Soundcheck is the only chance to hear the room before an audience changes it. It runs 30 to 90 minutes and finishes well before doors, not five minutes after them.
What happens
- Every input checked one at a time, drums first
- Monitor mixes built position by position
- The front of house engineer sets a rough balance
- One or two full songs, so the room is heard with everybody playing at once
Who is in the room
The artist, the monitor and front of house engineers, the house crew and the stage manager. Nobody else, because an empty room and a full one answer differently and extra bodies only muddle the reading.
When there is no time
On a festival or a four-artist bill there is no soundcheck, only a Line check during changeover. Headliners check first in the afternoon, supports check afterwards in reverse order of billing, and openers often get five minutes.