Gig-Bag essentials

[driload]

GIG BAG ESSENTIALS


yeah you know... maybe its a roll of gaffa, a little mag-light, a hipflask of vodka....

those items you have learnt to throw in, or perhaps essentials that never leave your side at gigs.


as for this humble live breakbeat band member, heres a quick look into some items i will ALWAYS have in my backpack (or should i say, in the 2RU draw ive gotten fitted to one of my racks :) )

LIST... and why!
- A small towel
(essential for me... i do some percussion and generally sweat a lot on stage anyway as i tend to move a lot)

- keychain Maglite
(its small and unobtrusive and gives enough illumination for me to check a tracklisting or, as usual, ive forgotten which Aux Send is the one controlling my monitor)

-bottle of water
(who would have guessed it.... but hey, i learnt quick you cant expect it to be supplied.. its too essential to ignore)

-Tech Kit
(fancy name for a very small fishermans tackle box with a bunch of emergency connectors such as minijack>jack, rca>jack, jack>xlr and so on. keep in mind backup cabling is in a case that doesnt stay on stage after soundcheck)

-masking tape or label maker
(we just picked up a small electronic label maker which is awesome for labelling the mixer or binding/identifying cables... but masking tape and a pen are still in there)

-big black marker pen.
(one million uses)

-pocket knife
(two million uses)

-backup floppy and zip disks for sampler.
(self explanatory... just last night my MPC decided to dislike a floppy disk with a performance Program listed on it...)


and that should be enough to cover the most common...

what about you?

[mungo]

I have a funky little backpack that I stuff with allsorts of crap for the raves.

Remember this is in canberra.

spare socks
extra shirt
ravers safety vest (stole it from a building site)
glucodin tablets (cheaper than E)
sigg full of ribena (filled with water later)
lollies that go nicely under UV
oakleys for the morning


the next thing I'm going to try is a sprayer bottle full of water with a touch of fluroscene. This will make huge fluro green clouds under the UV lights.

[Xelpmok]

spare extension cord incase the power outlet is too far

camera for happy snaps incase theres topless women in the crowd

back up disks incase sometihng goes wrong

nothing out of the ordinary really.

[djbc]

yeh... just about everything dri said... 'cept I don't have one of those funky drawers you mentioned... fine idea that:)
+tobacco&papers&lighter.... love me ciggy's they help to stop sticking screwdriver where I shouldn't when way too outofit revellers like mungo come sailing, off balance, towards my gear & think it's funny when they knock it all over:meh: :p

mungo... I don't think anyone's on this forum is that interested in your drug&recovery kit... Dri is asking about gig kits.... on the Production& technology forum(just in case you didn't know where you are)

Hey Dri... keep me posted about any gigs in Syd with any of your crews, I'd love to see youse play sometime:D

[driload]

no offense mungo but yeah, these are performers gig kits

hey i just noticed the Time Tunnel banner up top of ITM now.... thats my band Superfluid. neat.


um ive just decided to add panadol and extra ear plugs to the kit, as much for the other guys as myself.


regarding the drawer... yeah i was happy to see thay made them. rackmounted and 2RU and lockable. it sits under my MPC which i have racked on top (horizontal) and then vertically under it lies the rack for other stuff. sometimes a compressor may go there (to route the conga through if the gig is BIG and LOUD... ive had feedback problems relying on the stage limiters)


im sure theres more interesting stuff you guys have got... dig deeper :P

[djbc]

Originally posted by driload
extra ear plugs ...

im sure theres more interesting stuff you guys have got... dig deeper :P

yeh... earplugs everywhere I go;) I still wanna be able to hear the top end when I'm 90XD let alone next week. & the tuning on most club systems usually leaves alot to be desired.

