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Super Contributor
mstreck
Posts: 4,436
Registered: ‎07-17-2005

PA Protocol?

How do you guys do it? Does everyone have an assigned job? Here's our plan (although it isn't always executed perfectly). Maybe you guys can make suggestions for improvement?

1) Drums go in first.

2) PA equipment is brought in second - and placed where it will be used.

3) Personal equipment (amps, etc.) go in last - and placed where it will be used.

4) Cable bins go in front center stage - each bin contains a certain type of cable (XLR/speaker cables/power cables).

5 ) One person runs mics and cables, one does the speakers, one places mic stands, one hooks up snake to FOH rack (this is done while drummer is setting up his kit). I'm usually parking the trailer at this point and then I come in and help whoever needs it.

6) As each person finishes their job, they start setting up their own equipment (guitar amps, etc.)

7) At this point we're ready to set board and monitor levels.

Including load-in, it took us about 45 minutes to set everything up on Saturday - and that's with one person being late and stuff not really placed where it was going to be used so we ended up playing Tetris on stage..

The only thing I'd like to change is to have separate gig bags for stage left and stage right speakers - the cables that they use aren't ever going to change, so we can use the same ones each time.

Any other suggestions to make things go smoothly?
My cover band

HARD WORK BEATS TALENT WHEN TALENT DOESN'T WORK HARD
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Super Contributor
Posts: 3,676
Registered: ‎03-12-2006

Re: PA Protocol?

We bring our drums in and set them offstage whenever possible. I hate trying to work around a drummer dicking around setting his kit up with cases all over the stage. If we are using any backlighting this goes up first so we are not having to work around a drumkit or amplifiers. In my band everyone pretty much has an assigned task. My job is too wire up the PA. Once we are inside the building we can be up and running in 20 minutes for a small set-up. For our biggest gigs where we supply the PA this can take about 90 minutes.
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Super Contributor
Posts: 3,676
Registered: ‎03-12-2006

Re: PA Protocol?

We bring our drums in and set them offstage whenever possible. I hate trying to work around a drummer dicking around setting his kit up with cases all over the stage. If we are using any backlighting this goes up first so we are not having to work around a drumkit or amplifiers. In my band everyone pretty much has an assigned task. My job is too wire up the PA. Once we are inside the building we can be up and running in 20 minutes for a small set-up. For our biggest gigs where we supply the PA this can take about 90 minutes.
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Super Contributor
Posts: 14,219
Registered: ‎03-12-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

We load in the truss, stands and light box first. Then 2 people put the stands in place, join the truss together, load up the truss with lights abs raise it up into place.

At the same time we roll all the other gear in, speakers are placed, I stack the power amps, the wireless receivers, the light controller and computer/router boxes. Mixer beside on its stand.

Then the drummer sets up his stuff and I run wires. Someone else is behind the Tower of Power, and I tell them where to plug in each cable. Mic stands are put in place, and wired into the mixer. Then the guitar Amos and keyboard are set up while I set up the computer and fire everything up.

Then I do a quick mic check and we are ready for sound check. Probably a good 2 hours from dropping the rear trailer door to sound check. 3 hours is nicer, it's handy to have some extra time. In fact, if we have the chance, we sometimes set up the night before. Then we have lots of time and can even put in a bit of a practice/jam.




Ahhhh I love a nice clean stage. All the cables are routed around the sides or underneath when we can. There might be instrument cables back to the guitar amps but that's about it.



It's not real often that we play a new venue, so we have scenes for all the venues we do play. I set everyone's gain, then I head out front for sound check. We often use "Some kind of Wonderful" for the soundcheck song, and I'm usually on stage for the solo. Then we tweak monitors, play a song with keys and we're pretty much good to go.
We'll oil the jaws of the war machine, and feed it with our babies.

Good transactions with spindlergallery, Rezrover, and your mom.

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Super Contributor
Posts: 14,219
Registered: ‎03-12-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

We load in the truss, stands and light box first. Then 2 people put the stands in place, join the truss together, load up the truss with lights abs raise it up into place.

