Backyard concert

Hey all, I would appreciate your help on this upcoming concert that I've decided to do in my backyard.

There'll be about 80-90 people there (my backyard is pretty big) and the band will be made up of me on guitar, a pianist, a singer and a drummer. A bassist is available if the pianist can't cover the bass parts (either on piano or on bass).

I'm probably gonna rent a P.A. with two speakers on stands and run the vocals, piano, and bass through that; maybe I'll mike the guitar amp also.

We'll be doing only covers, mostly piano-driven numbers [but, of course, they'll all contain extended guitar solos;)], and the thing will last for probably an hour.

So, my issues are these: What do I need to take into consideration for an outdoor concert? My neighbours may also be at home, so I can't crank everything. How about drums? What changes when you bring them outdoors?

If there's any other potential issues you may think of, please let me know as well.

Thanks a lot for your advice!

[Edited by David Gilmour on 07-17-2002 at 02:37 PM]

Just one other issue......where d'ya live and am I invited? ;) I luv Pink Floyd :cool:

Well drums sound very hollow when played outdoor.
The best thing would be to enhance them with
microfons, but then you have the neighbour-problem..
This is what you could do:
Ask the neighbours if you could have their permission to
make alot of noise for an hour or so.
Ask everyone in a half mile radius.
It may seem like too much work for a small garden concert,
but the last thing you want is some cranky neighbour
calling the police in the middle of your concert.
Actually every instrument tends to sound a bit hollow
outside. Crank up the bass on yer amp!

If its wet make SURE no electric components touch the ground.
That could really ruin the whole thing.
Otherwise just do the things you do on an indoor concert.
Like writing down amp settings if some kid should
sabotage your set.

One more tip:
Hire the bassist!
Bass is really important even on an indoor concert.
But especially outdoor when everything else sounds
kind of edgy, the bass is needed.

Otherwise good luck with the concert!
Playing outside is always fun, and Im sure
this wont be an exception.

if you got a yard that can fit that many people, neighbors shouldnt be a problem, unless they really dont like you and would go out of there way to screw with you, so for the drums, a mic should be fine, you really should get a bass guitarist, everything else seems cool. good luck man.

First the sound. Good luck on a budget. It's an art. Unless you know someone who knows something about doing that sort of thing, do like the man said and don't let any electrical connections sit on the ground. Just point the speakers and drums away from the house or any other building. Saves you from having unwanted reverb.

About the neighbours. Invite them. Be specific about estimated times of beginning the show and ending it. That way, they know when you will be playing. If they do not show up... oh well. Just call city hall and make sure your are not playing too loud after hours. Usually 11pm is the cut off.

Have fun!

Stay sober and be polite when the police show up!

are you running extenction cords from your house or do you have a seperate generator? cause if you use extension cords, where ever you connect more cords, like to make it longer, double check them before you start. and think aobut having a friend that knows a litlle about electrical work, so that they can help with little details, like not blowing brakers or anyhting like that lol. i do a little of that, side jobs like installing fans and what not, its just something to think about, and wether or not ou get help should depend on how much equipment you will use. ask me about anything on that, i might be able to help a little.

Wow! Thanks for all the helpful advice!

I've never played outside, so I have no idea of how the sound dynamics change as compared to indoors. It would seem from your replies that the issue is mainly that the bass frequencies are lost.

There will most likely be bass guitar in the songs, either myself or the pianist will play the bass. However, I would like to keep the lineup as small as possible, since last time I did something like this, it was such a huge hassle to get everyone together to practice, and even when we would set dates, someone would back out at the last minute. The way that I'm doing it this time, there's only three musicians and two alternating vocalists. That way, the three of us can get together and work on the music, and whenever the vocalists are available, they can practice with us.

I guess I should have gone into further detail about the neighbourhood that I live in. I live on the corner of a small court and my backyard backs on to a small park. Therefore, I have no concerns about noise to the rear, and I'll actually be pointing all the speakers in that direction. The only concern with my neighbours are the ones to my right and left. Like Blaksmith recommended, I've decided to play for just 1 hour and at around 5 pm, so there's not a big concern about disturbance.