Apart from that , man your kit is soo extensive you've pretty much got it covered. I shall be using yur list as a reference;D ;D

actually... sometimes a small soldering kit, but that's usually when mixing for others not doin' our own gigs.... 'cause you never know, they might not have a kit like yours:P

[driload]

yeah i have a different bag for engineering work

a tackle box with a soldering iron and lots of solder, unsoldered connectors and a certain amount of both balanced and unbalanced cables (not much, just enough for emergency patches and whatnot)

a lot of wierd crap and odds and ends tend to accumulate there too, like hundreds of hastily crawled session notes (track 5 bass, track 6 synth pads etc etc)

hahah an invoice pad is in there too but its sadly rather unused




:lol:

[djbc]

:lol: :lol: :p :lol: :lol:

[Tax Invoice]

Extra's for me include:
2 x extension cords
1 x multi board
4 spare midi leads (I'm cursed I tells ya!)
Gaff (as we all know, you can never have enough)
2 backup zip discs
spare zip drive
maglite
mix cd for before the gig -comes in handy
backup el-cheapo headphones

[djbc]

OK then...
Gaff of course.
Assorted power (EXT. cable /powerboards /adapters)
water
earplugs
extra patch leads
9V batteries (for pedals)
glasses case full of RCA-jack/miniphono-st.jack/st.jack-miniphono)

at the moment mostly, my only live gigs are with an improvised arrangement - MAGNUS... we do chillout dubby blips & scapes. I just use a 606 with effects... so my gig extras are pretty minimal. (altho' i'm feeling the need to expand this a little now)

& I always try to take my sense of humour - never know when I might need it;D

*oh & when I say improvised... we literally make it up as we go... the 606 I have does not have a working memory function so I couldn't preprogramm any thing if I wanted to!-well, I could , but there'd be no guarruntee that's what would come out when I turn it back on... so I'm punchin beats on the fly.*
The other two manage to make a live bass & guitar sound like 7000 things other than that at times.
So generally... this line up is pretty gear light... we all fit in a small boot & can get into the venue in one trip... gotta love it!

[TECHiONE]

Yeah gaff tape and a maglite torch are essentials. As well as an assortment of spare audio, scsi, power, midi, rca, xlr cables/leads and audio adapters, power boards, double adapters etc. It's handy to have a spare adjustable power transformer (wall wort) with an assortment of plugs too (if you have gear that uses them). Headphones are usefull too!

I also have a little pouch of tools, an assortment of screw drivers, allen keys, adjustable spanner, knife, scissors etc. Which has all come in very handy from time to time. Masking tape, pens/textas, blank paper, electrical tape, all very handy to have. It's also a good idea to find out what type of fuses all your gear has, inside and out... and get, and carry the exact spare/replacements to every gig. I also carry some 'blacks' just black cotton material, which is handy to cover your gear with before/after you play,and you can use to cover crappy tables, milkcrates etc. for a more 'pro' look...

[kaossproject]

In this day and age........

........a lockable gig bag.:|

[driload]

hmmm

adjustable power pack and black covers.... very good ideas techione

ive recently learnt the NEED to cover ANY percussion type gear when its not in use on stage... people just cant help themselves

im a friendly enough guy but theres only so much i cant take of hearing some fool lamely wacking at my conga or (currently turned off) midi drum pads

lets not forget that fact they drink drinks on the conga skin (which WAS tuned before they come along)



i cant believe i didnt think of the adjustable power pack and tips... thats going into our essentials case


thanks dave


as for the covers, well we NEVER leave our gear on stage after soundcheck, or else if its one of our larger gigs (Time Tunnel, Adventjah, System 6 etc) and we kinda have to then we let a (gullible) friend or someone to look after it

heh heh

we have a bunch of banners printed up (some graffiti, some printed) and they make good covers too




anyway now i must get back to working out some kind of pressure sensitive trigger for a series of ultra-bright LED's (to secure inside my conga so it emits light up through the skin when i hit it.... may or may not work... may or may not look stupid.... gotta try though)

[djbc]

Originally posted by kaossproject
In this day and age........

