What Is a Tech Rider? How to Write One (With an Example)
A tech rider is the technical document that tells the venue and the sound engineer what your band needs on stage, before you get there. How many channels, which instruments get a mic and which go through a DI box, who stands where, how many monitors you need and what gear you're bringing yourselves. For most bands it's one or two pages.
You load in. On stage there are two mic stands, one wedge and a four-channel mixer. You've got three singers, a keyboard with stereo outs and two guitars. The engineer goes off to hunt for DI boxes, the singer asks which mic is theirs, and your soundcheck time quietly disappears. Most of that scene can be avoided with one page sent a few days earlier.
When people talk about promoting a band, the EPK gets all the attention. The tech rider gets a lot less, but from your very first gig it's usually the document that does the most work. Here's what goes in it, how to keep it short and realistic, and a sample input list you can adapt.
What's the difference between a tech rider and a hospitality rider?
Both get called "the rider," which is why they get mixed up. They cover different things.
- Tech rider: everything needed to play the music on stage. Input list, stage plot, monitors, backline, power, a technical contact.
- Hospitality rider: everything off stage. Green room, water and food, parking, accommodation, guest list.
On big tours, both are long, detailed documents. At small shows the hospitality side is often a couple of lines: water on stage, somewhere close to park for load-in. The tech rider matters at every level, because the engineer's prep depends on it. Keep them on separate pages so nobody has to dig for your channel count between the snack requests.
What goes in a tech rider?
A short tech rider needs five parts. Each one answers a question the engineer will have.
- Lineup: who plays what and who sings. One line per person.
- Input list: what goes into which channel on the desk.
- Stage plot: a simple top-down drawing. Where everyone stands, where the amps and monitors go.
- Monitors and backline: how many wedges, what goes in each one. What you expect from the venue and what you're bringing.
- Contact: the name and number of the one person to call about technical stuff.
Lighting plans, stage dimensions and where the power drops are come up on bigger stages. If your first rider doesn't have them, that's fine. What matters is that the engineer can picture your stage at a glance.
Format matters as much as content. Engineers often open riders on a phone, in between other jobs. Put the band name at the top and the input list and stage plot on page one. Use short lines and tables, not paragraphs. Send it as a PDF and name the file after the band and what it is. A file called "rider_final_FINAL.pdf" gets lost in an inbox.
How do you put together an input list?
The input list is the page the engineer looks at most. It follows the channel order on the desk, usually starting with drums and ending with vocals. The soundcheck runs in the same order, so the engineer can just work down the list.
Here's an example for a four-piece rock band plus keys:
| Channel | Source | Mic / DI | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kick | Dynamic mic | Short stand |
| 2 | Snare | Dynamic mic | Short stand |
| 3 | Overhead | Condenser mic | One is enough on a small stage |
| 4 | Bass | DI | Own amp |
| 5 | Guitar 1 | Dynamic mic on amp | Own amp |
| 6 | Guitar 2 | Dynamic mic on amp | Own amp |
| 7–8 | Keys (L/R) | 2 × DI | Mono is fine too |
| 9 | Lead vocal | Vocal mic | Straight stand |
| 10 | Vocal 2 (guitarist) | Vocal mic | Boom stand |
The "Mic / DI" column is the one people skip most, and it's exactly the one that tells the engineer what to get ready. A DI box is the little box that connects an instrument straight to the desk. If the engineer knows how many you need, nobody's running around looking for one during changeover. Bringing your own mic? Put that in the notes too.
How do you draw a stage plot?
You don't need to be able to draw. Sketch a rectangle for the stage, with the bottom edge as the audience side. Place the drums, amps, keyboard stand, mic stands and monitors as boxes or circles, and label each one.
- Number the monitors, and use the same numbers in your monitor notes.
- Mark where you need power: pedalboards, keys, amps.
- Label positions by instrument, not by name. The engineer is looking for "Guitar 1," not a first name.
We used to draw ours on paper and snap a photo of it. It worked fine. The important part is that the plot shows where you actually stand on stage. If you set up one way in rehearsal and another way at gigs, the plot will mislead.
How do you list monitor and backline needs?
For monitors, write two things: how many wedges you want and what each one should have in it. Short lines are enough, like "Wedge 1: lead vocal, mostly vocals, a bit of keys." If someone's on in-ears, say so separately, since their mix gets built on its own.
Backline is the gear that's already on stage and shared between bands. Drum kit, bass amp and guitar amps are the usual ones. Splitting it into two lists makes things clear:
- What you're bringing: guitars, pedalboards, keys, your own amps, the drummer's personal bits like cymbals and snare.
- What you need from the venue: drum kit, bass amp, keyboard stand, mics and stands.
On multi-band nights, backline is usually shared. The drummer bringing their own cymbals and using the house kit is a common setup. Knowing that ahead of time also makes changeovers faster.
Why should a tech rider for small venues be short and realistic?
A lot of small pubs and bars run on limited gear. Few channels on the desk, one wedge or none at all, and a drum kit shared by every band that night. Sending a sixteen-channel rider to that kind of room doesn't help. The engineer either won't read it or will have to guess what you really need.
Writing the rider in two tiers helps:
- Must-have: without this, the show can't happen. For example, two vocal mics, DIs for bass and keys, at least one monitor.
- Nice to have: you'll still play without it. An overhead mic, a second wedge, miking the guitar amps.
On a small stage, guitar amps often fill the room without a mic. If you say that in your rider, the engineer trusts you more. Same goes for a single wedge: decide as a band beforehand what goes in it. Vocals and a bit of keys is usually the safest pick, since drums and amps are loud on stage anyway. A realistic rider shows you know how these rooms work, and the venue will find it easier to book you again.
When and how do you send the tech rider to the venue?
Send it once the date is confirmed, a few days before the show. Leave it to the last day and the engineer reads it on stage. Whoever talks to the venue sends the rider and checks that it actually reached the engineer. If the venue doesn't have an in-house engineer and someone's coming in, they need a copy too.
Bring a printed copy on the day. Opening documents on a phone on stage isn't always easy. If the lineup changes, say a guest sax player that night, update the rider and send it again. An engineer working off the old version sets up one channel short. For how all this prep gets used once you're on stage, see our step-by-step soundcheck guide.
What are the most common tech rider mistakes?
- Asking for gear the venue doesn't have. Expecting a festival setup from a small room.
- No contact person, or three different numbers. The engineer wants one person to call.
- Channels in random order. The usual drums-to-vocals order speeds everything up.
- Not saying what you're bringing, so the engineer prepares the same thing twice.
- Not updating the rider when the lineup changes.
- Several versions of the rider floating around the band. Nobody knows which one went to the venue.
- Abbreviations with no explanation. "Voc 2" or "Gtr L" is obvious to you, not always to the engineer.
- Mixing technical and hospitality needs in the same list.
If this is for your first show, the first gig checklist shows where the rider fits into the rest of the prep.
In BandUp, the tech rider builds itself from your lineup and instruments. You arrange the stage plot with drag and drop, the input list is generated automatically, and the song list from your repertoire and the owner's contact details are in there too. You send it to the venue as a public link that needs no login and reads fine on a phone. Edits show up on that link right away, and when the lineup changes the rider updates itself. For a printed copy, you can download it as a black-and-white PDF.
The tech rider covers the technical side of the band. For the side that introduces you to venues and promoters, check out our guide to the EPK.