What You Need To Know: First Bus Tour
Alright fellow audio humans. I’m putting this out there to fill a niche that I really could have used on my way up. This is my NEED TO KNOW: FIRST BUS TOUR post.
I found my way onto my first tour bus oddly as my first actual tour as an audio guy. I somehow missed touring in Sprinter vans (don’t worry, I looped back around for that particular joy) or even really extensively touring in 15 passenger vans. So there I was…uhhhh what the hell am I doing? How does bus touring work?
I was lucky enough to have been working at a venue where we get a fair number of either touring acts I could ask these questions to and even the local mega-church who rented out the room every week includes often touring staff I was able to quiz about a few of these questions. So that coupled with the last few years of bus touring myself, here’s what I came up with:
Rules Of The Road
This is universal. This is iron-clad. Do not fuck this one up.
DO NOT POOP ON THE BUS. The rest of this bit is a little T.M.I. for some folks, so you’re welcome to skip to #2 (pun totally intended) but if you really need to know why, read on… So here’s the scoop, the holding tanks for waste are just not that big, especially considering your bus is for the use of up to 12 people! They often include the runoff from the sink too. Liquid waste is all that tank is going to be able to handle, regardless of how often (and there are NO guarantees here) your driver will empty the tanks. Secondly, there is normally a bend in the plumbing pipes between the toilet and said holding tank so even if there is a grinder motor (yup, that’s a thing) plumbing problems are not something you, your bus driver, or your tour [i.e. your tour manager] are going to want to deal with.
Sleep with your feet towards the driver. Always. Listen, shit happens out on the freeways and even the best bus drivers aren’t immune to other stupid drivers or even animals crossing dark highways in the middle of the night. The brakes on modern tour bus are surprisingly and thankfully very good and can really bring an enormous tour bus to a literal screeching halt. If in that unfortunate but not totally unthinkable situation, your sleeping, limp body gets hurled towards the front of the bus in an emergency stop, your legs and feet absorb the brunt of the shock, not your head and neck. All of the beds will be made by the time you board the bus for the first time and they will be laid out in this orientation. Just roll with it!
Bunk selection. Everyone has their favorite few bunk positions so here’s my 2 cents. If you are an abnormally-freakishly tall person, just take one for the team and take a top bunk. They are really up there, however I have found that they are typically the quietest and most private choice. They can get warm, but I am a hot sleeper, so if you like it warm and cozy, go for it! Middle bunks are arguably the easiest to get into and out of, the easiest to store and retrieve stuff from and my personal vote for a junk-bunk*. They are however pretty much at eye level so they can be less private to prying eyes as they walk by. Bottom bunk is my personal favorite. Typically the coldest since you are closest to the engine-powered A/C units, and quite private as you are at about ankle height to passersby. However, these can be quite noisy as you can be right on top of the motor. If you snore, like me, take a bottom bunk so people walking by don’t hear you as much.
*An extra bunk, unused by tour personnel for sleeping, often to store backpacks or other carry-on items that are preferably not stored in the storage bays underneath.
Please remember, you are sharing a TINY ‘apartment’ with up to 11 other people. Keep your stuff consolidated; clean up after yourself. If everyone clutters a little bit, the bus is a mess and everyone is miserable.
If it can possibly go in a bay, put it in a bay. The bays are storage areas underneath the living area of the bus. Your suitcase goes there. Your Pelican really should go there too. If it’s too valuable to be in a Pelican case and STILL needs to ride with you in your bunk, you may want to reconsider whether it should be on the road.
Know and respect the alcohol and substance rules of your tour. It is not a taboo thing to ask your tour manager these rules. It is wayyy better to ask these rules than to break them. Not a good look if your artist is newly sober. Just ask someone. And if the rules for the tour are pretty lax, rules for individuals might not be the same. Some people, myself included, really like a beer after all is loaded and in the truck. Some don’t. Be cool with that and respect that choice. And folks, this isn’t a frat party. Peer pressure is dumb. Remember, you are on the road as a job. These are your co-workers. If they are living happily without that chosen substance, let them!
Do your job first, post it to social media later, if ever. Be there for the paycheck, be there for the artist. If you really feel the need for more than that, find something else to do to get “close to famous people.”
Be comfortable with the fact that you may at any time be surrounded by people smarter than you. Just because you are now the guy on tour, doesn’t really mean that you now have superpowers that make you incredible at your job. This seriously can be a massive learning opportunity if you let it. You’ll know when you meet really great people. Chat with them! Ask them questions! I have rarely ever found someone who wasn’t interested and totally up for telling you how and why they did something. Overall, be humble. Everyone’s day will be better.
Avoid excessive name and tour dropping. (Guilty :/ ) It’s cool to have experience, but every tour is different. Every tour, every venue, every band you’ve worked with is different and has a different dynamic. Try and go with the flow and treat every day as a brand new day.
Basically don’t be a dick, don’t be an axe murderer, know your job, do your job. You may notice hardly any of these things actually have anything to do with audio. That’s not exactly intentional, but that has a lot to do with how touring works. Touring is a social thing, and it can be a long term and very intense social thing. You may be the greatest mixer in the world, but if you are a complete prick to work with, you’re disrespectful, rude and messy then don’t worry about getting hired back; in fact, you’ll probably be sent home early.
What To Pack
This has a lot to do with what kind of tour you are on and mainly how long are you out for and what climate can you roughly expect.
