Complete Kit for new company

[dfinn]

Hi,

 

I am currently part of an up and coming production company supplying complete event management services for clients, part of this service is sound.

 

As the main sound person involved I have been asked to specify the equipment I want and to get ball park figure as to what they will need. The venue sizes will vary, the largest being similar to that of the Kings Hall in Stoke on Trent, erm, I'm a bit pants on dimensions, but it was probably a 1000 seater venue, the PA they have is 6 full range cabs.

 

Anyway if you could help by listing everything the company would need to get for soudn that would be great, the events will be presentations, weddings, etc etc.

 

I have thought up so far:

 

1x 24ch Mixing Desk

1x 31 band, 2 ch Graphic EQ

2x Effects units

1x CD/ tape player

1x minidisk player

 

2x 18" Bass speakers

4x 15" Mid/ top speakers

3x amplifiers - one for bass, then two for tops to allow for delay

1x LSM unit for crossover, delay etc

 

(I AM UNSURE WETHER TO GO ACTIVE OR PASSIVE FOR FOH AND MONITORS)

 

2x monitor wedges, amplifcation and EQ (2ch)

 

4x Sennheiser Wireless UHF Radio mics (Handheld units) with recivers and the 4 into one antenna thingy!

4x Vocal mics (wired)

8x Mic Stands

 

1x 30m 24/6 multicore loom on reel

All associated cabling, gender changers, converters etc

flightcases for all equipment

 

 

Gaffer tape

Batteries for radio mics

Metal stands to use for mixer/ processing (Like girraffe and ultimax make)

 

4x Speaker tripod stands

2x adjustable speaker poles

 

Power cables and distribution.

 

I apologise for being so vague, I am just trying to get a list together of the kit I would need. If anyone knows very roughly what that would cost please post, I am not talking ultimate, stupidly priced kit here. Speakers on a par with dB, Mackie, RCF, etc. Desks - GL2400 from A&H - They are so user friendly and reliable, processing - some will disagree here but I am a fan of behringer kit, the LMS (ALTO) not the dbx crazy priced stuff.

 

Thanks,

 

Daniel

[jony.reynolds]

Hi, one thing to add is that at events such as weddings will there be a band? Such things should be considered as you may need more mics for instruments, I.e drums. Is this likely to happen?

[dfinn]

Hi,

 

Good point, I have considered this before, but the occurance of bands will be irragular and met by hiring in extra mics/ stands and foldback, hence the 24ch desk.

 

We may get a few more tho.

 

Thanks,

 

Daniel

[jony.reynolds]

In the case for the monitors there are good arguments for both. Active monitors are compact and can have built in eq. Passive are normally more rugged and also don't have any controlls so anoying people can't play with them. For passive you have to carry round a rack of amps and eq though but personally I would go for passive becuase you don't have to get so much power on to the stage but saying that active monitors are easyier to set up. Thanks,

Jon

[paulears]

as in many of these posts - you need to have a budget in place - else people don't know what to quote. Just look at the desk - you mention Behringer. This suggests you want a big budget system. Moving to something like A&H then has a knock on effect on all the other kit. For example as you get bigger and better systems then everything can be increased in quality to match - so you have to set some kind of 'standard'. Probably include a piece of kit that you really want to have - then people can use this as a basis for the rest. The fact that you are looking at mixer stands of this calibre suggests a bit of a mismatch in the making. How much are they? How much is a Behringer mixer? hmmmm.

[James]

Hmm,

 

Have you considered a system engineer. I don't think Behringer sell them {expect the ULTRA engineer system PRO soon though} If you have a regular need for PA in your "production company" then you might have a staff role, failing that a freelancer who can service your equipment, understand it fix it and isn't vauge Who knows enough to specify initial equipment and potential upgrade paths. where your rig is scalable and breaks down for when you have many smaller gigs on the same day but works as a whole when you need to cover your 1000 seater venues. The kind of person who can design redundancy into a system who can prempt problems and work arround them and who has enough knowlege of working in the sector to have spare matrix feeds and das available for when your client tells you they have invited the press to their presentation...

 

Budget? I'd say about 50K for a respectable music PA to cover 1000 people indoors. Easily more in some circumstances.

 

And that isn't MDST pricing either.

 

James.

[StevieR]

As you are going to marketing your company as a respectable and professional production company you need to make sure that the equipment you use is on par with the service you are offering. Now certainly most of the production companies we work with don't own their own sound or lx kit but when hiring they look for high-end, quality equipment. My advice would be to bite the bullet and invest in good spec kit that will always perform well. You don't see much behringer and mackie at corporate events...

 

Another thing to consider is system integration when you need to sub-hire. Have a look at the inventories of local sound companies. It may be beneficial to buy into the same product lines - esp in terms of loudspeakers - to allow you to expand your system when required.

 

Couple of other things I picked up from your post...

 

- If your work is likely to involve a fair amount of conference/corporate work, boxes with 12" drivers tend to have better control when reproducing the human voice. Speakers using 15" drivers I tend to find never sound quite as good for this type of work. They are great for rock'n'roll gigs where there is a lot of low-mid energy - e.g. guitars.

 

- You mention a stand for the mixer and processing. Probably better to buy a flightcase mixer-rack to that you can wheel it in, take off the lids and go. Much simpler and good protection in transit.

 

HTH

 

Steve

[Pete]

Can I suggest a search for "Active & Passive vs powered and un-powered" or something similar.

 

Because I think if the OP gets active monitors from say ooh Martin,he WILL need amps Jony.

 

Oh and remember- buy cheap buy twice!

[jony.reynolds]

For passive you have to carry round a rack of amps

Does this count as saying he will need amps?

jon

[Shez]

I'd suggest a longer multi. Both of mine are 40m and are regularly used without much slack...

[dfinn]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the suggestions, all have been noted.

 

The company is rather more a project, lottery funded to help start a young persons event management company particularly focussing on video, sound and lighting. A similar youth company here does the same but focusses on more catering and event running.

 

Thanks,

 

Daniel

[Nicktaylor]

How can it be lottery funded. It sounds like you are setting up a commercial organisation, regardless of it helping out the needy. My village hall which is a charity was turned down for funding because we already had too good a facility so they said, even though the nursery will shut under Ofsted rules.

Strange old world

[dfinn]

Hi,

 

I'm only going off what I've heard here, sorry if I have caused any upset.

 

Thanks,

 

Daniel

[paulears]

in my experience, the minute they sniff 'commercial' bang goes the proposal. They also usually want to see a proven track record in the area they may fund - so an exisiting events company may get finance for a turnkey project for, say, a disabled centre - but they wouldn't get funding to buy kit to use again for themselves when the project ends. Very often, lottery grants go with hire charges being ok for this very reason.

[Pete]

Ignoring the OP's funding issue.

 

Why doesnt the OP tell us his budget and we can suggest appropriate kit.

 

Can I suggest a book on live sound?Cause well,you'll always need to know something you dont.