Also, I've chosen songs that aren't too all-out rock [:(], given the location.

Chacron - I live in Toronto, so I doubt you'd catch a plane from BC for just 1 hr's worth of "entertainment". And unfortunately, I'm not playing any Pink Floyd...too inaccessible for the crowd I'll be playing for (curse those dance music freaks!)

Stuff! Toronto's at least 8 or 9 hours from me.....on an aeroplane.....nevermind huh.

Good Vibes and everything, hope it goes well....let us know :cool:

One other tip,

If you have a place where two buildings meet like a garage and the huse and create an alcove, put the drums in there and the band in front.

You can see how this works by putting a boom box in the center of the room THEN putting it in a corner. You will hear the difference and it requires less volume to get a louder effect.

if i were you id warn your neighbors. also, if this thing is an hour long you either better rent a lotta porta pottys or have a lot of strangers using your bathroom.

Yes definitely invite your neighbors and if they show, ply them with liquor....lots of it. They would have a hard time calling the cops to complain while dancing on the stage! Just a thought!
Have fun. :D

I don't think that I'm too worried about the audience acting up/using my bathroom; they're all friends and they're a pretty subdued crowd.

I can't wait until the show! Sept. 21 is the date; we begin practicing in a couple of weeks.

Thanks again for all the advice; please keep it coming - I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Well, the backyard concert was a definite success!!! I'll be doing it again next summer!!!

We thought for sure we would have at least a little rain, but we didn't get a single drop. Since the forecast called for rain, we had set up a tarp running from the roof of my house to two ten foot poles dug into the ground and some ropes (my friends took care of that). We didn't end up needing the tarp for rain protection, but I think it did help keep the noise within the backyard. Some wicker torches (about 8 of them) spread out around the backyard added a cool touch when evening fell.

For sound equipment, I rented a 2x250W amplifier and two 200W speakers on stands for the vocals, piano and acoustic guitar. I also rented a Shure SM58 mic which turned out to be pretty good for vocals, and a Takamine electric/acoustic guitar.

There's a little patio that adjoins the back of my house, so we set up shop on that, and the audience sat on some more tarps which were spread out on the grass. We put the speakers on either side of the patio (about 20 feet apart). The balance of the sound was apparently pretty good, according to some comments from the audience.

We did only covers and the show lasted for about an hour and a half. Our best songs were probably a song called "After the Rain" by Blue Rodeo (2-minute outro guitar solo!!!) and a cool "Moonlight Sonata" instrumental that everyone loved, in which basically everyone went crazy on their respective instruments (imagine a quiet piano intro, fade in drums, then bass, then a clean lead guitar starting muffled on the neck pickup, switch to bridge, then kick on the old MT-2 and 535Q wah-wah and keep going 'till you can't tap no more).

Thanks again for all your suggestions and advice, guys!

WOW! Wish I attended. Sounds like you had a lot of fun. And congrats on a job well done :-)

Aaaah, what's with the different member names? Are you one person? Hmmm...
Anyway, glad it went well :) .

Yeah Bardsley, I posted the explanation for David Gilmour = iamthe_eggman in another thread a couple of months ago.

You can read it here, if you like.

Do you have a pool? (just wondering)

No, I don't. That would be cool, though. But then I'd have to clean it and stuff, which would suck.

Originally posted by iamthe_eggman
No, I don't. That would be cool, though. But then I'd have to clean it and stuff, which would suck.

And dive in to rescue the guy loaded up on drink or drugs who decides to go for a swim.....kinda like when a certain Alex Van Halen jumped out of a 10th story hotel window thinking he could fly and landed in the pool. When Dave Lee told him what he'd done the next morning Alex asked why he hadnt stopped him. Roth's answer was 'Stop you? I bet you 20 bucks you could do it!' :D