Top time saving tips

[Mark Wild]

At the moment my setup time from kit in van to completion is between 1 1/2 - 2 hours. I work alone and enjoy building my rig to what I would like to think is a high standard, but of course I'd like to drop this time and wondered if you guys have had ideas and acted on them and thought to yourself " wow ! now that's a time saver " if so what were they? and how much time do you think it saved you roughly?

Cheers fellas :)

Mark

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Taking a smaller rig. Saves lots of time. :sj:

[[email protected]]

I found a really useful thing is to put all your XLR's on a cable reel, no more tangled cables, eventually the leads you use the most, are always at the front, and normally come off the reel in the order you need them.

Revolutionised my life, well as far as setting up the disco is concerned.:D

[Shakermaker Promotions]

This works for me.
I have everything in seperate flightcases or boxes to save time looking for certain things. I have a big van so the giraffe stand base is always in there and set up apart from the uprights. Most of the lights I use already have the G-Clamps on and can be unpacked and packed away like that.
I have seperate cases for Extension Leads/Power/Clamps.... Speaker Leads/Kettle Leads.... DMX Leads and Uplighters...etc etc...

When I get to a venue I have a seperate case that is massive. I pick and choose the leads I need from each box and transfer it all to the seperate case and then I have everything I need and I am not transporting loads of different boxes backwards and forwards. At the end of the night, I take it all down, put it back in the one box and sort it all out either when I get back or the next day.

Now, I KNOW someone will say..."Well, why don't you just take one big box with everything that you need in it to save sorting out stuff and taking all the other boxes?"...Well, the reason I don't do that is because I like to make sure I have plenty of stuff just incase it's needed. A bit like the dreaded topic yesterday where Rob was asked to provide an extra, didn't have it and has had to source it.

I also have collapsable wheels to transport everything from the van to the venue which helps the old back etc etc.

I guess if you used the same lights all the time then you could pre-wire a bar etc but I don't do that personally. For example: I use my 8 LEDJ Colourbursts for both uplighting and band lighting. If I have a band lighting gig then I will chuck them all on the bars beforehand and put the DMX leads in etc..Then it's simply a case of putting it on the upright and connecting the leads to the light box.

[Jay]

I've found that taking more care packing away, saves time setting up. eg I used to have all my cables in one box, and at the end of the night found myself just chucking them all in to get away quicker, now I have a small padded bag for each type of cable, and at the end of each night roll them up nicely and put them in the appropriate bag. So when I come to setup I know exactly where each cable is and don't have to mess around untangling them.

[Shaun]

As Daz said...taking a smaller rig works great. :)

Other time saving tips that work for me are.....

I keep the ultimax stand setup with flightcase on it, and bought a ramp for the van. Now I just wheel the stand/flightcase straight out the van. 1 plug into the mains and an xlr into each of the mackies, couple of mains leads plugged in - voila sound ready to go in a matter of minutes.

I also prewired my lighting bar and keep the G Clamps on it. 2 minutes to put the light FX on the bar and I'm ready to go.

[Mark Wild]

Just goes to show experience counts for alot, great advice so far guy's thanks alot. I'm thinking I need to sell my Astravan and buy a Transit as with the Astra everything needs to be erected when I get to the venue. A pre wired gantry and stand would save me loads of time.

[rob1963]

If I arrive at a venue & am not keen on the look of the client, my time saving tip is to get back in the van & drive home.



*Insert sarcastic smiley here*

[Vectis]

I too am constrained by the small van syndrome. My driveway is too narrow for a big van so I'm stuck with it unless I move house...

so...

By far the biggest timesavers for me were:

1. Ultimax powerlite bar, prewired with mains (some switched, some permanent), DMX and a couple of pass-thrus for CA8s even. So it's a single bulgin plug and a single XLR to plug in for most gigs, connect the lights to the sockets using moulded 50cm IEC leads - sorted.

2. Proper flightcases for the lighting effects so they can keep their hanging brackets fixed wherever possible in transit.

