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Essential Lighting Setup Checklist For Your Wedding Reception

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Need To Hire Lighting For Your Wedding? Looking For A Trusted Wedding Lighting Company in Surrey or London? Lets Talk….

Growing up, we always dreamed of having a fairy-tale-like wedding where we are dressed in a dazzling bridal gown and in your sight you see the most exuberant embellishments of your wedding venue. But reality hits you with sleepless nights, eternal checklists and crazy deadlines to beat as you prepare for your own wedding day. As everybody wants this day to be a memory that will be cherished forever, we all need to go through the most thorough and stressful wedding planning process to get everything perfect and polished on the day of the event. 

For your venue location to fully establish a breathtaking scene without spending a fortune, consider having a well-executed event lighting equipment stationed strategically in your setup. So here, we give you some wedding lighting essentials you need to have to elevate your wedding reception to the next level!

FAIRY LIGHTS

Probably  the easiest, most practical type of wedding event lighting is the Fairy Lights. It can turn your entire venue to  having a romantic, dreamy look by not doing too much and just simply draping the fairy lights around their venue. And voila! An easy transformation of your setup. Furthermore, fairy lights also look wonderful in your wedding photos. 

One functional purpose as to why you should consider incorporating Fairy Lights to your overall theme is that it can serve as a room divider to the less glamorous areas of your venue where you don’t want your guests to see and visit. 

The Sound & Light Hire Company stocks around 200 meters of wedding fairy lighting that can bed pretty much any regular venues out there and uses an HO7- grade of cable making it adjustable (move and bend) according to your preference. And what’s more, our Fairy LEDs are a high gratefully IP rated lighting fixture which means it is safe to use them on any outdoor wedding venues. These lights will also look neat and slick when installed as they come in 10 meters section without having you having to worry about any power shortage  since it only requires one power supply to keep the 100 meters fairy lighting from working.

STRING FESTOON LIGHTS

Another wedding lighting system that is similar to fairy lights are the String Festoon Lights which is becoming more and more popular in the wedding events industry. This type of lighting serves a lot of purpose in a setup. You may hang them up the trees or other pillars found in your reception or even across the dining area of the reception to add a more intimate, homey vibe best fitted for rustic and minimalist wedding theme.

Our in-stock festoon lights can stretch up to 500 meters and 200 meters more for backup in case a client may require such measurement. Again, these are IP rated so it can be used outdoors. Our string festoon lights are also great for a wedding setup because of its natural string color.

LED BLOSSOM TREE HIRE

Placing some LED Blossom Trees in your aisle or dead spaces in your reception can definitely become a stunning element among your wedding embellishments.  This show-stopper stands at 8 ft high (2.4m) and stretch its realistic dark branches covered in white blossom flowers that illuminate hundreds of white LED lights. Just perfect for your wedding photo backdrop! 

Our LED Blossom Tree hire are equipped with energy saving technology so you don’t have to worry about the power supply in your wedding venue. These will also be installed by our professional lighting engineers who will ensure your safety all throughout the occasion. 

WEDDING LIGHT UP TEXTS

These impressive wedding decoration stands at 1000 mm high that are very flexible to any wedding themes such as rustic, garden, beachside, and bohemian inspired setup . We have available LOVE and MR. & MRS. Light up letters that you may want to rent for add-ons. 

These wedding light up texts are also less hassle as each letter is free standing unlike those other types that will require heavy base plates or platform. 

PHOTOBOOTH

Veering away from the essential wedding lighting ideas that we suggest you need to  have on your wedding,  hiring a photobooth is a perfect entertainment corner for you and your wedding guests. It’s a classic favorite for any type of event be it a birthday party or a college homecoming. It’s a special keepsake you can gift and also a fun and engaging activity for everyone who attended your wedding day. 

The Sound & Light Hire Company is a trusted events production services catering to clients in London, Surrey, Guildford, Portsmouth and other surrounding areas. We also have the right logistics to deliver any of our equipment right at the very doorstep of your venue. Our huge equipment inventory  allowed us to ultimately provide any of your event needs. We have been paving the way for sound and light hire solutions for more than 10 years now, tailoring each setup according to the requirement of the event- big or small.  Our team of engineers are also well-experienced in the business and are among the best in their fields. 

Now, that we have shared some of the essential wedding lighting systems that you may want to have at your wedding reception, it will all be up to you how you can mix and match these lighting equipment  that will perfectly suit to your taste and style without compromising your wedding budget. And if you are unsure, our team are ready to help you out and get your started with your wedding preparation. See a full list of our wedding lighting hire. If you looking for a professional lighting hire company in London then we would suggest speaking with On Tour Events who offer a range of event & wedding lighting services

Remember, your wedding day will be one of  the  most magical, romantic and special days of your life. So with ample research, proper time management and reliable event production team your dream wedding will definitely transform into reality! Call us today and will help you make it happen. 

The Sound & Light Hire Company

10 Hillspur Close

Guildford

Surrey

GU2 8HF

Phone: +44 0800 861 1136 

https://www.google.com/maps?cid=177697462353676083 

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Common Mistakes In Event Planning

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Event Planning Tips & Tricks To Help Your Event Run Smoothly

Being in the events industry is cut-throat and demanding. And as an event creator, you have to think smart and execute fast when it comes to just about every detail from the event planning down to the actual day of the event. It is also with the greatest significance to keep up with the latest trends and emerging technology to get you ahead in the business.

