Isolation Day 12: Portable Stage Setup
How much would a small portable stage actually cost?
So I got a bit bored. And when I get bored I like to spend a lot of money I don’t have and this time was no different. Whilst sitting on the sofa watching a few random videos on YouTube a thought struck me… How much would it cost for a small stage setup? not that much right! Well as it turns out it was a lot more than I thought.
What’s is a small stage?
The first thing I had to think about was how big of a small stage would I need and what for. I wanted something that would fit a small five piece band. I then looked at the size of my living room and thought you know that looks like you could fir a band in it.
I’m quite lucky to live in an old Georgian flat with a living from that roughly 5 meters by 4 meters (if you exclude the chimney breast). More than enough room for a drum kit, a few guitar amps, a front manned probably even room for a keys player too.
Finding a Supplier
With the size selected it was time to find a supplier. I wanted somewhere that gave prices in Pounds, so I didn’t have to cover a load currencies a, and I wanted to try and get everything in one place.
Though I usually use Thomann when pricing things up, as their prices are really good and they have a great rang of products, I actually ended up going with The Stage Group. The prices are on par most of the time, and though their selection is not a wide they had almost everything I needed.
Now I’m slightly biased here as a friend of mine is part of the company, though I should point out that I don’t get a discount so don’t get any ideas.
The Stage
So to star off I needed a stage to build around. As practically all trussing I’ve come across is measured in meters I went with stage segments in meters also. In this case It was the ProStage Deck 2x1m. I liked how modular these were and the accessories available too. I’ve also included railings around the deck as the legs are 1 meter tall and I don’t want anyone breaking something by falling off.
| Item | Price | Qty | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro Stage Deck 2x1m | £258.00 | 10 | £2580.00 |
| Progstage Leg set (4) 1m | £54.00 | 10 | £540.00 |
| Prostage Leg set (4) 80cm | £49.20 | 10 | £492.00 |
| Prostage Leg set (4) 60cm | £42.00 | 10 | £420.00 |
| Prostage Trolly | £300.00 | 1 | £300.00 |
| Prostage Leveler | £3.00 | 20 | £60.00 |
| Prostage Quad Clamp | £21.60 | 4 | £86.40 |
| Prostage Duo Clamp | £11.40 | 7 | £79.80 |
| Prostage Stage Clamp | £7.20 | 22 | £158.40 |
| Prostage Rail 2m | £114.00 | 6 | £684.00 |
| Prostage Rail 1m | £102.00 | 6 | £612.00 |
| Prostage Stagerail Adaptor | £24.00 | 20 | £480.00 |
| Prostage Felxi Treads 60-100cm | £318.00 | 2 | £636.00 |
| Prostage Stair Rail | £108.00 | 4 | £432.00 |
| Cable Bridge 2 | £44.33 | 20 | £886.56 |
| Cable Bridge Corner | £44.81 | 4 | £179.23 |
| Total | £8626.39 |
The Truss
Next up is the truss. I wanted a simple design that can be, relatively, easily put together with a couple of people and some lifting gear. The basic design is a rectangle slightly larger than the stage with an overhang on the front for a “front of house” lighting posion, two bars in the middle for front & middle stage lighting and another overhang at the back for a cyc or LED screen to be hung from. Technical the render above is wrong ass the Duratruss is actually black.
| Item | Price | Qty | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| DURATRUSS DT 33/2 2.5m | £221.98 | 12 | £2663.71 |
| DURATRUSS DT 33/2 2m | £186.97 | 14 | £2617.61 |
| DURATRUSS DT 33/2 1m | £118.55 | 2 | £237.10 |
| DURATRUSS DT 33/2 0.5m | £87.52 | 2 | £175.03 |
| DURATRUSS DT 33/2-C31-LU (3 Point Corner) | £198.90 | 4 | £795.60 |
| DURATRUSS DT 33/2-C41-x (4 Point Flat) | £214.02 | 6 | £1284.12 |
| DURATRUSS DT 33/2-T42-TD (4 Point T) | £242.66 | 6 | £1455.98 |
| DURATRUSS DT 33/2-T35-T (3 Point T) | £186.86 | 2 | £373.73 |
| DURATRUSS DT 33/2-C21-90 (2 Point Corner) | £136.85 | 4 | £547.39 |
| DURATRUSS DT 33-WPF Black (Baseplate Female) | £54.90 | 6 | £329.40 |
| DURATRUSS Conical Connector | £5.55 | 48 | £266.40 |
| Truss Lecturn | £234.00 | 1 | £234.00 |
| KUZAR K-3 TELESCOPIC LIFTER 5.35M 125KG | £702.00 | 2 | £1404.00 |
| KUZAR UN-3 TRUSS ADAPTOR | £61.62 | 2 | £123.24 |
| Rapido – Curtainclamp | £2.39 | 24 | £57.31 |
| 6×4.5m Backdrop Black | £203.20 | 1 | £203.20 |
| Total | £12767.82 |
Sound
The sound setup is relatively simple with a 32 channel digital mixer, a digital stage box linked to the mixer via cat5 and a sub and top for each side. Wireless Handheld, belt packs and in ear monitors. a few floor monitors. A crumb mic kit, a few wired handheld mics, along with a few Di boxes to be on the safe side.
