OK, so this R & B group I am touring with does either REALLY big gigs,or REALLY small gigs. Pretty much not much in between.
So sometimes the advances are really easy,"PM 5D? Yup, fine! VerTec? Cool dude! See ya Saturday" kinda thing….Then there is the other hand………. "Uh,so hey dude,the venue is REALLY,REALLY,REALLY SUPER DUPER INSANE SMALL. So do you really need 12 wedges and 10 mixes? And do you really need that big console out front? Did I say the venue is really,really,really small?"
I get where they are coming from. But let's start with some common sense: I have 10 musicians on stage with 21 direct inputs,so yes I need 10 mixes. No I don't need the added pressure of doing 10 mixes fold back,but thanks for asking. Yes we can lose the sidefills. We don't travel with a monitor guy so,if you want to use something small as long as it has 34 inputs and 10 outputs I am fine with it…..No I don't need the ride mic,and maybe I don't need the bottom snare either, but pretty much everything else is in the PA. No I don't need the XL-4 & a big FX rack. Send a VI6 or a PM-5-D,they don't take up much space and no big FX racks either.
I guess we wont be flying 24 VerTec or V-DOSC, but I cant do the gig with 4 speakers on sticks either. Maybe 1,2 or 3 stacks of something 3 or 4 way?? Maybe a couple Floodlight or some good old MSL-4s? Maybe those sidefills we just got rid of??
What DOES the size of the venue have to do with the size of the band and their monitor needs? Hell if I know!
"But the venue is too small for all of those monitors!?! Then why did you book the freakin' band?
I guess I expect to much from people sometimes….
BIG DADDY