At the same time we roll all the other gear in, speakers are placed, I stack the power amps, the wireless receivers, the light controller and computer/router boxes. Mixer beside on its stand.

Then the drummer sets up his stuff and I run wires. Someone else is behind the Tower of Power, and I tell them where to plug in each cable. Mic stands are put in place, and wired into the mixer. Then the guitar Amos and keyboard are set up while I set up the computer and fire everything up.

Then I do a quick mic check and we are ready for sound check. Probably a good 2 hours from dropping the rear trailer door to sound check. 3 hours is nicer, it's handy to have some extra time. In fact, if we have the chance, we sometimes set up the night before. Then we have lots of time and can even put in a bit of a practice/jam.




Ahhhh I love a nice clean stage. All the cables are routed around the sides or underneath when we can. There might be instrument cables back to the guitar amps but that's about it.



It's not real often that we play a new venue, so we have scenes for all the venues we do play. I set everyone's gain, then I head out front for sound check. We often use "Some kind of Wonderful" for the soundcheck song, and I'm usually on stage for the solo. Then we tweak monitors, play a song with keys and we're pretty much good to go.
We'll oil the jaws of the war machine, and feed it with our babies.

Good transactions with spindlergallery, Rezrover, and your mom.

Please use plain text.
Super Contributor
SpaceNorman
Posts: 4,166
Registered: ‎03-04-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

Our setup works like this:
  • Everything comes in at once - and gets piled up on the dance floor (everybody is part of the schlepp "ant line")
  • PA cabinets and Racks, drum rug, and keyboard stand get set into place - placement of guitar amps, bass amps and everybody's "personal" space gets "eyeballed". (Group effort)
  • AC Power is located - and band's QUAD boxes get plugged in and placed (1 by the PA racks, 1 stage right servicing keyboards and lead guitar, 1 stage right servicing rhythm guitar and bass guitar). (Guitar player typically handles this)
  • PA speaker cables are ran, FOH rack gets opened and our two dropbox snakes get placed (1 placed to service backline, 1 placed to service front line). (Bass player and lead vocalist work on this - I open the FOH rack and (with their help) extend the dropboxes.
  • Signal patch snake (used to patch outputs from FOH rack to the AMP rack) is extended and patched to the AMP rack. Speaker connections are made at the AMP rack. (I handle all patching that needs to touch either rack)
  • The rest of backline gets placed - and everybody works on their own setup. (Note that in our world - each player is responsible for running whatever PA connections they have (typically a mic chord for their vocal mic and/or a mic chord for either a DI or an instrument mic) - and patching it into the appropriate snake dropbox (the boxes are labeled with names/instruments).
  • Monitors get placed and cabled (two "strings" of two monitors each). (Lead Vocalist handles this).
  • Once everything is in place and patched up - I power up the PA - and bring up a single mic.
  • We then confirm that every FOH and Monitor cabinet responds to the appropriate knob - and that it's putting out sound.
  • After that it's line checks for every channel, minor EQ tweeks to the system EQ ... and hopefully a tune or two as a sound check. We've got 2-3 tunes we use for soundcheck ... the 1st always gets played without keys. I usually pull out my keytar and wander the room a bit during the other 2 tunes ... tweaking as I feel appropriate.
We plan on two hours for setup. We're typically loaded in and pretty much ready to power things up at the 1 hour mark. We can run through the system tweaking and tuning inside of 15-20 minutes. Most of us spend a few minutes putzing with our own rigs after than. We're usually done completely at the 1.5 hour mark - leaving us 30 minutes for contingency in the event we run into a problem.
The SpaceNorman
www.facebook.com/SuperstarsOfRock

Gig Rig
Keyboards and Tone Generators: Yamaha CP300, Kronos 88, Roland AX Synth, Motif ES Rack,
Keyboard Rack: Samson SM10 Line Mixer, Motu MIDIExpressXT MIDI Interface, Shure PSM200 IEM system, M-Audio Wireless MIDI, Live Wires IEM ear buds, iPad w\OnSong.
Stage Amplification: Stereo via 2 Yamaha DSR112s
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Super Contributor
SpaceNorman
Posts: 4,166
Registered: ‎03-04-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

