How Long Does it Take for Your Band to Setup?

[Flight Time]

I have a 7 member band (3 guitars, keys, drums, bass, and percussion) and a large PA system (monitors for everyone, 4 powere amps, 32 channel board, processors, EV mains and 2 - 2x18 subs and all the cabling you need). It takes us about 2 hours to setup and get thru a soundcheck for a show - everything goes to the board (we have a soundman). The last show was outdoors for about 1000 people). I hear a lot of people complain about setup time. Some claim it should not take longer than 30 minutes to set up. How long does it take your band to setup when you take a full PA for a large crowd (assuming that you bring the PA)?

For the record, we did a small show last weekend where a PA was supplied, and it took us about 45 minutes (including load in) to setup.

 

[Jehos]

With load-in and setting up our PA, it takes more than an hour but less than two. Of course our PA is just a couple 15's on sticks with a powered mixer, so there's not *that* much to do. The majority of the time is spent fixing problems--getting power to where we need it, sound checking, etc.

I feel like I'm always the one that takes the longest because I'm usually the one that sets up the PA, plus the singer's guitar and mic, plus my own gear...

 

[IvanMike]

a huge pa isn't needed for most gigs. so for most gigs where we use a powered mixer, two mains on stands and one monitor for the vocalist, not long. 1/2 hour maybe?

I use a small head as a preamp, a poweramp, and two small cabinets. Oh yeah, then i have to plug in my tuner pedal and connect my sans amp in the effects loop. From the car to full setup with my bass on a stand this takes 5 min. A bit too long.

For a big pa, over an hour (if you've done it a lot) is pushing it. If everyone knows what they need to do, has a job, stays focused, and if you plan ahead before throwing cases all over the stage, it really doesn't have to take long.

One question. Does everyone really need monitors? I have played in a lot of situations and have gotten really good at being able to hear what i need to even if this means i am looking at the bass drum head flutter to find the "one". I think this is an underrated skill. I've also found that multiple monitors all over the place can cause more feedback headaches than they are worth unless the soundman is really skilled and people do what they say.

 

[Metal Matt]

We're a two person band. Just drums and bass. We play DIY basement shows where the crowd is right on top of you, sometimes around you as well. Best shows to play.

Drums: snare, 3 toms, bass drum, hi-hat, 3 cymbals.

Bass: 2 amps (old Sunns), 4x10, 4x12, 2x15, 1x18. Smaller suitcase with my pedals, cords, tuner, strap, powerstrip in it. Extension cord. Either my Epiphone Thunderbird or my Peavey T-40.

We always have one seat left in our van after we load it up, that we try to fill. That person ends up helping us move stuff. So with 3 people I'd say it takes 20-25 minutes for us to load in and set up all our stuff if we're playing first. If we're playing anywhere else during the show, we'll have our stuff loaded in and drums ready while the band before us is playing. As soon as they are done and out of the way, it's about 10 minutes for us to set up. There are no vocals, so we don't need a PA.

 

[baba]

1 hour.

 

[modulusman]

Flight time, 2 hours doesn't seam unreasonable for set-up and a sound check. My band can do it in about an hour and a half. We mic everything and use powered speakers and subs. We use IEMs and this saves time with set-up and soundcheck.

 

[Eric Perry]

My last band had two road crew that handled set-up / tear down, so I'm guessing here. For venues that provided FOH, I'd guess maybe an hour to 1.5. For gigs where we provided the system, about two.

Me personally, it took about 10 minutes.

 

[Flight Time]

Two hours seems reasonable to me also.

One thing that I find is that some members of my band do not exactly jump in to help the setup. In other words, they do what they are told but don't step up and take the initiative to master a part of the setup. This part is frustrating. For instance, my lead guitarist insists on setting up his stuff first, the help set up the PA stuff. He is great guy but can be a primadona. Same thing with my drummer.

 

[Fnord Explorer]

10 minutes. 15 tops. The only exception is my one band is a six-piece with video projection, sequencing, and an in-ear system for me and the drummer. Those setups are closer to half-an-hour.

 

[Fli]

a huge pa isn't needed for most gigs. so for most gigs where we use a powered mixer, two mains on stands and one monitor for the vocalist, not long. 1/2 hour maybe?

I use a small head as a preamp, a poweramp, and two small cabinets. Oh yeah, then i have to plug in my tuner pedal and connect my sans amp in the effects loop. From the car to full setup with my bass on a stand this takes 5 min. A bit too long.

