Why is it that singers do not own any PA equipment?

Real ones do

 

I’m just happy if they show up!

 

In the last pop rock band I was in years ago I owned the PA. I finally got tired of dealing with that (the singer did have his own mic, to his credit ) and sold it, making him have to deal with that scenario. Ima just the bass player, so I didn't really care.

 

Bandleader provides the PA.

If the singer isn't the bandleader, then it isn't their responsibility.

 

What about bands that are a real group effort (no bandleader per se)?

I'd love to be in a band where my gear (good quality stuff, of course) is provided to me.

 

Cuz they are primadonnas Lol. At least ours is.

 

Last two bands, singers had PA. Amazing!

 

I might be missing the point of this post, but why would a singer bring a PA to an audition? Wouldn't he or she be auditioning at the band's rehearsal space, which is where the PA would be located?

I don't think there are hard, fast rules about who should supply the PA for a band. I'm not the BL of either of my bands but I provide the PA for both because we all rehearse at my house. Neither band plays a lot of venues where a PA isn't provided but, when the occasion arises, we use mine. Mics, stands, monitors, cables, mixer--everything. I don't think twice about it since everyone shares the load in/out duties.

 

It take a special kind of personality and talent to show up on a stage with nothing but your personality and voice to entertain a live audience. Seriously, not everyone can do it.

Quite often, those special skills and attributes come with a downside. In my view, it's more being "unaware" than it is an ego thing. They just don't realize that everyone has contributed hundreds (to thousands) of dollars worth of equipment to the jam room or stage. They just don't think about it.

That said, there are three singers in our band (of which I am one). I own the lights. The key/singer owns our mixer (digital Midas). And our female singer owns the mains/speakers. Out guitarist and drummer just show up with a guitar/amp and drums. So, in our case, the singers provide MORE gear than the non-vocalists.

 

Personally? I wouldn't want to use my own personal PA for a band where I'm not the band leader. If it's truly a "group effort" then buy the PA from the pooled band funds.

(The exception would be, I know there are quite a few TB'ers who rent their own PA's to their own bands. i.e. they get paid a bit extra from the gig money, for the added role of being PA provider.)

 

I believe it's one of the requirements for being a frontmanperson. They need to be up there being adored. It's part of their psyche. As bassists, that thought process is often alien to us.

 

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My female singer owned a LOT of our PA. A couple vocal mics, cabinets, our mixing board, mains amp.

 

My band is like this, and our PA equipment (just like everything else we share) was purchased through a combination of using band revenues when available and the bandmembers pitching in when the band doesn't have funds.

Most originals bands I have been in devote at least a portion of revenues from gigs, merch, etc. to band expenses, of which PA equipment can be one.

 

In the first incarnation of said band we had three lead singers (keyboardist, riddum guitarist, and drummer). The keyboardist/singer owned the PA gear from previous bands he'd been in so we didn't even have to worry about putting together a PA system - until he quit the band which sort of left the rest of us floundering for a few minutes. No one else in the band really wanted to pitch in so I went ahead and bought the PA (A&H PA12 in SKB pop-up mixer case, QSC K10s and Ultimate stands, plus attendant cabling). When we found a new singer/front person, he thought it was the greatest thing that he didn't have to help out in the PA department, and he was, by far, the one most able, financially, to contribute. He never ever even bothered to help with set-up, tear-down, maintenance costs, etc. That sucked.

 

Most established bands will already have access to PA equipment. Bands can't function without it. If I'm auditioning as a singer and a band doesn't already have some way to provide that I will question their professionalism and readiness to gig.

That said, I own PA, I own mics, and I own monitors. Most real singers I work with own their own mics and stands, and some have powered monitors they use for PA when needed. That's generally all they will ever need.

A PA is used for all vocalists and instrumental reinforcement or in many cases these days for all instruments; it hasn't ever been the sole responsibility of any singer in any band I've been in, nor has it ever been expected to be, because it's equipment the entire band relies on.

 

BL: I had my PA when I started the band, my guitarist had one and my keyboard player had one
non of our lead vocalist 3 total supplied anything but a mic of their choice if they did not want to use the one I was supplying. I found in my past experience that the singers out of most of the people I worked with were the first to throw a hissy fit and take their ball and go home, so I knew early on I wasn't going to let another person derail what I had started.