Stage Plot Generator · Reference
What a stage plot has to show — walked through three real setups.
A stage plot is not a drawing exercise: it is the document that lets a house crew patch your stage before you arrive. Here is what every plot must contain, worked through a 4-piece rock band, a singer-songwriter and a festival changeover — plus the mistakes that turn a 15-minute changeover into 40.
What every stage plot must show
A stage plot answers one question for the house crew: what will this stage look like, and what do we patch where? Everything on the plot serves that. A pretty drawing that omits the monitor positions has failed; an ugly sketch that shows them has not.
- Every performer position, seen from the audience or from above — pick one view and say which.
- Every input source at its position, numbered to match the input list.
- Monitor positions and mix numbers (wedge symbols with "Mix 1", "Mix 2" — or "IEM" where no wedge is needed).
- Power drops: where backline and pedalboards need sockets.
- Risers, with size and what stands on them.
- What the band brings vs. what the venue provides, marked or legended.
Example 1 — the 4-piece rock band
The standard club case: drums upstage centre (ideally on a 2×2 m riser), bass stage left of the kit, guitar stage right, lead vocal downstage centre. The plot shows four monitor wedges — one per position — labelled Mix 1 through Mix 4, with the vocal wedge downstage centre and the drum wedge beside the hi-hat.
The input numbering follows patching convention: drums first (kick, snare, toms, overheads), then bass, then guitars, then vocals. On the plot, each source carries its channel number — the kick mic position reads "1", the vocal position "10". A house tech now patches the entire stage without asking a single question, which is the whole point.
Power: three drops — upstage centre for the drum riser (e-drums, fans), stage left for the bass rig, stage right for guitar and pedalboard. Marking them on the plot saves the classic first-question-at-load-in.
Example 2 — the singer-songwriter
Deceptively simple, frequently botched. One performer, downstage centre: vocal mic on a boom, acoustic guitar DI, maybe a stomp box. Three inputs — but the plot still earns its keep, because the details are non-obvious: does the guitar go DI or does an amp need micing? Is the second song on piano, and if so, does the venue provide it? One wedge or none?
A solo plot fits on half a page and takes ten minutes to draw. Skipping it is how a venue preps a full band stage for one person — or, worse, preps nothing and starts hunting for a DI box at doors.
Example 3 — the festival changeover
On a festival stage the plot changes audience: it is read by a stage manager running a 15-minute changeover, not a house tech with an afternoon. Two things move to the foreground. First, rolling risers — if your drums come pre-built on a riser, the plot must say so, with dimensions, because that is what makes the changeover time real. Second, what stays and what swaps: shared backline (festival drum kit, bass rig) must be marked as used-as-provided, and everything the band wheels on must be obvious at a glance.
Number discipline matters double here: the festival patch is a compromise across every band on the bill, and your input list will be mapped onto it. A plot whose numbers match your own list exactly gives the patch tech a fighting chance of mapping it correctly at speed.
Common mistakes
- Plot and input list numbered differently — the single fastest way to a mispatched stage.
- No monitor information. Wedge count and mix numbers are half of why the plot exists.
- No dimensions on risers, so the venue builds the wrong one or none.
- Drawn for one specific stage. A good plot is relative (upstage/downstage, stage left/right), not measured to a room you played once.
- Out of date. The plot must match the current input list — venues notice the mismatch immediately, and it discredits both documents.
Frequently asked
Does a stage plot need to be to scale?
No. Relative positions, clear labels and correct channel numbers matter; millimetres do not. The exceptions are risers, which need real dimensions, and unusually large setups on small stages — where a rough sense of scale saves an on-site surprise.
Do I need separate plots for different shows?
Usually two: a full plot for club shows and a stripped changeover plot for festivals (shared backline marked, rolling riser dimensions on it). Duplicating and trimming a master plot takes minutes and beats one plot that fits neither case.
What format should the plot be sent in?
PDF, embedded in or attached to the tech rider — one email, one package. Send it whenever the rider goes out; a plot the venue first sees at load-in has arrived too late to help anyone.
Stage Plot Generator · Reference
Draw it once, patch it everywhere.
Stage Plot Generator builds the plot, the input list and the DMX patch as one document — drag musicians and gear onto a stage, and the channel list writes itself. One purchase, yours forever, PDF export included.
