How Do You Carry Your Equipment?

[Welsh Audio Man 21 0]

Just a question out of curiosity, how do you carry your gear from your vehicle to the point of set up?

 

Me and my mate have got into the habit of carrying our gear on our shoulder... especially heavy and bulky stuff, like speakers, or large cases.

 

If the venue is ground floor, we stack our lighting case up with the gear, and wheel it in, so all we have to do is carry the speakers.

 

Whats your method?

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

I always carry mine with the roadie, that way no one hurts there back...

 

 

[Dukesy 0]

Used to carry the speakers on the shoulder many, many years ago.

I lost 3 inch's in height as a result. smile icon

If a roadie is with me - great.

Ground and access suitable - trolly, else, its ye old fashioned method.

[slug boy 0]

all my gear is in cases with handles... (except cable bins)... rig is held together with velcro strips and pretty easy so carry.

 

speakers are heaviest so only 1 in each hand

[DJ SPARKO 0]

Word off worning to all NEVER NEVER NEVER bend your back and lift even slight heavy equipment .... you all will already know this as you bend your knees with your back straight whever your lifting off the floor or at some small height !!!!!

 

 

And this post is comming from someone who has broke there back and thankfully recovered after months of rehab and hospital beds lay down for a very long time!!! p.s. not work related a sporting accident. so guys dnt take any chanches. i use a trolley to lift everything out and sometimes when the back plays up i where a back support to lift everything in posistion i.e. overhead lights, placement of rig etc

 

sorry may sound predantic smile icon

[Jason v G 0]

Word off worning to all NEVER NEVER NEVER bend your back and lift even slight heavy equipment .... you all will already know this as you bend your knees with your back straight whever your lifting off the floor or at some small height !!!!!

And this post is comming from someone who has broke there back and thankfully recovered after months of rehab and hospital beds lay down for a very long time!!! p.s. not work related a sporting accident. so guys dnt take any chanches. i use a trolley to lift everything out and sometimes when the back plays up i where a back support to lift everything in posistion i.e. overhead lights, placement of rig etc

 

sorry may sound predantic smile icon

 

Spot on Sparko .

If possible I allways use a trolly. I'm currently looking at ramp/s for the van as most of the gear is cased so I can wheel trolley in and out.

 

[paula 0]

Do you know the higher you lift above your waist that it get's weeker, so therefore if Dan had been carrying his speakers up there for moons then I'm not surprised he shrunk!

 

[Dukesy 0]

Do you know the higher you lift above your waist that it get's weeker, so therefore if Dan had been carrying his speakers up there for moons then I'm not surprised he shrunk!

Yep!

[EdBray 0]

I carry all my stuff in! What's a roadie?

 

Mind you I have completely downsized so there is little to take of any weight. Heaviest thing is a 10U over 2U flight case with CD Decks, Mixer, Switchbox, Wireless Mike controller and reverb unit. Weighs about 23kgs. Bass bins weigh the same and SRM450s weigh about 19kgs.

[Frog 0]

For ground floor venues I use a sack barrow, only cost £15. Can't remember where from though.

 

Upstairs venue is common health & safety, on the rare occasions there is a lift use that alternatively lift without bending the back, or have two people carry!

[bluejools 0]

After destroying my back and having a disk replaced 2 years ago i have been slowly changing my rig to make it all lighter.

 

heaviest / most awkward bit is now the 1000cd flightcase that has to be kept flat.

 

will be going soon with everything onto MP3.

 

Never carry more than is comfortable to save 1 trip - its not worth it!

[wizard 0]

All of my kit is now flightcased with wheels ( except speakers ) the speakers just sit on top of cases and get wheeled in.

If we are at a venue with stairs........Roadie just swears a lot and looks for a lift. I try not to take on gigs with stairs and no lift.

[Paull 0]

Its all flightcased and I have a collaspable trolly. (OK if everythings on one level)

 

I look at it as one less trip to the gym, especially if there are stairs involved

 

 

Paul

[Guest EliteDJ]

I use something similar to this (slightly more heavy duty version) for gigs on the ground level

 

http://www.handtrucksrus.com/trucks/giant/platform/BEM008_med.jpg

 

For stairs I use one of these

 

http://i24.ebayimg.com/04/i/000/94/25/60fd_1_b.JPG

 

 

[otronics 0]

Some stuff nice and light so OK.

 

Depends how far the trip is - now have a trolley (similar to the one above) to put speakers etc on.

 

If not far at all - just carry it via handles etc.

 

One bit shared with someone else as is trey heavy.

 

One sports bag with some heavy lights in has wheels :joe:

[norty303 0]

Subs are on wheels because they're over 80kg each. Stack stuff on them, or use a wheel board for other cabs. All the rest is manual lugging but using switch mode amps now in no more than 4U cases so nothing is more than 20kg anyway.

 

Lighting cases, truss etc is too big to stack so has to be manually handled, normally 2 people due to weight.

[Norfolk DJ 0]

 

Don't let punters give you a helping hand. They probably drop something.

[Welsh Audio Man 21 0]

Don't let punters give you a helping hand. They probably drop something.

 

and don't learn that the hard way, like i did!

[Norfolk DJ 0]

and don't learn that the hard way, like i did!

 

what happened?

 

[Welsh Audio Man 21 0]

what happened?

 

everything from lights being dropped from a height, to my speakers being thrown across a room (he tried to copy me, and carried the speaker on his shoulder, except he didn't balance it right) Amp going flying as he tripped (i didn't know what to be more worried about, him or my amp! )

[Andy Westcott 0]

I use voluntary help - a roadie by another name.

 

Several component parts to carry, most of which don't weigh very much, apart from the bass units which weigh almost as much as an average-ish person, the mid-tops which weigh in at (guessing) between 20 & 30 Kg each, and the amp rack which must be nearly 70Kg. bass units are on wheels, and the mid-tops are placed on the top for easy moving. The amp rack is currently the most painful unit to move about as the handles seem to cut into your hands...

 

Oh, and not forgetting the coffin case. Quite heavy too, and awkward to get around corners.

 

I get a bit upset when presented with an upstairs gig...

 

Yes, I'm looking at modifying some of the gear to reduce component weight: The coffin might be replaced by two smaller ones, and the amps might be housed in two racks rather then the current one. And no, I'm keeping the speakers for the forseeable future. smile icon

[PEDJ 0]

I carry the gear. Don't trust no one to carry it the way I do. If I break it, I pay for it. Don't mind help with doors opened for me.

[Tim Brennan 0]

Almost everything is on wheels one way or another. Even have a trailer with a ramp so no lifting in and out of there either.

 

Unfortunately when setting up and taking down I need to lift a number of the items into flight cases (speakers) or some of the flight cases to stack them for transportation.

 

Still it is way better than it was.

 

[TonyB 0]

Roadie and myself carry it in. Helpful people can be a pain especially when packing up and they lay a carpeted speaker on its side in a wet car park