I am currently working on a show in a stadium for 10,000 people. Can it be done with a d&b audiotechnik KSL system 12-deep, or should I bring a bigger rig? Do I need delays? Do I need outfills? If I provide the stage, can I drive the Stageline SL320 onto the field? Do I need video walls? If so, how large? Is there an LD, or am I designing the lighting system? Will I need more than one generator? Can I make the show work with a 70kW? How many bands will be playing? Should I bring two racks per console? Will I need two split snakes? Are the bands sharing the backline equipment, or will it be different per each band? Do I have all the stage plots and input lists? What time do we start soundchecks? What time are doors? Will the bands be on ears or wedges, or a mix of both? What time is load out? Are there any restrictions due to late hours? How much labor will be needed?
Many Questions, Few Answers
Not all of these questions are directed toward the client, and many are questions I ask myself after I get the initial scope of work from the client. Every show and event is negotiable, but those where the client is in the same business that I am in, where the venue is set up properly for concerts or events make negotiations that much easier. Unfortunately, as a regional sound company, on the smaller side, I am obliged to take gigs that are not particularly standard fare or necessarily run by industry professionals. Ironically, many of the bands with whom we work are major artists who have accepted a private or promotional event and are making demands on the producer that they are unable to satisfy or even comprehend. That’s fine. I actually enjoy the challenge of designing a show around awkward situations as it makes it a bit more challenging and even fun to do. We often joke that our unsung motto is: “Bringing sound where it doesn’t belong.”
Granted, these challenges are not without their frustrations, but all in all, the satisfaction of making the best of a difficult situation is often worth the inherent trials and tribulations of getting from the initial discussion of the event to the storing of the lift gate and locking the truck. I have said this before — information is key, and without the proper information, it makes it difficult to guarantee a show’s success.
Case in point: I have a client who wanted a repeat of last year’s event. The only problem, she told me, is that last year, while everything was great, the sound wasn’t loud enough. I remember the gig and I don’t recall that there were any complaints, but since I put the last show together, I also remember how it was presented to me. A band on a small stage playing outdoors on a plaza in upper Manhattan. The goal was not to have a concert, but to provide a background for people walking by or sitting around the plaza, which we did.
Okay, new goal for the same gig… more sound. This means I have to interpret what my client is trying to accomplish, so I ask her what she is trying to achieve. How many people are we trying to reach? Her answer, “500, and we need lights too.” Okay, so this changes things. I suggest a Stageline 100 mobile stage so we can hang lights and fly a small line array. I explain that a stage with a roof is the proper way to go about this project. She agrees and I put together the quote. Of course, the quote has doubled from the year before because we are now bringing a stage and lights, not to mention a bigger sound system. A bigger show means more labor and more labor means more money and more money means the client is not happy. I explain that I am working under the premise that the sound was not enough at the last event, and I have presented a remedy of more sound.
Maybe I misunderstood and all she wanted was for the engineer to turn up the volume. That can be done at no extra cost, but I am working with the parameters presented to me and my knowledge of what a system can produce within these parameters. As I said, we are bringing sound where it doesn’t belong. Nonetheless, I took off the staging and lighting, but added a few more speakers for firepower and maybe a delay or two, but since she can’t give me a specific area she would like covered, I can only guess at the audio design. I believe that my initial reaction is correct and that the small, flown line array would give her the coverage she is looking to achieve, but since she doesn’t really know what she needs, she is relying on me to construe those needs, which I have done, but it comes at a cost. Apparently, this is not a cost she wants to absorb, so I made my suggestion of enlarging the system rather than changing it, but she’s not sure it will be enough.
How Much is Enough?
My question is “enough for what?” “To cover the 500 people that might be on the plaza,” she responds. “Is this a concert?” I ask. “No, just some music for the people that are there.” “I think I provided that last year, but you say it wasn’t loud enough, so I’ll send a bigger system, but one that will fit your budget.” “Will that be enough?” she asks. “I think it will, considering everything you told me, but I did tell you what I was sure would be enough.” “That was too much,” she explains. “Okay,” I say, tiring of spinning in circles. “I’ll bring a sound system that will be louder and one that you can afford.” Her reply: “That will be great.”
I breathe a sigh of relief as it seems to be a satisfactory conclusion to our dance, even though I am still bringing sound where it doesn’t belong.
Contact Baker Lee at blee@fohonline.com.
