NOOL EVENT - Tech issues

Only for Flight, Re: Order, Digital, Jack and the Bates Masters (come up with a name soon eh Jack!) and Pottsy, and our tech wizard Cambo.

Please put all tech specs required and used by your band here, so we can source the appropriate PA setup etc.

Testing 1 - 2.

Right, tech set up is quite easy for us.

We need a guitar amp and a bass amp. The kesy / sequences will go direct to the main PA rig.

I will bring 2 guitars with a Boss GT6 and GT3 in series.

Bill will bring 2 basses, with a chourus pedal.

I assume microphones will be already there or do we bring our own?

We will not bother with lights or a video display.

How long do you wanta set to last?

usually in these multi band events its a 45 - 60 min slot and 15 min setup / sound check.

Is there anything anyone wants us to bring?

Anything anyone wants us to play / not to play?

Cheers

Dave

Would be good if we could use someone elses drums.

I (Bass) will be bringing 2 basses and my own amp.

Dylan (Guitar) will bring one amp and one guitar.

Alex (guitar) will bring one amp and one guitar.

We don't have any mics. I use a bass pod.

That's it really. It's gonna be our first time live so bear with us dudes.

I have a few days off, I will come up with a basic kit list for you all to pick over and argue with, will prolly be up by tomorrow night I should think.

I want warning if anyone is bringing a Vox AC30 :D (30W my arse, it can cut a 10k PA to shreds)

Dave, how many Keyboards, and if loads, are you submixing them on stage? Mics will be provided, is everyone OK with SM58's or are we gonna ger all Barney accurate and use a 451 (or is it 414, I always get em mixed up, much to the amusement of every opther sound geek I know).

If you HAVE lights, it may not be a bad thing to bring em if the in-house aint up to it. I don't like having owt to do with lights, dangerous things that I'm not sensible enough to be let loose on. Actually, that's a point, is there a fully time-served spark among our number, I can solder a jack cable, but working out 3 phase nightmares and the like are beyond me.

All the bands should bring as much mains distribution gear as they can, running out of sockets sucks ass and hring 4-ways is silly. FFS label yer bits but to avoid the drunken free for all at 2am.

I'm going up to the venue on Saturday morning to do a full tech spec of what they have, what space is available etc etc. I'll get a load of photos as well and will stick them up here.

From a Digital perspective, we'll have:

Phil - two keyboards for DI to mixer, one SG guitar with multieffect pedal to his Roland Cube amp (unless we all go down the shared amps route, which makes most sense, and in which case it'd be a Re: Order amp as the last band on).

Me - as we're doing an all-JD set, it'll be a simple vox phantom copy to Marshall amp, with chorus pedal in a loop. Shan't bring the heavy gear as it ain't gonna get used.

Jim - dead straightforward basses (5 and 6 string) into whatever amp he's bought by then, with chorus and digital delay pedals in a loop.

Jon - will use Warren's kit, but will also have two Roland SPD6 pads that are DI to mixer, so you can all have bleeping sounds in Insight and She's Lost Control.

That'll be all we need, plus two vocal mics on stage so Jimbo can do his backing vocals for Transmission and sing Interzone if that one makes the cut.

[orange]Ultramega[/orange] OK wrote: Would be good if we could use someone elses drums.

I (Bass) will be bringing 2 basses and my own amp.

Dylan (Guitar) will bring one amp and one guitar.

Alex (guitar) will bring one amp and one guitar.

We don't have any mics. I use a bass pod.

That's it really. It's gonna be our first time live so bear with us dudes.

Jack - you won't need to bring any amps at all - we'll have plenty of top quality backline on stage.

fair do's then! we will just bring guitars and maybe some pedals

Doctor? wrote:

Dave, how many Keyboards, and if loads, are you submixing them on stage? Mics will be provided, is everyone OK with SM58's or are we gonna ger all Barney accurate and use a 451 (or is it 414, I always get em mixed up, much to the amusement of every opther sound geek I know).

1 keyboard feed. The sequences (drums and keys)plus live keys are mixed via the laptop so it's an easy plug in for ya.

If you HAVE lights, it may not be a bad thing to bring em if the in-house aint up to it. I don't like having owt to do with lights, dangerous things that I'm not sensible enough to be let loose on. Actually, that's a point, is there a fully time-served spark among our number, I can solder a jack cable, but working out 3 phase nightmares and the like are beyond me.

