In 1908, the Boy Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell coined the motto “Be Prepared.” In his manual for the scouts, Scouting for Boys, he defines being prepared as “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.” Considering some of the scout organization’s sordid history, the title of the manual could easily be misconstrued in our very modern times, but that said, the motto is itself is somewhat of a universal truth regardless of what one may do in life. “Be Prepared” is definitely a motto that I — and most people in the live entertainment industry — live by. For the most part, we usually have a limited amount of time to do what we do, and since there are always many moving parts to what we do, coordination is key. First and foremost, as an audio provider, we need to prepare our own gear and production and organize what we need to do according to the requirements we are given.
Pre-Planning
This means we need to have in our possession all stage plots, room dimensions, hang points, access for load in/load out, truck parking and storage of dead cases. We need to plan our changeovers between sets. Will we need two split snakes? Four consoles? Can we share channels and backline gear? If not, how much labor will we need to facilitate a quick turnover and for that matter, how much time do we have to make all of this happen? What power is available to us so that we can run our show and — of course — will there be food for the crew? Once we, the audio vendor, gets all of our pertinent information sorted out, we then need to coordinate with the providers of lighting, video, rigging, staging and local labor to synchronize our movements and optimize our time.
Being prepared also means being prepared to work in tandem with a larger team and in regard to touring this means knowing how the trucks are loaded and how much time it will take to get to the next venue. Dealing with sheds and large venues is, in many ways, easier than negotiating with various clubs and event spaces. For the most part, the larger venues are set up to do productions and most everyone involved knows the drill and is on the same page. This is not to say that everything will be perfect, but they are usually prepared for whatever a production might need. Many times, smaller venues in smaller markets can be unprepared for an incoming event, especially if the promoter, booking agent or event planner doesn’t know the extent of what they are booking.
In club scenarios, many booking agents become overzealous and ambitious, booking bands that are too big for a room in both production and popularity. In these situations, the house team, who usually deals with smaller productions, is often overwhelmed and unprepared to handle the expanded necessities associated with the booking. Let me say that these situations suck for everyone involved, and this is often because the people doing the pre-production don’t even know the correct questions to ask. Sometimes this can be due to an oversight on the band’s part, because they are used to a certain quality of production and take various things for granted such as space, power, labor, catering, etc. Other times, the venue’s production team or person is simply not qualified to handle the incoming event or show.
Rough Seas Ahead
In my experience, advancing concert production for private events is usually the most difficult sea to navigate, as most event planners are unfamiliar with what is required to stage a concert band, nor do they care what it takes — as long as it doesn’t interfere with the décor. Unfortunately, concert production always interferes with the décor, but that’s what happens when you bring staging, lights, and audio to where it doesn’t belong. This happened recently when I received a call to provide audio for Nile Rodgers, an opening band and a DJ at the Hudson Yards’ Peak Restaurant which is perched 101 floors above Manhattan and known for its amazing views of the city. With those that are unfamiliar with the area, the restaurant also leads out onto The Edge, a triangular architectural attachment to the building that has a glass bottom one can stand upon to stoke their acrophobia.
Fortunately, the event planner hired someone who had experience working with bands and is also knowledgeable regarding production. This person hired me, and we were off to the races — and also luckily, I was prepared as was the lighting and staging company and the band’s production manager. We did our due diligence, had a walk-through, made our compromises, agreed on a suitable line of attack and were ready to go. I even asked about décor and we were told it was minimal, with a backdrop for the stage. As I have said before, “The Devil is In the Details.” When pressed as to the material of the backdrop, we were told it was to be a 500-pound, nine-panel piece that needed to be hung from the upstage truss. This then required the staging company to change to a different truss to support the weight of the backdrop and threw our prepared schedule into disarray.
Timing is Everything
Décor told us they would come in around noon to hang their backdrop from the truss. Since staging, lighting, backline and audio were starting load-in at 5 a.m., it was expected that most everything would be in place to start doing our sound checks by noon. Décor nonchalantly told us that they would set up around us while we were sound checking on, what would be, a fully loaded 20’ x 20’ stage. Décor was loath to come in early, so I expressed to the planner that I was, and would be, unprepared to do the event if they didn’t follow proper protocol and hang their 500-pound beast before we took control of the small stage. As we were two days out from the show, décor was pressed to comply with my demand and reluctantly agreed to come in at 6 a.m. I told my contact that we would come in at 8 a.m. and stage our gear while they set up the backdrop.
I was promised the stage at 10 a.m., but as I expected, we did not take the stage until noon. From there, everything went according to design. The labor was more expensive for the client, but as we all know, you can only have two of the three: Fast, Good and Cheap. Anyway, we made it work despite the décor people throwing a wrench into the works because we live by the Boy Scout motto. What we weren’t prepared for is that the Chicago-based décor people would be covering up a real-life view of New York’s iconic Empire State Building with a painted backdrop of lower Manhattan and The Freedom Tower, as seen from New Jersey. Sometimes, the best-laid plans…
Contact Baker Lee at blee@fohonline.com.
