Setup time for one man "crew"?

[Tomm Williams]

I guess I'm in the slow group. I always allow 4 hours for set-up and sound check. If I have one helper it cuts down considerably. But me alone is a slow process. Never felt that there was anything slowing me down other than just a lot of work to be done. I cannot imagine doing it in two hours.

 

TW

[agedhorse]

 

I guess I'm in the slow group. I always allow 4 hours for set-up and sound check. If I have one helper it cuts down considerably. But me alone is a slow process. Never felt that there was anything slowing me down other than just a lot of work to be done. I cannot imagine doing it in two hours. TW

 

 

This is where looking at your system as a SYSTEM is important.

[Tomm Williams]

 

This is where looking at your system as a SYSTEM is important.

 

 

Andy could you elaborate

[agedhorse]

Simplify interconnects, simplify the packaging, simplify the handling and storage, simplify the moving.

 

Package gear so that most remains interconnected within the rack, use mulitpin or at least subsnake connections between racks, racks have wheels, cable storage has wheels and cabinets have wheels or are easy to hand truck. Choose a transportation vehicle that is easy to load and unload, not a lot of unassociated little boxes that have to be looked after.

 

With 2 people, we set up a 3 way triamped system good for 2500 audience, with 32 x 10 monitor console, snakes a dozen biamped wedges, power distro, etc in 1 hour flat every time. That's a lot of hardware, but it all went together easily and efficiently every time with no fuss, muss or hassle.

[MarkGifford-1]

 

Simplify interconnects, simplify the packaging, simplify the handling and storage, simplify the moving.

 

 

This.

 

I usually arrive 1.5 hrs. before downbeat. System (5-piece band, small club, no lights) and my guitar rig goes up in about an hour. I build in time to relax for a half hour, which sometimes gets used up if there's any weirdness, but that's very rare.

 

Takes me about 30 minutes to strike, from beginning to pulling out of the parking lot.

 

I've got shelves in the garage, so I can lift from the trunk/backseat, right onto the shelves. I'm unloaded before the auto light on the opener times out.

 

MG

[6Imzadi]

If I have one helper it cuts down considerably. TW

 

Funny you should mention that.

 

When I have my entire crew, (myself, stage manager, and roadie) we are setup and line checked in 1.5 to 2 hours. There have been a few occasions where our roadie cannot be there and the same setup is accomplished in 1 to 1.25 hours. hmmmmmmmmm

 

He is a probie, after all.

[Tomm Williams]

I'm lucky, I guess. My regular help is pretty good about knowing what needs to be done. I usually take care of FOH while he attends to the stage. After reading Andy's post I KNOW I'm one of the slow guys!!!!!! All of my big carts are on wheels, every cart/box is labeled for contents and my trailer is loaded with everything in the exact same place every time. I don't think I've done a 2 hour set-up even with my help-----unless it was something really simple.

I guess it's good that I'm not charging by the hour

 

TW

[agedhorse]

When you work in buildings where the costs are high (union labor, high rent, etc), saving a couple of hours in the building translates to some real money. Often as much as sound might cost the promoter.

[IsildursBane]

I'll add that the venue itself can actually play a role in setup times. I always liked doing theater shows, because there was typically plenty of room on stage to work, monitor land & case storage were typically on the same level as the stage (i.e. no stairs/ramps), power was easy to get to, and there were no obstacles.

 

Working in a bar, OTOH, one has to deal with tables & chairs, various walls, hunting for outlets (or tie-in-panel), and a variety of little things that make each task just a bit more cumbersome.

 

-Dan.

[agedhorse]

Good point Dan.

 

I typically only worked theatres and larger venues with good access, good power, plenty of room. One stage I worked regularly on has a stage that's almost 65 feet wide and 50 feet deep. That's bigger than many entire bar type venues.

[SpaceNorman]

I typically plan on two hours (including a "simple" load in - i.e., not a long schlepp, no stairs) .... but am usually done in an hour and a half.

 

Mine is a relatively simple "mix from strage" club PA setup - FOH rack with Mixwiz, a pair of DriveRack PA's, pair of graphic EQs and Lexicon MX400. Amp rack with 3 QSC RMX2450s. Speakers are Yamaha Club V tops and subs (1 top/1 sub per side). Monitors are Yamaha Club V wedges - two mixes with two daisy chained wedges per mix. FOH rack is 100% prewired - and includes two small 6 channel drop boxes that "live" in the bottom of the FOH rack. Setup means extend drop boxes, run "signal snake" to amp rack, run speaker cables - patch mics and instruments to drop boxes - and power it all up. All connections are color coded and all drop box inputs clearly labeled.

 

I handle any/all connections at the rack. Bandmates run all speaker cables. Each musician is responsible for patching their vocal mics and instrument connections into the label connection on the appropriate drop box (front line and/or backline). Our 2 hours includes setup of band gear as well - which (depending on the band includes -bass, drums, 2 guitars, keys, congas and 5 vocals for one group -or- bass, drums, guitar, keys, sax and 6 vocals for the other group).

 

We toss up simple lights (2 "4 bars" worth of LED pars) as well.

[StratGuy22]

2 hours is enough time for me. I got a call at 5pm, at work about a gig that night. I get off work at 5:30, was loaded up and hit the venue by 6:15 and was ready for the band to load in at 7:30ish

 

yln5MUeJhaY

 

My racks have the snakes attached inside (Ditched the patchbay) so I pull them out and attach them to the board. Then hook up everything in the same order:

 

FOH

Monitors

front mics

30' 8ch dropsnake for

Drums

bass/guitars

 

That way, tear down goes quickly as well, as I just do everything in reverse order, and nothing gets tangled. This place and the other venue don't pay enough for me to bring my light setup... I like a nice clean setup, without a bunch of cords running across the stage floor.