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[Bharat Bajaj]

Dear all ,
             I’ve a sound rental company , we are ok with doing bands of all types using various mixers . Now that we are growing and getting more technical shows I want to learn more about the switching of bands with there riders in concerts etc. I usually cater to Coporate and Pvt clients. Recently we had Dnb v series as pa ,Sennheiser 2000 IEM , Dnb max being with SD 10 on FOH and s6l 24c on monitors , we had splitter the channels using a audio splitter 1:2. It was okay till this time.

Until a late edition 3rd band gets hooked and they don’t want to share drum kit or any Musical instruments. Mainly because earlier bands were Bollywood and this band was jazz . Two completely different sounds. Jazz band wanted a very basic set up of around 34 channels , the engineer didn’t want to share console. So we put in a third mixer which was our back up SC48 for this, but we had to lay lines etc again, manually change the output between mixers and so on. I really don’t like this.

The show went fine , though we had a break between every band change for channel check about 10-12 min. The question arose then , how do the big companies shuffle between bands, without wasting any time.

I hope this was a valid question to many. Kindly advice what things could have been done better for future situations like this.

Thanks in advance.

[Mal Brown]

I have no advice for you.  I'm impressed you can move 30+ channels and get it line checked in 10 minutes though.

[Tim Weaver]

I think you answered your own question.

Most bands share the FOH desk on a smaller festival. The headliner usually gets a soundcheck, that is saved to the desk, the. Every other band plays without a sound check. “Throw and go” is what we call it.


  Bigger festivals, many or most of the bands playing will have their own desks and crew. They run their own snakes, and are responsible for their own stuff. The PA company provides the inputs to the system on some sort of matrix or maybe a small desk at FOH which is responsible for smoothly switching desks in and out.

For your situation, what you did was probably the only choice available. Although you should be able to bill this to the promoter for some extra money too.

[Tim McCulloch]

Greetings, Bahrat-

For a long time multiple consoles fed inputs on a "production mixer" that also had inputs for set change music, "voice of god" announcement mic.  No down time while a hot patch was done, no funny noises.  A lot of console snobs would be mortified to learn their signal ran through a Yamaha DM-1000 or 2000 before hitting the system processors.

APB Dynasonics built (and may still build) the MixSwitch, that will noiselessly switch between two sets of 4 inputs, has inputs for a microphone and for a stereo, consumer line level input for music.  They have expansion modules, too.

Many PA providers are using Lake LM-44 in pairs as system drive/matrixing.  The Dante inputs are separate from the AES and analogue (IIRC) so making a preset that switches between those allows multiple connections to an individual device.  It also provides the FOH tool most often requested by band mixerpersons.

[Bharat Bajaj]

Greetings, Bahrat-

For a long time multiple consoles fed inputs on a "production mixer" that also had inputs for set change music, "voice of god" announcement mic.  No down time while a hot patch was done, no funny noises.  A lot of console snobs would be mortified to learn their signal ran through a Yamaha DM-1000 or 2000 before hitting the system processors.

APB Dynasonics built (and may still build) the MixSwitch, that will noiselessly switch between two sets of 4 inputs, has inputs for a microphone and for a stereo, consumer line level input for music.  They have expansion modules, too.

Many PA providers are using Lake LM-44 in pairs as system drive/matrixing.  The Dante inputs are separate from the AES and analogue (IIRC) so making a preset that switches between those allows multiple connections to an individual device.  It also provides the FOH tool most often requested by band mixerpersons.
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Dear sir thank you for this information. However as I mostly do social and wedding functions, it’s usually is with one foh and one Moh, to be used by all.

I will defenately check APB products. Thanks again.

[Bharat Bajaj]

Dear sir,
I like your term THrow and Go….

However, all bands want a sound check , and we also want them to do so the sound vendor doesn’t get blamed for any mishaps..

But thank you, I didn’t know that bands carry there own stage production crew . In India it’s usually the sound engineers for foh and Moh.

But this is a great info. Thanks again..