Would rather not bring any lights / foggers etc cos I don't want to start hiring vans etc so I can keep costs down but if Tim looks at the place and thinks that they are needed I will.

FFS label yer bits but to avoid the drunken free for all at 2am.

For these events you usually provide your own cables up to backline / DI and take them off stage with you when you finish your set. Prevents the who's lead is this exchange. I assume that Jack's band will sound check last cos they are on first etc (Jack the gig will go fine and remember this is your history that you are writing so relax and enjoy it). Then who ever is on next (us?) has their gear ready to go at stage right. Then when Jacks band finished they unload top stage left. Doing this really minimises turn around time.

As for sound check. We will plug in and once Cambo is happy with keys / drums sound we shall play 1 min of a song and we are ready to go.

Jim - dead straightforward basses (5 and 6 string) into whatever amp he's bought by then, with chorus and digital delay pedals in a loop.

It's a bassplayer disease, not having an amp. The best session player I know, has only ever actually owned one amp, which he sold after 6 weeks to by dope

All looks straightforward enough so far.

2 vocal mics (if you don't like 58's speak now or forever STFU, they're cheapm sound fine and you can drive a fuckin hummer over 'em with no noticable ill effect, so I doubt even Col, BA and Liam's stage raiding will harm em) 2 vocal monitors, if the drummer needs a monitor too, we'll actually have a spare side on that amp for one for the key player too.

Big pile of DI's....2 for keys (so far no one seems to have more than 2 boards, except ReOrder who it seems can submix anyway) 2 for the PAD8's or SPD's or whatever the white bashing targets are, one for the bass, that's 5. Now if we want those machines in stereo obviously that becomes 9. Could be pricey, and I know some folks have strong anti-stereo feelings with live sound, but I'm easy.

nothig too scary so far anyway :D

For these events you usually provide your own cables up to backline / DI and take them off stage with you when you finish your set. Prevents the who's lead is this exchange. I assume that Jack's band will sound check last cos they are on first etc (Jack the gig will go fine and remember this is your history that you are writing so relax and enjoy it). Then who ever is on next (us?) has their gear ready to go at stage right. Then when Jacks band finished they unload top stage left. Doing this really minimises turn around time.

As for sound check. We will plug in and once Cambo is happy with keys / drums sound we shall play 1 min of a song and we are ready to go.

Yup I'll check Jacko's lot last, makes their life easier and mine. As for leads, I know the drill, but I was thinking in terms of contingency leads, there's always SOMETHING amiss at a big gig.

Doctor? wrote:

there's always SOMETHING amiss at a big gig.

Tell me about it!

It's me I'm here

writing this for the second time

the re: order set up is thus: an XLR pair from the submixer (sequences, drum machines, modules, gated synth) - it's imperfectly mixed but will do DIs for: live keyboard (mono will suffice) drum/FX samples triggered by drum pads (as above) the bass - tho the amp may have an XLR out

our backline is: my Roland 60v paul's Vox guitar amp (probably swappable) ian's hugef---ing bass rig warren's 5-piece acoustic kit with electronic pads

warren's already stated his preparedness to share his kit with the caveat that people bring their own cymbals and snare. but also, we'd like to keep the movement of electronic kit to a minimum so we'd hope that this can be kept in place and we also hope there's no left handed drummers out there - for turnaround sake. paul will probably be alright sharing his guitar amp. it's decent but quite basic so if anybody has a strong attachment to their guitar kit it might be an idea if they let paul use theirs. I'm happy for any considerate musician to share my amp but I'd request that nobody tinkers with the settings. I don't have any effects boxes as they're all built into the amp so I'll definitely be using that. the generic settings will be suitable for other guitarists - as you'd expect considering the nature of the evening. ian will no doubt contribute to this space his kit requirements/sharing thoughts

unsurprisingly, our physical stage set up is almost exactly the same as digital's. so main vocal / backing vocal mics will be in place, keyboard DIs in place - there's even the option of digital using our XP80 in place of their XP10 - having the same onboard sounds 'n' all. warren takes a radio headset feed (linked onstage) through a separate submix from the sequencers but would no doubt appreciate the traditional drummer's foldback setup for vocals as well. paul can work off this too, so with the two vocal monitors that would be 3 in all. I can't speak for the other bands but I think it safe to assume that digital will be working from the same template but with different emphasis on what they get through that foldback – my point being, an even further reduction on turnaround time. I think with this in mind, it would be great if the other artists (flight & jack) were able to adapt their physical set-up to this shape … stage left etc. and if they were able to function with our (heavy, hard-to-move, cabled up) sequence rig on stage during soundcheck and performance that too would be very useful to us.