Our setup works like this:
  • Everything comes in at once - and gets piled up on the dance floor (everybody is part of the schlepp "ant line")
  • PA cabinets and Racks, drum rug, and keyboard stand get set into place - placement of guitar amps, bass amps and everybody's "personal" space gets "eyeballed". (Group effort)
  • AC Power is located - and band's QUAD boxes get plugged in and placed (1 by the PA racks, 1 stage right servicing keyboards and lead guitar, 1 stage right servicing rhythm guitar and bass guitar). (Guitar player typically handles this)
  • PA speaker cables are ran, FOH rack gets opened and our two dropbox snakes get placed (1 placed to service backline, 1 placed to service front line). (Bass player and lead vocalist work on this - I open the FOH rack and (with their help) extend the dropboxes.
  • Signal patch snake (used to patch outputs from FOH rack to the AMP rack) is extended and patched to the AMP rack. Speaker connections are made at the AMP rack. (I handle all patching that needs to touch either rack)
  • The rest of backline gets placed - and everybody works on their own setup. (Note that in our world - each player is responsible for running whatever PA connections they have (typically a mic chord for their vocal mic and/or a mic chord for either a DI or an instrument mic) - and patching it into the appropriate snake dropbox (the boxes are labeled with names/instruments).
  • Monitors get placed and cabled (two "strings" of two monitors each). (Lead Vocalist handles this).
  • Once everything is in place and patched up - I power up the PA - and bring up a single mic.
  • We then confirm that every FOH and Monitor cabinet responds to the appropriate knob - and that it's putting out sound.
  • After that it's line checks for every channel, minor EQ tweeks to the system EQ ... and hopefully a tune or two as a sound check. We've got 2-3 tunes we use for soundcheck ... the 1st always gets played without keys. I usually pull out my keytar and wander the room a bit during the other 2 tunes ... tweaking as I feel appropriate.
We plan on two hours for setup. We're typically loaded in and pretty much ready to power things up at the 1 hour mark. We can run through the system tweaking and tuning inside of 15-20 minutes. Most of us spend a few minutes putzing with our own rigs after than. We're usually done completely at the 1.5 hour mark - leaving us 30 minutes for contingency in the event we run into a problem.
The SpaceNorman
www.facebook.com/SuperstarsOfRock

Gig Rig
Keyboards and Tone Generators: Yamaha CP300, Kronos 88, Roland AX Synth, Motif ES Rack,
Keyboard Rack: Samson SM10 Line Mixer, Motu MIDIExpressXT MIDI Interface, Shure PSM200 IEM system, M-Audio Wireless MIDI, Live Wires IEM ear buds, iPad w\OnSong.
Stage Amplification: Stereo via 2 Yamaha DSR112s
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Super Contributor
Posts: 14,219
Registered: ‎03-12-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

A couple quad boxes sound like a good idea. I think I'll make some. One can reach to the far end and power:

Bass
Guitar Stage left
Keys stage left sub

The other could power
Stage right sub
Guitar efx
Bass tuner
We'll oil the jaws of the war machine, and feed it with our babies.

Good transactions with spindlergallery, Rezrover, and your mom.

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Super Contributor
Posts: 14,219
Registered: ‎03-12-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

A couple quad boxes sound like a good idea. I think I'll make some. One can reach to the far end and power:

Bass
Guitar Stage left
Keys stage left sub

The other could power
Stage right sub
Guitar efx
Bass tuner
We'll oil the jaws of the war machine, and feed it with our babies.

Good transactions with spindlergallery, Rezrover, and your mom.

Please use plain text.
Super Contributor
Posts: 1,765
Registered: ‎08-11-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

Power,drums,pa,guitars,bass,mics,monitors,sound check. Then lighting if we do any. Everybody does there part during each phase. Usually have music through front of house about 30 minutes after loading in.
The Loudest pile of Crap in the world!
Thats what I got!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pr...&id=1333417343
Our youtoob channel;
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Super Contributor
Posts: 1,765
Registered: ‎08-11-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

Power,drums,pa,guitars,bass,mics,monitors,sound check. Then lighting if we do any. Everybody does there part during each phase. Usually have music through front of house about 30 minutes after loading in.
The Loudest pile of Crap in the world!
Thats what I got!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pr...&id=1333417343
Our youtoob channel;
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...rch_type=&aq=f
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Super Contributor
Posts: 493
Registered: ‎04-27-2011

Re: PA Protocol?

