r/TouringMusicians

Hello!

My band is touring from Texas to NorCal and are trying to decide how to do it. We have free access to a 2001 ole Dodge ram wagon (van) or one compact and one rav 4. We are bringing 5 people along, and a pile of gear. The two cars vs one van is really about the same gas mileage, but I'm wondering what other factors we might need to consider.

I'm thinking of:

Being in the same van all the time

No one to get help if the rig breaks down

Parking in an urban area

Also thinking:

More space

Less to keep track of

Less driving time per person

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Hey!
My band is releasing a new record in the fall and are booking a national tour spanning about a month. We're a DIY rock band trying our best to do the thing. We have toured 60+ dates a year for the last few but are ramping up around this album cycle.

I wanted to see if anyone here had any favorite cities, perhaps off the beaten path or secondary markets, etc., that they always make sure to hit. It'll be our first time on the west coast so would love to hear anything on that side of the US. We are from the east coast and on our tours have found that we love to play places hit Blacksburg VA, Lafeyette LA , Cincinatti OH since it seems like we always have a good show there. Where does this apply for you?

Thanks yall!

Hey folks, more recent touring musician here, getting ready to go on my first couple ~1 month runs this year. Van tours, 200-500cap places. Done shorter tours before, but amping up soon. I’ve sought advice from my father, who travelled for work, and some from friends, but wanted to get your thoughts as well.

Touring is great, and I love it, but it’s been tough on my girlfriend and I. We live together and love each other more than anything in the world, but being apart for so long is challenging for the both of us. I know we can get through anything, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes.

Of course there’s stuff like consistent communication and trying to find some one-on-one time for video calls and all that, but if you could go back in time and give yourself advice on maintaining your relationships on tour, what would you say?

What have you learned that did, or didn’t work well for you?

Thanks in advance, I’ve sought a lot of advice from this sub and you folks have been very helpful.

Hey,

So I am a singer/songwriter & I tour 15-20 dates a year across as a duo. For this we run guitar & two vocal mics. We've been primarily touring in churches as what we do fits with that crowd fairly well, BUT the problem is most of the churches have very poor audio solutions & their AV folks aren't able to mix everything professionally.

With that said we are wanting to create a flight case solution that would be able to take two wireless microphones & receivers, a rack mixer (been eyeing the Midas MR18), & wireless IEM. We then want to send either L/R Mains Out to the house mixer, or each channel. What suggestions would you have?

I'm interested in hearing from touring musicians about how they find and hire a tour photographer. Please fill out my survey!

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https://preview.redd.it/mzppt90ggywg1.png?width=3810&format=png&auto=webp&s=1d089c190312c81553fe29a9ccc89f9563bca6eb

I love D.I.Y. venues.... but I've discovered some I want to book for this next tour that tend to do mostly acoustic folk punk & don't have their own p.a.... so if I want to book my band there we have to bring our own p.a.

I figure buying a cheap one is a good idea anyways so I'm entertaining that idea instead of finding one somehow ele in the towns of these D.I.Y. venues that we can use those nights.

who has great portable p.a. system recommendations for a band that crams into vehicles that most other bands would say is not enough room? right now out tour vehicle is a minivan where we take out the back seats & have a roof luggage compartment & now I'm looking into trailers