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Setup Time?


Potts

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If I'm in a huge hurry ,I can go from car to playing in 25 minutes but it's going to be sloppy and I'll be out of breath. Normal speed is 45. Tear down is less than 30  minutes from stage to car. The biggest assist was purchasing one of those $50 fold down carts. 

Bose with 2 subs

1 Guitar

Floor board pre- wired

External Mixer

Ipad with Holder

2 light stands

Tuning

 

 

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We carry a lot of gear. I play saxophone, guitar, wind synth, flute, and percussion controller on stage, my partner plays guitar and synth, and we both sing. Plus we bring 3 laptops to each gig. That means a 12 channel mixer and lots of cables.

Setup time is an hour, but we allow an hour and a half, just in case something goes wrong (like a cable failure) so that we can have time to troubleshoot and repair.

Teardown can be done in about 45 if we don't stop to talk to people (that's rare).

Notes

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tlbonehead wrote:

 

 

Solo gigs I allow a little over 2 hours but can do it in about 1 1/2 hours, plus 15 minutes or so for sound check.

 

I have to ask...what kind of solo gigs are you doing that require  90 minutes of setup? What are you bringing with you?

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One trip in with all equipment on a rack n roller cart. Setup takes roughly 30 minutes, but I allow an hour just in case. I've setup in 15 minutes before when running late. Having cables properly wound helps, along with not getting stuck talking to someone while setting up. And we all love it when the stage is right next to the door where the vehicle is!

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If I'm starting at 9, I'll get there at 8.  An hour is more than enough time for me to get my stuff up and running.  Generally it takes me about 30min to get it setup and tweaked, including load-in.

Typically, I'll bring:

  1. Yorkville NX750P    (powered main with 7 inputs, no board needed)
  2. Pedalboard    (prewired, only have to plug in the power and an input/output)
  3. Mic stand / Speaker stand
  4. My equipment bag    (cables, mics, etc...)
  5. 2 guitars    (Ovation / Martin)

I've played bringing more gear (laptop, lights, subs, soundboard, etc.) but have come to the conclusion that it does not add enough of a benefit to what I do.  I'm adding a tablet very soon, but only for lyrics.  If I know I'm gonna be in the dark I'll bring lights, but that is rarely the case these days.

 

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In my regular haunts, I've had to set up in 10 minutes more than a few times (that's not including the trip from the car). However I prefer to have 30 minutes - 45 at the max.  That's for one or two speakers, a powered head, my laptop, mic and stand, guitar and multi fx pedal.

I play a spot with a duo where we usually just have 20 minutes to get set.  And the keyboard player (who brings most of the gear on that gig) was famous for walking in 5 minutes before the gig. Powered mixer, speaker, mic and stand, drum machine - AC piano already up.... in five minutes.  Now he's added an electric Hammond, portable seat, and sub so he's there 10 to 15 minutes before! Talk about pushing it.

 

If I'm doing a band I like an hour, and if it's a full horn band with three or four monitor sends, then I like two hours.

I also like to be really early if it's a new place because you never know what you're walking into.

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I like twenty minuets to half and hour including two trips from the car. My set up is guitar, iPad and mike into Voiclive Play GTX into Rowland AC60 and for a small gig that's it or for larger from the AC60 out to the venues board and the AC60 used as a monitor. I usually take over the "background" music as soon as I am set and sound-check along with a tune that is playing if the venue already has people there. I have a lead in MP3 which is a jokey 4 minutes of theme tunes from the sixties and seventies which culminates in the countdown from Thunderbirds and whilst this is playing I get changed into whatever I am going to wear and then get myself onto the stage.

Cheers Steve

 

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One problem with setting up early: Someone may try to coerce you into starting early. Well, that's my experience anyway. "When do you start?", "C'mon, we wanna hear some music" -

 

I set up in 15 minutes once my equipment was in the door at the nursing home yesterday. One speaker is all that's needed.

 

 

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