3. Numbered labels on the lights. Every second counts...

4. Insulation tape colour coded XLR and IEC cables - red band = 1m, green = 2m, blue = 5m etc.

5. Getting everything DMX'd to get rid of the handheld controllers

6. Racking the whole playout system in a single mixer case. 3 leads pop out the side - mains in, USB HDD connector, spare USB cable in case laptop is used as audio source

7. Active speakers


My Premier rig used to take well over an hour, sometimes 90 minutes. Now it's up in about 40 minutes and looks a lot neater than it used to. :beer1:

[Mark Wild]

Can you still buy the Ultimax powerlite bar on its own or was it discontinued? Colour coding my XLR and IEC cables is something I will do for sure. I've also been contemplating selling my passive JBL EON's and my Allen & Heath powered desk to fund some Mackies. Food for thought for sure. Thnx VV

[Vectis]

Can you still buy the Ultimax powerlite bar on its own or was it discontinued?

It's discontinued (:bang: :bang: :bang: ) but if you shop around...

... worst case scenario you can buy the pole mounts and a length of standard light steel trunking and make your own. There's nothing clever about what Ultimax did with this stuff it should be dead easy to replicate. Biggest consideration would be the loading calculations but in these LED days that's not such a big deal any more.

[ppentertainments]

desk to fund some Mackies. Food for thought for sure. Thnx VV

Why ?? Do your venues not have heating in ??:eek: :p

[rob1963]

Why ?? Do your venues not have heating in ??:eek: :p

:jawdrop:

[Mark Wild]

If I arrive at a venue & am not keen on the look of the client, my time saving tip is to get back in the van & drive home.



*Insert sarcastic smiley here*

So do you actually have any tips Rob?

[Vectis]

It's discontinued

... but a quick google shows plenty of vendors purporting to stock it - UKDJ and EBDJ being two of them. Might be worth a phone call or email.


I thought of a #8:

Now you've got flightcases and bags for everything, put the relevant cables away with the individual items rather than bunging the whole lot in a big bag. Cuts down rooting out time, and also means that once you're in the habit you can mix 'n' match effects at will without worrying about carrying ALL your cables with you.

[Mark Wild]

I thought of a #8:

Now you've got flightcases and bags for everything, put the relevant cables away with the individual items rather than bunging the whole lot in a big bag. Cuts down rooting out time, and also means that once you're in the habit you can mix 'n' match effects at will without worrying about carrying ALL your cables with you.

I wonder how many people put the relevant cables with the relevant item? I know I haven't been (but will now). Rooting through my cable bag gets on my wick and takes ages. Top one VV :beer1: :beer1: Simple yet effective

[rob1963]

So do you actually have any tips Rob?

Apologies if the sarcasm in my previous post didn't go down well.

Well, the move to digital saved me having to carry in the boxes of CDs to every gig, my x-stand for the console only takes 1 second to set up, I have the hanging brackets permanently attached to my lighting effects, 2 of my basic lights aren't in cases, I use simple tripods & t bars for my lighting rather than big trussing or goalposts and I'm currently looking for some tripod bags so I can carry all my stands & t bars into the venue in one trip...rather than two trips like at present.

That's all I can think of for now.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

why not post a picture of your usual rig?

[rob1963]

why not post a picture of your usual rig?

I'd be happy to...except I don't have any!

The only pics I have are like the ones on my site...people enjoying themselves at my gigs.

[DeckstarDeluxe]

I'd be happy to...except I don't have any!

The only pics I have are like the ones on my site...people enjoying themselves at my gigs.

Sorry i directed that at the OP so we know what equipment he is taking.

[PropellerHeadCase]

I thought of a #8:

Now you've got flightcases and bags for everything, put the relevant cables away with the individual items rather than bunging the whole lot in a big bag. Cuts down rooting out time, and also means that once you're in the habit you can mix 'n' match effects at will without worrying about carrying ALL your cables with you.

I used to do that, too, and will again once I have the appropriate boxes sought and sorted.

[rob1963]

Sorry i directed that at the OP so we know what equipment he is taking.

Oops...sorry!

As it came straight after my post & didn't have a quote, I assumed it was directed at me.

[Mark Wild]

why not post a picture of your usual rig?

