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My old Texas singer/songwriter buddy Eric Taylor once told me "If an acoustic act sound checks for more than five minutes - they are just f'ing with you!"

the 20 first seconds sound like a joke but it's painfully true. People getting to the venue just ruin the perfect sound you were perfectly happy with and it's usually pretty hard to get it going again

Wow. What a great song. Wonderful lyrics and great production. 😊

Powerful and thought provoking lyrics Steve. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing and hearing you play this in Kendal. Watching this video really brings it to life. Thank you.

The lyrics are powerfully thought provoking and the melody beautifully evocative of the ofttimes dismal state of our society. The images presented beautifully reinforce the excellently engineered soundtrack. Well done to all those involved in the production of this outstanding work, so typical of Steve. You may hazard a guess that I really like this video.

Well done! However, add a few instruments and musicians to the mix and you will still need to show up and get everything working at 4pm!!

the beautiful use of tabla !

Wait... We need 3 minutes of a snare drum playing quarter notes @100bpm before this thing's over. Get back up there and finish the job please.

Cannot believe you had no comments on this and so few views. So beautiful and soulful. Thank you for this bit of beauty.

Great video for single player setup! I am grateful that our little band has a talented sound engineer to do all this for us. First thing he does is to get each person happy with their monitor situation hearing themselves and each other in the right mix. THEN and only then does he turn on the Front Of House speakers and start dialing us in for the audience and setting. We have no idea what he does there 😊but we trust him 100% to get things dialed in and from outdoor patios to indoor metal sheds he always makes us sound good. We make sure we introduce and thank him as part of our band. Without him nobody enjoys the show!

Brilliant.

Nice song, beautifully sung.

Sublime❤

I also saw the sound check video and then this popped up. Fabulous job on this Mr. Knightley, I’m certain that Mr. Knopfler approves.

Bose Tonematch...

Just beautiful and you got there perfectly! I love this journey of sharing the tech with the audience.

Steve, you started to explain the reason for counting, then aborted, so for the folks in the 140K that aren't engineers, i'll chime in quickly. As You stated, pronunciation, annunciation, articulation, and the pesky singing stuff all create different challenges for the correct changes to the sound. But the number check is a remarkable thing, as it contains syllables, and constantans, and other words that trick the sound check. Home work: everyone reading this, count upwards, but as you do, think of what is special about each number. One - a good general sound, so EQ that accordingly. Two - the dreaded Tuh a very staccato quick burst of sound and air, aimed at the mic. Three - long vowel etc etc Then say the words "Sound Check" and repeat as needed. "Sound check" has S's, another favorite of sound engineers [sarcasm] For bonus points: Comment below the one word that is typically pronounced wrong. Combine these quick number checks and add some short song lyrics, and you have supplied whomever is doing the sound check a good sampling of what you sound like. Note: until "auto-tune" mics, engineers could not compensate for out of key or loss of pitch :) P.s. I know you're struggling with this, so here's the bonus answer. The word that is often/typically pronounced wrong is "wrong" ok ok i'll let myself out . . . . :)

Extraordinary!!!! Sung with such passion. Love the melody. It's THE Sound. Well done.

This was phenomenal. Respectfully teaching the audience the odds and ends of a touring musician, addressing the fact that the audience actually makes the room sound different (which most of them had any idea) and being all around funny while doing it. Great video.

From the sound engineer community I just want to say thank you. Perfectly explained!

Lyrics : My old man called me in last night To tell me he had lost the fight And the only way to make it right Was to close our old fair down He said, “I’m really sorry, son I can pay you for the work you’ve done But I can’t keep you hanging on ’Til the summer rolls around” For a hundred years, my family’s worked these grounds The county shows, the village greens, and the market towns But now it’s over I wonder if it’s over All locked down in the winter yards The traveling life will leave the scars On the gallopers and the bumper cars Shining in the rain And as we packed the gear away I promised him I’d be back one day For one last ride I’d gladly pay To work these loads again For I don’t believe my way of life has passed With the smell of dust and diesel and the new-mown grass The tilt, the flash, the buildup, the pulling down I miss the moving days with the marking out the ground Now it’s over So I’ll head down to my brother’s farm Where the winter work will keep me warm Turn my collar to the northern storms And I’ll shelter ‘til the spring But there’s one thing every showman knows People still need a place to go For a film, a fair, a dance, a dance, a show Where they can shout and sing Then I’ll drag my weary father to his feet I’ll say, “Look, the summer’s here and there are people in the street Oh, this locked-down winter yard is no place to hide” Step right up Walk this way Everyone’s a winner On that sweet day We welcome back the ride Let’s welcome back the ride Walk this way, folks

