CHPATER 6

DAILY SCHEDULE

A SHOW DAY

The following is an example of a call sheet for setup and show the same day. This type of schedule is typical of a touring show that sets up in six different cities a week. The number of crew members needed to maintain the schedule varies according to size of production and start time. Setup for smaller productions starts later and may also finish later. Large productions may require earlier rigging calls or extra setup days.

The schedule for the production manager would be as follows.

7:00 A.M.

Get out of bed, your bunk on the bus, and get showered and ready for another day of excitement.

7:30 A.M.

Make sure the catering is ready, the venue is open, and the lights are on. Wake up the truck drivers and get the trucks into position ready to unload. Meet the promoter’s production manager for a tour of the venue entrances, facilities, and dressing rooms. Meet with the local crew chief and allocate crew members to the various departments, such as sound and lighting. Meet with the technical manager for the venue and check that all the phones are connected in the office as per the numbers in the itinerary. Set up the production office. Before the truck is unloaded, the desks and chairs can be arranged for the production office case to come off the truck. The touring riggers mark out the points for the venue riggers.

8:00 A.M.

Stagehands, loaders, and riggers start work, and the equipment begins to roll off the trucks. The climbing riggers go to the roof and the ground riggers start to prepare the slings. The lighting crew begins to get its trusses into place and join the sections together. While the chain motors are being rigged, the lighting crew attaches them to the trusses. When the production office case makes it to the office, the fax machine can be connected, and signs can be hung for the dressing rooms and directions to the stage. During this time the electrician connects the lighting power cables to the venue supply. When all the lighting cases are out of the truck, the stagehands work under the direction of the lighting crew to get the trusses up and out of the way of the stage as quickly as possible. By now the office can be fully functional. I use clipboards for all routine forms, such as runners’ lists, time sheets, accounts to be paid. The sound crew should be up and about ready for its call.

10:00 A.M.

The sound crew leaps into action and works with the stagehands to put the speakers into place. The set crew takes its carts off the trucks and prepares to place them on the stage as soon as the lighting trusses are high enough to start assembling the set. The set may be a simple drum riser, but the same principle applies: get the trusses up to head height as soon as possible so that other work can continue on the stage. When the lighting trusses are raised, the cables from the lamps are patched into the dimmers. The production office is quiet at this time, and the production manager can do some advance work. When the advance work is thorough, setup runs without the production manager’s continually being asked for assistance. This leaves time to deal with unexpected problems.

Figure 6–1 Operating a truss spotlight.

Noon

The backline crew begins to set up the instruments. If the stage is not ready, the crew can prepare the guitar tuning stations, arrange the dressing room, and take drums and drum stands out of the cases and ready them to be put on stage. When the trusses are out of the way, the lighting crew takes a lunch break. The sound crew can set up the monitor system and front of house (FOH) consoles and place the microphones on the stands ready to go onto the stage when the backline crew has its equipment ready.

2:00 P.M.

The lighting focus is a good time for the sound, set, and backline crews to have lunch. The focus requires little or no other light than the particular instruments being focused. This makes any other task on stage difficult without a flashlight. The lighting focus can be done quickly if the lighting crew is organized. Communication between the console operator and the crew on the trusses focusing the lamps has to be clear. The lighting crew member who is directing the focus has a planned sequence to focus. This planned sequence minimizes the amount of backtracking on the trusses. The production manager issues passes to local crew and venue staff who need backstage access.

Figure 6–2 Stage plan. Drawn and designed by Sean “Motley” Hackett.

3:30 P.M.

This is a good time for everyone to leave the building. The sound equalization process can be extremely annoying to anyone in the vicinity. Pink noise generally is used to analyze the acoustics of a venue. This is followed by several minutes of “one, two” by the sound engineer and music played at show volume. The sound engineer walks the venue to check the coverage of the speaker system with music at show level. The bigger the venue the longer this takes. The dressing rooms are prepared for the arrival of the musicians.

4:00 P.M.

The musicians and tour manager arrive for the sound check. The production manager greets them and shows them to the dressing room. The sound and backline crews conduct a line check. This entails checking each microphone and setting levels and tone in both FOH and monitor systems.

4:30 P.M.

The sound check procedure starts. The general procedure is to check each musician and then the entire group. The drummer generally has the most channels on a console and takes the longest to check. The time this takes can be reduced if the crew can set the level and tone before the musicians arrive; then only slight adjustments need to be made.

5:30 P.M.

When the headline act has finished its sound check the support act conducts a sound check. The backline crew moves as little as possible to allow space for the support act to set up. The support act has its own backline crew and sound and lighting operators. If they do not have their own operators, they usually use vendor crews for a negotiated fee.

6:00 P.M.

When the support act is set up and ready, it goes through the sound check process. This can sometimes be more difficult than a headline act sound check because of inexperienced backline crew and inexperienced musicians. Today’s support act may be tomorrow’s headline act, so all support acts have to be given a chance. The production manager has to make sure the venue is ready to open and the security staff has been briefed before going to its positions. The houselights should be set at an appropriate level. The guest list is taken to the ticket office.

7:00 P.M.

Doors open and the audience flocks in and takes its seats. Appropriate music is playing to set the mood as the audience enters.

8:00–8:45 P.M.

The support act plays its set.

8:45–9:15 P.M.

Changeover is the term used for removal of the support act’s equipment and resetting for the headline act. This involves stagehands, backline crew, and sound crew. The sound crew goes through a line-check procedure whereby each audio line is checked to make sure that nothing has broken down since sound check. Music is played to set the mood for the headline act.

9:15–11:00 P.M.

The headline act performs its set. Before the end of the show, the production manager goes through stagehand allocation with the local crew chief.

11:00 P.M.

Load out begins. The aim is to take the show down and load the equipment in the trucks as quickly and safely as possible. Most crews work a minimum of three hours, so I generally hire enough local crew to take the show down within three hours. To achieve the speed and efficiency of working within time limitations, the crew needs plenty to drink. Water and other nonalcoholic beverages should be readily available so that crew members do not have to leave the work area to get a drink. It is important that the touring crew be organized for the load out. Crew members should know where their empty equipment cases are, how many stagehands they have to assist them, and the jobs that the stagehands are supposed to be doing. When a show has to move extraordinary distances and time is tight, the local crew should be increased to facilitate the load out. When the trucks are loaded, the crew takes showers and returns to the bus.

A TRAVEL DAY

Traveling anywhere can be full of adventure. One never knows what is around the corner. On the bus, the bus driver gets everyone where they are going. Traveling from city to city by plane, one has to deal with the congestion of the cities and endless walks through airline terminals with luggage. I recommend never taking on tour any more than one can carry oneself.

A DAY OFF

(This space is left blank for one’s imagination.)