However, we won’t be letting digital use our melodica, in an attempt to keep interband saliva sharing down to a minimum. it all get a bit messy that time down at turnmill’s : I was pissed, jim was pissed, we both felt a bit lonely….

…so we played ‘in a lonely place’ on the melodica!

Facsimile wrote: unsurprisingly, our physical stage set up is almost exactly the same as digital's. so main vocal / backing vocal mics will be in place, keyboard DIs in place - there's even the option of digital using our XP80 in place of their XP10 - having the same onboard sounds 'n' all. warren takes a radio headset feed (linked onstage) through a separate submix from the sequencers but would no doubt appreciate the traditional drummer's foldback setup for vocals as well. paul can work off this too, so with the two vocal monitors that would be 3 in all. I can't speak for the other bands but I think it safe to assume that digital will be working from the same template but with different emphasis on what they get through that foldback – my point being, an even further reduction on turnaround time. I think with this in mind, it would be great if the other artists (flight & jack) were able to adapt their physical set-up to this shape … stage left etc. and if they were able to function with our (heavy, hard-to-move, cabled up) sequence rig on stage during soundcheck and performance that too would be very useful to us.

Yup. that's cool with us. There will be three of us on stage and no drummer so we can work around almost anything.

Yep you can XLR out of my amp no probs...

You lot are gonna hate me but here goes... I don't usually lend my amp to anyone. I've only ever lent my amp twice once to Jim Reilly Jim Reilly (who managed to get a load of sticky stuff all over it.. dirty bugger!!) and once to Simon from the Smythes. I'm very very precious about my gear... sorry, but i'll see if i can get my head round it.

However i do have a spare Tanglewood 60 watt combo bass amp. or if someones got a spare head i have a 1x15 Trace Elliot bass cab....

To be honest I'd prefer to be able to lift my amp on and off as well, I know all the settings on there well enough, but they aren't to everyone's liking.

We won't be using anyone's melodica for this one, none of our songs that we'll be playing on the night contain any melodica now that I do guitar instead of melodica on Decades, and that may not make the cut yet!

Will - what are you doing Saturday lunchtime? Fancy meeting up to suss the tech spec at GJs? I'm gonna be in London from about 10.30 or thereabouts, want to get some Tin Pan Alley shopping in while Karen's with the family!

Well like I say, swapping amps over from my point of view is a no brainer, (as long as there are designated thinkers), it's moving kits I fear most, it just takes so long to get the buggers sounding right, then you wreck it all again LOL. Mind you it's not like we're doing 8 close mics through individual gates....so if we need to swap, it's not impossible.

oldmonkey wrote: I'm going up to the venue on Saturday morning to do a full tech spec of what they have, what space is available etc etc. I'll get a load of photos as well and will stick them up here.

From a Digital perspective, we'll have:

Phil - two keyboards for DI to mixer, one SG guitar with multieffect pedal to his Roland Cube amp (unless we all go down the shared amps route, which makes most sense, and in which case it'd be a Re: Order amp as the last band on).

Me - as we're doing an all-JD set, it'll be a simple vox phantom copy to Marshall amp, with chorus pedal in a loop. Shan't bring the heavy gear as it ain't gonna get used.

Jim - dead straightforward basses (5 and 6 string) into whatever amp he's bought by then, with chorus and digital delay pedals in a loop.

Jon - will use Warren's kit, but will also have two Roland SPD6 pads that are DI to mixer, so you can all have bleeping sounds in Insight and She's Lost Control.

That'll be all we need, plus two vocal mics on stage so Jimbo can do his backing vocals for Transmission and sing Interzone if that one makes the cut.

What, no Shergold Masquerader?

I sold it to Richard Oakes from Suede in June to pay for the Athens trip!

oldmonkey wrote: I sold it to Richard Oakes from Suede in June to pay for the Athens trip!

Wow! You don't see many of them around. I hope you got a decent price for it.