I don't see how that would help you post what YOUR top time saving tips are.

[Charlie Brown]

I don't see how that would help you post what YOUR top time saving tips are.

Because it allows us to see what you have and if we can comment what you could improve etc...the time saving tips are for you at the end of the day:)

[Mark Wild]

Because it allows us to see what you have and if we can comment what you could improve etc...the time saving tips are for you at the end of the day:)

What I have is irelavant I could change my setup from one gig to the next, please read the original post again. The other guys that have posted didn't seem to have such an issue and posted THEIR top time saving tips. If you don't have any, don't post on here. Simples ;)

[ppentertainments]

Keep the same rig - sounds stupid, but I was forever changing my rig and thus not getting into a good routine.

[Penfold42]

I find nothing wrong in the OP saying he takes betweeen 1.5hrs to 2hrs.

I do this.......and just take my time and get things right....:)

[Vectis]

I find nothing wrong in the OP saying he takes betweeen 1.5hrs to 2hrs.

I do this.......and just take my time and get things right....:)


Absolutely, and when the time's available I like to get things 110% too.

But sometimes it's just not possible. Quite often you get about 30 minutes whilst a room is being turned around and you need to move all the gear in through the same door that 100 guests, 20 staff, tables and chairs are coming out of :o

[Penfold42]

But sometimes it's just not possible. Quite often you get about 30 minutes whilst a room is being turned around and you need to move all the gear in through the same door that 100 guests, 20 staff, tables and chairs are coming out of :o

Never get this problem.....:)

[spin mobile disco]

I use 3 cable looms for all my cabling. This means I can dmx all my effects together in a very short time. As each loom is suited to a certain number of effects I can mix and match when required or just use a single loom. It also means as long as all the dip switches are set on my effects they will always be already in sequence. Saved my about 20 minutes of finding cables and working out what goes where.
My decks unit is also pre wired so simply plugging it into my amps and the mains supply is all I have to do to be ready to go with sound. This cut down another 10 minutes on my old setup time.
Not including getting gear in to the venue and settign up starcloths (which I do not always use) I can have full sound and lighting on in under 20 minutes.

[nigelwright7557]

I usually manage to set up in 30 minutes approx if its an easy lift in.

It varies a little according to venue especially on the size of the stage.
I sometimes cant fit all my gear on the stage so some of it gets left in the motor.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

I prewired all my lighting rigs, which saves a hell of a lot of time. Im going to put everything in one case. Makes life easier, imo.

[djsteve10]

Pre wire your lighting rig, Get your equipment into seperate flightcases to make stacking and organising easier.

I have also found when outside the venue waiting for the wedding breakfast to finish I have built up the stands, truss, & also got out all the correct wires that I will need for the rig.

[wensleydale]

a console flight case pre wired saved me most time.
lights i often find i vary from event to event but the "core" of my sound system is the same from one week to the next.

[Dynamic Entertainment]

Get your equipment into seperate flightcases to make stacking and organising easier.

I would have to disagree there. I use CDJs and Mixer in seperates, and its an absolute pain in the backside.

Ive even favored using the cheap Citronic mixer and numark cd players as ther are rackmount and in one box. All i do is plug in the power and signal and im done. Its also one trip to the car, instead of 2-3 :)

[rob1963]

My set up time is about 45 minutes from my arrival at the venue, assuming access is reasonably good.

Out of interest, for those of you who take 1.5 to 2 hours, if you can't do an early set up due to space restrictions, what happens if you have to set up while the room is turned around?

I'm just curious, because I find it takes about half an hour to turn the room around, so even with my 45 minute set up time, they still have to wait another 15 minutes while I finish setting up.

When they've turned the room around, if the staff have to wait another hour and a half, that could make for a rather short evening, especially in the case of weddings, which are usually running late anyway.

:shrug:

[Tom]

Can't really think of anything as most of the other members has covered everything I was going to say. lol.

I do one thing with my cables though.

I always pack the leads I put on the frame for lighting last for example. For me, I have the extension leads at the top of the cable bag, then followed by dmx leads then power leads.


Seems to work for me.