........a lockable gig bag.:|

it's sad... because it's true

& hey driload... if you're into that kind of stuff... the triggerring lights etc... checkout this thing called Icube-X box by infusion systems... my work in the performance & performance art world has lead me to this... & we're trying to get one... you can get into making your own triggers n stuff... it's all done with midi (so easy for folks like yaself) and you can trigger just about anything from anything... can't explain briefly... just check it out (their promo speil is a bit daggy but you'll get the idea)
http://www.infusionsystems.com/fsd.html?/products/intro.html&2/products/list.html%3

trigger filters by waving your hands in the air!!:lol: :lol: 8-)

[mungo]

That light up conga idea is damn nice. I have a few concepts for you,

just stuff a mic/transducer below or in the conga and drive a little class C amp with the output of it.

or possibly get a small stress sensor and attach it to the tensioners of the skin (again drive a class C).

[phunkdust]

extension leads and plugboards
gaffa
spare IEC cable for computer
gaffa
gaff to secure plugpack plugs into laptop/fx pedals
bottle of water
gaffa
masking tape and black texta
4 inch jackknife
mini-maglite (2xAA style)
gender changers/size changers/format changers
small desk lamp
small fan to cool overheating equipment/myself
bandaids (i've sliced myself a few times)
blackbox - pliers, cutters, pincers, tweezers, screwdrivers, torx bits, soldering iron, jewel clasp, etc...
lollypops if i need some sugar (chuppachups are too big)
spare headphones

[driload]

gaffa....

do you guys actually BUY the "REAL" gaffa?

you know the 20 bucks a roll kind with fibreglass in it?

[phunkdust]

i buy the real gaffa as in the black stuff with fabric in it - you can rip it easy but it sticks like glue and holds a tonne...

i also use duct tape sometimes because it wont rip if it's scratched by something

[Tax Invoice]

Originally posted by driload
gaffa....

do you guys actually BUY the "REAL" gaffa?

you know the 20 bucks a roll kind with fibreglass in it?

Yeah, the stuff you can tear with both thumbs & forefingers.
Have to these days, my teeth are way too brittle!

[meandarkdirty]

No, I steal real gaffa :lol: - just kidding. I'm surprised no one has mentioned electrical tape. One white, one black always. Often more useful than gaff.

[driload]

gaffa is expensive


i will use the in-house stuff or my own cheap tape
i used to have HEAPS because i worked as a stage-hand, but not any more


ive seen a laptop gaffa'd to an x'frame stand once

the stand fell over and BROKE but the laptop was still stuck on tight


made me laugh my ass off


but um... little things amuse me anyway

[Xelpmok]

I have a funky little backpack that I stuff with allsorts of crap for the raves.

Remember this is in canberra.

spare socks
extra shirt
ravers safety vest (stole it from a building site)
glucodin tablets (cheaper than E)
sigg full of ribena (filled with water later)
lollies that go nicely under UV
oakleys for the morning


the next thing I'm going to try is a sprayer bottle full of water with a touch of fluroscene. This will make huge fluro green clouds under the UV lights.

You E-tard Mungo :lol:

[defected819]

reciept book
spare headphones
spare needles
demo cds

[Dj_sirbadgelot]

we ALWAYS have to bring two small leads to go from out mixer out (jack) to a DI... No clubs ever have them for us. leaves us annoyed and having to steal someones leads for a night :(

[Xelpmok]

we ALWAYS have to bring two small leads to go from out mixer out (jack) to a DI... No clubs ever have them for us. leaves us annoyed and having to steal someones leads for a night :(

don't ever expect a club to have ANYTHING :(

make sure you let the promoter that is booking you know what you need when agreeing to play and avoid any *complications. and in most cases you need to bring all your own stuff unless you're a high paid internationally recognised type guy or the promoters (or sound guys) are cool and will help you out.

and when you lend some of your stuff to other acts or the sound guy make sure you stick around to get it back.

*when complications do happen, as they always seem to, you'll have someone to blame and be able to cry like a baby and say "im not playing till I get my scotch"

[DRi_2004XL]

What an ancient thread... kind of embarassing really. All those paragraph breaks and typos, my goodness! Alcoholism and hedonism are bad children.

[Dj_sirbadgelot]

I like 02 mungo better...