Played on quite a few of the same festival billings as show of hands when I was in shamus oblivion. Always tried to watch their sets if I could because Steve is so talented. The usual thing to do is buy the sound man a pint of course, so there is a great financial/quenching benefit to this too. 😉

Just found you... so very happy I did! What a lovely piece of music! Cheers!

Hey man, lovely performance! What instrument is this? Irish bouzouki? Cittern? Octave mandolin?

Lol. That was great. I hope you don't mind that I'm probably going to use your video instead of trying to explain these concepts, because I'm not very good at knowing how to explain things I always thought were obvious to people who don't have a music background. Thanks man.

Lovely song Steve. Another Knightley classic.

Thanks. I have eaten my liver out.

Being a playing musician in boomy rooms and catching my vocal off a window twards the side of the stage. That one audience member thats shows up when the house becomes full and blocks my ear can really irritate you. Ive spent many a night searching corners of rooms to better hear tone. And for what its worth. It made me a better singer. A better player and a better performer. Classic nuance of things not mentioned in spinal tap. Cheers all you rags and your amazing songs that will never make top forty. Cause. Thats not why we do it. Times like THIS is why we do it. Side note : am i the only one thats still searching for the perfect contradiction in song with the first verse starting with “and” lol.

The "soundcheck video" brought me here and I don't regret it at all

So who is this guy when he's home?

The sound was already great right at the beginning and if ain't broken don't fix it, rookie! 🤣 As the musician plays the role of the sound guy who plays the role of a comedian... Amazing stage presence 👍

I’ve met Steve (& Phil) many times over the years, both of them great craic. From Steve handing me stuff to carry and telling the door staff at The Assembly Rooms in Norwich that I was his roadie, to get me in as I didn’t have a ticket and the venue was sold out. I’d just bumped into them in the bar and Steve laughed saying don’t worry about it carry this and follow me. To Phil taking my mates first self built fiddle and being kind enough to play it and offer some constructive feedback which helped him no end, he’s now a professional builder and restorer and never forgot Phil’s kindness. Since I was a little kid getting into the business of being a full time musician to these days as a now off grid dwelling woodsman & sometime songwriter, Steve remains one of my very favourite artists. Diss Rules. What are Diss Rules! 😂👌

Absolutely beautiful and brilliant.

Top drawer 👍

It's great to see a musician showing the audience how sound check is done as a sound engineer myself alot of the audience don't realise what goes on behind the scenes

Whenever we used to do a soundcheck in front of the crowd it's normally because we arrived too late :) This was very well done, fun to watch and brought back fond memories. Of course, once you add more musicians on stage, you'd need to be checking the sound within the hall so that you hear what the crowd hears...usually done by locating the mixing desk + sound man between the middle & back of hall.

Want to do when they book you for an hour but you only have 45 mins of songs haha😂

I've done this a thousand times and I still listened to the whole things and I've never heard sound check explained as entertainment lol. Next time go through all the drum mikes and backline PA. Loved it

Hi Steve, I really enjoyed that. I landed here through a link on Roger Bucknall's (Fylde Guitars) October Newsletter 2024 and am really glad I clicked on it. Although I've been using Bose gear since 2011 (T1 mixer, L1 Compact and L1 Model 2) your way of doing it live might actually cause me to adapt my way of setting up my sound live, especially when I'm doing solo work with just guitar and vocals. I have my presets and a few scenes saved, but your system seems to work very well. Take care and thanks once again for the insight (which was also extremely entertaining. Tony

Sublime

What kind of PA are you using?

Sounds great , what brand of instrument is it because that’s the same logo on my TAYLOR guitar

who is this?

Bravo maestro.

...damn... Thanks.

wonder if someone was late for 4pm call time, but used the set to soundcheck :)

Bose T1 mixer 👀

Absolutely beautiful Steve 👏❤️

Best "Liver" I've had in a long time. Thanks Mate! ✌