i can call myself a vet at this soundcheck thing since i've been doing this shit on the damn near daily for over 8 years now (and still counting), always on time and very professional and efficient. i never infringe on anyone else's time because in 20 minutes i can properly run a board, check mics (pause), my turntables and i'm straight.
one thing that I CANNOT FUCKING STAND, to the point of wanting to damn near go postal, is when other artists' production entourage PURPOSELY infringe on my time to do what i have to do so i can relax and do other shit.
case in point: today at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, NY.
on paper it says that Ludacris' sound check is from 1:00pm-1:30pm and Lil' Wang's soundcheck is from 3pm-5pm.
okay cool, Lil' Wang is the headliner for tonight's show and with that i have no qualms. he has the highest selling hiphop album of the year thus far with singles in rotation everywhere you go. cool...
what i'm not cool with is when i arrive in a timely fashion (at 1pm) straight from the airport (without checking into my hotel first) for my soundcheck after getting up at the crack of ass in the morning and being on 2 planes to see that a) my equipment (1200's, Rane TTM57, etc) provided by the promoters is still packed up and not set up and b) Lil' Wang's people are doing their soundcheck during MY alloted time.
are you fucking kidding me???
are you FUCKING KIDDING ME???
so...
the promoters tell me "we're running behind schedule because Wang's set got here late, yada yada yada, etc."
is that supposed to be MY personal concern?
FUCK NO it ain't!!!
i'm clearly pissed but to appease me they then tell me that "if you're back here at 4:30, everything'll be set up for you, you can go ahead and knock everything out and have time to relax before showtime."
aight bet.
so i come back at 4:30 and Wang's people are STILL doing soundcheck!!!
4:30pm, 4:45, 5:00, 5:20, 5:37 and it's now 5:45pm...
his folks are just now finishing soundcheck...
to sorta help you understand what the fuck is going on a little clearer, Wang is performing with a full BAND tonight. drummer, acoustic and bass guitar player, violinist, keyboard guy, etc etc...
for Auto Tune heavy hits like "Lollipop" "Got Money", "I Can't Believe It", etc???
insert "crickets" sound effect here.
then again, you kinda wanna applaud the guy for wanting to incorporate a more musical side so it'll have a different type of impact.
but...
he can do all that shit during HIS alloted time, which says 3pm-5pm...
there's no better band in the world than The Roots and THEY don't do 4 hour soundchecks. even Kanye, who's a phenomenal live performer but who's also known to throw fits here and there if somethin ain't right, doesn't do 4 hour soundchecks.
fuck outta here...
the moral of the story here folks (and aspiring artists), is when sharing the same bill as Ludacris, do all your fine tuning during your own fucking soundcheck time instead of mine. cause if i have to be rushed into doing a 5 minute soundcheck because you took damn near 5 HOURS and doors are opening at 6pm, chances are i'm not gonna be a happy or respectful camper towards you.
finito.