For a big pa, over an hour (if you've done it a lot) is pushing it. If everyone knows what they need to do, has a job, stays focused, and if you plan ahead before throwing cases all over the stage, it really doesn't have to take long.

One question. Does everyone really need monitors? I have played in a lot of situations and have gotten really good at being able to hear what i need to even if this means i am looking at the bass drum head flutter to find the "one". I think this is an underrated skill. I've also found that multiple monitors all over the place can cause more feedback headaches than they are worth unless the soundman is really skilled and people do what they say.

+100. thats exactly how my bands setup is.
I enjoy the small bars where they don't have a sound system or a soundman (most soundguys suck anyway). We setup our PA - 2x15s on tripods in front, 1 monitor for lead vocals, and a mixer. As long as I can hear the bass drum (or see it), I can stay in time. All the big gigs we've had that require a lot of sound, there's always a house PA and sound guy, so we don't even need to bring the PA.
The drum kit generally takes the longest to setup, and we usually help him by setting up cymbal stands and such.

So for a 4 piece band we take about 20-30 minutes to setup whether we have a PA or not. I can setup my bass rig, get in tune, and be ready to play in 5.

 

[Deacon_Blues]

4 piece. Small gigs mostly, no soundman. We try to always be early enough, at least two hours before the party starts, so we wouldn't have to hurry too much. Usually we're done in 1 - 1½ hours, and that often include rehearsing a couple of songs we're planning to play. I'm the singer too and I often play 1-2 songs standing on the dancefloor to check the overall levels, and one where I'm checking the monitor level. Without a soundman, you have to be extra careful with the levels. I guess we could set up in 30 minutes, but the soundcheck wouldn't be too carefully done then.

If the venue allows for it (geometry/size), I prefer setting up the mains on the back of the stage. That gives us better control of the sound in the room, and so far I haven't experienced any feedback problems when doing so. A plus is that the volume seems to stay on a decent level as nobody have ever complained about the volume when we have set up our stuff that way.

By the way, we run only vocals (2-3 mics) and keys through the mains. The drummer might mic his bass drum on the slightly larger gigs, but bass and guitar comes only from our amps. That also helps keeping the volume down. I'd just like to add we're not a quiet band, we only try to avoid unnecessary volume.

 

[JayAmel]

I play in a 6 piece cover band with a huge PA system (approx. 18,000 W), and we have a 5 piece tech team. They start to setup around 2:00 PM. then we musicians reach the place around 5:00 PM for installing our own instruments and gear. Then the soundcheck ends around 6:30 / 7:00 PM.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[ihateusernames]

I work with self-centered idiots only concerned with themselves, how loud they can play, how loud they can hear each other (i.e. themselves), and how 'great' 'their' 'tone' is. Our sound company brings far more equipment than truly needed for most shows (sounds great though!)

These factors alone add over an hour to a much longer than needed setup time of 1.5-3 hours. It's so much fun (sarcastic) to see them unload directly to stage wherever the heck it seems to suit their ego needs best with no regard for anyone/thing else. Only when I get angry do I step in in an attempt to get a better stage balance to avoid FOH mixing nightmares - then I consider unpacking my pedals, cables, and finally basses. My setup time is 15, maybe 20 minutes - I drag it out to as long as I can to avoid getting irritated by monkeys.

Oh wait, did I mention how the light stands get thrown up in the most inconvenient areas while attempting to set up?

Then, as typical, the first song of our setlist is titled "soundcheck" with a small interlude of "hey rob can i get more of this and some guitar in the monitors" before ripping slowly into "soundcheck redeux"

And to think some of our members (3 of 4) are confused we don't get invited back to some clubs and have a real challenge scheduling dates with new clubs. A shame really, a talented group of guys that play well together but don't work well at all.

Then comes the loudout which lasts usually until 1.5 hours after bar CLOSE, not last call. (oh, my pack up and load out - 10 minutes - then I can't seem to help sound company because other gear is in the way hogging stage while 'the band' hangs out at the bar smoking cigarettes drinking 20 more drinks)

 

[bassman1185]

I play in a post-hardcore/plain-hardcore/indie band with me, two guitars, drums, and vocals. If we are able to unload straight from the cars/trailer to the stage with no waiting for other people to get off the stage, we can usually be pretty much ready to go in about 10 minutes, maybe a bit less. If we're playing in a venue with a "real" PA system with moniters and all that good stuff, factor in another 8-10 minutes for micing/DIing and soundcheck.