[Ike Zimbel]

Dear all ,
             I’ve a sound rental company , we are ok with doing bands of all types using various mixers . Now that we are growing and getting more technical shows I want to learn more about the switching of bands with there riders in concerts etc. I usually cater to Coporate and Pvt clients. Recently we had Dnb v series as pa ,Sennheiser 2000 IEM , Dnb max being with SD 10 on FOH and s6l 24c on monitors , we had splitter the channels using a audio splitter 1:2. It was okay till this time.

Until a late edition 3rd band gets hooked and they don’t want to share drum kit or any Musical instruments. Mainly because earlier bands were Bollywood and this band was jazz . Two completely different sounds. Jazz band wanted a very basic set up of around 34 channels , the engineer didn’t want to share console. So we put in a third mixer which was our back up SC48 for this, but we had to lay lines etc again, manually change the output between mixers and so on. I really don’t like this.

The show went fine , though we had a break between every band change for channel check about 10-12 min. The question arose then , how do the big companies shuffle between bands, without wasting any time.

I hope this was a valid question to many. Kindly advice what things could have been done better for future situations like this.

Thanks in advance.

Hi Bharat,
You might find some useful info in  this article that I wrote a while back https://www.prosoundweb.com/foolproof-festival-patch/ With this system I was routinely doing ten-minute changeovers between acts, the last time I was mixing at a festival. That was in the early-to-mid Zeros and we were still using analog desks at FOH and Mon but I don't see why this wouldn't work with digital desks...as long as you stick to a 1:1 assignment in the input patching.

[Tim Weaver]

If all the bands need to soundcheck it can happen. You setup/soundcheck the headliner then every other band in reverse order. Save all those soundchecks in the desks and perform in order. Peel off every band's stuff after they perform, then at the end you are left with just the headliner on stage.

I've done festivals like that too. It makes for a very long day.

[Doug Fowler]

If all the bands need to soundcheck it can happen. You setup/soundcheck the headliner then every other band in reverse order. Save all those soundchecks in the desks and perform in order. Peel off every band's stuff after they perform, then at the end you are left with just the headliner on stage.

I've done festivals like that too. It makes for a very long day.

Fortunately, in the future when we have digital consoles, we will be able to recall each band’s stuff onto a single console.  This will of course obviate the need for multiple consoles on deck. 

“Hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls’ porch since noon today.”

[Tim McCulloch]

Fortunately, in the future when we have digital consoles, we will be able to recall each band’s stuff onto a single console.  This will of course obviate the need for multiple consoles on deck. 

“Hermetically sealed in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls’ porch since noon today.”

And in that same future, BEs will continue to insist on unshared consoles, or have such customized configurations of surface, mix engines, plug in servers, digital audio backbone, video screens, and physical layouts that "sharing" is a concept, not a reality.

"Hiding in plain sight" since about 20 seconds ago..."

/nudge, wink

[Don T. Williams]

A "jazz" band with 34 inputs?  That's not a jazz band, that's a BIG BAND!

[Jim McKeveny]

A "jazz" band with 34 inputs?  That's not a jazz band, that's a BIG BAND!

Did outdoor shows with Ray Charles & a big band. Something like 11 inputs, 2 on the Leslie.

[Mike Monte]

Did outdoor shows with Ray Charles & a big band. Something like 11 inputs, 2 on the Leslie.

In the 90's I played a one-off (rehearsal in the afternoon with show at night) gig on baritone sax in Ray Charles band for an outdoor show on a college campus.
It was a bigband.
Ray wasn't on the rehearsal.  At the performance (while we were playing Ray's intro) a limo pulled up to the stage, he got out and his manager led him to his piano, he felt around for his mic, and banged-out the show. 
He was good!
I felt kinda bad for the poor monitor guy - Ray was on-him in between almost every tune...... 

[Peter Kowalczyk]

When I first saw this thread title, I thought we were talking about Multi-Band Compressors.

[ProSoundWeb Community]