First Big Show

[dpdan]

I agree about setting monitor balances, standing next to the musician's monitor... it's wonderful!
Just the pure lack of having to set up tons of FOH gear is a blast.

[Wynnd]

I miss having a booth.  Now I usually work from a very small table.  And Colorado sunshine is a problem without a tent

[dpdan]

I hear you Wynnd,
I sold my Allen & Heath analog console on eBay along with most of the outboard gear associated with it, 
when it was all sold, I enough money to buy an Allen & Heath Qu24 with AR2412 stage box and a DL mixer. I had no cash layout for the change of gear.

When I do a concert, I use the Qu24 with faders which is very nice. However, most of my jobs are done with the Mackie DL32R.
And yes, sunshine is a problem with iPads and touch screens. I used to have an Easy-Up tent, but I sold that too and replaced it with a crank up umbrella for a patio table, it works great.

 


 

[Keyboard Magic]

I use a 10x10 easy up tent on rare occasions. They're still a pain to set up, but the shade is pretty good. If you're on pavement, you can't lock the legs down and if it's really windy, over goes your shade. Gotta get some weights for the legs I think.

[Kev tyler]

i did a gig outside with my pad, some birds dropped their load on my screen, that's probably lucky the barman said, an hour later I popped my compression driver,

Yeah really lucky,

 

[dpdan]

WOW Kev,
popping and pooping... that was a bad day 

[Michael Welter]

I have an easy up, too, and love the shade. But after a bad experience with wind, I bought four metal buckets, filled them with concrete, and tie them to the four corners of the easy up. It works perfectly.

[RoadRanger]

I have an easy up, too, and love the shade. But after a bad experience with wind, I bought four metal buckets, filled them with concrete, and tie them to the four corners of the easy up. It works perfectly.

How much does each weigh? I've heard others worried about what happens when enough wind comes up to lift them weights and have one bash someone's head in . Another thing I've seen is those flexible 5 gallon drinking water jugs used, sometimes two per leg. Assuming you can get water on-site they don't load your transport down.
Kinda funny, when I was driving trucks one of our customers was a large tent company, they had 2000 lb weights we'd transport for them used to guy these huge tents down.

[Michael Welter]

I haven't weighed them, but I would guess about 40 lbs each. So it would take a pretty fierce wind to lift them. So far, they've worked perfectly. But I like water bottle idea.

[RoadRanger]

Water is 8.3 lbs per gallon so 5 gallons is 41.5 lbs. The downside to filling on-site is the time involved.

[Rdmitch]

Can't you just pound some stakes into the ground and not tote 200 lbs of water or concrete ?

When on pavement, I have just put a paver block on the leg

[Michael Welter]

Stakes would work on dirt or grass. But I don't do outdoor shows often. And the buckets work for any venue, or even when I use the easy up in my back yard at a party. 

[Wynnd]

And any places where there is grass, there is usually a sprinkler system that can be damaged by stakes.  Always check before driving them in.  Weights work everywhere.

[Michael Welter]

I just picked up a new Airport Express router. After all the discussion here about giving the network a name that would discourage people from pinging the network, I decided to name my network, "NSA Surveillance". That should do the trick.

[Wynnd]

Also helps to have a passphrase for security.  Easy to remember and longer and harder to crack.  NSA?  Funny.