Who owns the PA in your band?

midiman1962 · May 2023

I spent years owning pa and setting it up most recently in my trio. Post Covid I realised that I wasn’t really enjoying it mainly due to the logistics of having to play guitar, sing and then mix at the same time . I cut in a sound and light guy and just made him a 4th member of the band (gets 25%). The bass player and I own a few bits of pa but the sound guy does it all and the improvement in experience is about 100% for everyone.

p90fool · May 2023

midiman1962 said:

I spent years owning pa and setting it up most recently in my trio. Post Covid I realised that I wasn’t really enjoying it mainly due to the logistics of having to play guitar, sing and then mix at the same time . I cut in a sound and light guy and just made him a 4th member of the band (gets 25%). The bass player and I own a few bits of pa but the sound guy does it all and the improvement in experience is about 100% for everyone.

I really want to do this now we're a 4 piece instead of 5.

I would love to be able to just plonk my amp onstage and plug my guitar in, like a normal person.

Fez · May 2023

I own most of it the other guitarist and I bought a new mixing desk between us and at times we have used the band kitty to get stuff .The pa lives at my house and I normally transport it, last gig our second singer picked me and the pa up in her new car.

Danny1969 · May 2023

p90fool said:

midiman1962 said:

I spent years owning pa and setting it up most recently in my trio. Post Covid I realised that I wasn’t really enjoying it mainly due to the logistics of having to play guitar, sing and then mix at the same time . I cut in a sound and light guy and just made him a 4th member of the band (gets 25%). The bass player and I own a few bits of pa but the sound guy does it all and the improvement in experience is about 100% for everyone.

I really want to do this now we're a 4 piece instead of 5.

I would love to be able to just plonk my amp onstage and plug my guitar in, like a normal person.

I've always been in bands that had dedicated FOH engineers, even in the early nineties when we played every Monday night for £70 we split it 5 ways between the band and the sound engineer. You can get a kind of rough and ready mix onstage but it's far better to have someone mixing you properly, turning your guitar up for solos and fills and backing your vocal off when you can't quite get there. Basically mixing the band but also showing the band in their best light as well.

I am gig'ing in one band at the moment though who don't have anyone out front mixing and I am the one who has to try and achieve some kind of mix from the stage. I mute the effects between songs and push up the lead vox for songs in a lower register and pull down the vocal a bit in the screamy numbers ... that's about all I can do. I'm totally aware it's not enough really.

I actually enjoy mixing bands myself, if they are all good muso's. I was mixing a pro band at a posh gig in Tumbridge Wells last week, all good players, no wedges, small backline. They would use an agency engineer if no one in their usual pool of people couldn't do it. They wouldn't attempt it themselves.

robinbowes · May 2023

Danny1969 said:

I actually enjoy mixing bands myself, if they are all good muso's.

*Everybody* enjoys mixing bands if the players are all good!

CaseOfAce · May 2023

Our bass player owns the PA and has never asked us to pay rental for it when gigging. I'm not sure how that would go down now if he did since we've been working this way for a few years.
I bring my own floor monitor, mic and stand as does the singer.
Pretty lucky I guess.
Ideally it should be the lead singer who owns the PA right - since everyone else is already buying, maintaining and using their particular gear already?

roundthebend · May 2023

It's an interesting view that the singer should buy the PA. If the whole band get mic'd up then that's a shared use. In our band the drummer uses an electronic kit, so we'll also be needing a sub to get the kick sound.

I'm guitarist and singer. So, I'll have an expensive situation if it works good you say.

Stratavarious · May 2023

I own a bunch of PA and use it for various bands I am in, events, local theatre, etc. But others have mixers as an option for some gigs and lights are someone else, although I have those too if needed. Others who sing have monitors, as do I.

My experience is most band lineups don't last too long and it is best to have at least one workable basic PA owned by a player or you get lost in the finances or kit logistics with any changes.

it is good if singers or those needing it, sort monitoring.. wedges or IEMs, mics and mic stands.

i think it is fair to say that 10% goes into a kitty early on, or that the PA lugger gets a slightly bigger cut. In a new band, any excess can buy banners or promo stuff. We kitty things like insurance too and would if key kit needed a repair.

Flanging_Fred · May 2023

I feel very lucky. Our singer has purchased the PA and lights and he is also a landscape gardener, so has a rather nice big van to cart it all about in. We also have the use of secure storage for it all at our rehearsal studios. As a band we make sure we all participate in loading in and out.

I have purchased my own active floor monitor even though I don’t ‘need’ it. I also have my own mic’s and stands if I need them over and above the ones that came with the PA.

Rowby1 · May 2023

Three bands.

Band A, a shared by all members, vocal and kick drum only PA. Bought for out of gig money.

Band B, singer/guitarist/front man.

Band C, our sound guy who is definitely considered a part of the band.

Open_G · May 2023

The band owns it. As an entity in its own right. We all originally put 50% of the gig take into a pot for a while and paid off the interest free 12 month deal from Academy of Sound.

26.2 · May 2023

I’ve actually no idea - we’ve had it for around 15 years. I guess we bought it out of the band kitty originally to expand the range of venues we could do. That band has evolved a few times so no idea who technically has a share.

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Who owns the PA in your band?

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