The Soundcheck Tapes

An interesting insider's look and listen - straight from the afternoon
ritual of Soundcheck.

Although the sound reinforcement (PA) equipment remains the same from night to night on a full production Tull tour, the acoustic peculiarities of each venue change quite dramatically.

In order to compensate for these differences, the PA is tuned before
soundcheck to get the system in to the ball park for the evenings show, using both electronic analysis and known sound sources (the sound engineer's favourite CD). There then follows the bit with the band! The instruments are checked one by one and the various sound sources blended together to form the rough mix for the night's show.

Of course, when the audience come in, the sound of most venues changes - sometimes quite significantly - and the first song or two of the concert itself can be a steep learning curve for the engineer in coping with the different ambience as the human bodies soak up certain frequencies and reverberation from the walls and ceiling.

Here you will find a typical soundcheck run-through where various instruments come and go and some music is actually played for reference. Sometimes, we use the soundcheck to rehearse a "new" song - perhaps for two or three days in a row - before adding it to the set, either as a substitute or as a relatively fixed change for the rest of the tour.

I trust that you will enjoy this visit behind the scenes to the first part of
our usual six and a half hours at the venue! Some bands don't actually go to soundcheck but have their roadies do it for them while they
sleep/eat/fornicate or do whatever rock bands do at five pm when they are indulging in the R&R lifestyle instead of turning up for their own soundcheck like real and caring men-on-a-mission.

Personally, I don't like nasty surprises and prefer to get the feel of a
venue before the show.