With the kind of shows we play, you tend to kind of loose the audience if you don't keep the music coming. I get really anxious and jittery if I feel like the band before us is taking too long to tear down, and I'll usually do what I can to help them get their stuff off the stage.

 

[Eric Perry]

I work with self-centered idiots only concerned with themselves, how loud they can play, how loud they can hear each other (i.e. themselves), and how 'great' 'their' 'tone' is. Our sound company brings far more equipment than truly needed for most shows (sounds great though!)

These factors alone add over an hour to a much longer than needed setup time of 1.5-3 hours. It's so much fun (sarcastic) to see them unload directly to stage wherever the heck it seems to suit their ego needs best with no regard for anyone/thing else. Only when I get angry do I step in in an attempt to get a better stage balance to avoid FOH mixing nightmares - then I consider unpacking my pedals, cables, and finally basses. My setup time is 15, maybe 20 minutes - I drag it out to as long as I can to avoid getting irritated by monkeys.

Oh wait, did I mention how the light stands get thrown up in the most inconvenient areas while attempting to set up?

Then, as typical, the first song of our setlist is titled "soundcheck" with a small interlude of "hey rob can i get more of this and some guitar in the monitors" before ripping slowly into "soundcheck redeux"

And to think some of our members (3 of 4) are confused we don't get invited back to some clubs and have a real challenge scheduling dates with new clubs. A shame really, a talented group of guys that play well together but don't work well at all.

Then comes the loudout which lasts usually until 1.5 hours after bar CLOSE, not last call. (oh, my pack up and load out - 10 minutes - then I can't seem to help sound company because other gear is in the way hogging stage while 'the band' hangs out at the bar smoking cigarettes drinking 20 more drinks)

I'd quit. I can't stomach children. Plus the whole guilt by association factor!

 

[Flight Time]

I play in a 6 piece cover band with a huge PA system (approx. 18,000 W), and we have a 5 piece tech team. They start to setup around 2:00 PM. then we musicians reach the place around 5:00 PM for installing our own instruments and gear. Then the soundcheck ends around 6:30 / 7:00 PM.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

18kw is impressive! That is a lot of clean sound. Except for the headache of setting up, your sound must be fantastic. One of the things that I realized is that in order to get really clean sound, power and some complexity go hand-in-hand, factoring in the venue that I am playing at. A 15 to 30 minute setup is great, especially if you don't have to bring the PA system. But for a large gig where no audio support is provided, I believe the setup time is worth it.

 

[LBronson]

We are a 6 or 7 piece cover band with our own PA. I do the sound on stage run through a 24 channel mixer. We use 18 inputs. 2 Subs and 2 mains. 3 monitor mixes, 4 stage monitors & 1 in ear mix. 1-2 hours seem about right for the number of people.

 

[RustyAxe]

Then, as typical, the first song of our setlist is titled "soundcheck" with a small interlude of "hey rob can i get more of this and some guitar in the monitors" before ripping slowly into "soundcheck redeux"

That made me smile. One of the pro's in a live sound forum I frequent has this as his signature ... "can I get a little more TALENT in the monitor please" .... cracks me up!

 

[Dave R]

We use a good sized PA, monitors for everyone, mics for the drums, all instruments running through their own amps and through the PA (for reinforcement.) We have approx. 13,274,623,527 cords to run. Takes us an hour to move the gear and plug in all the cords.

And you didn't specifically ask about tear-down, but that takes an hour, too.

 

[jtc_hunter]

We run a powered mixer 1000 watts, 2 -15" passive mains and a powered sub ( Mackie), per side. 2-4 light trees w/ foot controller, 5 floor monitors, Drums w/ only the kick mic'd, 2- rhythm guitars not mic'd, 1-lead guitar mic'd, my bass DI'd. 5 vocal mics and 2 fog machines. 2 hrs. load in and setup. Sound check is usually 15 mins. and everyone trusts how I set the sound. I use a wireless on my bass to get the FOH sound, all except my vocal mic which I set after I do everyone elses. We all use Shure Beta 58a's so that makes it a little easier. We can play for 400-500 people with this setup. Most of the time the powered mixer is running about 40-50%, so its clean power. We never get feedback or any ring and get alot of compliments on our sound.