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[Aaron Maurer]

I have an up coming week long event with the first Saturday having 5 bands throughout the day. Requested a stage clock and they have told me to obtain one. What is the normal "if it exists" size, color, etc. that is the general rule to control stage times?   I get in to a few of these events every year so it will get some use in the future but am looking for something inexpensive. Thanks

[Rob Spence]

I use a cheap 12" clock I got at Walmart. White with big, easy to read numbers. One C or D battery per year.

I made a bracket that fits a mic stand. I put it near a front corner of the stage facing the band. That way they know when to end.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Mark Cadwallader]

My buddy does a number of showcase events that are tightly timed. He has an old laptop with a simple program that runs a countdown timer. The background goes from green to yellow (2 minutes) to red (0 minutes) to flashing red at 1 minute over.  Performers are warned that once they are into a flashing red light, audio and lights may be faded down without further warning.  The laptop just sits by the lip of the stage so it is easily seen by the act and easily reset by crew.

[Steve Eudaly]

I use a cheap 12" clock I got at Walmart. White with big, easy to read numbers. One C or D battery per year.

Yep, this is pretty much the perfect daytime solution. If used at night, just make sure there is enough light on the face to read from stage.

Alternatively for indoor shows or night time, a no-frills bedside digital alarm clock with large numbers works well. If you've got a monitor world, I like to set it on the doghouse of the monitor desk so performers see it anytime they look at the monitor engy.

We do a fair amount of comedy shows, and FWIW I find comedians often request a digital clock with red numbers, so that's what we keep around.

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

Multi-act shows?  Tight schedule?

Stage manager...

[Steve Eudaly]

Multi-act shows?  Tight schedule?

Stage manager...

Seriously, though. Good SMs are worth every penny.

[Dave Garoutte]

Seriously, though. Good SMs are worth every penny.

+5

[Tim McCulloch]

Seriously, though. Good SMs are worth every penny.

Learned from a no-BS SM:  "I don't care how long you take to set up or when you start playing, but you WILL stop on time and leave the stage on schedule or I will have the local crew remove your backline while you are playing."

He was serious.  He also had a plan to deal with acts that tested his resolve:  parking a road grader in front of an offending act's bus or semi and sending the operator off to meal break. 

[Lee Buckalew]

Learned from a no-BS SM:  "I don't care how long you take to set up or when you start playing, but you WILL stop on time and leave the stage on schedule or I will have the local crew remove your backline while you are playing."

He was serious.  He also had a plan to deal with acts that tested his resolve:  parking a road grader in front of an offending act's bus or semi and sending the operator off to meal break.

SM's that are in charge is definitely the way to go.  A timer as a reminder can be helpful but as much as an in charge SM.

Back in my festival days I had a few acts that were notorious for their long setup times.  I told them on their in's that whatever time they took over their "allowed" load in time I was deducting the same amount of time on the out.  They were never happy about it but we also never ran over. 

Lee

[Josh Millward]

Learned from a no-BS SM:  "I don't care how long you take to set up or when you start playing, but you WILL stop on time and leave the stage on schedule or I will have the local crew remove your backline while you are playing."

That sounds just like the kinds of things I would tell the bands rolling up on the stage that I'm house monitor guy and stage manager on. They never liked to hear it either and would whinge and cry about "we are supposed to play a xx? minute set!" I would always reply with, "No, you are set to play from (this time) to (that time). At (that time) you are off the stage. You can use all your time to set up and tear down, I don't really care. There are (some number) of bands to play on this stage after you today, so you better get going."

Fortunately I never had to cut anyone off or throw them off the stage. Often, because we were explicitly clear about it before hand, they would end a couple minutes early so we could get the stage cleared for the next band. Generally, it worked pretty well.

[Dave Bednarski]

I carry this, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B3YQHDQ - I have the seconds gaffed over and the AM/PM + :'s so the blinking isn't distracting.  On the right side where the seconds would be I sometimes slap a "done" time or schedule.  No substitute for a stage manager but its obnoxious and you can't miss it!  Fits nice in a soft gator case.

Kitchen table photo... http://dbmisc.s3.amazonaws.com/Image-1.jpg

[Brian Jojade]

I use a cheap 12" clock I got at Walmart. White with big, easy to read numbers. One C or D battery per year.

I made a bracket that fits a mic stand. I put it near a front corner of the stage facing the band. That way they know when to end.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

But do kids these days know how to read those old fashioned round clocks??

[Lee Douglas]

But do kids these days know how to read those old fashioned round clocks??

