I’ve been playing live shows since I was 17 in 1987. Every single time this is how the soundcheck goes –
Kick drum first – boom, Boom, BOOM until it is as loud as it can be.
Snare drum next – crack, Crack, CRACK until it is ear piercing.
on and on through the drumset, bass, guitars, etc.
then… ok singer step up to the mic…
”can I get a little more monitor? (I can’t hear myself over this thunderous mix you’ve created).” Monitor feedback ensues, soundperson blames the guitar player who just turned up his amp, blah blah blah.
One time, in 2019 I was in charge of a fairly large show in Bergen, Norway. The crew were friends and there was much mutual respect. It was a risk because I had never heard it done before but I sat down with the soundguy (my good friend fortunately) and said I want soundcheck to go like this:
Get the lead vocal mic going first (a lovely female vocalist), nice and loud and clear, then have the band begin to get their stage sound going as we start playing some songs. While we are playing slowly begin to bring up whatever mics you want, making sure to never overpower the lead vocal. In short, do it backwards from how every show I’ve ever soundchecked for has done it.
It worked so beautifully we were barraged with compliments on the sound, and the sound guy has done every show since then with that same technique.
Any live sound engineers here wanna chime in on this?