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How A Staging Hire Company Can Make An Impact On Your Next Festival Concert

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The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Looking For A Festival Stage Hire Company With A Proven Track Record? Keep Reading About The Staging Services Available

Growing and developing a band is a huge undertaking. While producing music that will hit must  have to be the prime focus, it will not be the only factor that demands attention and effort in gaining traction to the music industry. 

Staging your gig, especially if it is going to be your debut performance, must have tedious and careful planning in order for  you to wow your audience and gain re-attendees in your future concerts. While a  lot of otherwise new and emerging bands in the scene would opt to personally stage their own gig to cut cost, there will be a greater risk of maybe a technical issue along the performance and worse, the overall success of the band will be put at risk.

This is where The Sound & Light Hire Company comes in.

We are a professional events production hire service that has helped produce successful concerts and live performances for various bands across Surrey, Hampshire and London. We have a full-gear of staging equipment particularly configured for a band concert event. With our qualified sound and light engineers and events personnel working in our team, we make sure that every detail of your live performance is in place and ready to put on a show! When you turn to a credible full-service event hire company like us, you get every bit of professional help to put on a stellar show.  

In this blog post, we have put together some guidelines and  key points you need to know as a band when it comes to setting up your stage for your next gig! For a complete list of the event equipment and services we offer for a mobile stage setting, go to https://www.truesoundhire.co.uk/hire-packages/category/dj-equipment-hire-packages/band-staging-hire-package/

Before jumping into planning your stage design, you must first finalize your location. Is it an indoor or outdoor venue? How large is your expected audience? And so on. Knowing the type of place you will be putting your structure on will allow your event staging hire to determine how large of a space they will be working with and the lay-out they will need to customize for your event (i.e., where the stage will be facing.) By knowing the location first, this will also prepare us to secure the type of materials required to ensure  a solid and sturdy platform that will be able to support the setup and the number of musicians estimated to be on stage. This factor is really important as we always want to prioritize the safety of the performers and avoid any liability during the entire duration of the event. 

The Sound and Light Hire Company offers flexible staging packages for all types of concert locations and sizes requirements.

Starting from a stage setup that is 6 meters wide by 4 meters deep and with a height from 40 cm to 60 cm. All our setup are fully-equipped with handrails, steps and legs.

Moreover, if you are planning to do an outdoor concert, we can also put up an outdoor covered stage for you. This type of stage is relatively bigger (8 meters by 6 meters) as it is perfect for an audience ranging from 1000-4000 people. This comes with a ground based truss system with a roof covering for this bandstand and is available at a starting rate of £499.00 only. For larger outdoor covered festival stages please see Outdoor Stages who are based in the UK as well

Another valuable reason why it is important to hire a professional events production company is that they can essentially help you with the acoustics of your venue. They have the knowledge and years of experience to provide you with advice on what suits perfectly for your performance. The staging layout will also be in a way in such the band can perfectly hear themselves play, paving the way for a great and successful show. They are also fully aware that an indoor venue location may produce a better sound quality and an outdoor setup, on the other hand, may require multiple and special PA systems that will result to a top-quality sound output giving your audience a remarkable concert experience and leaving a lasting impression from your performance. Having a team you can fully trust that will run the technical aspect of your show contributes greatly in the success of your gig since you cannot do this on your own while you are due on stage to perform. 

In addition, when you choose a full-service events production hire,

it will practically help you save money, time and effort looking from one firm to another for some specific demands of your concert performance. Because aside from the staging service, you would also need a PA system that will meet the  requirements of your chosen venue location.

This does not only mean an audio equipment, but entails a complete sound setup from monitor systems, power amps, mixing desks, microphones operated by a professional sound engineer which The Sound & Light Hire Company specializes in. Our equipment are branded and well-maintained to ensure we deliver premium event production services across Surrey, Hampshire and London. And not just that, our backline equipment hire packages are readily available for bands and clients who need some guitar or bass amp hire as well as high-quality drums set and keyboards needed for their performance. You may reach out to us for these queries as we have a wide array of in-house event equipment inventory. Check out this section of The Sound & Light Hire Company website to learn more about the hire packages we currently offer https://www.truesoundhire.co.uk/hire-packages/. 

And finally, to complete the overall production setup for your live performance, we have a variety of lighting and AV systems options you may choose from that will match your theme. You can expect our stage lighting setup to transform the overall look of your stage and our engineers can play with these effects to highlight the important parts of your performance. Our inventory range from spotlights to laser lights And LED lights to LED walls and panels that will definitely provide your audience a better viewing experience of your performance, if you need LED video wall for your conference please see this London screen hire company. 

The Sound & Light Hire Company has been doing this for more than 15 years now and we guarantee that we are top-tier in the industry. If you’re looking for a corporate events company that can build you a stage for your conference then please visit https://www.ontourevents.co.uk/stage-hire On Tour Events provide staging & event equipment across London * we have worked with them over the years the best of what our team can offer thus, keeping us on top of our game. We also provide services for other events such as weddings, conferences, gala nights and many more! Learn more about our packages by following https://www.truesoundhire.co.uk

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The Sound & Light Hire Company Invest in More Outdoor Stages

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

As we move into 2021, it’s become abundantly clear that whatever happens with the coronavirus currently plaguing our lives, the vast majority of events will be moving outdoors. We’ve already spoken to many of our customers who usually put on indoor events, and their plans all involve more outdoor elements. So we’ve decided to act.   

