the.com/soundcheck
The ritual where the band plays its worst thirty seconds so the show can have its best two hours.
means A pre-performance test of microphones, instruments, and speakers so levels and tone are right before the audience arrives.
from Straightforward compound of 'sound' + 'check,' born with 20th-century amplified performance — once bands plugged into PA systems, someone had to check the sound before anyone trusted it live.
- origin
- Standard by the 1960s with arena-scale touring PA systems
- classic line
- check, one two, is this thing on
- irony
- empty room acoustics differ wildly from packed one
- insider move
- bands sneak new songs in before anyone's listening