Yep, Big stuff first, then take care of seperate jobs - PA, Lights, Rigs
Proud Member of the Jet Setters (Jet City Lounge)
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Super Contributor
Posts: 493
Registered: ‎04-27-2011

Re: PA Protocol?

Yep, Big stuff first, then take care of seperate jobs - PA, Lights, Rigs
Proud Member of the Jet Setters (Jet City Lounge)
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Regular Contributor
GtrGeorge!
Posts: 177
Registered: ‎07-31-2009

Re: PA Protocol?

For me, its real simple. I get in the room 90minutes before anyone else in the band. I load in all the PA, and set it up. I then hook up my guitar gear. I tape everything down. I do all of this before anyone else shows up..I hate doing my job while the drum is futzing around with his gear in the same space..its just to inconvenient. I like to have space to work. Even if there is a problem, 90 minutes is enough time to do it all and work out any bugs.
The lighting is the clubs, and its not an issue.
GtrGeorge
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Regular Contributor
GtrGeorge!
Posts: 177
Registered: ‎07-31-2009

Re: PA Protocol?

For me, its real simple. I get in the room 90minutes before anyone else in the band. I load in all the PA, and set it up. I then hook up my guitar gear. I tape everything down. I do all of this before anyone else shows up..I hate doing my job while the drum is futzing around with his gear in the same space..its just to inconvenient. I like to have space to work. Even if there is a problem, 90 minutes is enough time to do it all and work out any bugs.
The lighting is the clubs, and its not an issue.
GtrGeorge
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Super Contributor
Posts: 1,249
Registered: ‎01-23-2008

Re: PA Protocol?

We call our guy about a month in advance and make sure he's available. If not we go to the next guys on our list. Then on gig night we show up about an hour ahead of show time, set up our instrument rigs and play.

Yes, we pay for this service, but to me, you cannot put a value on the time and effort saved.
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Super Contributor
Posts: 1,249
Registered: ‎01-23-2008

Re: PA Protocol?

We call our guy about a month in advance and make sure he's available. If not we go to the next guys on our list. Then on gig night we show up about an hour ahead of show time, set up our instrument rigs and play.

Yes, we pay for this service, but to me, you cannot put a value on the time and effort saved.
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Super Contributor
Posts: 14,219
Registered: ‎03-12-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

Nice!!

I'm our "that guy"


We'll oil the jaws of the war machine, and feed it with our babies.

Good transactions with spindlergallery, Rezrover, and your mom.

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Super Contributor
Posts: 14,219
Registered: ‎03-12-2007

Re: PA Protocol?

Nice!!

I'm our "that guy"


We'll oil the jaws of the war machine, and feed it with our babies.

Good transactions with spindlergallery, Rezrover, and your mom.

Please use plain text.
Super Contributor
Posts: 2,200
Registered: ‎02-17-2002

Re: PA Protocol?

My drummer and I show up 1st and unload our gear and the PA, which we both own and carry in our vehicles. We set the PA in place. I set up my keys, he sets up his drums. Then he wires the board/rack and monitors, and I wire the speakers and set up the lights. The bass player and guitar will roll in and get their gear in place and help us finish whatever else needs to be done. It takes us less than an hour to get everything set but we usually get to the gig 2hrs ahead of time just in case there are issues and to leave a little time to decompress before downbeat. The drummer and I have the setup down pretty well so it's really not that much work for us to do it all ourselves.

Teardown, everyone has a job. I do my keys, drummer does his drums, bass and guitar dismantle the PA, singer wraps cords. Everyone humps gear out. We can do this in 30 mins from the last note to the final van door closing.
My Live Gear: Yamaha S70XS, Nord Stage Compact, Moog LP, QSC K10, rack of goodies.
My Band:
Best Kept Secret
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