Just thought I would share. :)

[Mark Wild]

Just thought I would share. :)

Cheers Tom ;)

[Bouncy Dancefloor]

i agree with deckstar, if we know what equipment you were using, then we cuold suggest tips for speeding up your setup

theres no point us telling you about leaving a goalpost setup, when we dont know if you have one

the same with active speakers, number of lights and whether you take 10 metres of starcloth backdrop with you

[Mark Wild]

i agree with deckstar, if we know what equipment you were using, then we cuold suggest tips for speeding up your setup

theres no point us telling you about leaving a goalpost setup, when we dont know if you have one

the same with active speakers, number of lights and whether you take 10 metres of starcloth backdrop with you

I've picked up a ton of tips from this thread which is going to speed up my setup. :D

[Corabar Steve]

As mentioned in another thread, I leave my stand base assembled & it has wheels. Off the van & into the venue how it is when set up, all I do then is hang the lights & run the leads to everything. OK, this doesn't work so well when there are stairs involved, but you'd have to carry everything up separately then anyway.

[Tom]

i agree with deckstar, if we know what equipment you were using, then we cuold suggest tips for speeding up your setup

theres no point us telling you about leaving a goalpost setup, when we dont know if you have one

the same with active speakers, number of lights and whether you take 10 metres of starcloth backdrop with you

I don't know if its me but I would see this as gear snobbery.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I don't know if its me but I would see this as gear snobbery.

Eh? :confused:

[Grahame Case]

Eh? :confused:

i know what Tom is getting at,

some people pick apart peoples rigs when they post them up, I know Mark hasn't got anything to hide, but it isn't necessary to post up a picture of his equipment to receive some time saving tips is it?

[yourdj]

1: Trailer or van
2: prewired equipment. My tbar is pre wired and pre lighted in a carry case.
3: use your storage equipment as a stand (with nice looking cover)
4: smaller more effective rig
5: active speakers, although i have passive.
6: do things in the same order and methodically.
7: don't get sidetracked talking to people
8: i do not use trussing, stands, goal posts etc. which saves time.
9: effective parking to get in and out more effectively


i know what Tom is getting at,

some people pick apart peoples rigs

Different rigs can suit different venues and event types. I like to think mine fits in with the decor of New Forest wedding venues and does not stand out. Just personal preference :)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_044PTfUkGaA/SaC1cdq5vPI/AAAAAAAABao/8kfW0gFUmFU/s320/set+up+1.jpg

[Mark Wild]

i know what Tom is getting at,

some people pick apart peoples rigs when they post them up, I know Mark hasn't got anything to hide, but it isn't necessary to post up a picture of his equipment to receive some time saving tips is it?

I posted my first ever rig, nothing to hide here at all. As you say a picture of my rig isn't imperative for the thread. All the posts in response to the thread have offered me excellent advice without it. I've taken action on some of the advice already today. I don't think in this game you ever stop learning do you? So the posts that weren't applicable to my setup may well give someone else an idea to save a few minutes.

[rob1963]

I don't know if its me but I would see this as gear snobbery.

That's one thing I could never be accused of......with my 100% non-Pioneer & non-Denon equipment, £49 Acme gobo flower & £28 mushroom light from ebay!

:D

[Grahame Case]

That's one thing I could never be accused of......with my 100% non-Pioneer & non-Denon equipment, £49 Acme gobo flower & £28 mushroom light from ebay!

:D

ah Rob, you don't need fancy lights and equipment for pub quizes :D

[Dynamic Entertainment]

For all my fancy equipment, im still gonna have to go and get something like this: http://www.cybermarket.co.uk/ishop/923/shopscr5807.html as ive got a wedding booking for August, for a bride and groom....who met at a epilepsy support group!!!!! So much for all the technology eh. I can see that set up being very quick :) The more advanced the technology, the longer it takes imo.

Also forgot to add, try and keep everything near to you, as if you have to get down and gaffatape 20-30m of cables it can take ages :)

[rob1963]

ah Rob, you don't need fancy lights and equipment for pub quizes :D

OR mobile discos! :D :D :D

[Kernow]

For all my fancy equipment, im still gonna have to go and get something like this: http://www.cybermarket.co.uk/ishop/923/shopscr5807.html as ive got a wedding booking for August, for a bride and groom....who met at a epilepsy support group!!!!! So much for all the technology eh. I can see that set up being very quick :) The more advanced the technology, the longer it takes imo.

