In these situations, the PA’s job is to amplify vocals, keyboards and acoustic instruments to compete with the backline. In smaller venues, the PA only accounts for a fraction of the overall sound. Whilst it’s a great tool to aid and extend the soundcheck process, it’s not a time to channel your inner Trevor Horn. It’s great to know the advantages of VSC however it’s also important to understand VSC’s limitations. You could also use VSC to make adjustments to your cues and snapshots perhaps the monitors need adjustment for a certain song in particular or you want to adjust the reverb effect for a certain song in your set, you can do that whilst standing out front and without your fellow bandmates or clients. You could even use the VSC to focus on certain band members whilst by playing back just the missing elements of the instrumentation whilst the others play along.
This is a great way of tuning the room using authentic playback as your reference rather than a commercially mixed MP3. Imagine getting to a new venue and then playing back last nights show through the system without the band being in the venue. VSC can also have advantages if you’re on a tour. For me, hearing these stems back is a really eye opening experience as it can identify a multitude of issues with the backline, such as volume, phasing issues and mic bleed. Then you can use your virtual soundcheck files to playback each instrument individually to make any required adjustments.
With VSC at your disposal, you can focus your allocated ‘live’ time slot by properly gain staging, adjusting monitor mix levels and getting a rough mix through the FOH. This allows engineers to carry on soundchecking once the band have left or gives musicians a chance to adjust the FOH sound away from their instruments and in front of the PA. Virtual soundcheck is the act of recording the live multitrack files from a band either during a performance or during soundcheck and then playing those recorded files back through the console and down their respective channels. Nowadays, there’s a handy tool at our disposal that we can use to help make the most out of what little soundcheck we have it’s called ‘Virtual Soundcheck’. In my early years I made the mistake of spending 10 minutes EQ’ing the Kick, 5 minutes notching-out the toms and then being left with 30 seconds to do the rest whilst I receive angry glares from the band and production crew… take it from me, this is not the best use of your time. Making the most out of what little time you have available in your soundcheck could make or break the show (or at least the first few numbers!). It’s also essential for musicians to make sure they can hear what they need to hear to put on a great show. Soundcheck is meant to answer important questions for both musicians and engineers How does the room sound? Can the PA compete with the backline volume? Is there enough cowbell in my monitors? It’s critical for an engineer as it’s the only real chance to hear each instrument in isolation through the system as well as the only time when you can physically walk around the space to hear exactly what you’re dealing with. The soundcheck is considered the sacrificial buffer between loading-in, and showtime. Soundcheck… the most elusive practise in live sound.
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