Hi.  What are the vital things a Guitar tech should have in their kit?

Hi Jon,  Thanks for the question;  Depends on what kind of show it is, but...
1 An accurate tuner, most techs like Petersons www.petersontuners.com/ But this may be snobbery!
2 A towel or something soft to lay the guitar on when you are changing strings + duster to wipe down guitar neck after show
3 A string winder
4 A pair of snips for cutting off string ends
5 A torch, even a naff head one so you can see what you’re doing

I think those are the essentials but you will end up with lots of other bits like;
-Leatherman or other multi tool
- Hex keys for bridge adjustments
- Strings in popular sizes
- Selection of picks
- Spare jack leads
- Spare fuses
- Practice amp and headphones
- Couple of guitar stands
- Multi meter
- Duct and pvc tape
- Sharpies
-Notepad
+ Whatever other bits you find that particular clients need!

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Q.  Hi, I am at uni doing a music degree and one of our assignments is to hypothetically plan the V festival. We have been split into different departments to share the work and i have been assigned to artist liaison. I was wondering if there are any good websites to find costs of booking major artists, i have looked at the major booking agencies (William Morriss, CAA, UTA...) but they dont seem to list costs, just which artists they represent.  I am finding it quite difficult to find info associated with costs of crew, rigs and visa's for international artists. Any help would be much appreciated.

FTTS.  There aren’t really any sites that will give you info on how much artists get paid for major festivals and agents like to keep this info confidential but as a rough guide someone playing a big stage at a festival like V would be getting between £10k bottom of the bill to well over £100k for near the top. Obviously big headliners would be much more and there is quite a lot of variation. Promoters always want to pay as little as possible and artists want as much!  Out of this the artist would have to pay for backline, their own crew and any immigration costs. Festival would provide sound and lights and hospitality.

Hope this helps but if you want some more info please feel free to get back in touch.

Q. Hi, upon preping for a sound check what obvious eq (grafic and parametric), compresser and gate settings should I adjust to make the sound check proceed at a faster rate?

A.  Hi, for me this depends on the gig. If I am setting the system I like the desk zeroed and graphics flat.
I ike the fx and dynamics to be patched in but not set and the first thing I do is to run a line check to make sure everything is where it should be and working.
Obviously if time is tight or you are not the headliner I will roughly set comps and gates roughly eq everything, top cuts on voxes, oheads and hi hat, lo mid out of kick etc.
Always unwise to do too much until you have heard the system and band.
Providing everything is working and the room doesn't sound too bad it shouldn't take long to get a mix up.
Hope this helps!  Andy @ FTTS

Hi. I'm trying to find a splitter van to take to Belgium- 15/16 july. Tiger Tours don't have any. Do you have contact details for Aloha or any other London based firms? Many thanks, Paul - Yaaba Funk

Hi, Roger, Aloha is on 07970458509 or try Val on 07774750416
Good luck.  Best FTTS

Q.  Hi, I was wondering if you could give me advice on how & the best ways to get into photography in the music industry? Especially photography of live performances and Band Shoots?
cheers, Kate

A. Hi Kate,
Thanks for your question, the short answer is go to gigs, take pics of bands, send them to the bands and if they like them they will use you.
The business is very much based on word of mouth and initially you will probably have to work for free but if your stuff is good then people will use you for paid shoots.
Obviously put your work up on Flickr or similar. Also feel free to send some pics to us here and if we like them we will put them up on the site.
Best, FTTS

Hello,After starting a course in radio production and not overly enjoying the content, I have decided to attempt to persue a career in tour management. After attending many gigs and music events in the past, and watching the mechanics of a working road crew onstage and off, I can easily see myself
working in the industry, but have no idea how I'd go about it. Would a college or university course be the best way forward? Or going straight into working my way up from the bottom?  In the past I have asked for advice from Kaiser Chiefs' tour manager, and I have a contact details for one of Maximo Park's roadcrew after doing some street teaming for the band. Would contacting them directly and sending CV's and pestering be a good option?I am an eager, ambitious, go getting young person with a passion for live music and a determination for perfection.

Thank you, I hope you may be able to help me in some way or another.

Hi there, thanks for your question, it’s a perennial one!
You don’t say where you are based but while there is no substitute for experience and you are very unlikely to get hired by a major act without it.
Our advice is;
1 Befriend bands who you come across and offer to help them, for free, if you are any good and they are working you will soon find that they can’t do without you
2 Send your cv/pester anyone appropriate you never know when you might catch someone at the right moment
3 Put your profile up on our site
4 Check out courses, if you tell us where you are we can send some recommendations. Courses for behind the scenes personnel are a bit thin on the ground, something we are working on rectifying. Hope this helps
Good luck
FTTS

Hi FTTS......We are thinking of a small tour in New York City. We have friends there and the venues we are thinking of don't actually pay. We will be taking our guitars and some merch... do we need work permits? It is also a holiday for us.

Hi, thanks for your question, strictly speaking the answer is yes you do need work permits, the criterion for work isn’t whether you are paid for it or not. However you would be unlikely to be granted permits as an unknown band, I’m assuming you are?  That said many UK bands do go and play in the US without permits.

If you do decide to go you might want to think about whether to take merch and guitars. Merchandise should be legally imported and duty paid.  If you are caught working without a permit you will not be allowed into the US under the visa waiver program and will have to get a visa just to be a tourist
Hope this helps
FTTS

Hi, we are a new band about to set out on a tour of Barfly type venues, we would like to take with us in ear monitors for the lead singer and drummer can you advise?  We do have some budget for it, but not much!

Hi There, thanks for the question hope you find this useful

1.  Transmitter and beltpack receiver for singer. As budget is tight I would suggest LD MEI 1000, see attachment, despite the low price, around £280.00 inc vat they give pretty good results. Obviously they aren’t as good as the upmarket Shures and Sennheisers they are at least as good as the budget Shures which go for around  £500.00