I took a new kid to help set up a show last weekend, in one of our older vehicles.  It was seasonably warm, but for some reason he just sat the sweating with the window up.  About half way there I finally had to ask why he didn't roll his window down.  He sheepishly admitted he didn't know, but didn't want to seem like an idiot.  He had never seen a manual roll down window crank before.  He was so amazed at the old technology that he took a picture of it to show his friends.  It was another "yer old" moment for me as we discussed rotary phones, CRTs and floor mounted high beam buttons.

[Aaron Maurer]

Yes they have a dedicated Stage Manager lined up (I picked him). I also had the organizers rent a drumkit and I think I am going to ask for a bass amp as well for the day.  First band on at noon and the last one on at 8pm with an acoustic act between sets. Organizers have been great and have been very gracious to fund every request.

[Ned Ward]

I took a new kid to help set up a show last weekend, in one of our older vehicles.  It was seasonably warm, but for some reason he just sat the sweating with the window up.  About half way there I finally had to ask why he didn't roll his window down.  He sheepishly admitted he didn't know, but didn't want to seem like an idiot.  He had never seen a manual roll down window crank before.  He was so amazed at the old technology that he took a picture of it to show his friends.  It was another "yer old" moment for me as we discussed rotary phones, CRTs and floor mounted high beam buttons.

My 67 Lemans has rollup windows, and watching my daughter's friend have the same puzzlement was funny. Then watching her try to use a crank for the first time was like watching a baby's first steps...


We played in several of Fortune's Battle of the Corporate Bands competitions, and for bands that don't play a lot of timed sets, having a nice big countdown clock helps. We were also told 5 min on, 15 min play, and 5 min off for all gear. We practiced that way and it worked, but for festivals, I'm guessing a lot of these kids may not know how long they've been noodling on a song, or realize how much time tuning up takes if you're doing it while on stage. So a combo of things may help.


For $65, this wouldn't be bad...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-Led-Digital-Wall-Clock-US-Delivery-Alarm-clocks-Watch-Countdown-Timer-/182633587005?epid=858613324&hash=item2a85cf613d:g:AN8AAOSwc-tY7J6f

[Stephen Kirby]

For people not used to change-overs, see if you can get the guitarists to wire their stuff up and put it on top of their amp.  Then you can move the amp on stage and pull all the other stuff up to the front.  Even pedalboards wired up and sitting on top the amp.  Same thing with the strike.  Put it on top the amp and pull the whole thing down, disconnect after it's off the stage.  Put the guitar in the case first thing and wipe it down later.

[Dave Bednarski]

For people not used to change-overs, see if you can get the guitarists to wire their stuff up and put it on top of their amp.  Then you can move the amp on stage and pull all the other stuff up to the front.  Even pedalboards wired up and sitting on top the amp.

You can also try using a Stihl BR450, start upstage left and work down.  There are a few different tube sizes depending on the size of the pedal boards and what needs to be moved.

[Noah D Mitchell]

You can also try using a Stihl BR450, start upstage left and work down.  There are a few different tube sizes depending on the size of the pedal boards and what needs to be moved.

Best idea yet.

[Ned Ward]

For people not used to change-overs, see if you can get the guitarists to wire their stuff up and put it on top of their amp.  Then you can move the amp on stage and pull all the other stuff up to the front.  Even pedalboards wired up and sitting on top the amp.  Same thing with the strike.  Put it on top the amp and pull the whole thing down, disconnect after it's off the stage.  Put the guitar in the case first thing and wipe it down later.

Steve - great suggestion. This is why I moved to a Pedaltrain Nano with a rechargeable Volto battery power underneath for the last competition. No power cord to attach, and easy to carry on/off stage with guitar in other hand. I'm always freaking out watching bands start to move gear and their guitar is sitting there on a stand... or worse, leaning against an amp.


Wipe it down? That's for after the show when at home and I'm changing the strings. Done with the show, into the gig bag and off the stage.


Had to check on the Stihl model, as besides leaf blowers, they do make other 2-stroke machines that could clear the stage, but there is additional clean up needed...

[Dave Bednarski]

snapped a pic last night at the street festival job of the clock in the wild...

[Steve Alves]

What is being used as a prompter?

[Dave Bednarski]

What is being used as a prompter?

"Wolfgang Telemonitor" - http://www.wolfgangtelemonitor.com

It is a well constructed wedge style monitor box... with a screen mounted and inside a compact computer running Windows running PowerPoint... there is a foot controller to move around the deck.  The girls in this particular band have it plug-n-play. 

[ProSoundWeb Community]