As you’ll be aware, we’ve never been ones to sit still, we’ve continued to make some serious investments into our outdoor event equipment despite the challenges presented by the pandemic. With the summer just around the corner, we’re already well underway with the preparations for a season of celebration and relief! 

Those preparations include investing in more outdoor stages to expand our current line up of outdoor stage hire packages. So let’s tell you all about them! 

The Sound & Light Hire Company Buy Two More Outdoor Stages 

So without further ado, let’s tell you a little more about the investments we’ve been making. First up on our list of new acquisitions was a 6m x 4m outdoor stage. 

6m x 4m Outdoor Stage 

If you’ve worked with us before, you’ll already be well aware that we already have a couple of these stages in stock. However, given the number of events already booked in to take place outdoors in what is just a few months’ time, we had to expand our arsenal even further!

The reasons we stock so many stages with these dimensions is that they are so versatile. Firstly, they are at home either indoors or out. They are just as happy providing a platform for local bands at a summer village fête as they are hosting an indoor comedy performance. 

Better still, they can be assembled and dismantled quickly on-site. With perfect weather conditions and easy access to the venue, our fantastic stage crew can have this built, rigged with equipment, and ready to go in less than two hours. Pretty impressive we think you’ll agree!

With yet another of these stages in stock, we can provide our services to even more events come the busy summer season. We can’t wait!

8m x 6m Outdoor Stage

Not content with our first purchase, we went and spent even more money (don’t tell our accountants!). We’ve been increasingly asked about providing a bigger stage than our 6m x 4m stage hire option without having to shell out for some of the enormous festival stage hire options we provide in conjunction with our sister company Outdoor Stages. 

Our customers spoke, so we listened! We went out and acquired an 8m x 6m outdoor stage, which provides a better solution for a number of events. 

One of the most significant selling points about this particular stage is its range of stage heights. With available stage deck heights of 1.5ft, 1m or 1.3m, this is the most flexible stage hire option we have on offer, and it works for a variety of events. Whether you’re hosting an outdoor cinema screening or a local music festival, this particular stage can support productions for up to 1,000 guests.   

New Acquisitions Complete Outdoor Stage Hire Lineup for 2021 

As mentioned, staging services are going to be in high demand this year. Never before has there been such a demand for outdoor events. Even though it may well be the case that we can host indoor events again, the success of outdoor events held during the pandemic has solidified demand.

Furthermore, just because the virus may not be as much of a deadly threat to public health in a few months’ time, that doesn’t mean that health and safety will suddenly occupy a less significant spot in all of our minds. Therefore, these acquisitions have helped us to better serve you, our customers, for all of the outdoor events you have planned for later this year. 

Remember, we have a full range of outdoor stages to offer you. From the smaller 6m x 4m option just mentioned to our vast 10m x 8m and 12m x 9m festival stages we can offer you through our subsidiary company, there’s no type of event that we can’t help you with when it comes to outdoor stages. 

From small and mobile, to mega outdoor structures, we’ve got something for everyone this year, and we can’t wait to hear about what you have planned. However, we need to warn you that you need to act fast this year when booking your outdoor stage hire. 

Why You Need to Book Your Outdoor Stage Hire Today for Summer 2021 

Yes, we are still in the late stages of winter, but 2021 will be different from any year that has preceded it. 

In all our time as a staging services provider, never have we had a whole season effectively cancelled and postponed to a year later. What that means is that, not only do we have a considerable number of events already booked in, but we’ve also got a wave of event planners contacting us about new possibilities to squeeze in on top!

One thing’s for sure; it’s going to be a busy spring and summer! 

In case you’re wondering just how busy, remember this startling fact: in the UK alone, over 7,000 outdoor events take place every year. When you add in pent up demand, postponed events from last year, and new events explicitly designed to celebrate the fact that we CAN have outdoor events, that annual figure will likely surpass 10,000. 

The issue? Not only is demand up, but those requests have got to be squeezed in between April and September, our warmest and sunniest months. There’s also a finite number of outdoor stage providers in the UK. Once they start to book up, you’ll quickly run out of options for your outdoor event. 

Therefore, if you don’t get your act together within the next couple of months, finding a stage that’s suitable for your specific demands and within your allocated budget could be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.

We’re always as flexible as possible when it comes to client demands. Still, we find ourselves in a situation whereby we are already taking bookings for the summer, and we have already run out of availability on specific dates. While that’s obviously great news for us after the year that was 2020, we’d love to help you as many customers as possible put on their events. 

That’s why even if you just want to start a conversation about the nature of your event or discuss any ideas and dates you may be throwing around, it’s worth just getting in touch to give us a heads up.

While we do have good availability with our 6m x 4m stage hire packages in particular, if you’re leaving it until April or May to get it booked in for an August event, we can’t guarantee anything in terms of availability. 

