Charity Concert Lighting

[Paul J Need]

Perhaps a good rule of thumb when choosing whether to donate equipment or services or both to a charity gig is to start by asking one question: "Are all involved donating their time/services free of charge"?

 

If the answer is yes - a good starting point. If the answer is no - then surely one has to ask why not - and why they need free sound/lighting kit for nothing when others are still charging.

[londonjim]

Yes thata a good idea.

 

And also what kit they want.

 

Certainly we would not give them Mac2ks and a Pearl for free - because they don't need it.

 

But a couple of Spot Kings and a couple of par 56 bars, then thats more accurate for the purpose and the answer would be yes.

[computer]

Yeah I think everything that can be is being done for free. The hall they got very cheaply. All the 'crew' are working for free. It's only one Saturday and a lot of the performances/helpers are teenagers so don't actually work full time :D

 

Refreshments are being bought in bulk from a local food warehouse. Performers are not being paid, but then we don't have anyone famous or anything performing. If I could play something, I would :D

 

At the moment I Think we have sourced 2 floorcans, a few metres of TRS and an Alphapack. We're not looking for mac 2ks or a pearl, maybe a stand or two of parcans and dimmers. then we'd need a desk - going to see if we can borrow a fatfrog from someone. overkill - maybe.

 

comp

[londonjim]

You would not need a desk.

 

You could run the parcans of a Bulgin controller and the alpha packs have faders; so just sit the bulgin controller on the table likewise with the alpha pack, and run TRS out.

[computer]

yeah but its quite a distance from where we'd want to position the lights to where we're probably going to put the technician area. hopefully if we can get the fatfrog for free anyway they it'd be good. I can teach the kid on LX how to program a couple of chases to submasters and stuff to make the show a little more interesting...

 

so we don't need a desk, but its a good idea :D

 

PS: we've also got 2 household floods on stands (this)... they've got metal grilles on the front - we might use them with some gel bulldogged to the front too at the back for general illumination and/or houselights...

[vinny baby]

we might use them with some gel bulldogged to the front

 

Be carefull becasue the gell lasts minuites when used in this fashion, on them garden lights.

 

I smell smoke

[computer]

yeah maybe. those grilles are a good distance away though and don't get too hot :D probably only use them at low power too as the power supply in the church isn't too hot so I need to be careful with the diversity.

[lonfire]

hi,

although the work I do isn't charity work (in terms of raising money), I do youth work for a charity (well its a church).. so I can understand what people are saying.. pretty much all the lighting kit we use is owned by myself and I'm always being asked todo this or that..

for example the local sea cadets were running out of money and it was looking like they were going to close.. so they did a fund raising evening.. one of the dads of one of the young people who I knew asked me if they could borrow a PA/mic/cd player for the evening.. I was like fine.. no problem.. you pick it up off me.. you look after the kit.. anything gets broken you are expected to help pay to have it fixed/replaced.. job done..

when I wont do something is when its going to be hassle.. where you do something for free and they moan about it.. "its too light" "its too dark" "it too smokey" "play 60s" "play modern music" .... grr ;-)

 

but yeah.. I'm the other way from you guys.. all the stuff I do is for free.. would be nice to get some paid work ;-)

 

rgds

chris

[londonjim]

Very often people ask hire companies for kit they have in their own homes.

 

I am not suggesting this to be done all the time, but if its just CDs to play, then people COULD bring in their own stereo. For a church hall you don't need stacks of C7 and a Soundcraft Vienna.

 

Take a look at this sound kit, you could either use Sound Rangers, which have a cordless mic job and plug it in to your stereo. Or use Powercubes on stands and use a mixpad and a couple of SM58s......its cheaper than most people think it is to do.

 

In terms of lighting a few floor cans and a mirror ball will be ok, you don't need to do a huge moving light rig. Also in terms of lighting, simple is usually best, there is a time and place for Mac 250s, likewise there is with parcans; and village halls are for parcans!

 

I reckon that if you THINK about it, you could have a basic and effective sound and light system for under £80.

[ianl]

sorry to bring up an old thread - don't know what's going to get me flamed more :)

 

local group of teenagers have decided to run a charity concert to raise money for a cancer thing. I'm helping out as I know them and stuff. anyway, we don't have too much money to spend so if anyone knows where I can get local (aldershot, surrey) stuff from companies I could phone up or other ideas that'd be great. It's around the 19th March.

 

computer

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

might be able to help with something cheep, whats the venue, how acurate is "around the 19th and what sort of thing do you need?

[T.D.]

We probably wouldn't be able to help you Computer because we're a way-a-away and you probably don't really need our kind of kit by the sounds of things, but out of interest what exactly is the charity. You said a cancer thingey?

 

 

Anyone trying to get help needs to answer four things straight off

> The charities credibility.

> How much money will you raise.

> How high a profile will the event be.

> what is it going to cost the sponsor (in time/money etc)

If the first three are big (and you can nearly prove as such) then if you have people with a track record of fundraiseing on board it's surprising what you can get for free. Often a better option than blagging kit from companies, is to blag a sponsor (usually a company) to pay for the kit. Local radio stations can sometimes help here.

 

As Mr Kenedy didnt say

Dont ask what I can do for the charity, ask what the charity can do for me.

 

We set a target of supporting X number of charities to the effective sum of Y per year (to make us all feel better I guess). We then look at what the charity will gain from us being envolved (do they REALLY need us) and what we can gain from the event. Mercenary I guess but we need some way of choosing.

 

In general if we don't gain from an event it's a sign that the event wasn't well planned - eg. theres poor press coverage, it's a rubbish show etc and the charity itself has had little reward either. When we have gained from supporting a charity, it's been clear that the event has been a sucsess, and that the charity has gained benefit from us being there.

 

Superficially: mercenary actually seems to = most sensible decision maker.

 

T.D.