And while you have everything ironed out during the process of your planning, the odds are there will still be unforeseen hiccups along the way no matter how prepared you and your team are. It could be something as minor as the balloons being delivered late or perhaps something much bigger and worse like a technical issue with your lighting setup. We never know. These incidents are sometimes inevitable but when you work with people that are well-experienced and efficient in what they do, any hurdle can be rectified no matter how small or big.  

The Sound & Light Hire Company has been in the events industry for more than two decades and counting and have worked with top-tiered event organisers producing astounding events of all types across Surrey, Guildford and Berkshire. Our company is acknowledged in the industry for supplying a complete range of event equipment hire and not to mention our competitive rate of every package we offer that will surely be worth every penny.

If you are an event organiser yourself or someone who works in an events production team, keep reading and let us know if some of the things we will discuss are familiar or relatable. In this blog post, we have consolidated some common elements event planners tend to miss out on and how to utilise them to their full capacity in the future. 

Putting on duplicate and redundant event themes

One of the main responsibilities of an event creator is to come up with a creative theme that will match their client’s taste and style. Producing identical, repeated events is a common mistake most event organisers tend to commit without even realising it. While it may be convenient and safe to run recurring themes and set designs, your reputation as a creator will be at risk. You don’t want to be labelled as boring and monotonous, right? Every event you want your clients and their guests or attendees to have a unique experience. And this is a constant challenge for event organisers to add a touch of distinctive element that will set it apart from the rest of the events ever produced.

Believe it or not, there are actually a lot of ways to make every event exciting and special. You can change-up and mix different elements that will make each of it remarkable. You may opt for a convenient child care section for a wedding event, you may also have a celebrity appearance for a gala night, or work with an event production company that will take care of every aspect of the event space and utilise new technology to bring the event to life. 

That’s when The Sound & Light Hire Company comes in. Having us in your team can take off a huge burden on your end as we will bring in premium event equipment that will complete your entire setup. We have a wide array of lighting fixtures from LED uplighters, disco lighting effects, high-end intelligent DMX moving head fixtures among others https://www.truesoundhire.co.uk/lighting-hire/. Keep in mind that lighting is an important element to create a certain mood and bring your theme to life. You may also entrust your PA System to us as we can gauge the type of sound system needed for your event taking into consideration the number of attendees and the size and shape of the venue location. We offer a complete range of party equipment and have highly-experienced sound and light engineers working for us. To get to know more about our credentials, check out https://www.truesoundhire.co.uk/ for more details. 

Having a good set of AV Equipment are undervalued

Most event organizers who are not well-versed in the emerging technology may think that all types of AV equipment produce the same high-end quality they require for the event.  But good event organizers are well aware that they can never achieve their desired outcome if they resort to DIY or trust it in the venue’s in-house sound and visual system. A good quality AV system ensures your client that they deliver the message across their attendees and at the same time too, effectively stimulate the  attendees in any event whether in a birthday celebration, a wedding or a conference . The Sound & Light Hire Company offers a wide array of AV equipment from backline equipment hire packages, live mixing desks down to the basic microphones and amplifiers. 

Event production companies that specialize in AV equipment and services are extremely helpful on hybrid or live streaming events & The London based production company On Tour Events can provide the technical audio visual services required for your conference or streaming event.. 

Post-event meeting 

And lastly, following up on your clients and attendees after the event has taken place. Many event organizers usually discontinue communicating with their clients after the event has ended. They must realize that following up on their clients and holding a post-event meeting is essential in  the improvement of their services and knowing which part of it needs to be improved. This will serve as your survey. Ask questions that will help your company grow and improve on the future events. More so, this will keep a good working relationship with your clients and will potentially allow you to be rehired in the future. 

If you are a thriving event organizer, The Sound & Light Hire Company is your perfect partner in making your upcoming events a success! We are a full-service event production company that provides customizable and flexible packages that will suit every client’s requirements. Our in-house inventory is coming from different trusted brands in the industry that will surely deliver premium quality events. 

Feel free to contact us through The Sound & Light Hire Company and let’s make that dream event possible!

The Sound & Light Hire Company

https://www.google.com/maps?cid=177697462353676083 

+44 800 861 1136 

10 Hillspur Close

Guildford

Surrey AV

GU2 8HF

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The Sound & Light Hire Company Remains Positive Whiling Investing in The Future

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Well, there’s no doubt about it, 2020 has been an unprecedented year in all manner of ways. The events industry has had to rally together to keep moving forward through what has been an incredibly tough and challenging period.

Here at The Sound & Light Hire Company,:

we’ve been rapidly adapting to the situation with each twist and turn of government guidelines, providing our outstanding service throughout, and developing a wide range of new equipment hire services. We would just like to reiterate that we are going nowhere (contrary to some malicious reports) and are, in fact, using this period this invest more money into equipment that is going to prove more pivotal moving forward.

So let’s start by taking stock of the events industry as it stands, state why we remain optimistic that the sector will recover, and talk about those investments into the future in a little more detail.

COVID-19’s Impact on the Event Service and Equipment Hire Industry

There’s no point in trying to dress the impact of COVID up as anything other than disastrous for the events industry as a whole. The ban of large gatherings of people effectively put an end to the festival season before it had even begun. Weddings, birthday parties, and almost all forms of collective celebrations were put on hold, as were events such as conferences, exhibitions, sports events, and live music concerts.

To put some figures on the impacts of those events being cancelled, arts and cultural events contribute £5.6 billion to the economy, festivals, fairs and shows produce £6.0 billion, music events rake in £17.6 billion, and sporting events add a further £9.6 billion. Of the million-plus jobs that depend on a thriving events industry, up to 600,000 could be lost without further support from the government. Those figures don’t even take into account the economic impact of the cancellation of private celebrations such as weddings or birthday parties.

