The Rig Rundown with ALITA

Deborah (vocals) and Vitali (guitar and engineering) have been making music together for a few years now. They are the masterminds of ALITA. Anyone finding their way into the rehearsal room in Aalen, can quickly notice that both of them devote most of their time to their studies. Therefore, the rehearsal room must be efficient. In their case, this means: get into the rehearsal room, get started right away and make the best possible use of the little time available. This is the reason why their Holy Grail is purposefully equipped.

ALITA is a particularly exciting band because they have added a string trio, bass, keyboard and drums to the singer-songwriter sound on and off the stage. Thus, the band consists of 8 people. This also means that they need a large rehearsal room to avoid acoustic feedback.

And now the facts: in a personal Rig Rundown, ALITA is showing us 5 vital components which are crucial in their rehearsal room:

1. Speakers

Two speaker systems are positioned in the middle of all the band members. Vitali is thrilled that they are of such a compact size. However, this is not the only thing. With 300 W each, they are capable of awesome volume levels at concerts and even carry out the monitoring on open-air stages. Another benefit of this constellation is for the strings to hear the entire monitoring. The precise and compact monitoring reflects the band itself: without detours, pragmatic, well-chosen.

2. Mixers

A digital mixer with 32 channels is positioned next to the speaker systems. Thus, it is possible to record rehearsal sessions. ALITA often does this to listen to their recordings directly and give each other feedback.

3. Pedalboard

A pedalboard is positioned at Vitali's feet. In addition to the tuner for his guitar, it also accomodates effect units and DI boxes. Vitali uses an active DI box for the acoustic guitar, a passive one for the metronome and backing tracks.

4. PA system

The band is using a standard 10" PA speaker and a 12" subwoofer as an active PA system.

5. Microphones

Microphones are of course indispensable, too. Beside vocal microphones, instrument microphones are also vital. According to ALITA, they are perfectly suitable for getting started. The big advantage for the band: "They come as a set including the necessary holders for acoustic guitar, violin and cello." Thus, you can use them for miking your instruments. ALITA uses four of them.

Last but not least, the drums have also got their own drum microphone set. For ALITA, DRUMSET-1 is the price-performance winner when choosing a microphone set for miking a drum kit.

At the very beginning, ALITA worked exclusively with standard monitor speakers. With growing professionalism and the special instrument constellation, Vitali and Deborah realised that this alone was not enough. Hence, they switched to hybrid monitoring and now use in-ears as well as speakers. ALITA: "We are aware that no doubt the in-ears are a little luxury which not every band can afford and perhaps not even need at the beginning. However, on the one hand, they allow Vitali to move freely in the rehearsal room when he has to readjust the technology during rehearsal and on the other hand, it is the best way for everyone to hear themselves and their own instrument." You can decide for yourself whether and how professional you want it to be.

It is an advantage if you take care of your own monitoring on stage.

Ok, ok, we have mentioned the word monitoring quite a bit now. However, there is a reason for that. As mentioned at the beginning, it is very important that you can hear yourself and your instruments. This applies to both the rehearsal room and on stage. The sound quality should not be left to chance if you do your own monitoring:

• Use the time in the rehearsal room to adjust your sound properly. This is where you can do it in peace. With digital mixers, you can also store your in-ear setup as a preset. The benefit: you can save yourself a lot of stress on stage and during the sound check (especially if the sound engineer on site does not have any time to do it)

• You can make subsequent adjustments at your dynamic live location according to what you hear on stage and have everything completely under control. You have got the best insight into yourself and your needs

Do not despair if you have not got the perfect setup for your rehearsal room right away. Art and especially music, thrive on raw energy. No one is born a master and you are allowed to make mistakes. Time will show, how your very own perfect Rig Rundown will look like. At the beginning, do not try to read up too much on your technology. In the end, it is all about having fun and making your band sound great.

_{^{Fotos ©  MaWiTa Creative / ALITA}}