The Ultimate Live Sound Engineers Kit

This is a forever changing list. We sound guys are never satisfied with what we have! I had a post earlier that included my gig bag, a quick run through will tell you how much it has evolved.

Choose the tight tool for the job. (Pic courtesy – Industrial Interface)

Of course, the fact that I freelance and don’t work with just one rental company anymore has contributed a lot to this new list. From a 20L backpack to a cabin size trolley suitcase + Laptop Bag. So in this post I am more or less just going to list out stuff that my cabin-size trolley bag contains. It is just a convenient size to carry and has wheels which is a boon because of the weight and it can be locked. It’s a hard case so the gear is protected as well.

Here it goes…

1. Apple iPad 2 Wifi+3G (Top iPad Apps for a Sound Engineer)
2. Apple Macbook Pro 13″ 2012 (Top Mac OSX Apps for a Sound Engineer)
3. Edison LED Headlamp (I like the handsfree working of a headlamp)
4. Leatherman Skeletool
5. Quest LT 01 Cable Tester
6. Apple iPod Classic 120GB (With all my sound check tracks in wav or other high quality formats)
7. Assorted audio connector converters and gender changers (Two of each)
8. USB Cables assorted types
9. Firewire Cables assorted types

10. XLR cable (Short)

11. TS to TS cable (Short)
12 EP to TS cable (Short)
13. Y and Loop cable for Smaart

14. 2in 2out Sound Card (Avid Fast Track Duo)

15. Behringer ECM8000 – Measurement Mic

16. Whirlwind Polarity Invert XLR Adapter

18. Whirlwind XLR Isolator

19. Screwdriver with bit set

20. Wire Stripper

21. Cheap USB Gooseneck light
22. Soldering Iron
23. Lead free solder + Flux
24. Hot Glue Gun (Super handy)
25. USB Flash Drives
a. Showfiles (8GB)
b. Data transfer (8GB and above)
c. Spare assorted (anywhere between 8GB -32GB)
26. Ear Plugs – Etymotic Research ER20 and bunch of cheap foam plugs
27. Dual TS to Stereo EP (For iPod)
28. Dual RCA to Stereo EP
29. Wifi Router with RJ45 Cable – to run remote for consoles and amp racks etc. I carry TP-Link Nano Router, not he most powerful but super compact.
30. Optical cable

31. M Audio IE-30 In-ear phones (Ultimate Ears drivers)
32. Audio-Technica M50 50th Anniversary Edition (Retired my Cheap Sennheiser EH 150 – Read review here)
33. Drum Key
34. Allen Key set
35. Marking tape for labelling console and other stuff
36. Permanent marker
37. Shades for the sunny days
38. Baseball hat also for the sunny days
39. Energy bars (for days that you dont get a meal break)
40.First aid kit

41. Spare speaker cable and Speakon connectors
42. Power surge protector/travel adaptor (Belkin 3 socket strip)
43. Spare AA, AAA and 9V batteries
44. Fenix LD22 (300lm 2015)
45. Lazer Distance Meter
46. Digital Multimeter
47. AKG C411PP
48. Shure Beta 91
49. Rat Sound Sender/Sniffer – life savers
50. Rain jacket (Very compact foldable type)
51. Gaffers Tape

I know this looks like a lot but I’m sure I have forgotten a few things 😀 Most of this is because I travel with bands and land up in all kinds of situations.

I will try and update this list as frequently as possible since it is ever changing. I also will do sort of product review of the stuff I use frequently. This will let you know how this stuff fares. What better field test than with a travelling sound guy 😀

Last edited/updated on 04 Nov 2016

Advertisement