However, the picture may not be as gloomy as it may seem, and we’ve been busy helping clients make alternative arrangements to ensure that they’re planned events could still go ahead, albeit it outside and a reduced number of attendees. What’s more, even though continental Europe is experiencing a second wave, the events industry has already demonstrated that events can go ahead even if the virus is here to stay.

There’s another reason to be positive, too. We are at the onset of rapid testing.

Advances in Testing Capabilities Give Cause for Optimism 

Another reason behind our upbeat outlook is due to the rapid advance of testing technology and availability. Already, some tests exist that can determine the COVID status with a high degree of accuracy within 15-minutes. While they cannot, at this moment, be used as the sole method for screening individuals prior to entering a venue, large public events, or sporting events, they are a very much a start along the right path.

With the government attempting to pull off Operation Moonshot – a plan to test the whole UK population once a week by the end of next spring – further rapid testing at venues for parties, celebrations, and public events will provide an additional layer of biosecurity. With individuals knowing their COVID status on at least a weekly basis, the behaviours we’ve all avoided for so long such as being in close proximity to others can safely return, and we can begin to restore some form of normality in the wait for a viable vaccine.

As stated, these tests exist today. Now it’s merely a case of waiting for these rapid tests to reach the manufacturing capacity of several million per day. Once available on that scale, fans can return to music concerts, weddings can be restored to their former glory, and birthday parties can do away with limits on the number of guests in attendance.

So how are we preparing and investing for the future here at The Sound & Light hire Company? Well, we’re glad you asked.

The Sound & Light Hire Company Invests in the Future 

As you can imagine, we’ve been planning for the future with our equipment hire services. We’ve made significant strides to adapt to the current situation, and will be launching several new products for 2021. But let’s start with the expansion of existing hire services we already offer.

Indoor and Outdoor LED Screens 

LED screens and outdoor LED screens, in particular, are going to be hugely important going into 2021 and beyond with events increasingly being held outdoors. Outdoor cinemas, garden parties, movie nights, music festivals, and many more events will all benefit from the presence of LED video walls and screens.

We’ve started by expanding the number of LED HD TV screens we stock, before going all out on our range of LED video walls. Moving forwards, we can build outdoor LED screens from 2m x 1m right up to an enormous 8m x 6m! Screens this size would be absolutely perfect to hire for a drive-in cinema event or music festival.

We also have two options available concerning pixel pitch our indoor LED screens & outdoor LED screens both have a pixel pitch of 3.9mm. The our SmaRT#Tech screens offer a much crisper picture high-definition picture, especially for lower cap events where your attendees won’t be too far from the screen. By contrast, for larger events with viewers set to be positioned further away, 3.9mm pixel pitch video panels will just look even better ! And our LED screen hire prices offer a more cost-effective solution to any other outdoor LED screen system.

Embracing the Future of Gaming

Moving on to totally new equipment that we’ve never made available for hire before, will shortly have in stock two VR gaming PCs complete with HTC Vine Pro headsets. This otherworldly experience would be a great addition to any social occasion.

Imagine playing with your friends in a completely immersive game, with every movement you make reflected in what you see in front of you. The would also make an excellent focal point for birthday celebrations, as you laugh along at older family members getting to grips with the technology for the first time!

Towable Power Generators

As mentioned, even with enhanced testing in place, outdoor events are still going to be very much the order of the day for the majority of 2021, barring a minor miracle. That’s why we’ve invested in towable generators. From now on, any clients booking staging hire with us will have the option to for us to look after their power requirements too.

In fact, that offer is extended to all outdoor events requiring a power supply. By hiring one or a couple of generators with us, you needn’t worry about getting power to your outdoor speaker hire, stage hire, LED video wall hire, or lighting hire equipment.

New Wireless Lighting Options

Sticking with the theme of outdoor events, wireless, battery-powered lighting is going to play a pivotal role in many public and private events over the course of the next 12 months. We’re busy constructing a totally wireless lighting package that builds on our existing wireless LED uplighter hire options. These battery-powered options will be great for celebrations and events whereby power is not available, and a generator is not cost-effective.

Extending the Range of Battery-Powered Sound Options

On a similar note, we’ve invested heavily in increasing the number of battery-powered speakers for hire. These speakers have been popular since the onset of the pandemic, and we expect they’ll continue to be favoured well into next year and beyond. They are great pieces of kit and will comfortably last for 7-8 hours of playback at 75% volume.

We’re also crafting a completely wireless lighting and sound hire package, for those events held in more extensive gardens, fields, and other similar settings that may play host to an event over the next couple of years.

The Event Industry is Certainly Down, But By No Means Out 

As we’ve stated, here at The Sound & Light Hire Company, we’re going nowhere. We know that this period has been challenging, regardless of industry. The events sector has been no different. Actually, we would argue that it’s very much been at the sharp end, considering the economic hardship caused by the cancellations of so many events, festivals, weddings, parties, and other celebrations.

However, we’re not ones to sit still. We’ve changed the way we operate, implemented all of the necessary additional health & safety protocols, and, as laid out above, we’ve invested heavily into our inventory to provide a broad spectrum of equipment hire options that cover almost every base.

Don’t forget we can provide all manner of event services too. Our event production teams have already designed, directed, and overseen some of the first-ever socially-distanced events with massive success. We can take care of everything, from setting up and mixing the sound for the live band you’ve booked, to rigging lighting fixtures to trusses and choreographing a dazzling lighting show for your wedding celebration. We can do it all.

