Creating a trailer pack is one of those chicken-and-egg scenarios during pre-production.
For a developing artist, it’s a good idea to run a tour budget and figure out what the artist is able to afford in regard to transportation and trucking, prior to the production designer getting involved.
This allows a production manager to work with a production designer and essentially reverse engineer a show that is tourable, but one that also fits within the parameters of available transportation and budget.
Larger productions require bigger budgets, more crew to build the show, and more transportation to move it all around.
Once you have a rough vision of what the production is starting to look like, you can begin the effervescent task of creating a trailer pack.
What is a Trailer Pack?
A trailer pack is a schematic used for packing a trailer. It could be used for loading a bus trailer, box truck, semi-trailer, or other forms of transportation.
It outlines the order in which gear should be loaded into cargo space and helps optimize space and increase efficiency for the load in and out.
Why You Should Create a Trailer Pack
Creating a trailer pack before you get on the road will help identify potential issues involving weight and physical space.
Most bus companies will only allow 10,000 lbs in their bus trailers. This is very easy to exceed if carrying a proper audio and lighting package. Those cable cases and lighting fixtures aren’t featherweight!
In regards to space, having a rough plan before your first rehearsal load out is going to help avoid the entirely avoidable scenario of having too much gear and not enough available space. Awkward!
Beyond that, it will help the person calling the pack since they will have a base-level familiarity with the gear, along with how the show is built.
How Can You Create a Trailer Pack?
There are a number of different solutions available when it comes to creating a trailer pack.
A few popular 3D modeling options are Easy Cargo 3D, Vectorworks, AutoCAD, and SketchUp.
They vary in pricing and process, but all will help you to achieve your goal of creating a pack.
Sometimes you can ask the vendor for sample trailer packs of how their gear would pack into a truck. These production vendors live and breathe this stuff, and can give you a good ballpark of how much real estate their gear will chew up.
Remember when you started to put together a gear manifest? Those dimensions and weights will come in handy when importing everything into one of these programs.
More experienced stage managers and production managers will often have a good sense of how much gear will fit into a truck and won’t necessarily have to create a trailer pack.
Another idea is to tape out truck space on the floor of rehearsals. You can then start experimenting with road cases to see what might work, prior to the actual load out.
As with anything in the live music business, no two scenarios are exactly the same, so it’s good to be open to different solutions.
Considerations for Making a Trailer Pack
What works in a 3D model might not end up being the best solution once you end up out on the road working with local crews. Use your intuition and listen to feedback from your drivers, tour mates, and local labor to tweak your load as necessary.
Road Case Dimensions and Weight
As you’re designing the pack, keep in mind the size of the road cases, along with their weight. There are a lot of variables at play. Different factors will impact where and how certain cases will end up in your pack.
Securing Your Load
Make sure whatever transportation you end up hiring has proper E-track, load bars, and ratchet straps. It’s one thing to load a trailer, it’s another thing to make sure the load is properly secured.
Don’t Forget Merchandise
If you’re on a one-bus, one-trailer tour, make sure to consider space for merchandise. Merch is often the very last thing to show up at the tail end of the night. Consider building an attic for merch with load bars and plywood. If you have the space, make a partition between the side door and the nose of the bus trailer that will create room for your merch person to work.
Bus Trailer Wheel Wells
North American bus trailers have those awful wheel wells inside of them. They can carry more gear, but on tight packs, they can make life difficult when they are not accounted for. European bus trailers are smaller and can’t carry as much, but thankfully do not have internal wheel wells.
Removal of Gear
If any gear or equipment is getting pulled out of the pack, make the production manager or stage manager aware as it will impact the overall pack. Trying to retrieve a guitar from a vault safely packed away in the nose is a sad scene.
Local Labor
Another thing to think about is the amount of available labor on a show call. It’s one thing to fill a truck up with gear and make it all fit, it’s another thing to unload, build, and break it down day after day.
Non-Rectangular Road Cases
Sometimes you end up with items that aren’t in square road cases or don’t have any wheels. Consider purchasing a utility trunk that can accommodate these items versus leaving them as loose chowder that is prone to breakage.
Labeling Cases
Consider labeling cases for where they need to end up on stage. Color coding and labeling of cases can help to expedite your out, especially if you have multiple vehicles needing to be loaded.
Trailer Pack Schematic
In the back of the truck, once you’ve settled on what the pack is going to be for the rest of the tour, print out a laminated schematic of your pack that you and the hands can take a look at. The idea is to call the same pack, night after night to create consistency.
Conclusion
Loading a trailer full of production is a real-life game of Tetris.
Using a trailer pack to eliminate the guesswork in how road cases could fit together can go a long way in improving those initial load outs.
By keeping in mind the considerations and ideas outlined in this article, tour managers can create a more efficient and organized touring experience for their artists and crew.