What is an input list, and how do you write one?

An input list is the numbered list of every channel your band needs at the mixing desk: the drum mics, the amps or DIs, the keyboards, any tracks and the vocals. Each line says what the source is, which mic or DI suits it, who plays it and whether it needs 48V phantom power. It goes to the engineer with the stage plot, before the gig.

If you have only ever turned up and plugged in, it can sound like paperwork for the sake of it. It is not. It is the list the engineer works from all afternoon, and a good one saves more time at the load-in than anything else you can send.

Why does the engineer want it before the gig?

Because the stage is set before you arrive. With an input list in hand, the engineer knows how many channels you are, how many microphones and DI boxes to bring, how many need phantom power and how many stands to put out. They can patch the stage box, label the desk and, at a venue with a fixed system, check you fit at all.

Without it, all of that happens while you are carrying cases in, and the sound check starts late. For a function band, where the gap between load-in and the first set is rarely generous, that is the difference between a calm line check and a rushed one.

What goes on an input list?

Every line has the same five things:

• Channel number. Starting at 1, with no gaps.
• Source. What is making the sound: "Kick", "Bass amp (Priya)", "Keys L (Tom)", "Vocal (Megan)".
• Mic or DI. What suits it: "SM57 or similar", "condenser", "DI". The type, not a demand for a brand.
• Performer. Who plays it, so the engineer can shout the right name during the line check.
• 48V. Whether the channel needs phantom power.

That is the whole format. Some bands add a column for stands (tall boom, short boom, clip), which is a kindness to the engineer if you know.

What order do the channels go in?

Most engineers expect roughly this order, and it is worth keeping to it:

1. Drums: the kit's mics go kick, snare top, snare bottom, overheads, hi-hat, toms, floor tom, then any extra drum mics. About seven channels for a typical kit.
2. Bass, miked or on a DI.
3. Guitars, the same. An amp that is miked and also on a DI is one channel, marked "mic or DI", and the engineer picks one.
4. Keys, as a left and right pair for each keyboard.
5. Acoustic instruments, usually on a DI.
6. Tracks or a laptop, a stereo pair.
7. Vocals, last, one per singer.

The reasoning is practical: the drums take the most channels and are checked first, and the vocals sit together at the end of the desk where the engineer's hands spend the night. Whatever order you use, keep it the same from one gig to the next, so a dep or an engineer who has had you before knows where everything is.

What does 48V phantom power mean?

Some microphones and DI boxes need a small voltage from the desk to work. That is phantom power, usually 48 volts, switched on per channel. Condenser mics (the ones often used on hi-hats and overheads), active DI boxes and keyboards through DIs generally need it; a dynamic vocal mic does not. Marking it saves the engineer working it out channel by channel, and avoids a silent line during the check.

How many channels is a function band?

It depends entirely on the line-up, which is why it is worth counting. A five-piece with a full kit, bass on a DI, a miked guitar amp, two stereo keyboards and three vocals is already around twenty channels. Add an acoustic, a horn section or backing tracks and it grows quickly. Many small venue systems top out at sixteen or twenty-four, so the count is a useful thing to send early.

What does one look like for a five-piece?

Take a typical function band: a lead singer who plays acoustic guitar on a couple of songs, a guitarist who sings backing vocals, a bassist on a DI, a keys player with two keyboards who also sings, and a drummer who runs backing tracks. Written out in the usual order, the list reads:

1. Kick, venue kick mic, drums
2. Snare, SM57 or similar, drums
3. Overhead L, condenser, drums, 48V
4. Overhead R, condenser, drums, 48V
5. Hi-hat, condenser, drums, 48V
6. Rack tom, SM57 or similar, drums
7. Floor tom, SM57 or similar, drums
8. Bass DI, DI, bass, 48V
9. Guitar amp, SM57 or similar, guitar
10. Keys 1 L, DI, keys, 48V
11. Keys 1 R, DI, keys, 48V
12. Keys 2 L, DI, keys, 48V
13. Keys 2 R, DI, keys, 48V
14. Acoustic, DI, lead vocal, 48V
15. Tracks L, DI, drums, 48V
16. Tracks R, DI, drums, 48V
17. Vocal, SM58 or similar, lead vocal
18. Vocal, SM58 or similar, guitar
19. Vocal, SM58 or similar, keys

Nineteen channels, from five people. That is the number that tells a venue whether their desk will cope, and it is the number most bands guess low.

The venue's list and the band's list

When a band mixes on stage, there are two lists, not one. The venue's list is short: the left and right pair from your mixer, plus anything you send direct. Your own rig has its own list, with every drum mic, amp and keyboard it takes in, numbered from 1 for whoever runs your mixer. With a splitter, a source can appear on both. The stage plot maker works both out from the same plot, so the two never disagree.

What about the monitors?

The monitor mixes are a separate, shorter list that sits under the input list: one line per person who needs to hear themselves, numbered from the front of the stage, saying whether they use a wedge (a floor monitor) or in-ears. In the example above, the singer might be on in-ears, the guitarist, bassist and keys player on wedges, and the drummer on nothing but the backing tracks in headphones.

A few words of what each person wants to hear helps the engineer start in the right place: "lead vocal: keys and own voice", "drums: bass and tracks". If you bring your own in-ear system and mix it yourselves, say so, and say whether you need a feed from the desk.

The mistakes that cost time

Most of the problems an engineer meets with an input list are the same handful:

• Missing channels. The second keyboard, the acoustic for two songs, the backing vocal the drummer sings on one chorus. If it needs a channel, it goes on the list, even if it is only used once.
• Mono where it is stereo. A keyboard or a tracks laptop usually wants two channels, left and right. Writing "keys" once makes the engineer find a second DI at the last minute.
• No phantom power marked. A condenser or an active DI with no 48V is a silent channel and a puzzled line check.
• A different list every gig. If the channel numbers move around, nobody remembers them. Keep the order and the numbers fixed and change only what genuinely changed.
• Out of date. A list from two line-ups ago is worse than no list, because the engineer trusts it.

How to send it

Put the input list on the same page as the stage plot, under the drawing, with the monitor mixes below it. Send it when the gig is advanced, a week or two before, to whoever is running sound, along with the day sheet details. Send it again if the line-up changes.

The guide to making a stage plot covers the drawing side. If you would rather not type the list out at all, the free stage plot designer builds it for you: add each player, tick what they bring and tap where they stand, and the input list numbers itself in the order above, with 48V marked where it is needed.

The short version

An input list is the engineer's working document for your band. Number every channel, keep the usual order, name the mic type rather than a brand, mark phantom power, and send it with the plot before the gig. Do that, and the sound check starts with the engineer already knowing what you have got. The rest of what keeps a band's gigs in one place is on the features page. A band management app is where those lists and plots live between gigs.