My mate Andy was Richard's English teacher when he was in the sixth form.

I just need a microphone. And a karoke.

Sorry. I'll just go.......................

However to be technical on a bit of a different scale.......have the venue got liability insurance?

Wino wrote: I just need a microphone. And a karoke.

Sorry. I'll just go.......................

However to be technical on a bit of a different scale.......have the venue got liability insurance?

Why, is Rocket Mick coming?

Yes, it's a fully fledged venue, licensed and insured for all kinds of things. They regularly have events on, with bands, DJs etc, even people having a drink!

But.....just got back from the venue, and let's just say it has changed quite a lot in the last two years since I was a regular there. The "stage" is now two portable blocks one foot high and about twelve foot wide in total, they've removed the lighting rig and there is no DJ box.

Suffice to say that the hunt for a more suitable venue is already underway. The booking still stands at this place, so we aren't without venue, but I'm not happy that they've done what they have without so much as a word about it.

Hooky uses CD's so only Monty will be a DJ headache (decks, as you know, can be bastards to isolate.)

No lights can be an issue, cos they are fucking expensive to hire, and you need a lighting gimp too ;) (I'm far too scared of frying everyone to set lights up)

Oh, I'll get my basic sound rider up here V shortly....spent all weekend vegitating.

Cambo is your e-mail working now? Need to discuss a few tech things with you offline.

Aye the mail is functioning, just replied actually.

Right, a broad list of what we need.

MICS:

Drums: 1x AKG D112 on kick 1X Shure SM57 on snare 2x AKG 451 as overheads.

2x full stands with booms 1x short stand 1x clamp to attach D112 to tom post in kick

Sod using gates, it's not a HUGE gig, the drummer probably wont have a monitor, and we're trying to make money.

Vocals: 2x Shure Sm58 Unless of course you want to go the "barney emulation" route and use akg 414's ( I think). I just chose 58's cos they are a doddle to work with and you can park a hummer on em without hurting them.

2x full stands, with booms

Amps: Again 2x58's I prefer draping them over the top of the amp, you get a useful sound and it cancels feedback AND saves on stands. Will we need more than 2 amps hot at any time?

Other:

Coupla really nice condenser mics to use as ambient mics for recording would be nice, but we can live without them.

1X 58 for talkback/backup

DI's

All passive, active DI's are flippin' heartbreakers

3x DI for Keys (which accouts for a stereo feed from the "machines" and a mono one from the "live" keyboard...we can go to 4 if we want that in stereo too) 1x DI for bass 2x Di for elec perc

Monitors:

1x stereo 31 band graphic EQ 1x3/400W stereo amp 2x wedges

Double the above if we need monitoring for drums and keys.

FX: any dodgy reverb will do nicely, and with any luck I will be bringing our Lexicon (only a bottom of the range one but it still sounds bissfull) giving us 2 fx.

Mixer:

a 16 channel with a couple of extra stereo inputs ( or just four fx returns, whatever). We need 2 post fade and 2 pre fade sends ( 4 pre fades if we end up needing 4 monitors). Of course 16 is cutting it fine if we suddenly have need of extra channels, so if a 20 is available it'd be cool, else a 24. But assuing we can patch Hooky/Monty into it on a stereo return and we are not using ambient mics for recording, a 16 is plenty.

Cables: (ish) 17x Xlr-Xlr Jack patch leads if we can hire em, if not I'll buy a whack.

Multicore, 16 way with 4 returns will do nicely.

We'l need a few other things too, like speaker leads for the monitors and the correct leads to connect our mixer to the Front of House and monitor amp(s).

I'm SURE I left something vital out, it'll come to me :D

If anyone spots stupidity in my spec, sing out.

Don't think we need worry about the PA set-up now, we'll be using a full rig that was recently used by the likes of Razorlight. All we need think about is the backline (who brings what) and the running order on the night (if anyone desperately wants to appear in a certain slot on the bill, let me know - there are certain advantages to not headlining this one, such as getting to see/hear Hooky's DJ set instead of packing up the gear).

I will need a list of what inputs you will all want to the mixer in advance (already got these from the "special guests", ta) so we can get everything running pretty smoothly. I guess that load-in will be early afternoon, so those who are participating in the footy tournament had better get their gear in early. Soundchecks will start around 4pm probably.