Often when a client books a stage, they ask if we can add sound to the package. Our response is always “certainly, no problem”, but then we have to ask a few questions. Below are the first three questions we ask and why they are important.

How many people are you expecting to attend your event?

Why does this matter at the planning stages of your event? Well, the more people you have in front of the stage, the more the sound is absorbed and the less distance it travels.

If we mount speakers on stands, or ground stack the big PA speakers on the floor, then more often than not the first four or five rows of people block the sound and the clarity of the sound is completely lost, so we need to consider a system that can be mounted on risers or a line-array configuration hung from the stage itself.

Knowing the size of the crowd in advance will ensure we plan the right sound system, so everyone one at the event gets the best experience.

Is the stage the main focus of your event?

There is nothing worse than planning a community fair where everyone wants to enjoy all the stalls and have a relaxing time, but the stage sound is overpowering the whole show. For these events, where the stage is there to compliment the event, you want the stage sound to be loud enough for the bands to be heard but controlled, so it can be enjoyed by the families sitting enjoying their picnics. We would offer a PA system scaled to suit this environment.

Equally, we don’t want to turn up with this type of PA system if the stage is the main focus of the festival and the crowd are expecting a chest thumping immersive experience.

Our sound engineers approach the mixing of these two types of events in completely different ways too. For a laid-back event they are aiming to get a balanced ambient sound, so will be using less microphones, and placing them further away from things like the drums and guitar amplifiers.

For a festival type sound, the engineer will want full control of each instrument and will be mixing individual drums, using anything between 16 – 30 microphones for one band.

Our sound engineering team have over 25 years of experience in live events and are happy to discuss your plans and offer their advice for free. Call us today to discuss your event and how we can help.