Also forgot to add, try and keep everything near to you, as if you have to get down and gaffatape 20-30m of cables it can take ages :)

Personally I prefer the Vexin set ;)

[Mark Wild]

At the moment my setup time from kit in van to completion is between 1 1/2 - 2 hours. I work alone and enjoy building my rig to what I would like to think is a high standard, but of course I'd like to drop this time and wondered if you guys have had ideas and acted on them and thought to yourself " wow ! now that's a time saver " if so what were they? and how much time do you think it saved you roughly?

Cheers fellas :)

Mark

Went active, bought a transit and prewired my overhead, 45 minutes setup, ready to roll. Done ! Nice one fellas :)

[DJ INDIE]

miles better isnt it!

ive downsized everything, and recently dumped all my gear onto the living room floor, for a 'proper' assessment of what i needed, what i wanted and what i actually used.

all the things i used at every gig got put to one side, all the stuff i didnt got put up for sale. i then put my gigging stuff together, plus a spare for everything (cables,psu's,bulbs etc) and anything that was left i put in a 'spares suitcase' (mainly extra spare cables etc) which now permanently lives in my car boot.

i then took a bit of time unbolted and separated everything and started from scratch and now have everything playout wise, including wireless mic in one rack box all pre wired ready to plug in and go. and the lighting bar is pre wired too.

jobs a good un!

the amount of ridiculous stuff ive hoarded, carried around and never used over the years was ridiculous! ............. old speaker cable, broken psu's, bungee cord??!, out of date diaries, lamp gels, spares for items i dont have anymore, dead batteries......almost saved a full trip to the car and back getting rid of all the junk! :)

[Jiggles]

miles better isnt it!

ive downsized everything, and recently dumped all my gear onto the living room floor, for a 'proper' assessment of what i needed, what i wanted and what i actually used.

all the things i used at every gig got put to one side, all the stuff i didnt got put up for sale. i then put my gigging stuff together, plus a spare for everything (cables,psu's,bulbs etc) and anything that was left i put in a 'spares suitcase' (mainly extra spare cables etc) which now permanently lives in my car boot.

i then took a bit of time unbolted and separated everything and started from scratch and now have everything playout wise, including wireless mic in one rack box all pre wired ready to plug in and go. and the lighting bar is pre wired too.

jobs a good un!

the amount of ridiculous stuff ive hoarded, carried around and never used over the years was ridiculous! ............. old speaker cable, broken psu's, bungee cord??!, out of date diaries, lamp gels, spares for items i dont have anymore, dead batteries......almost saved a full trip to the car and back getting rid of all the junk! :)

Thats pretty much what i have done and my dad loves it! More room in the car and less trips! Brilliant! :D Best ever purchase was a set of active speakers!

[DJ INDIE]

i changed to actives 2 years ago and will never change back - and why i never took the time to think about how to get everything in one small compact case before amazes me! i used to have a full box for mics, one for cd players, one for laptop, one for mixer, big suitcase of cables, all the lighting, separate lights too .....now its nice and tidy.

i dont know how many trips from the car i'd need to do now (i'll have to work that out) but i bet its over 2/3 less than i had to do a year ago - and all the equipment is miles better too! beltin'! :)

[Jiggles]

i changed to actives 2 years ago and will never change back - and why i never took the time to think about how to get everything in one small compact case before amazes me! i used to have a full box for mics, one for cd players, one for laptop, one for mixer, big suitcase of cables, all the lighting, separate lights too .....now its nice and tidy.

i dont know how many trips from the car i'd need to do now (i'll have to work that out) but i bet its over 2/3 less than i had to do a year ago - and all the equipment is miles better too! beltin'! :)

Yeh i have the dynamos cased, the Mackies, mixer case, a box o leads and the stand! Its amazing the difference. Why didn't do it earlier! Its 6 trips between 2 people!