how much do you charge for a live band gig?

[marklong]

hello all,

 

I am just looking into getting doing live sound gigs in the north east england, scottish borders. I am just wanting some general advice about the amount other people charge, I know it will differ depending on where in the uk you are.

 

the reason that I am thinking about this is because I guy I know has offered to sell me a load of gear, as he is going to work offshore, its aprox a 7k FOH rig, with all the bits and bobs with it, foldback, mics, leads and stuff that I would need. the amount he is looking for in about £8k all in.

 

im just at the thinking about it part at the moment really. I know what im doing when it comes to mixing a band and stuff, I mean im no expert but im not bad, so I feel that side of it would be ok really.

 

thanks in advance, Mark

[paulsparrow]

hello all,

 

I am just looking into getting doing live sound gigs in the north east england, scottish borders. I am just wanting some general advice about the amount other people charge, I know it will differ depending on where in the uk you are.

 

the reason that I am thinking about this is because I guy I know has offered to sell me a load of gear, as he is going to work offshore, its aprox a 7k FOH rig, with all the bits and bobs with it, foldback, mics, leads and stuff that I would need. the amount he is looking for in about £8k all in.

 

im just at the thinking about it part at the moment really. I know what im doing when it comes to mixing a band and stuff, I mean im no expert but im not bad, so I feel that side of it would be ok really.

 

thanks in advance, Mark

 

 

Mark, would be useful to know what the rig consists of

[marklong]

ok, yes sorry, well the FOH is

x4 Mackie 1232z

x2 Mackie 1801z

 

the mics

Mic Flightcase including x3 Shure SM58 Beta, x1 SM58, x 6 Senheiser vocal mics,

x2 Senheiser condenser mics, x3 Senheiser amp mics (over 2 grands worth of mics)

 

£400's worth of Pro Silver Van Damm leads for PA

32 channel 8 return, heavy duty 40 metre multicore

x1 Large Flight Case with around 2 grands worth of XLR cables, power leads etc

 

 

and there is also a fair bit of lighting and stuff too., I can list if that helps at all ?

 

mark

[mervaka]

does a mixer come with the package?

[marklong]

no, that is the only thing that is missing, I know its needed tho, so would have to sort that out,

 

the guy has said all the gear that he is selling cost him around 20k new

[TomHoward]

I'm having trouble making two grand's worth of mics out of what you've described, and if you've already taken £400's worth of 'PA' cables out of the flight case, how many XLR and power leads come to £2000?

[marklong]

hi tom, I see what your saying, he did say that he didnt list everything, as it was just what he could think of at the time when he sent the e-mail, he did say that there is a fair bit more than he listed, but thats the main things.

[ian hatch]

Hi Mark

There is a load of factors to take in to account when setting a price IE: distance, amount of kit, accomadation, lengh of gig, other PA hire companies prices etc.

But for a general idea £250-300 would mainly cover the kit for a 4 piece band, 100 mile round trip, 200ish crowd, 11-12 o'clock finish.

Yes different parts of the country do charge different amounts IE: London is the most expensive because of parking charges/fines Congrestion charges.

But after a while you will have it sussed for your local area.

 

PS:

If you PM me, I have a Mackie PA that I'm selling, that sounds better value that what you've been offered.

[paulsparrow]

seems a lot for Mackies. multicore, a few mics and cables.

 

No desk, monitors, stands ?, outboard

 

second hand gear is usually pretty cheap in this economic climate, check second hand prices on ebay for a more realistic value, I recently bought 3 x 10 way 40metre multicores and a cable drum on ebay for £ 170-00, plus £200-00 odd to make them workable: split stageboxes etc

[Ynot]

Mark.

 

the important thing here, as with ANY business venture, is to do YOUR sums.

That means working out how much you're going to need to spend before you even get the kit into the van to go tou your first gig.

 

eg: Do you already have a suitable van in which to transport this PA setup?

If so, factor in a percentage of insurance (which will be higher as you're transporting expensive kit), road tax, etc.

If not, in addition to the above, how much will you need to spend to get one...?

 

Do you already have public liability insurance? Not cheap...

 

Do you have a suitable secure storage facility and how much will that cost you?

 

Then, when you actually start to do gigs, you need to consider petrol/diesel for the van, parking costs, feeding yourself if it's a long day etc.

 

Are you able to load/offload/setup all on your own, or will you need A N Other to assist - potential extra wages there.

 

All of the above will eat into your fees.

 

THEN you need to look at how you're going to finance the purchase of the gear. It's very easy to think that to pay back a loan of £8K (even without interest) will take you 'x' gigs - eg if you charge an average of £250, then 32 gigs/shows would cover it...

But when you account for all of the potential costs involved, you're probably only going to see (effectively) maybe half of that income

as 'profit'. From what's left, you then pay off the loan, say, but then also have to bear in mind that if you're looking to make this a living - or even as something to generate you some extra pocket money - then that needs to be taken into account as well.

 

Going into business for yourself is a really tricky business, to be honest. Don't expect to make a load of cash any time soon.

And if you fail to get what you need, and decide to sell up, don't expect to get anywhere near what you paid for the gear!

 

EDIT to correct my awful maths error!!

[Biro]

Think you might be being ripped off there!

 

 

I too struggled to make 20K out of that amount of gear, even adding in some lighting!

 

 

 

You should charge the amount that covers your costs of buying over a given number of rentals. Then factor in overheads such as petrol/tax/insurance/Additional staff?

 

 

Think im just repeating what others have said really!

[Jivemaster]

If it's to be a sale then you NEED a full and accurate list of the full contents. So far it sounds a lot of money for that list.

 

Note how much you will have to add to the kit before you can go out gigging.

[Pete McCrea]

And you really need to bear the cost of fuel in mind. £75 got me a tank full for our crafter today. We'll be lucky to 400 miles out of that. And £560 on discs and pads alround, so you need to factor those costs in too. Were renewing our insurance, and this years insurance is going to cost in excess of £4k for kit, ELI and PLI. Some that you require to employ people, and the rest for price of mind for when some scrote nicks your PA.

 

Pa hire is a tough game. Were lucky in that we have video kit which has much better margins. If it were me I'd steer well clear from starting a PA rental business at the moment.

[Dan Gruner]

Pa hire is a tough game. Were lucky in that we have video kit which has much better margins. If it were me I'd steer well clear from starting a PA rental business at the moment.

 

Yes quite. A mugs game in my opinion. I only do it because I'm so passionate about sound and giving it the best it deserves. Much easier ways to earn more money...

 

Happy Dan! :P

[Rob_Beech]

Crikey you have a small fuel tank!

 

 

As others have said, you need to know exactly what you're getting. Another question, (in the nicest possible way) is, can you use this stuff to it's full potential. You could have all the kit in the world and if you can't put it together and get a nice sound it's not worth anything per night. I'm sure this ins't the case.