suggested during my sound check, I would get very annoyed, very quickly.

[schaddalton]

10-15 minutes? I've never had a drums sound check last more than 4-5.

Tech: "Ok, give me some snare."

Me: *gives some snare*

Tech: "Rack tom."

Me: *plays rack tom*

Tech: "Floor."

Me: *Floors*

Tech: "Kick"

Me: *plays kick*

Tech: "Hats*

Me: *plays for 10 seconds or so closed hats, 10 with alternating open notes, 10 with wide-open hats*

Tech: "Ok, play me something on the whole kit."

Me: *plays something involving crashes, ride, open and closed hats, and any auxiliary percussion*

Tech: "Great man, sounds good.

Me: "Cool. If you didn't hear anything that grabbed your attention, I'm happy if you are."

Tech: "Cool."

Sound check = Done.

[FeatherzMcG]

I don't know, man. At all the gigs I've been at (small ones albeit), just do what the sound guy says. In soundcheck, he's the boss.

At small and medium sized gigs, the sound guy is usually rushed/miserable/sick of dealing with dickhead musicians for the past 20 years, and just wants to get set up and then get his beer (and rightly so). He might be soundchecking five bands that night. Don't second guess him, don't try to be more helpful beyond what he asks of you. Just be on time, be efficient, be attentive, and most importantly, if you're not doing anything else, be QUIET. And DON'T touch the snare mic.

Say hello on the way in, thank him when your sound check is finished, and thank him on your way out of the venue. Maybe catch a beer with him later on in the night and make friends if you get the chance. Make yourself memorable by making his job easy and smooth, and being a cool guy afterwards.

...AND DON'T FUCKING TOUCH THE SNARE MIC.

[andoryuu]

From my experience the best way to do a soundcheck is just to do what the sound guy ask you to do, as simple as that. Every sound engineer have slightly different work flow, the best you can do is let him do his work the way he used to. Unless something is really really wrong then you can politely ask them.

[oed]

from my own experience as a live sound-engineer, I can appreciate musicians who introduce themselves and are friendly and patient. they'll wait their turn to play their instrument(s) as I am moving down the line on my mixing desk and they play only that one instrument when asked to play. musicians who listen to what you tell them to do, are awesome to work with, because as an engineer, it's all about creating a balance in the music and turning your guitar amps up to eleven isn't helping anyone, when there are vocals to be dealt with. most engineers that I've met over the years seem to work in a specific order of assigning instruments to channels and for the drums, usually it goes:

kick (in and out)
snare (top and bottom)
high-hat after checking these 3(or 5), I ALWAYS ask for a kick-snare-hh- combo, then I move on to the toms
tom 1 (rack-tom)
tom 2 (rack-tom)
floor-tom
overhead left
overhead right
personally, I don't appreciate when musicians start playing their instruments while I'm checking other instruments and I absolutely hate it when I'm on-stage checking or setting up mics and they start blasting or banging right next to my head. tune your stuff either before you go on-stage or when there are no engineers in the near proximity of your amps or drums. as for monitors, I always do those last and I maintain a system where I ask everyone who needs an instrument in their monitor to raise their hand until they're good and at the same time I ask that the musician who plays that instrument plays that instrument until everyone's good. I use the same order as I did for the soundcheck. this usually works fine for me.

tapping microphones is not a good thing to do. if you want to test them, only do so if the engineer asks you to and then scratch them with your fingernails.

[charliecontrino]

Absolutely on the money with this advice!! Years ago i remember uncasing my 82 Yamaha RC kit and the sound guy got really happy!! LOL!

[coiLzr]

Honestly a great video that sets the tone right: the sound engineer and the drummer are on the same team.
But what I know from years of experience in metal gigs: play what the sound guy tells you to play. If he wants you to play the kick for 10 mins: play that.
Also I recently learned that when they tell you to play "the full kit" they don't mean "please go absolutely bananas and butcher the intro to Painkiller horribly". It is much more helpful to play a simple rock beat with some fills few and far between. The sound guy really meant his "thank you" after those types of sound checks.

[AidanMmusic]

This should be the start of a whole video series on stage etiquette!

[JeremiahFernandez]

i thought the title was "FIX YOUR SOUNDCHECK, NOPE"

[LithEatsBacon]

"listen to the soundguy"... this is probably the most important one. we don't want to hear your amazing drumskills. we want to hear how your kit sounds. keep the solo's for during the show! :p

[LenardAdams]

The first thing you said is the KEY! Connection and synergy. RESPECT

[sherminator]

What I've learned when checking toms is; hit the tom, and let it ring out until it dies. This way, they can get the gate dialed in if they're using one. Usually "1-rest-2-rest" is enough.