Why Choose the Sound & Light Company for Your Equipment Hire Needs? 

2020 has been a challenging year for all of us, so it’s only right that once we’ve got to grips with it as a society, you’ll want to celebrate and enjoy events and parties just as you did before lockdown was even a word. Here at The Sound & Light Hire Company, we are in the perfect position to help you out.

Whether you need to hire a small PA speaker system for your kid’s birthday party, or you need us to handle the entire event production of an extravagant wedding, we are just as committed to excellence in either arena. We have one of the biggest inventories in the whole country when it comes to sound and lighting equipment.

Better still, if you’re hiring from us, you’re receiving brand names that are widely regarded as the best in the business, we never, EVER, cheap out on equipment, even for small equipment hire packages. We’ve never had a piece of equipment let us down, which we think you’ll agree is incredible after being in business for over a decade.

Then there’s our friendly team. We are here, seven days a week giving on the spot training to dry-hire customers, mixing live music acts in front of thousands of fans as well as delivering and setting up equipment all over Surrey, London, and surrounding areas. We never stopped and have gone the extra mile this year to ensure our customers have hosted successful events.

So if you’ve got a corporate event lined up at a central London hotel, or you’ve got a wedding booked in the Surrey countryside, we can supply everything you could ever need. Just give us a call any day of the week on 0800 8611136 to have a chat with us. We can’t wait to hear what you’ve got planned!

Contact The Sound & Light Hire Company on the details below:

https://www.truesoundhire.co.uk/

https://www.google.com/maps?cid=177697462353676083

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The Sound & Light Hire Company Supplying Sound, Lighting & Stage for Birthday Party in Surrey

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Things have been so busy here and the Sound & Light Hire Company that we haven’t had time to tell you about a celebration we supplied equipment and event services to back in March. We were tasked to provide the sound, lighting, and stage for a joint 30th and 60th birthday celebration of a mother and daughter.

So without further ado, let’s tell you all about it!

Surrey Event Company Designs and Delivers Ultimate Birthday Party 

As mentioned above, we were contacted by a private client concerning a joint birthday celebration at Surrey venue whereby we are the preferred supplier for all manner of event production services, namely sound, lighting, and stage hire. After being passed on their details by the venue, we immediately got in touch with the individual client to set up an initial chat and a site visit.

We arrived on-site and got to work straight away on securing the exclusive use of one of the “wings” of this prestigious venue, which our generous venue partner kindly offered without any quibbles. By doing so, we gained the freedom of the entire space so that we could work on setting up (and disassembling) equipment unencumbered by the presence of other guests. In case you were wondering what we mean, the venue in question offers hotel accommodation as part of their multifaceted operations.

The premise for this birthday celebration was simple but elegant. Much like the singer Sam Sparro, this party was going to be dominated by a “Black and Gold” theme. One we’d worked out the finer details of the brief with the client, it was time to go away on work on creating a completely bespoke proposal for the client.

Our in-house design team got to work straight away and provided the client with a 3D render of the venue to visualise how our technical equipment and design choices would look when in place. She was thrilled with what she saw and gave us the go-ahead to get to work organising the logistical and technical aspects of pulling it off.

Surrey Stage Hire For Joint Birthday Party

Once the morning of the party rolled around, it was time for the hard work to start! We started by setting up the drapes which were to be hung up around the perimeter of the grand hall. We used lightweight black and gold clothes, unsurprisingly, to match the theme given to us by the client. We then completed the overall look of the venue by placing LED-lit furniture, such as cubes and poseur tables strategically across the grand dining hall, ready to be turned on and set to gold colour once the guests began to arrive.

While the brief included all aspects of event production, our primary emphasis was on the sound, lighting, and indeed the stage elements of this party. Our primary focus after making those nice preparatory touches to the venue was to get to work constructing the stage.

In terms of the stage we provided, the client opted for our suggestion of a 6m x 4m stage hire package, which had been tweaked to include 1m legs to elevate the booked live band well above the ground. Our bandstand-style stage comes complete with handrails, steps, and the legs mentioned above. Our stage crew had certainly eaten their Weetabix on this particular morning as they managed to erect the stage in under an hour, even though there were added customisations required to accommodate the additional height of the stage.

Once the stage was nearing completion, the focus then turned to erecting the truss structures upon which the lighting fixtures would be rigged.

Event Company in Surrey Provides Lighting Hire for Birthday Party 

As touched on, the next stage was setting up all of the lighting equipment for the evening’s entertainment. Once we have erected a stage-based truss, we started adding the lights. What we supplied was an iteration of our live band lighting hire package, with a few extras. We started with eight Showtec M800 Tour PAR cans to wash the stage in a range of colours, but then we also added a couple of moving head fixtures, and Equinox Revolution disco lights, a couple of lasers, and a smoke machine to help bring the best out of the lighting equipment.

As mentioned, the live band were going to be followed by a DJ, so we needed to have lighting equipment capable of showing off both set of entertainers. There are nuanced differences between the two, with DJs having a strong preference for lasers over more traditional stage lighting options. Since we had all angles covered, there were certainly no complaints from either entertainment act!

Dotted around the rest of the venue, we supplied wireless LED uplighters to set the mood and ambience for the evening. In case you hadn’t already guessed, the colour for these uplighters was a suave shade of gold, very much in keeping with the theme! We ran these from the outdoor entrance of the wing of the venue sectioned off for us, right through the foyer, and into the grand hall where the main festivities were taking place.

