In a couple of weeks my band will be playing at a strip club :D
Which happens to have an extremely small stage. We've played there several times before as a 4 piece, but have since added a 5th band member. It was hard enough with 4 people, but we got by.

On stage we will have -
2 PA speakers+ stands
1 Sub
2 monitors
Mixer+2 power amps
Two 1/2 stacks
2x12 Bass cab+head
3 mics+stands
3 guitars
2 pedal boards
Full drum set
5 people

I am trying to find a way to get the most space.
So far we've decided that my bass rig will go beside the drum kit, and I will stand right by the drummer's hi-hat. My drummer is suggesting putting my bass rig on top of the subwoofer.
Then we'll have a guitar player on each side of the stage and the singer in the middle...
I've suggested not bringing 1/2 stacks and instead bringing smaller amps and micing them, or have the guitars go direct. The band wouldn't go for it.

I've also suggested NOT renting a sub, but the drummer insists we need one for the kick. He's right, but man! We have no room!

Just to give you an idea, the stage is approximately 12' long and 9' deep. The capacity of this venue is approximately 120.

Suggestions?

Sub and mains in front of stage, not on it.
Mixer on top of bass rig if you are mixing from stage.
Lose the floor tom.
If there is only one singer, use the second monitor kind of as a side fill to spray the across the back so the drummer gets one and it isn't on the floor out front where pedal board space is premium.

Thanks for the tips.
Anybody else?

Suggestions?

Yeah, dope slap the rest of the band. 120 person venue, limited space and the guitars still want their half stacks? Come on. We play venues that size all the time with no sub, 2-way 15's and a powered board - no problem.

lose the sub and the halfstacks! ask your drummer to use the most basic kit he can.......if noone wants to do that tell the guitar players they can bring whatever they want but they gotta setup off the stage.

Why so many guitars?

Why so many guitars?


The extra guitar player's probably there for the show.... as an audience member! :D

Yeah, dope slap the rest of the band. 120 person venue, limited space and the guitars still want their half stacks? Come on. We play venues that size all the time with no sub, 2-way 15's and a powered board - no problem.

+1 million

Yeah, dope slap the rest of the band. 120 person venue, limited space and the guitars still want their half stacks? Come on. We play venues that size all the time with no sub, 2-way 15's and a powered board - no problem.


+1

The other thing - get the bass rig over in the floor tom side of the kit and blow across him, maybe 45 degree angle towards the front. That was you can get as far as possible from your cab and might be able to hear something... It's a PITA but - from a monitoring perspective, the help outweighs the pain for me.

you could also consider just taking a preamp/DI and putting the Bass through FOH and monitors...how many monitor mixes do you have? maybe you and the drummer could share a mix, and use ears (i really don't like in-ears, but for this type situation, they may work)...just a thought...

Yep, sub on stage is almost a recipie for bad sound, let alone your space issues. To try and reach a compromise with your drummer hire a compressor instead of a sub. Turn on the high pass filter on the kick channel (maybe don't tell him you're doing that!) add a good bit of low end eq and gate/compress the jeebus out of it. With a bit of luck you'll get just enuff out front (or at least you'll avoid the sub issues;)). You've got a situation where compromises have to be made by everyone for the overall benefit of the band.

First question: How do you get 5 people in the band if you have 2 guitar players on each side, plus a drummer and a lead singer. =6? Doesn't it?

For 120 people, you can go with lower over all volume if the drummer controls his volume and plays to the room.

1) Bring 1 half-stack - have the guitars play through it (2 channels).

2) Push the drums(basic kit) out enough toward the front of the stage and put the speakers behind him, stacked if possible (for example, put the 2x12 on top of the 1/2 stack speaker cab or vice-versa, which ever is more stable). Make sure the drummer wears earplugs.

3)Set the heads on their sides, one on each side of the speaker boxes.

4) Put the PA speaker stands on the floor in front of the stage. Set them up higher than usual. If you can't do that, stack the P.A. cabs (lose the stands) on one side of the stage with each one pointing in opposite directions.

5) Lose the sub

6)The guitar players on one side of the drums. Put the singer and bass on the other side.
That's 5 people. I dont' know where the phantom goes.

Good luck.

1) Bring 1 half-stack - have the guitars play through it (2 channels).




never happen in a million years...LOL

Everybody play into PODs, GT-8s or whatever, and go directly to the board. No amps on stage.

Either Pods or smaller combos and tell that drummer to get a Digital kit and use real cymbals.

If it is a regular gig, I would have a coffee shop setup ready to go.