Lighting
Again the Lighting is pretty simple with only three types of fixtures and a lighting desk. I chose the (Spot, Beam & Wash Fixture), Some decorative moving blinders and some LED battens to cover the rest of the trust that will act as both decorative and as a stage wash. I chose to go with a MagicQ MQ70 lighting console as I know the desks really well and if I were to expand the rig the console would be more than capable. I’m using Cat5 to deliver Artnet to the node on stage that will then feel the fixtures with DMX.
| Item | Price | Wty | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saftey Cable | £9.07 | 63 | £571.54 |
| MagicQ MQ70 | £6000.00 | 1 | £6000.00 |
| Showtec Node 8 | £609.46 | 1 | £609.46 |
| SOUNDCRAFT DIRE0001 CAT 5 CABLE SYSTEM FOR SI COMPACT-STAGEBOX 50M | £480.00 | 1 | £480.00 |
| Infinity IB-16R Set (2 fixtures & Flightcase) | £8048.66 | 8 | £64389.31 |
| Infinity IB-715 Set (6 fixtures & Flightcase) | £8215.13 | 4 | £32860.51 |
| Showtec Pixel Bar 18 Q4 Tour | £429.55 | 23 | £9879.70 |
| Neutrik Powercon / XLR Cable 0.75m | £35.33 | 63 | £2225.66 |
| Powercable Neutrik Powercon/CEE 3P 16A | £74.82 | 6 | £448.92 |
| 10M XLR Cable | £13.99 | 10 | £139.90 |
| 20m XLR Cable | £25.99 | 10 | £259.90 |
| Total | £117,864.90 |
Video Wall
Though it increases the cost of the setup a fair bit I really liked the idea of including a video wall. I well with a setup by American DJ consisting of the AV3 Panels that fill almost the entire width of the back of the truss. and of course to run the video wall I’d use the Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro setup I covered in a previous post. If I every expanded the rig I could order another video wall setup and it would be possible to split that screen in two and place them either side of the stage.
| Item | Price | Qty | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| ADJ AV3 LED Panel | £822.31 | 70 | £57561.84 |
| ADJ AV3 Flightcase | £597.25 | 9 | £5375.27 |
| ADJ AV3 Rigging Bar | £161.23 | 10 | £1612.32 |
| Powercable P15,5 Tour | £211.37 | 4 | £845.47 |
| 50mm Half Coupler/Lifting Eye | £33.41 | 10 | £334.08 |
| MANUAL CHAIN HOIST 500KG COMPLETE LIFTING HEIGHT 6M | £257.74 | 2 | £515.47 |
| Chain Shackle 1Ton | £2.65 | 10 | £26.52 |
| SLING 2 TON WLL. 3 METER | £14.33 | 4 | £57.31 |
| SOUNDCRAFT DIRE0001 CAT 5 CABLE SYSTEM FOR SI COMPACT-STAGEBOX 50M | £480.00 | 0 | £0.00 |
| Neutrik powerCON / Ethercon Cable 0.5m | £36.67 | 70 | £2567.04 |
| Powercable Neutrik Powercon/CEE 3P 16A | £74.82 | 4 | £299.28 |
| Total | £69,194.60 |
The Total Costs
So after all that research how much does it all come to. Bear in mind that there are a few things missing like cables and big ass truck to put all of this in a get it places. There is also a drum riser missing and the chances are I’ve forgotten something important that hold the whole thing together too.
| Section | Total |
|---|---|
| Computer | £1,803.34 |
| ATEM Mini Setup | £15,705.67 |
| Stage | £8,626.39 |
| Truss | £12,767.82 |
| Lighting | £117,384.90 |
| Sound | £22,917.42 |
| Video Wall | £69,194.60 |
| Total | £248,400.14 |
Not exactly cheap and I didn’t got with the expensive stuff either, well except for the lighting desk and may be a couple of other bits. I’m not surprised that the lighting us the most expensive department if I’m honest. I could probably of reduced the cost their a bit by not including fixtures to go on the floor.
I was hoping the video wall would come out a bit cheaper if I’m honest but again I’m not overly surprised. It’s also a bit annoying that the two departments I enjoy working in the most seem to be the most expensive. Especially when you add the camera system and computer to the video wall. All I can tell you is that it’s a good thing that I don’t have £250,000 to spare otherwise I’d be looking for somewhere to store all of this right now.
Boy I have expensive hobbies. Maybe I should take up knitting…
So what do you think? What would you change? Where would you shop? Would you like to buy me all of these things. Let me know in the comments bellow.