Finally, we set up a variety of pin spots around the room to beam sharp beams of gold light against the back drapes and black table dressings.

While the lighting technicians were busy setting up all of these fixtures, our sound engineers were working just as hard setting up all of the sound requirements for the live band and DJ.

Sound & Light Hire Company Provide Sound Equipment Hire for Surrey Party

While the stage and lights were crucial, there wouldn’t have been much of an event without us providing top-of-the-range sound equipment for hire. Concerning the sound requirements, they actually started outside of the main hall.

As highlighted above, there was an entrance foyer where the birthday guests arrived, checked in their coats and accessories, and grabbed a glass of bubbly before making their way into the grand hall. The client requested that we had some form of sound equipment in there along with the uplighters to get guests in the party spirit! “No problem!” we replied.

We set up a couple of EV ZLX 12P active PA speakers that played a phone-based playlist chosen by the event host. The client said the small but very powerful speakers helped to get guests in the foyer in the right mood for the evening and helped to invoke the spirit of the planned festivities. The desired effect was achieved with the help of the golden glow coming from the ensemble uplighter lighting arrangement.

Next, as you might not be surprised to learn, our focus was very much turned to the stage. Again, we had to cater for two distinct types of act, a live band and a DJ, which required a hybrid approach to the sound.

Initially, our attention was paid to the requirements of the live band. We set up a range of state-of-the-art kit, including an arrangement of d&b Audiotechnik Q1 Midtop speakers, Qsub bass speakers, and D12 power amps. This premium sound arrangement ensured that the band had crystal clear vocals and booming, immersive bass for the audience to enjoy.

We also supplied the following supporting sound gear:

  • Speaker stands
  • Mackie Pro FX12 Live Band Mixing Desk
  • Shure SM58 Microphones
  • Shure Drum Kit Mic
  • K&M Microphone Stands
  • Proel D2 DI boxes
  • All the power & signal cables
  • 3.5mm aux cable for laptop/phone playback while the band took a break

Waiting in the wings, we also had our team on standby on the evening itself to reconfigure the existing sound setup to better accommodate the DJ and integrate his personal equipment. Amazingly, he hadn’t yet worked with d&d audiotechnik speakers on any of his gigs. Let’s just say he’s now very much a convert and understands why we place so much faith in this industry-leading brand!

On-Site Event Services Support

The time for the evening’s proceedings came, our on-site team took over to ensure everything ran smoothly on the night. We had one of the team on the lighting desk to choreograph some dazzling lighting displays both for when guests arrived, during the live band performances, and he handled the DJ set too.

On the sound side, we once again had one of our experienced engineers on the mixing desk, overseeing the initial soundcheck, and then subsequently handling all of the mixing during the live band’s performance itself.

Both employees were also on hand to answer any questions, and our sound guy helped fix an issue with speakers the initial foyer reception when they stopped playing. As it turned out, it was nothing to do with the speakers. Rather, someone had pulled the cable loose from the phone that was connected to the speakers, stopping the playback. It was merely a two-second fix, but that’s what our team are there for!

Excellent Feedback for Sound & Lighting Plus Staging Hire in Surrey

While we are a business that operates to make a profit, there’s nothing better than receiving excellent feedback from a client. In this instance, it’s fair to say our client was pretty gushing in her compliments. Given that we received this text on the same night as the party, it’s fair to assume a few wines had been consumed!

Either way, our client sent us a text after arriving back from the party. She said:

“Can you pass on my thanks to everyone at the Sound & Light Hire Company who made this birthday one that I’ll cherish for the rest of my days. From the moment I walked into the venue, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The drapes worked exactly as envisioned. The lighting was just as dramatic as promised, and, well, what can I say about the entertainment show you produced for us? Superb!”

We actually met the client (who was one of those celebrating a birthday) the following morning, as we finished up the deconstruction process. While she won’t mind us saying she was a little worse for wear (we have her permission, promise!), she was no less grateful for the hard work we had put in to make it a success. To be fair, some of us were pretty tired too (it was a late finish), but her praise really put the icing on the cake.

Use the Sound & Light Hire Company to Plan, Design, and Oversee Your Event Production

Here at the Sound & Light Hire Company, we are a Surrey event company that can easily take care of all technical production aspects for your event. Whether it’s a birthday party or a wedding, we can provide the sound, lighting, stage, and all kinds of other event production elements such as furniture and LED video screens.

If you want to enjoy the ease of working with just one Surrey-based company for all of your event production needs, then don’t hesitate to contact us on 0800 8611136. We can walk you through the entire process and offer a range of options suitable for your specific occasion. Crucially, we can also provide the on-site support you may require to ensure everything goes off without a hitch.

Even if you need advice, just give us a call. We’ll here ready and waiting to help your event become a rip-roaring success!

Come and get in touch about your next event, we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Contact The Sound & Light Hire Company on the details below:

https://www.truesoundhire.co.uk/

https://www.google.com/maps?cid=177697462353676083

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We Talk About PA System Hire & What Is A PA System

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Whether you’ve got a birthday coming up, or your hosting a fashion show, PA system hire should form a crucial part of your event production considerations. The last thing you want is your guests to be underwhelmed by your sound performance, so hiring an excellent PA system is crucial.

This post will lay out what a PA system is, what the benefits of hiring one are as opposed to buying one, where and when you might want to hire a PA system, and why we offer the best PA system hire packages across London, Surrey, and Hampshire.

So let’s start with the first question – what is a PA system exactly?

