I've been told a lot of times that sound guys hate, hate, hate when drummers do fancy crap while they are trying to get levels and isolate things. My sound checks sound terrible to anyone listening, because I'm hitting one thing at a time, not playing a drum solo. Usually, I get a big smile and a thumbs up from the guy at the console trying to do his job, but no wild applause from the "audience".
Absolutely. In a sound check, you just keep a slow and steady quarter note pulse on whatever drum the sound guy asks you to check. When he asks you to play the whole kit, you keep it simple, throw a few fills around, and just make sure to hit all the cymbals a couple of times. I HATE it when those guys start just blasting away at their double kick pedals when you ask to check their kick drum. I didn't ask how fast you could play. I asked you to hit the drum a few times so I can dial in a good sound. I can't do that with machine gun fire in my ear.
Sure, all the time. Why wouldn't they? Half of them are drunk and start yelling "FREEBIRD!"