1) Bring 1 half-stack - have the guitars play through it (2 channels).

never happen in a million years...LOL

It's only one gig. If it becomes a regular gig, buy another 1/2 stack cab, wire 2 of the speakers to one jack and the other speakers to another jack...use one head for each pair of speakers.

Another idea, tape off the stage measurements in your garage and place all the equipment as if at the gig.
Or use graph paper and some scale templates of the equipment to see how it all works out (like they do for furniture placement in houses).

1) Bring 1 half-stack - have the guitars play through it (2 channels).



It's only one gig. If it becomes a regular gig, buy another 1/2 stack cab, wire 2 of the speakers to one jack and the other speakers to another jack...use one head for each pair of speakers.

Another idea, tape off the stage measurements in your garage and place all the equipment as if at the gig.
Or use graph paper and some scale templates of the equipment to see how it all works out (like they do for furniture placement in houses).

I'm not saying it wouldn't work...I'm saying we are dealing with guitar players here...the most self-important musicians on the planet...lol

Thanks for the sig.

First question: How do you get 5 people in the band if you have 2 guitar players on each side, plus a drummer and a lead singer. =6? Doesn't it?

For 120 people, you can go with lower over all volume if the drummer controls his volume and plays to the room.

1) Bring 1 half-stack - have the guitars play through it (2 channels).

2) Push the drums(basic kit) out enough toward the front of the stage and put the speakers behind him, stacked if possible (for example, put the 2x12 on top of the 1/2 stack speaker cab or vice-versa, which ever is more stable). Make sure the drummer wears earplugs.

3)Set the heads on their sides, one on each side of the speaker boxes.

4) Put the PA speaker stands on the floor in front of the stage. Set them up higher than usual. If you can't do that, stack the P.A. cabs (lose the stands) on one side of the stage with each one pointing in opposite directions.

5) Lose the sub

6)The guitar players on one side of the drums. Put the singer and bass on the other side.
That's 5 people. I dont' know where the phantom goes.

Good luck.

Yeah I mean one guitar player on each side.
Corrected.
Thanks

So what do plan on doing?

It's a strip club, for crying out loud. The audience isn't going to give a d*mn about the guitar players' precious tone.

Take a minimal amount of equipment and have everyone go direct and/or with some sort of DI/POD/etc.. That way every one can get stand on the stage without having to worry about falling off while they're watchign the girls and there's also no equipment to get in the way and potentially block anyone's view.

I know they're guitarists, but c'mon, you gotta help them look at the big picture!

.....you gotta help them look at the big picture!

Truer words were never said about a strip club....

OP, so how did it go? Any decisions?

OP, so how did it go? Any decisions?

The show is on June 18th.
I presented some more ideas to the band based on the suggestions from everyone on the forums.

Unfortunately we do not have POD's so the guitars can't go direct.
I recommended that the guitar players get a hold of some small combos and we can mic those.

In all seriousness, the majority of the people attending this show will be there for the nudity, not the music....but I still don't want us to sound like crap or not have any room on the stage. I hate playing on stages where I have to watch everywhere I step for fear of tripping on something or unplugging something.

We're not bringing a subwoofer anymore. We're gonna go with a set of 2x15's instead. And we'll probably only have one monitor.

Man, if I can convince my guitards to ditch their 1/2 stacks for the show and use small combos it would make this a lot easier.

I will check back in after the show to let everyone know how it went. Sorry, I won't be able to post pics ;)

If the girls are dancing, you could probably get away with playing CD tracks and faking the whole thing. So the guitards are worrying about nothing.

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Sorry, I won't be able to post pics ;)

Well, if your home page in your profile just happened to be a link to your photo web site or if you posted a link to them on your band's web site ...

:hiding:

Just out of curiosity mind you, what is the reason for doing this gig? :)

JKT

My band auditioned for a couple of strip clubs. Last thing on our minds was how we sounded, especially the 15yo sax player.

..no-one's mentioned it yet, so i will: headstocks. 4 of them on one small stage = someone getting cracked on the head...I've played venues where I've practically been falling off the side and it's not pleasant...!

I'd keep the two monitors - put them on top of the mains facing back - and go direct m'self. Not fair to ask the guitards to drop their amps if you're not willing as well.

Have one of the guitar players go wireless and sit out in the crowd. Hell, everyone go wireless, and leave the drummer by himself. :)

Everybody just needs to downsize, that's all. +1 on losing the sub. 120 in a room can hear the drums fine without mic support, even the kick.

If you are using two monitors, I would give the second one to the drummer.

I probably wouldn't run anything through the PA except vocals and a little bit of the kick either.

never happen in a million years...LOL

Fire a guitarist!!!:D