What is a PA System? 

Put simply; a PA system is usually a set of speakers that help to fill a room, venue, or stage with sound. Standing for ‘public address,’ PA systems are used up and down the country, from wedding DJs to football stadiums.

They usually come as a set of at least two speakers to help create an immersive ‘stereo’ sound. But when you hire outdoor line array PA systems, you could have as many as five to seven speakers strapped together along with amplifiers and subwoofers to enhance the output. They can be used as speakers for playing pre-recorded music off a mobile phone or laptop, or they can be used for live musical performances. They are perfectly adept at performing either task.

Most contemporary PA systems are classed as ‘active’ systems whereby they have built-in amplification and just need to be plugged in to get to work. By contrast, ‘passive’ PA speakers will need an external power amplification unit to work. Modern active PA speaker systems are great for birthday parties, weddings, and any other celebration since all you have to do is ‘plugin and play’ with a 3.5mm jack aux cable.

PA System Hire vs Buying a PA System

Given how easy to set up and use they are; many individuals are tempted to invest their hard-earned money in a PA system that they can use whenever they like. While that may seem like a good idea at the time, in most scenarios, it makes much more sense to hire a PA system than to buy one outright.

For a start, the initial investment in a high-quality PA is north of a thousand pounds. They’re serious pieces of kit and not investments to take lightly. People who end up buying a PA system often don’t get much use out of them since the celebrations they’re bought for only tend to come around annually or bi-annually.

Remember these are not average speakers that you can use at home after your event is over. Well not without complaints from the neighbours anyway! Storage is another factor need to consider, they are quite bulky, especially if you buy a more advanced system with multiple speakers, amps, and subwoofers.

Given the fact that you can hire a powerful PA system setup for £120 from us, complete with two subwoofers with plenty of oomph for up to 200 guests, we just don’t think there are many scenarios where spending north of a thousand pounds makes sense (not that we’re biased of course!). For example, let’s say you spent £1200 on a comparable PA system for a large get-together you host once a year. It would take you a decade to break even on your investment. By which time, PA speaker technology will have well and truly moved on.

When Might You Need PA System Hire?

The short answer is whenever you need to project sound far and wide. As you can imagine that leaves a pretty broad scope of events, but for now, let’s focus on the most popular instances PA System hire based on our decades of experience.

Parties/Birthday Celebrations

There’s nothing better than a good old fashioned party! Whether you are celebrating an anniversary, exam results, or a milestone birthday; if you plan on having a good time, then you’re undoubtedly going need to hire a PA system to blast out the hits that will get both you and your guests up and dancing.

Unless you plan on inviting several hundreds of attendees, our laptop and phone PA System hire packages are an excellent fit for this purpose. They pack plenty of punch for less than £100 and are guaranteed to get your guests at least tapping their foot as they nervously watch their parents approach the dancefloor!

Weddings 

One of our most popular requests is for PA system hire for wedding celebrations and receptions. Dancing is a prerequisite at weddings, and whether you need to hire a PA system for your live band, or you need one for the DJ you’ve booked (or both), then it’s always worth investing in a premium PA system setup.

Our premium PA system hire packages offer top of the range d&b audiotechnik speakers combined with power amps and subwoofers will easily cater up to 500 guests, perfect for even the largest wedding celebrations out there.

Live Music Acts/Performers

As a live band, singer/songwriter, or a DJ, you need to have a PA system you can rely on to do you justice. If you’ve found some initial success, you may be able to land bookings for venues with their own PA systems. However, it many cases, once you arrive, you’ll quickly discover that the systems in question are old and barely fit for purpose.

Rather than leave it to chance, if you’ve got a critical live musical performance coming up, it makes sense to invest in reliable PA equipment that is no older than three years. If you’re a bit of a PA system aficionado, you can even offer to include providing your own sound equipment (for an additional fee, of course) to venues. If they are short on knowledge and time, it saves them from having to deal with the hassle of sorting it all out for you, and you score an extra win by being represented by the premium sound quality.

Outdoor Events 

From music festivals in Surrey to horse shows in Hampshire, we’ve provided all manner of PA systems to outdoor events. In most instances, when it comes to outdoor events, in particular, line array PA system hire makes the most sense.

The most extensive setups for these types of PA systems can comfortably accommodate up to 5,000 guests, which is perfect for an outdoor stage at a local music festival, for example. But they are just as suitable for any outdoor event with a large audience.

Fashion and Award Shows

Of course, line array PA systems are just as suited to providing the booming sound required for significant indoor events held at venues such as the O2. Over the years we’ve helped out plenty of London fashion shows, as well as awards and gala dinners with PA system hire.

For larger events of this nature, we can provide not just equipment, but a full turn-key d&b J Series PA System, complete with our own highly-skilled and experienced sound technicians to help set up and run the speakers during the event.

Why Choose the Sound and Light Hire Company for PA System Hire? 

We can provide all manner of sound equipment hire for your events. Whether you need a PA system for you live DJ, or you wish to host a local live band, there’s nothing we can’t provide to ensure our PA system hire services are precisely what you’re looking for.

Hiring out PA equipment not fit for the event in question is something we’re increasingly witnessing in the industry. We distinguish ourselves as a PA system hire company by offering state-of-the-art equipment that is more than capable of meeting the demands of your events, or specific guest numbers.

We realise that our PA system hire packages are only as good as the quality of the equipment. That’s why we continuously invest in new stock to ensure that not a single item is more than three years old. We also continually test and inspect all equipment before it’s deemed suitable to go back out on hire again. Every amp, subwoofer, and speaker is serviced every six months to ensure a reliable service.

