Yr Tech Spec Sheet: Post 'Em!

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OK, I just got asked for a spec sheet by a well known (and well loved, so please don't think I'm taking the piss here) London venue.

Their "example" is pretty amusing, (to me, at least) but I suppose the kind of venue it is, these are the kind of instruments that get thrown at them.

It's great when you get asked for this kind of detail up front, though. Really solves hassle on the night.

Post ones that you have got/submitted! Especially if they have KER-azy instruments on them.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 1 March 2007 20:16 (eighteen years ago)

This is the example one:

TECH SPEC:
Please fill in the below information separately for EACH band you have playing:
---------------
Act line-up, including your first names:

Tech spec:
Please supply a channel list for each band. If they don't have one already, they can pattern it on this one:

Note: Please refer to the inventory on our website - to see what equipment we have available in the way of mics and DIs, before submitting large channel lists. Should you require anything over and above this, please bring it with you;. If you think your backline will not be easily accommodated here, please contact us before we go any further.

1 Kick drum
2 Snare
3 Hihat
4 Rack tom 1
5 Rack tom 2
6 Floor tom
7 Bass (DI)
8 Electric guitar
9 Acoustic guitar (DI)
10 Backing track Left (DI)
11 Backing track Right (DI)
12 Trumpet
13 Cello (DI)
14 Glockenspiel/percussion
15 Main Vocal
16 Drum Vocal

Please delete and add instruments as appropriate, taking care to list
everything you use, noting which instruments need stereo outputs.

(I can't actually fill one out at the moment, because I don't know who is going to be playing that gig yet!)

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 1 March 2007 20:18 (eighteen years ago)

I'm pretty sure that we won't have a cello, but we may have a mandolin!

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 1 March 2007 20:18 (eighteen years ago)

This is why we don't post this stuff on IMM, because no one ever goes there.

::wind rushes through::

Anyway, supper nearly over, need to get back to work.

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 1 March 2007 20:27 (eighteen years ago)

The list you posted sounds about right to me. But I'd add a violin and lose the backing tracks. And of course no drum vocal.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Thursday, 1 March 2007 20:43 (eighteen years ago)

The glockenspiel is key, though.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Thursday, 1 March 2007 21:22 (eighteen years ago)

If I never see another glockenspiel onstage again, it will be too soon!

(It's all about the CLOCKenspiel.)

― Masonic Boom, Thursday, 1 March 2007 21:46 (eighteen years ago)

Perhaps vibraphones would be more to your liking? Or a marimba. That'd be ballsy.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Thursday, 1 March 2007 21:49 (eighteen years ago)

1 kick
2 snare
3 miscellaneous percussions
4 miscellaneous percussions
5 laptop (DI)
6 keyboards/sampler/vocal (mixer out - left channel - DI)
7 keyboards/sampler/vocal (mixer out - right channel - DI)
8 electric guitar
9 keyboards/various electronics (DI)
10bass (DI)
11laptop2 (DI)
12main vocal mic
13backup vocal mic
14balloon mic*

*this guy was rubbing a microphone against an inflated balloon, you see

― nickalicious, Thursday, 1 March 2007 22:00 (eighteen years ago)

That was a fun gig.

― nickalicious, Thursday, 1 March 2007 22:01 (eighteen years ago)

If I played a gig tonight here's how this would go:

1 main vocal mic
2 keyboards & sampler mini-mixer - left (DI)
3 keyboards & sampler mini-mixer - right (DI)
4 percussions mini-mixer - left (DI)
5 percussion mini-mixer - right (DI)

Percussion dude's life has become a lot easier since he went and bought his own mics and a mixer.

― nickalicious, Thursday, 1 March 2007 22:03 (eighteen years ago)

I really wish I'd kept the Sleepytime Gorilla Museum tech sheet from when they were at the dive bar I used to mix in.

― John Justen, Thursday, 1 March 2007 22:14 (eighteen years ago)

this is my band's current tech list. It annoys the hell out of every engineer we work with.

8 balanced outs which include the following instruments:
-3 x synth
-3 x vocal (ideally we will want to use venue's mics but plug them into our mixer for processing. however, if they don't want to do that, we can bring our own mics)
-2 x backing track / sampled drums

additional to the balanced outs
2 x guitar (possibly 1 x guitar)
1 x bass
1 x drum kit

This is only the second time we've been asked for one upfront.

― Bocken Social Scene, Thursday, 1 March 2007 23:52 (eighteen years ago)

"STOP PUTTING THE DRUMS THROUGH THE MONITORS FFS"

― tissp, Friday, 2 March 2007 10:26 (eighteen years ago)

Ha ha, I've played with two bands that had vibraphones onstage. Those things take up SO MUCH SPACE.

Seriously, fuck a glock. They're horrible to have to mic and just sound like shit live.

Anyway, the show tomorrow will be:

1) Laptop - DI x 2 (stereo)
2) Electric Guitar
3) Mandolin (needs mic)
4) Synth - DI (mono)
5) Lead Vox
6) Backing Vox

But we've played there dozens of times and the soundman knows what to expect.

