“One, two, one, two, two two”. Yep, this should definitely be the day for sound engineers… which prompts a further question. Would it work as an international celebration or do engineers who are native speakers of other languages use different stock phrases. “Ein, zwei”? “Uno, dos”?

The English version covers some distinct sounds that help practically test how a mic line is working. “One” has a soft start, closing to a hard ending, while “two” hits with a hard explosion of sound before opening and disappearing. The reason most engineers don’t stretch to three is that they don’t need to, although the word “check”, which often also features, gives another twist to explore how the system sounds.