Mics/Outboard/etc. - what do bands bring with them

[pounce]

bands and musicians -

do you own and bring your own mics to your gigs?
DI's?
other outboard, like FX or particular compressors?

what sound gear do you bring?

i am really thinking about times when there is a in house or rental PA in play, but i suppose it's worth noting if you have a PA as well. i've seen some bands bringing some kit along with them. it's often good stuff, but occasionally it's not as good as the stuff we have. i almost always do use the stuff brought by the band. one of the best guitarists i've ever worked with had some pretty modest gear he was using, but in his hands it all sounded great and worked well, so it was a good day to shut up and just try it with his stuff. other similar situations with brought in sound reinforcement gear have been less successful.

generally, i'd think the reason to do this would be to have and own the absolutely best kit, and assure that you had a uniform sound from one show to another.

[ggunn]

bands and musicians -

do you own and bring your own mics to your gigs?
DI's?
other outboard, like FX or particular compressors?

what sound gear do you bring?

i am really thinking about times when there is a in house or rental PA in play, but i suppose it's worth noting if you have a PA as well. i've seen some bands bringing some kit along with them. it's often good stuff, but occasionally it's not as good as the stuff we have. i almost always do use the stuff brought by the band. one of the best guitarists i've ever worked with had some pretty modest gear he was using, but in his hands it all sounded great and worked well, so it was a good day to shut up and just try it with his stuff. other similar situations with brought in sound reinforcement gear have been less successful.

generally, i'd think the reason to do this would be to have and own the absolutely best kit, and assure that you had a uniform sound from one show to another.

With my band it varies. Some gigs we have to bring the whole schmear from mains to mic stands (we have to rent some of it). Others we just bring stage gear. Sometimes we just bring mics and DI's. I don't think that the PA gear matters much in uniformity of sound.

I sure like playing on a house PA though; we can travel a whole lot lighter and generally the PA is already tuned to the room.

[AxeSlash]

We bring zero, unless we're doing something "out of the ordinary" (e.g. we've just started carrying a DI for kick triggers, which can be a problem in the cheap crap venues that only own one DI, when one of the other bands has a keyboard).

We don't have a FOH guy, so there's no point us bringing gear that the house guy may not even bother to use. I'd rather the engineer was using whatever he's used to, rather than me dumping some eccentric bollocks on him and hoping he knows how to use it.

On the other hand, most of the bands that I HAVE seen bring their own gear belong to one of two types: the ones that have their own engineers (who normally just bring their fave eccentric outboard and occasionally mics), or the one-man-band types who usually play through a pair of powered Mackies; and even then it's usually just a small cheapo mixer to submix their instrument, vocals and playback through.

On the subject of getting a "uniform sound"...it's a myth unless there's a human being out in control of that while you're on stage (aka an engineer of your own). We've been through all the "try and make it sound the same at two different venues" fiasco before, and it just doesn't work unless the same guy is mixing both.

I'd love to bring my own room acoustics to gigs though, that would solve some problems...

[vanblah]

I like to bring my own mic; I carry both a 57 and 58. I'm not a dick about it if the SE doesn't want me to use it though. I just hate the thought of using a mic after some dude with beer/cig/puke breath has been using it.

[Watershed]

Sometimes I'll get someone who wants to use their own mic. There's one particular singer who brings his own radio mic.

Once had a band's engineer turn up with his own FX rack. But he was cool when I said his band was one of 6 on for the day and I really didn't want to go repatching the desk just for his.
He was happy with what I had anyway. I think he only carried his in case the supplied system was a POS.

[pounce]

i think that folks bringing their own vocal mics are cool. i get why you would prefer using that over some war torn bar mic.

[Watershed]

Yeah, I have no problem with it. Generally they are at least an SM58.

As far as a band is concerned, I think if they have someone who just sings, it's the very least they can do to own their own quality mic. Other members spend thousands on their instruments and then are constantly buying new strings, skins etc.
There's nothing worse than the singer who shows up just in time for the sound check, whinges about the mic and foldback, and then sits at the bar chatting up chicks while the rest of the band pack up.

Had to get that off my chest :Wink:

[omikl]

I take my own vocal mic (AKG D660S), stand and leads. Nothing worse than beat-up mics and broken stands. That way I know I can get set up quickly with my mic & pedal board the right places for me to be able to sing, play guitar and thump pedals at the same time.

[Starfucker]

Usually we don't bring anything. I'm thinking about getting a good DI for when they only have ze behringerz...

I've seen a band who are just starting to break through bring an Avalon DI for bass. I think that's a little over the top.

[chameleogaz]

At one point or another I've worked with bands that have brought just about everything from their own mics (from cheep samson's to beta58's or beta87's), DI's (countryman and radial), nice outboard comps/gates/delays/reverbs, split snake and mobile in ear monitoring rig, mic pre's (API lunchbox), to full intelligent lighting rigs.

I also carry a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol to wipe off my own beta58's and beta57's at the beginning/end of the night and for any band in the middle of the night that requests that. For the bands that bring their own cheep samson mics with them, I explain to them that my mics will more than likely sound better than theirs, I'll clean off my microphones for them if that will help, and if they use their mics I'm not to be held responsible if for some reason I can't get their vocals to sound as clear and on top of the mix as I was with the other bands of the night.

But overall, as a live sound guy, I don't mind a band using their own equipment as long as they show up on time and are courteous about it. It gives me an opportunity to listen to microphones/gear I don't normally use, and if the band doesn't bring their own sound guy it gives me a nice test of my own chops to see if I can deal with different/unfamiliar equipment and still get a good sounding mix. One thing to note is that if a band brings in wireless microphones, I'll make sure I have wired backup microphones set up on the side of the stage, just in case.

-Jeff