But the one after that (that we've been asked for spec sheets for) I have no idea how many people will be playing! We may need up to 4 vocals! We may have an extra synth (stereo) but we might not have the analogue synth. We may have a mandolin! We may have a ukelele! I don't know yet!

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 2 March 2007 11:58 (eighteen years ago)

trumpet 1
trumpet 2
saxophone
trombone 1
trombone 2
trombone 3
sousaphone (57 down the bell)
bass drum
maybe snare drum

― Jordan, Friday, 2 March 2007 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

(usually zero mics though)

― Jordan, Friday, 2 March 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

I have never done one of these and have never been asked for one ... WTF?

― n/a, Friday, 2 March 2007 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

We never fill em in. We have boring lineups :

Band #1 : Vocals, guitar+backing vocals, guitar+keybds, bass, drums

Band #2 : Vocals, guitar+backing vocals, keybds, bass, drums.

but we ROCK!

― Dr.C, Friday, 2 March 2007 16:25 (eighteen years ago)

I've just realised where we've been going wrong:

We never fill em in. We have boring lineups :

Band #1 : Vocals, guitar+backing vocals, guitar+keybds, bass, drums

Band #2 : Vocals, guitar+backing vocals, keybds, bass, drums.

but we ROCK!

we never have enough channels left for the ROCK.

― Bocken Social Scene, Friday, 2 March 2007 16:30 (eighteen years ago)

See, for guitar-bass-drums 3 or 4 pieces (even 5 pieces if you have two guitars and singer) then it's almost never a problem.

But as soon as you get into the non-standard sound world (and I don't know why it is that having a laptop onstage is still considered something odd for some soundpersons) you need to let the soundperson know in advance so that they have enough DI boxes or vocal mics as needed.

The last bloody gig I played, someone gave the soundman a totally WRONG spec sheet, and as a result we didn't have enough mics, the soundman didn't know there was going to be a live guitar and he treated it like a total disaster.

Now I give spec sheets even if I'm not asked for them. (Unless it's somewhere like the Windmill that I've played dozens of times. I heart the Windmill.)

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 2 March 2007 16:34 (eighteen years ago)

we have decidedly over-complicated spec sheet for a three piece

though things are made easier if they're happy to take a stereo out from our onstage mixer and let us deal with the whole laptop/rack unit stuff

― tissp, Friday, 2 March 2007 16:40 (eighteen years ago)

has the soundman at the windmill changed recently? we played there a lot a couple of years ago and had a nightmare every time with him, and then we played last autumn and he was great.

depending on the mixing desk sometimes we just go for a stereo out from our rack/laptop too.

― Bocken Social Scene, Friday, 2 March 2007 16:48 (eighteen years ago)

Several years ago it used to be THE CAPTAIN who was a grade A certified looney, but yes, they have a proper soundman who is GRATE now.

I used to love everything about the Windmill except the sound was sometimes dodgy, but now they've fixed it, playing there is just a joy all around.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 2 March 2007 17:06 (eighteen years ago)

huh never been asked for one....we just set up where they tell us to set up.

but we're just guitar/bass/drums/vocalist, so it's pretty easy. plus our drummer keeps making his kit smaller, he's even got rid of his rack toms now, just snare/bass/floor tom/crash/ride/hi-hat...he says he plays better w/less drums.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 00:09 (eighteen years ago)

In my experience, if you make a spec sheet beforehand, without being asked for one, the engineer will probably go out of their way to ignore it. It's only since we've started avoiding troublesome venues/nights that we've started to get asked for one beforehand. Hooray for y'know, good engineers.

At rehearsal with new-ish drummer last night, he casually mentioned that he has three rack toms (and a floor tom) on his kit. I don't like the sound, or rather the look, of that. Especially once we've wired all our trigger pads up onto it, and our flightcased laptop stuff, and our expensive keyboards. If I saw my band, I don't think I'd like the look of them.

― Bocken Social Scene, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 09:43 (eighteen years ago)

just snare/bass/floor tom/crash/ride/hi-hat

This is our drummer's set-up too. He recently bought one rack tom, tried using it for a practice or two, and decided it was just distracting.

― n/a, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 14:51 (eighteen years ago)

It's my setup too for most gigs, but for the rock band I need the rack tom just to do John Bonham DIGIDADOOM fills.

― Jordan, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 16:13 (eighteen years ago)

When I tried to add a mounted tom into my kit I ended up just hitting my right kneecap with the drumstick between the DIGIDA and DOOM parts all the time.

― nickalicious, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 16:51 (eighteen years ago)

caught between the digida and the doom

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 7 March 2007 19:17 (eighteen years ago)

kaet, wai 2 haet teh rockenspiel? ;_;

― emil.y, Thursday, 8 March 2007 16:56 (eighteen years ago)

Because I worked at a twee club for too long.

― Masonic Boom, Friday, 9 March 2007 11:36 (eighteen years ago)

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