The Ultimate Live Band Soundcheck Checklist | The 15-Minute Soundcheck

Billy, the guitarist, is noodling on his Harley Benton T-style guitar. Jason, the drummer, is playing a jazz sequence that he's been practicing at home because his girlfriend said she's tired of hearing his "screamy" music. And Ana, the singer, has been doomscrolling for 20 minutes waiting for Jerry, the bassist, to figure out where the problem in his pedalboard is.

A soundcheck that should have lasted 15 minutes at most, has now consumed one hour of the three that Billy booked the rehearsal room for. Those 45 minutes could have been used to practice new songs, polish old ones, or even to jam out and have fun during warm up. Instead, they'll have to rush through their rehearsal, make some more tweaks as the rehearsal goes on and probably get annoyed at each other because "they can't hear themselves". Sound familiar?

Nobody in this scenario is holding back the rest of the band though, it's not one specific person's fault. This not-so-fictional band just needs to establish a protocol that will not only speed up their soundcheck process, but also make them sound better overall, without the need to compete for volume or make last-minute tweaks. This will also make rehearsals more fun, which is what we're all here for anyway!

So today, I'm making a comprehensive guide to show you the order of instruments in which to sound check, and best practices, so that you can share this with your band and hopefully get to playing quicker! No more noodling, Billy!

The Set Up

Before we even pick up our instruments to soundcheck, it's worth sitting down with the band and deciding a few things first, preferably over some drinks. If you watch any professional band touring today, you'd see that soundchecks are nearly automatic, everyone knows what they should be doing and when they need to play. So, while I will go over what each member should do and when, first let's talk about what your band needs to agree on before we even enter the rehearsal room.

1. Pick the Lowest Energy Song (LES) in your setlist. This can be a cover or an original. You will use one verse and one chorus of the song in soundcheck, no more, no less
2. Pick the Highest Energy Song (HES) in your setlist. This can also be a cover or an original. You will use one verse and one chorus of the song in soundcheck, no more, no less
3. Who represents the ears of the band? We all have preferences, sure, and bands are supposed to work collaboratively, but there should always be one person who's say on sound is final. It might seem a little harsh, but bands that don't do this often end up sounding muddy and unfocused.

The two songs you pick are the back-bone of the soundcheck process, and it's crucial that everyone agrees on them, because this will streamline the process significantly.

The reason you're picking the lowest and highest is because those two songs will set the dynamics of the show. You'll know right off the bat whether the quietest song is too quiet for the room, and if the loudest is too loud, therefore being able to modulate your output, as every other song will be inside that range.

If I'm being honest, it's preferable if they are songs that aren't in your setlist, especially if you're playing bars, where there might be audience members already seated while you soundcheck, but it's okay if not.

So, assuming everyone has turned on their amps, gotten the PA to work and is ready to go, this is how we'll run a soundcheck in 15 minutes

Step 1: It All Starts With the Rhythm

In its most basic form, music is just rhythm, there is no real need for melody to exist. This dimension of music not only controls the "energy" of the performance, but also its volume. And that's why, the first person to sound check is Jason, the drummer.

Before anyone else even plays a note, Jason is going to:

• Play a verse and a chorus of the Lowest Energy Song (LES), at performance intensity. If they're playing Bill Withers' 'Ain't No Sunshine'. They need to lean back and play with the tact that it requires.
• Play a verse and chorus of the Highest Energy Song (HES) on the setlist, at performance intensity. If they're playing Metallica's 'Enter Sandman', they need to play as if they're in the O2 arena. Performance intensity is key.
• Once he's "set the volume of the room", he stops playing. Full stop

Jason has now given the rest of the band an idea of what volumes they'll need to play at and modulate into. Nobody else is playing yet, no noodling, but no idling either, everyone is paying attention.

Step 2: The Melodic Foundation

The bass guitar occupies an incredibly important, and often overlooked part of the band. It's the glue between the rhythm and the melodic parts of a song. Their volume is entirely dependent on the volume the drummer plays at, so they're going to soundcheck next.

Jerry, the bassist is going to give the go-ahead to Jason, the drummer, who will count them both in and play the same two songs' sections, as if it was a recording, same intensity.

• Jerry will play the parts of both songs.
• Adjust volumes according to Jason's playing.
• Once they've played a loop where the volumes sound good and no other tweaks are required, both stop playing. Full Stop.

Now we have the backbone of the band. If these two guys can sound good together, we're 70% of the way there.

Step 3: The Melodic Sparkle

Guitars, Keyboards, Pianos, Mandolins; anything that occupies the mid-to-high range will soundcheck at this stage of the session. You want to start with the lowest pitched instruments always, because they'll generally take up more sonic space.

At this stage is also when we'll start using EQ to put everyone in their right place on the frequency spectrum, but I'll talk about that more in detail further below. Don't worry, it's not too complicated.

Going back to our scenario. At this point, Jason, along with Jerry, are once again going to loop those same four sections of the LES and HES.

Billy, the guitarist, is going to do exactly the same as Jerry did:

• Play the parts of both songs.
• Adjust volumes according to Jason's and Jerry's playing

We now have a trio of musicians, who have played, and modulated for each other, and are ready for the final piece of the puzzle

Step 4: The Vocals

Arguably the most important part of any band, why are we doing them last? For two reasons:

1. A good band will generally let the vocals sit nicely on top of the mix, this means you need to know what the mix sounds like before you tweak it. A band where the vocals are clear and strong is generally a successful one.
2. The vocals will require the most tweaking out of all of them, so you need to be really clear in the sound you're going for, and once again, having the band foundation is non-negotiable for that.

The band will once again loop the same sequence of LES and HES, but this time, including Ana, the singer.

Ana has just heard the same songs three times, once to set the overall volume, another to set the melodic foundation, and another to add the melodic sparkle. She's the last piece of the puzzle.

Assuming she knows her gear, and has gain-staged the mixer correctly, Ana is going to:

• Sing at performance intensity
• Make adjustments so that she's slightly more audible than the whole band.
• Play the entire loop again, at performance intensity, but now having done the tweaks

Reclaim Your Rehearsal Time

Et voilà! The first few times you do it, it might take you a little longer while you develop the practice, but with time you'll start doing it more automatically as a group. The important thing is that by doing the steps in this order, you mitigate people noodling, setting volumes, and then changing the entire configuration once other members start playing.

This approach works well in both rehearsals and in shows, however, in shows there is an additional step that I'll talk about in another article. That step is EQUALIZATION. You wouldn't have to worry about doing this if there's a sound engineer around, but if you don't, learning a few basics of the craft will absolutely set you apart.

If you want to download my Ultimate Live Soundcheck Checklist in PDF format, and learn more about how to soundcheck a live band, be sure to sign up! Once you do you'll gain access in the members area.