Gig Organising

[Freakgeek]

Hey there fellow softies!

Me and a couple of friends were seriously thinking about starting a productions where we would regularly hold gigs. We were thinking of renting a place where the stage and all live set equipments would be and hold gigs on the weekends. On the weekdays, it can be used as a jamming studio for everyone to use.

We need people to point us in the right direction as we are really considering to start this production off.
I am reaching to those who have experience in this line of business.
What is the minimum budget for us to start off ?
This budget more or less includes live set equipments (+mic ups for each intrusments), renting, and what not ?

Do help us yah ?

Cheeers!

 

[3hree6ixty]

Maybe something like what FAD Studios used to have? You guys are looking to purchase Instruments(drums, amps, etc) and rent the live equipments? Or...

 

[soft]

Equipment +/- $10,000.

The expensive ones are the rental ($2500/mth) and salary (2 staff = $3000/mth).

You will have to generate at least $5500/mth to break even. That is $183 per day.

Hee..hee... must think hard.

 

[Freakgeek]

Hmm yes! Like FAD where they do jamming and gigs. But as starters, was thinking about just to have one set on stage and that same set could be for jamming when gigs are not being held.
So if we wanted to start on this, is there an official way to go about doing it ? Like, who do we contact and stuff ?

 

[ankursamtaney]

Based on the few jamming studios I've been to here in Singapore, here are some points that you may want to think about:

Gear you'd want to use for a quality live gig will be very different (i.e. much better, hence more expensive) than gear you'd want to provide for jamming purposes. Because many people who come to Jam may not have the expertise to use your gear well or carefully, hence may damage it; but if you use cheap gear for jamming and for the gig, you may sacrifice quality of the gig. I don't mean cheap gear can't sound good; that is a different argument in a different context altogether. Specifically referring to drums (incl heads and cymbals), mics, mixers / processing, and PA gear.

And yes, that "good" gear could well run into atleast a few thousand bucks, depending on the size of your place and how much sound and processing you'll require.

I don't mean to discourage you, but simply highlight the fact. Your idea is definitely good. If you can think hard enough and do something different that no one is (or not many are) already doing here, and then add your unique touch to it to make it attractive enough for people to WANT to come to YOUR facility, nothing can stop you from making it a successful venture. You don't want to end up with just another jam room / studio, if you know what I mean.

 

[3hree6ixty]

80w or 100w solid state amps are good enough as you'll be mic'ing them up. that should save you some. just get quality monitors and a decent mixer.
And TS, i think you might have an Lcube/Music garage (i miss that place) vibe in mind from what i see. And going 2nd hand is also a cost-effective way as long as they're in good condition...
Just a few ideas from experience...

 

[someone]

If you are opening up a place as a venue you really should consider things like entertainment license and fire safety license (FSB).
I'm pretty sure most of the jam studio type "venues" are not quite legally operating in that regard which is possibly why they close when they start to get popular...??

I remember playing a gig at this place in bugis that was on the third floor of a shop house with one long steep narrow staircase leading to the one door entrance. At the back of my head I kept thinking that if there is any fire or similar emergency then either kenna burn alive upstairs or fall down the stairs and kenna trample! its really quite a death trap!

Of course once you consider these factors the shophouse upstairs type space is not very good for a gig venue as you will probably find your FSB max capacity will only be maybe 20-30 pax... not very many for your gig crowd..

Not that I mean to discourage you... just shoot a bit of reality... its really easy to spend a big pile of money and end up with nothing useable at the end of it cause FSB say you don't have sufficient fire escape.

Unfortunately, there is a lot more to setting up a venue than just buying some equipments and putting it in a room...

And of course I haven't even talk about room acoustics.. for a case study on what happens if you forget acoustics visit TAB... its a nice venue with a great sound system in a room that is so echo-y and live that the sound is super washed out... The only songs that work in the venue are those slow songs that need super long thick reverbs...