In over a decade of operations, we have never had any PA system equipment failures. We believe that is a testament to our exacting standards of care we take over our equipment, as well as the faith we put in premium brands such as d&b audiotechnik.

How Much Does PA System Hire Cost?

The question on most people’s lips! The answer is, as usual, it depends. If you want to have a simple set up for your garden party with 50 odd guests, then we can provide you with everything you need for as little as £60. Going for something much bigger? For £120, you can hire a hefty 2.5KW PA system, which will comfortably stretch up to 200 guests.

On the other hand, let’s suppose you’re looking at professional-standard equipment for a music festival or an indoor arena award show. In that case, you’re going to need to invest in d&b audiotechnik Q series line array setups, which still come within £1,000. We feel this is unbeatable value for the amount, and crucially, the quality of the equipment you receive.

Are Your PA System Hire Packages Dry Hire Only? 

We’re also flexible with our PA system offerings. We realise that not everyone is going to be an expert when it comes to setting up and mixing state of the art PA systems. That’s why we offer live sound engineer hire from as little as £125 per day plus travel based within 25 miles of Guildford, Surrey, or London.

In fact, we’re on hand to provide any additional help you might need, whether that’s lighting hire or special effects. If you also need a sound engineer, a lighting technician, or a small production team, then that’s what we’ll provide. We are here to serve your needs at the end of the day, whatever they may be.

If you do decide to hire one or more members of our team, you’ve also got the added benefit of not having to worry about the equipment set up, operation, and subsequent dismantling. Instead, you can get on with running your event or enjoying your celebration.

Choose the Sounds and Light Hire Company for All of your PA System Hire Requirements

Be it a party, or a full-blown festival stage, a PA system can make all the difference when it comes to the quality of the sound relayed to your audience. PA system hire offers those in attendance to enjoy a truly immersive sound experience and is bound to get your guest dancing for those upbeat numbers!

No matter your reason for looking at hiring a PA system, it almost always makes sense to hire instead of buy. By doing so, you can benefit from the latest and greatest systems and additional technical support, should you need it.

So whether you’re having a small scale garden party, or your planning your industry’s biggest award show, we have the PA system hire capabilities to match. Just give us a call any day of the week using the information below, and we’ll happily discuss your requirements.

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The Sound & Light Hire Company Talk Live Sound Hire Equipment for Bands

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Every week across London, Surrey and Hampshire, there are events graced with the presence of a live band to get party guests, wedding attendees, or festival-goers on their feet and dancing. While undoubtedly a lot rests upon the talent of the musicians, no live band can successfully perform without suitable sound equipment.

High-performance sound equipment that accentuates every thump of the bass and delivers crystal clear vocals is crucial to your wowing your audience. However, your equipment requirements will likely span far beyond merely those related to sound. Stage hire, lighting hire, and even a dancefloor might be required to provide the immersive experience you’re looking for.

Whether you’re an event organiser investigating hiring a live band, or you perform as part of a live band yourself, let’s take a look at what you might look to hire to deliver your best possible performance.

Live Sound Equipment Hire

Those of you involved in the performance and events industry will already be aware of this fact, but live sound hire is a different beast to your traditional sound system hire. Live bands have all kinds of additional sound equipment requirements. For instance, in addition to PA

speaker hire, you’re likely to need backline equipment hire to supplement the speaker setup.

For those of you unfamiliar, backline equipment refers to items such as guitar amps, and in some instances, musical instruments such as drum kits. Then you’ve got to add in auxiliary equipment such as stage monitors, subwoofers, and microphones. All of this equipment then needs to be mixed and balanced (via a mixing desk) to ensure there’s a coherent and cohesive sound coming from the stage when the band is performing.

If you’re a live band, this can all seem like a cumbersome distraction, when all you really want to do is turn up and play. For those of you booking live bands for your event, hopefully, you can now appreciate that it’s a little more complicated than simply hiring a few speakers and hoping the group in question take care of the rest.

In fact, in our ten-plus years of supplying hire packages to live bands and event organisers, we’ve found a strong correlation between the price of the group and the ability to provide equipment themselves. The more expensive the band, the less likely they are to include sound equipment and other associated production aspects as part of their service.

Even if they do, it’s usually provided by a third-party anyway, so you may as well have all of the sound equipment hire and event production services with one supplier to maximise efficiency. This is especially the case if you’re handling a multi-supplier occasion such as a wedding or a festival.

But the sound equipment is only half the story when it comes to sound. You need sound engineers capable of bringing it all together.

Sound Engineer Services Surrey, London, and Hampshire

Even you’re an experienced musician, mixing a band isn’t easy. Many live bands try and fail to mix themselves, with sometimes disastrous results. In other scenarios, live bands delegate the sound mixing and production to a friend who might not have the knowledge required to hit the standards expected of today’s performances.

There are no two ways about it. Unless you’ve recruited someone with your complete trust, you need to hire a sound engineer to strike the right balance of acoustics, instrumental volumes, and sound equipment capabilities. This is particularly the case for event organisers who have multiple live bands lined up throughout the day, all of which will probably have different sound mixing and production requirements.

Having production staff to oversee your performance increases in importance when you consider many of the additional elements you might need to hire for the occasion such as staging, lighting equipment, and even dancefloors. So let’s explore those in a little more detail.

