Managing the Rock Band Sound

Whenever clients hire rock bands for corporate shows, we always add a drum shield onto the equipment list. These are almost never on riders and many bands hate them, but when the lead singer, production manager and most importantly the client hears how loud the percussion sounds in a corporate ballroom, the hate quickly goes away.

An Easy Fix

The percussion instruments can sometimes overwhelm the guitars and vocals on the typically smaller stages that are required in corporate ballrooms. A drum shield or acoustic shield creates separation between the drums and other musical instruments and can allow the audio lead to better control the sound.

There is a reason old rock and roll artists are hard of hearing. A drum shield is a great tool to make sure your audience doesn’t suffer the same fate.

The "Five Minute Drill" with Old Rock Bands

We have had the interesting experience with a couple of rock rands from the 60’s and 70’s who still think it is “cool” to make the audience wait in anticipation for their grand entrance on stage. 

At a recent corporate event, the stage manager for a “rock band” listened to the rehearsed band introduction by a corporate sponsor and then told the band to “go on in 5 minutes”.

When we work with rock bands at corporate shows we always have five minutes of music and simple lighting effects planned to fill the five minutes the band waits to go on stage. We call it "the five minute drill." Hopefully you will never have to use it, but the "five minute drill" is a good thing for a production team to have in their back pocket.

When the Band Van Breaks Down

The Saturday afternoon before a large corporate show that we were producing, I looked down to see my cell phone ringing—not always a good thing this close to a show. The call was from the production manager for the band scheduled to be the Tuesday night entertainment. Three previous calls had planned this part of the show down to the smallest detail. 

This was a drive show and the band (a name you would easily recognize) was supplying backline, monitor boards and all the mics and cables. We were only supplying a FOH (front of house) board and the PA—until their production manager called. It turns out that their production truck broke down and they wouldn’t be able to provide their equipment.

The Show Must Go On

When we work with riders and the band is providing some of the equipment and backline, we always identify emergency backup vendors for both band equipment and instruments in the event something changes with the performer.

By the time the band showed up to load in on Tuesday, we had secured all of the equipment they needed and the show came off without a hitch. 

Riders that are included in an entertainer’s contract often include the specifications for a full rock show regardless of the size of the corporate performance and are often not changed by clients even when the band agrees to bring in some of the equipment. 

The time and effort to identify back-up vendors for expensive entertainment is most of the time a wasted effort, but if a truck breaks down, it may be the difference between a great show and a show that never goes on.