Members RoadRanger Posted September 25, 2013 Members Share Posted September 25, 2013 Hey, how many of yous guys have a "reverse rider" that you negotiate with whoever is hiring you before setting your price? On venues I'm unfamiliar with (especially private events) I ask stuff like: Location, size and hours. Details of loading in and out including distances, obstacles, and parking. Cases and spares storage if I can't have my vehicle easily accessible. Nearest bathroom location and logistics. One porta 300 feet away that everyone is going to line up for during the breaks just doesn't cut it . Food and drink availability. Power availability. What do all you all ask? Depending on the situation I might actually words this as "I normally need this, this, and this, whatcha got?" (AKA a reverse rider) or more "tell me about this, this and this". OTOH what I really hate is someone who contacts you and asks "what's your price?" and when I respond "it depends on this, this and this" never gets back to you, not even with an approximate location - probably no great loss . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Audiopile Posted September 25, 2013 Members Share Posted September 25, 2013 All the time. Main details are:What's the power situation?What's the load-in situation?Generally I have to front the gig to get the real answer on the power and load-in questions.What's the acts... input list, stageplot, and genras (and technical riders???) ? As well as event details: Location, size, and hours?Guaranteed to work contact information (folks who actually answer their phone or at the least return phone calls).Generally if I've gotta pull teeth to get information, it's most likely a self defining crap gig... so if I don't get the information STAT, I don't resort to pulling teeth because it virtually aways isn't worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted September 25, 2013 Author Members Share Posted September 25, 2013 Another thing that frosts my arse is when you ask multiple questions in an email and they only answer one - or none. This happens with email in general and not just in this case Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members abzurd Posted September 25, 2013 Members Share Posted September 25, 2013 They are part of my contract, and often ignored. I even follow up with the venue the week of the event, am generally told things are as I describe.....and about half the time find out it's not the case. Occassionally there's a bit of drama upon arriving to find out the requirements have been ignored. I fret about it, but at the end of the day, If the lights go out, it rains, or we go on late because nobody bothered to feed us, we keep the money.....because it's in the contract.It's a big reason we require payment in full 14 days prior to all of our "real" events (non-bar). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RoadRanger Posted September 25, 2013 Author Members Share Posted September 25, 2013 Audiopile wrote: Generally I have to front the gig to get the real answer on the power and load-in questions. Outdoor gigs I like to use Google Earth - if I had to actually do a site visit an hour or so away before quoting, it just isn't worth it at my level. There's no way I'd ever recover that 3 hours plus driving expenses. BTW I had one high $$$ wedding where we had to carry stuff 200 feet over fresh sod and then park a 5 minute walk away - and it wasn't my rig so was heavy stuff like a double width FOH rack with an SL24 and four power amps in it (all passive PA). Technically I didn't have to help hump the stuff but I really didn't want to be "that guy" . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted September 25, 2013 Members Share Posted September 25, 2013 Parking, load-in conditions and AC power were always in my contracts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted September 25, 2013 Members Share Posted September 25, 2013 I have a stock list of questions that I ask, but I don't expect truthful or accurate answers. I've found that googling the venue helps a little, and talking to the venue directly helps a little. Talking to the buyer doesn't help at all - not usually.I just went to advance a gig today. I was given the name of the room and told to look it up online. I was also told that it was a very small room with no stairs. I phone the venue and find that it seats over 200, with standing room pushing it quite a bit higher. And it was upstairs, with limited elevator access.So I show up today and find that the buyer gave me the wrong name of the restaurant,, and that it is indeed a small room downstairs that is used by the upstairs restaurant in the summer. But of course, even though I phoned ahead, no one there had any keys to actually let me into the room. I wound up just taking pictures through the plate glass windows. It's time wasted, but energy saved. Well if you don't include the gas that is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members witesol Posted September 25, 2013 Members Share Posted September 25, 2013 Ouch shaster! I had a client today who added "oh yea, and we need some speakers 300 feet down the street for the vendor area" ...for this saturday's gig. Another client said "and oh yea, we need your stage too" ...like, sure, I'll throw my 24 x 12 stage in the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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