Live Band Stage Hire Surrey, London, and Hampshire 

Whether it’s a festival or a wedding, most live band performances require a stage to elevate the band, provide a focal point, and accommodate the various pieces of sound equipment. For most small to medium-sized groups, a 6m x 4m stage will offer plenty of room to fit all of the instruments, speakers and performers.

Of course, something you need to factor into your live band stage hire costs is the setup of the stage itself. Unless you’re well-versed in stage-building, you’ll need the help of specialists to get everything constructed correctly in a safe manner. You’ll also need to consider your weight requirements. Our 6m x 4m stage is capable of withstanding weight loads of 500km per square metre, so you’re pretty much guaranteed to be fine unless you’re planning on driving a tank over it!

Next, you need to think, as organisers or performers, about the venue. Is it indoors or outdoors? Thanks to our partners over at Outdoor Stages, we can provide all manner of outdoor stage hire, complete with arc roofs to protect bands from the infamous British weather! From outdoor performances of a few hundred attendees to outdoor festivals with 5,000+ music-lovers, we have the capacity to provide a stage suitable for the occasion.

Live Band Lighting Hire Surrey, London and Hampshire

By default, the vast majority of live band performances take place in the evening, which necessitates you hire lighting to illuminate the stage and performers. But it’s not a case of any old lighting will do. By incorporating lasers, disco lights, and spotlights, you can turn a live band’s performance into much more of an immersive experience.

As you might have guessed from the name, we provide all manner of lighting hire for live bands too! Whether you want to offer the wow factor to your clients, or you’re organising a small festival taking place during night-time hours, we can provide the lighting to elevate performances to the next level. We can also assemble the associated rigging and truss requirements, should they be necessary.

Why Choose Us for Your Live Band Equipment Hire

While there are few options when it comes to hiring equipment for your live performances in Surrey, London, and the wider Hampshire area, we are rated number one for a reason. For a start, we can provide literally every conceivable aspect of equipment required for your live show. From sound system hire to providing LED dancefloors, we’ve got it all. Crucially, we also own and operate all of our inventory, including the stages as we are part of the same overarching event production company.

We also only invest in premium and reliable sound and lighting brands such as d&b audiotechnik. Our d&b series loudspeakers offer enormous flexibility as well as a perfect design and up-to-date acoustic characteristics. These loudspeakers assimilate to their environment – always offering a brilliant sonic result and are suitable for use with a multitude of applications, from wedding productions to large scale live music festivals. They’re the brand of choice for Coldplay, Eminem and Rhianna’s live performances, so you know you’re in half-decent company!

But as excellent as our equipment stock is for live bands, we know that our hire service heavily depends on the quality of our team. Thankfully, we’re blessed with some of the best in the business.

Live Sound Engineer Hire Surrey, London, and Hampshire 

As touched upon above, mixing a band isn’t easy these days, there are plenty of inputs, and they all have to be balanced with the acoustics of the performance environment.

That’s why we choose our sound engineers carefully. We only employ a handful of sound engineers who have all met our stringent standards, one of which is having at least five years’ experience within the live sound and event production industry. But our sound engineers aren’t just incredibly experienced and knowledgeable; they’re friendly and helpful too.

Whether you’re an event organiser that’s a little in the dark about the vagaries of live band production, or you’re a successful local band looking to hire a sound professional you can trust, our team have developed a stellar reputation right across the Greater London, Surrey and Hampshire region. Our sound engineers are always flexible too. Whether you need them to act as as a front of house sound technician, or as a monitor engineer, their technical abilities run the full gamut.

But it’s not just our team that is flexible; our all-in-one live band hire packages are too.

Flexible All-in-one Hire Packages for Live Bands

We understand that no two live performances are quite the same. You could need one set of equipment for an indoor venue one week, and a completely different set up for a local outdoor festival the next. In either scenario, we have the flexibility to provide whatever you need.

We also realise that not everything is an expert on the production side of live band performances. Even experienced musicians often rely on the help of others to get them sounding as emphatic as possible. Once again, our team is happy to operate in either environment. Whether we’re taking instruction from you as a group who know your sound identity like the back of your hand, or you need us to lead the production and mixing efforts for your wedding reception band, we’ve got the knowledge and experience to handle both.

Our live band hire packages can cover sound equipment only, or we can offer an extensive all-in-one package that includes sound, lighting, staging, LED screens, on-site personnel and even a starlit dancefloor! The choice is yours.

If you’re perhaps a touch inexperienced in the technicalities (for instance, if you’re organising live sound equipment hire for your wedding) we are more than happy to sit down with you and have a cup of tea to discuss your specific event. We can then use your information to construct a package based on what the live band are going to need as part of their set up.

Choose the Best in Business for Your Live Performances Across Surrey, London and Hampshire 

Here at the Sound and Light Hire Company, we’ve worked incredibly hard over the last decade to build our industry-leading reputation in the South East region. While we aren’t the cheapest, we do provide the best value for money based on what you receive from us in terms of the quality of the equipment and personnel.

For instance, we are the only company in the UK to offer top-of-the-range d&b audiotrechnik speakers, subwoofers, amps, stage monitors, a Midas M32 mixing desk, a complete set of Shure microphones, an experienced sound engineer to set up and produce your performance, and a digital recording of your band for as little as £649! We’re able to offer such competitive prices by using our vast inventory and economies of scale to deliver better equipment, for a better price.

Whether you’re a live band on the search for live sound equipment and production staff to support local tour dates across Hampshire, or you’re organising a London-based wedding or a festival, we can really do it all. Just reach out to us using the information below any day of the week to discuss your requirements.

We look forward to working with you!

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