A stage plot is a map of your setup: where each musician stands, what gear goes where, and what plugs in where. Show up without one and the sound engineer builds your show from guesswork, which costs you soundcheck time and a worse mix. A clear plot, sent ahead, turns load-in into a formality. This guide covers what to put on a stage plot, how to lay it out so an engineer can read it in seconds, and how to keep it current.
Start with what the engineer actually needs
An engineer does not need your plot to be pretty. They need to answer three questions fast: where does each source go, what does each one need, and where does the sound come back to the musician. Everything on the plot should serve one of those three questions, and anything that does not is clutter.
Two documents usually travel together: the stage plot (the visual layout) and the input list (the channel-by-channel detail). The plot shows positions; the list shows what plugs into the desk. Keep both, and keep them consistent with each other so one never contradicts the other.
- The position of every musician and instrument
- What each source needs: DI, mic, power
- Where each monitor or in-ear feed goes
- An input list that matches the layout
Lay out the stage from the audience view
Decide on one convention and label it on the page. Most engineers read a plot as if standing in the audience looking at the stage, so stage left and stage right can be the reverse of what the band feels. Write "audience view" on the plot and the ambiguity disappears.
Set the stage dimensions close to real and place people to scale. A drum riser two metres back reads very differently from one at the lip of the stage, and the engineer plans cable runs and monitor placement from those distances.
- State the viewpoint in writing: audience or band
- Draw to a sensible scale, in metres
- Show risers, depth and where people stand
- Mark the front of the stage clearly
Number the inputs and put the list on the plot
The single most useful thing you can add is a numbered input list. Channel 1 kick, channel 2 snare, and so on down to the playback feeds and the click. When the plot and the list share the same numbers, the engineer patches straight from your document.
For each input, note what it is and how it connects: a dynamic mic, a DI from a keyboard, a stereo pair from a playback rig. If backing tracks are involved, say exactly how many channels arrive and whether the click is one of them, kept separate for the band only.
- A numbered channel list, kick to playback
- Source and connection for each line (mic, DI, feed)
- Playback channels stated, click kept separate
- The same numbers on the plot and the list
Show monitoring, not just sources
A plot that only shows inputs is half a plot. Mark where each musician needs to hear themselves: a wedge here, in-ears there, a side-fill on the far side. If you run your own in-ear monitoring, say so, because it changes what the engineer has to provide.
Note power too. Anything that plugs into the wall (keyboards, a playback device, pedalboards, a bass rig) needs a socket near its position, and a plain "power needed stage left" on the plot saves a scramble at load-in.
- Every monitor position: wedge, in-ear or side-fill
- Whether you bring your own monitoring
- Power needs, by position
- Anything the venue must supply
Make it readable in ten seconds
A stage plot competes with twenty others on a busy day. Keep it to one page, use plain labels ("Gtr 1", "Keys", "Playback"), and add a small legend for your symbols. Clean beats detailed: an engineer skims it once at load-in and refers back mid-soundcheck.
Put your contact details and the date on it. A plot with no date is a plot nobody trusts, because the engineer cannot tell whether it matches the band that walked in the door.
- One page, plain labels, a short legend
- Consistent symbols for people, gear and monitors
- Band name, contact and date on the page
- Legible when printed in black and white
Send it ahead and keep it current
A plot only helps if the venue sees it before the day. Send it with the advance, along with the rider, so the engineer can prep patching and monitoring in advance. A plot that arrives at load-in has already lost most of its value.
Then keep it alive. Line-ups change, gear changes, and a plot from last year describes a band that no longer exists. Update it whenever the setup changes and export a fresh copy for each run of shows.
- Send the plot with the advance, ahead of the show
- Pair it with the technical rider
- Update it whenever the setup changes
- Carry a current copy to every show