Dear Anklebiters,
After years of working for other outfits, I am finally on my own. The one issue I have run into a few times, however, is not having enough of my own gear for a show and having to rent additional equipment. This in itself is not so bad, but occasionally I have mixed and matched amps, monitors and Front of House speakers. What is your take on this practice?
Charles Leighter Phoenix, AZ
Jamie: In a perfect world, we would never find ourselves short of gear and never have to hustle to make a show work. But in reality, unless you are one of the big boys with the clientele and the cash flow, you will at some point need to supplement an event or just limit the size of shows you take on. I am personally not a big fan of mixing up Front of House boxes. The obvious reasons are sound quality and visual presentation. I do, however, use two different monitor manufacturers, and I don't seem to have a problem giving the musicians what they want in a floor wedge. The difference is with monitors you are tailoring a wedge or two to one or more musicians. This is quite a bit different than supplying sound to hundreds or thousands of people.
Anyway, back to the FOH issue; if you need to use mismatched speakers, set up your mix so you can control the outputs of the various cabinets. A separate EQ for the additional boxes is also helpful in this type of scenario. Let me give you an example: I have four JBL speaker boxes and two subs set up in a typical stereo mix. I am now adding in a pair of Cerwin Vega cabinets to the mix, but I am controlling them through a sub-group. This way I can control the volume, EQ and what I send to them separate from my JBLs. I may only need vocals in the extra speakers, or maybe the entire band minus drums. The point is, I have complete control over the speakers I use to augment my system. The different cabinets obviously don't look the same, but in this case what reaches people's ears is more important than what reaches their eyes.
Of course, this all takes more planning, thinking and set-up time, Charles, but you're the guy who booked a gig you weren't geared up for. At any rate, this approach can and will work. You get the additional horsepower you need for a show and you can still deliver quality sound. It has been my experience that this method beats the hell out of just setting up some extra speakers and power amps and hoping the sound will miraculously fall into place. This is pretty much the approach I have used in the past. Good luck.
Tim: Jamie and I did an article a while back where we discussed owning multiples of the same equipment. You probably own a small or mid-sized sound system now. When a job comes around that requires more coverage and it becomes necessary to add more boxes and power, etc., there are a few things to consider. Let me preface this by saying, I do rent additional equipment on occasion to fill orders that are beyond my inventory. I frequently rent from a number of audio houses and have managed to build a reputation of being a good client who always pays his bills. As a result, over the years I've been able to rent equipment at relatively good rates. These relationships have saved me a fair amount of money.
My first suggestion is when trying to determine whether to purchase new equipment, calculate how many jobs it would take to pay off the newly acquired item. For example, if a monitor rents at $45 per job, and the monitor costs $450, you must use it at least 10 times before you begin to make a profit from buying it instead of renting. Secondly, if you make an estimate of the frequency of the item being rented–let's say for the sake of argument, once per month–then you can expect to begin profiting off this item within 10 months. As the frequency increases, obviously you'll begin to make a profit sooner. Also, before you decide to purchase new equipment, take into account the longevity of the item.
Now, if you keep renting the same piece of equipment over and over again, and you've determined that it would be lucrative to purchase the item, then by all means, purchase it. Most of my work is small to mid-sized jobs, and I've acquired adequate inventory to cover the needs of my audio company. In general, I only need extra reinforcement a few times a year. I have had to purchase some new equipment, and sometimes the items are five to six years old before they've paid for themselves. So my recommendation to you is to carefully evaluate what your immediate needs are and determine whether it is worthwhile to purchase additional equipment. There are also many creative ways to handle these purchases; you can trade for goods or services, on credit from the place you rent from or rent to own situations etc. But that's another topic.
I personally do not like to see mixed boxes or amps on stage. I think it looks much more professional when a company's equipment presentation is aesthetically uniform. But if it's necessary to mix and match, try to keep the frontline matched up as much as possible. The drums usually use a different system, as well as the side fills. In the house system, small center fills can be different, as well as delay systems or matrix systems. In a perfect world, everything is matched, but the fact that you are concerned about equipment uniformity is a step in the direction of professionalism!
Have a question? E-mail the Anklebiters at anklebiters@fohonline.com.