For the next two categories, I’ve made an almost-complete shopping list you can view here.
Full disclosure, almost all the links provided here are through my Amazon affiliate program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no additional cost to you.
-For summer touring, it’s all about finding good shorts. Mesh athletic shorts won’t cut it because you wont have a good place for your laminate and your pants will inevitably fall to your ankles when you clip on your radio. I’m a fan of Under Armour golf shorts: breathable, stretchy, a few colors available to break of the roadie-black wardrobe, and good strong belt loops.
-My general rule of thumb, if I am out for longer than 10 days, I bring every pair of underwear I own. Few things are worse than running out and having to recycle. I will literally buy more before re-wearing.
-Go get you some shower shoes. You will inevitably have to take a shower in some venue that is as old as dirt and who knows the last time that thing has been properly bleached. Go to Walmart and spend no more than $1.00 on a pair of flip flops to wear in the shower. Side note, my first tour I brought my own towel. That was unnecessary. Venues will provide towels.
-I really like having a pocket knife of some kind. If you’re an all-in-one kinda person, maybe a Leatherman. You’d be shocked how often this is needed day-to-day. Doesn’t have to be huge, doesn’t have to be fancy. But I do recommend something.
-For winter touring, its all about layering. They will pack tighter than a big winter parka, you might find a time when each layer on its own is useful, and as you warm up peeling off one layer is better than a complete outfit change. This works well for all but the coldest most brutal environments.
-Bring some kind of dirty-clothes bag. Something to keep clean and dirty clothes separate. Bonus points if you can keep the stank on one side of your suitcase. Which brings me to the next item…
-Suitcase: there is a lot of variation out there on the road, but keep this in mind. If you are getting on a tour bus now, it is really not long until your artist is going to have you fly somewhere. Get something you are comfortable handing over to TSA. I have gone in on a set of AWAY bags, one for weekends and one for longer. They have a lifetime guarantee, which I have taken advantage of once and their customer support is amazing. (I was in Europe for 4 weeks, they asked what cities I’d be in and a brand new bag arrived at the next venue). The other great thing about Away bags is the suitcase itself weighs practically nothing. Meaning the maximum weight allowable by your airline of choice is not eaten up by some heavy monstrosity you’re just carrying t-shirts and jeans in.
What To Bring For The Gig
You know your gig better than anyone so it’s ultimately up to you.
-If you’re bringing a console, prep it. Over-prep it. Expect the worst. If it’s console du-jour, offline editors are your friend. At least get the naming and labels done ahead of time. That will save you so much time. Note that for most of the offline software for digital consoles, you’ll need a PC running Windows. Bootcamp on a Mac normally works just fine as these are not CPU intensive programs.
-Have USB sticks ready for whatever. have one PC formatted and one Mac, 8GB is normally plenty.
-You’re going to need a laptop. Researching whats at the next show, responding to emails, offline software, the video guy needs a bounce of last nights show. Whatever. You’re just going to need one. I have joined PC world after years of Mac. (That blog post to come!) It just seems the way of a lot of production software, but go whichever way you’re most comfortable and can afford.
-Go get a cheap, but digital readout, standalone dB meter. Especially for you FOH guys. When the promoter says you’re too loud, or the tour manager says you’re too quiet, it’s a very good idea to have numbers to put into the conversation.
-Have a pair of headphones. I also have in-ear monitors, which I’ll get to in a second, but you need something you can throw on and off really fast for troubleshooting situations. Durability is key, but sound is still important. I had Sennheiser HD280 Pros for years and they are great. I recently upgraded to Audio-Technica ATH-M50x and I love them.
-For monitor guys-if you are mixing on ears, firstly you need legit custom molded, in-ear monitors. The difference is more than night and day once you get a proper MOLDED (not generic fit) set of in-ears. There is so much information about what ears to pick, have fun researching. I went with a company called Alclair; I think they sound amazing, they are a fraction the price and of comparable build and sound quality to some other well known brands. You also should really consider a pair of backup in-ear monitors because the show CAN NOT stop if one of yours - a tech, not an artist - stops working.
-I like bringing some tools. Specifically I have a mini screwdriver set; small Phillips and flat head screwdriver and it also has star nut drivers which are becoming very common.
-Have an aux cord. 1/8” stereo TRS to 2x 1/4” if my preferred. I’ve heard that if you go to 2x XLR with +48V power on, it’ll fry your headphone jack.
-Mics are also tricky. If your tour is small enough to not bring a mic package, they will not want to cover any damage that might happen on the road, so you’re on your own there. And it won’t be long until a tour will have a mic package available to you. Maybe pick up something that you really find indispensable to your show. At minimum, bring a talkback mic. You don’t know where that thing has been or how long it’s been there. I like bringing my kick mic, maybe a vocal mic and if you really want to nerd out, maybe tom mics because the house ones tend to get beat up
-We’ve made quite a list here, time to start looking at a road case. The most ubiquitous roadie accessory is a Pelican. Specifically the Pelican 1510, the largest carry-on size available. Get the foam and the lid organizer and you are practically a road vet already. (That’s a joke, you’re still a newb.)
If you work really hard, pay attention, be kind and thoughtful, and are even remotely competent at your job, you will more than likely have a long fruitful career ahead of you. It seems to be working for me.
For all of you that may be reading this that do have touring experience, what additional tips might you have for anyone who comes across this post looking for more information about their first bus tour?
