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What is the going price in your neighborhood to provide and operate a rig capable of 16 inputs with 6 monitor mixes.?

Not a lot of coverage, a pair PRX 612's over 718's is more than enough.

Also have to provide 15 mics , all cables and stands, as well as 6 wedges. Show is one night, 6-10 on a weekday with easy access for load in. .

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I've stated in the past that I live in a market where a system similar to the OP's can be rented for "cheap". I don't bother much with gigs where I'm not also a musician on the gig - it's hardly worth it.

 

As an ankle biter myself, I am not offered more than $200.00 for a four mix system. If it was a big corporate gig, the job would go to a real PA company. The gear would be the same, but the price would be much, much more. But the crew might have T-shirts with logos.

 

I think what I'm trying to say is, the price is whatever the market will bear, and how far along your market is, in the race to the bottom.

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$200 for a system like that? With mics and stands? Minimum 8 hour day (4 hours show call) is $25/hour including transportation time and gear? Say the transportation & time plus gear depreciation is $100, that leaves you with a whopping $12/hr. Certainly there's no allowance for things like insurance, clean underwear and such? Yikes

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Yikes is what I thought when $200 is what they said their budget was, which why I asked here for a reality check.

I told them that wouldn't rent them the equipment for $200 if they picked it up at my shop. 15 mics, a mix of Beta 58's and 57's plus condensers and kick mic for the drums plus real stands and hardware would (or should) be more than that. ( and that's without cables) It's just astounding to me that the race to the bottom is that advanced. The disparity in pricing between "real" and "hobby" events is pretty amazing.

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In my area $400 to $500 is what people used to get before the MI rental gear become good enough and idiot proof enough for a musician to operate. Now you can rent two PS12P's,at $14 each a day, four NX55p's at $12 each a day, and a sixteen channel Soundcraft FX16ii at $18 a day (a new gen MixWiz is $25), and bludgeon your way through a gig. Most musicians have a mic stand and a Shure 58, but even mics are cheap.

 

People don't figure in expertise, delivery and peace of mind, which is why I find it doesn't pay to do many stand alone gigs. The problem is, even the big boys must be having a hard time. If folks only want to pay, $200 for a $20k system, imagine what they want for $1500? Again, it's a slippery slope, and I've pretty much slid off :)

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What is the going price in your neighborhood to provide and operate a rig capable of 16 inputs with 6 monitor mixes.?

Not a lot of coverage, a pair PRX 612's over 718's is more than enough.

Also have to provide 15 mics , all cables and stands, as well as 6 wedges. Show is one night, 6-10 on a weekday with easy access for load in. .

For me: a three-way (one 15/2 over single 18" sub per side) FOH club rig with four monitors (2 mixes), vocal mics, kit mics, DI's, etc. up to 12 mics: $350.00 CASH "if" there is help at load in/out.

If no help, an extra $100.00 for me to bring "beef" for load in/out.

Most clients will provide "hands" to save the beef $.

 

6 monitor mixes would up the price.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Yikes is what I thought when $200 is what they said their budget was, which why I asked here for a reality check.

 

It is real common for someone to throw out a lowball figure. Set your price and be able to walk away if you don't get it, otherwise it's the tail waggin' the dog.

 

 

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Sound for the band market is hardly worth the time and effort. I have a corporate client that rents gear from me for conferences, meetings and events.

 

Established rates are:

 

12" 2 way speaker with stand and 50' of cable - $ 65 a day

 

12 channel mixer - $ 35 a day

 

Mic with stand and cable - $ 25 a day

 

Wireless mic with stand - $ 75 a day

 

Video projector with screen - $ 350 a day

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True that. For $350 and 2 meals I consider it "giving back to the scene" I remember when I was a young lad, there was always the Old Guard around, ready to lend out a set of monitors or extra mics etc if we needed them for a gig. Somewhere along the line I took my rightful place among The Old Guard and I'm just in the position to give back to the scene.

 

 

Make some money, see some good bands, it works out. Claim the money, deduct expenses, depreciate new gear, the gov't gets their share, I get a trailer full of new gear and everyone's happy.

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The thing I find strange is how folks who are only able to cough up $200 for production on a show think that they _want_ 16 channels and 6 mixes.

 

Playing for very little money is something I can understand. I split a little less than $400 four ways on Friday for an evening gig. The only reason we did that was because we wanted to audition a new bass player, and I hate to ask folks to come out for no money... so we take a cheap gig and audition the guy on the spot.

 

On that kind of deal, we just put up a couple of speakers on sticks and call it good. We don't need a mix for each person... heck, I mostly just listen to the speaker on a stick and tell the drummer to play quieter if I can't hear it.

 

I sure didn't need to mike the drums, etc. I wouldn't want to mic the drums. I thought about it-- we were being broadcast on local radio, and i thought about micing the drums to give the radio dude a feed. And we had the spare aux and mics and stands. But why? He just puts a mic up in front of us and out it goes.

 

Bar is happy (cheap band), band is happy (paid rehearsal/ audition), radio guy is happy (he's easy to please), crowd is happy (they can hear the music _and_ talk). Everyone is happy and it's easy to do.

 

I 'get' the stupefaction about the what folks are paying or think they should pay, because in no world does it make sense to provide a PA for a band and get paid less than it costs you to do that work (assuming you're working for money and cause you like doing it).

 

But the thing that I find strange from my perspective as a low-balling punter who plays cheap gigs is this: why would you even want that much 'production' to begin with?

 

If there were more folks out in front, then it might be worthwhile to bring (and pay for) all that production. If the talent buyers cared more about the quality and wanted to pay more, it might be worth it.

 

Out of hand, if there is no money, that means that you shouldn't want to bring all that stuff, not that you just can't afford to pay or get paid to do that.

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I see lots of bands out there with two speakers a mixer and sound good. Just did a show at a local venue that holds maybe a hundred plus and the manager told me the band I work with sounds great! Most of the groups come in here and are just crazy loud. I did that show with two 10 inch monitors, two DXR 8s and 1 ZXA1 Sub that is very compact. Still had a ton of headroom. Load in maybe 45 minutes load out maybe 30 minutes cause the band helps. That includes a few lights too.

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