If you’re reading this and it’s already post-March 2021, it’s still worth picking up the phone to us. You never know, we might have something available, and we’ll always do our best to help. Even if that means pointing you in the direction of another outfit. We’re nice and helpful like that! 

As vital as stage hire services might be to your planned outdoor event, don’t forget that you’re going to need a whole host of additional event equipment. So let’s just spend a moment to explain what we can offer you this summer. 

Hire Complementary Stage Production Extras from the Sound & Light Hire Company

While you may need a stage to complete your outdoor event, in many ways it probably only represents the start of the event equipment hire services you’re going to need. Let’s be honest, what’s a festival stage without the array of lighting fixtures, sound equipment, and dazzling LED screens? 

It’s fair to say that we’ve come a long way when it comes to our staging services. When we started back in the 1990s, we would never have imagined that by the 2020s we would offer an all-inclusive technical stage production service for outdoor events with audiences of up to 10,000 people and beyond! 

But enough reminiscing, let’s talk to you about how we can help take a load off your plate by supplying everything you could possibly need for your stage. 

As you know, we have a full suite of event lighting packages that are perfectly suited to outdoor stages. From spotlights to stage blinders, we stock it all! That’s the case for sound too. We can provide you with the full shebang. From suspended PA line arrays to stage monitors, amplifiers, mics, and mixing desks, we can supply turnkey PA system solutions for outdoor events.  

Don’t forget we can enhance the stage structurally too. We can add some imposing PA wings on either side to give yourself the show-stopping stage production you’re looking for. These are an absolute must if you’re thinking about hiring some of our razor-sharp 3.9mm pixel-pitch LED screens.

To top it all off, we have some of the best in the business when it comes to construction, rigging, installation and overseeing artistic direction. From our experienced stage crews to our highly-skilled lighting technicians and sound engineers, you can count us to deliver a silky-smooth stage production. 

Speaking of which, you can focus your finite energy and resources on other crucial aspects of your event while we’re busy creating the best stage set up you’ve ever seen! 

Unlike some other companies, we mean it when we say that we are full-service event production suppliers. Here is just a smattering of the equipment hire services we can provide for your event: 

  • Stage lighting 
  • Professional sound equipment
  • LED screens
  • PA wings
  • Event equipment storage “sheds” 
  • Power generators
  • Stage drapes
  • Truss structures and rigging
  • And much, much more!  

The Sound & Light Company is the Perfect Partner For Your Outdoor Event This Summer 

Regardless of whether you’re putting on an outdoor cinema event, or you’re merely returning to an event that was cancelled or postponed last year, you need an events partner you can trust. 

Here at the Sound & Light Hire Company, we offer the turnkey solution you need. We can take care of all technical production aspects while you focus on ticketing, merchandising, booking agents, refreshments, and all other elements of your outdoor event. 

You can relax safe in the knowledge that while you’re organising those essential elements, we’re hard at work turning the vision for your outdoor stage production from an idea to reality. 

So what are you waiting for? Give us a call on 0800 861 1136 any day of the week to discuss what you’ve got in mind – before all of our stages are booked up!

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

10 Hillspur Close

Guildford

GU2 8HF

United Kingdom

Sunday 1–2PM

Monday 9AM–7PM

Tuesday 9AM–7PM

Wednesday 9AM–7PM

Thursday 9AM–9PM

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The Sound & Light Hire Company Discuss The Past, Present & Future In The Events Industry

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The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company in the events industry as a event production hire company

The purpose of this article is to discuss & recap over the past 7 months in dealing with the Covid situation and how this has shifted a completely different change in the events industry.

We will also discuss some of the essential services we supply to the wedding, corporate and private event sectors. With this we will continue to improve each service and thus where we see our business heading in the future and some of the new hire products and services we will be offering moving forward.

Let’s go back to November, December 2019… our event diary was fully booked, we were finishing off some of our Christmas parties and we were getting ready to supply a production for The Novikov in London for New Years Eve. We were looking ahead to a stable, reliable fully booked 2020, with a happy customer base. January & February were booking up fast and we were already turning away work for May onwards. Then shit hit the fan!! If you are reading this thinking it is unprofessional to put it that bluntly then I apologize, but I think most people would agree that the events industry has been one of the worst hit with the Covid-19 saga. Within 12 weeks of the pandemic announcement our bookings had dropped nearly 80%. Most calls or emails were from clients asking about rescheduling or cancelling.

Let’s not dwell on what’s happened we need to be positive looking forward. It hasn’t been all doom and gloom. Once the government eased certain restrictions and regulations event promoters were keen to put on any form of event as this pandemic has not just hit suppliers but also the event planners & event organizers who have spent months planning events only to be held back and restricted whilst the world works out how to solve the crisis.

Now we have got the negative bit out the way let’s talk about the events we did work on this summer, what we have changed and new products we have brought into our hire stock as an outcome of the above.

What we have found as a company is anyone who was putting on an event quickly moved this to be an outdoors gathering, socially distanced of course but a huge shift to move events outside. This is where it comes in handy if you own a stage, outdoor screen and sound equipment…

Below we will talk about and explain the package we supplied to a local orchestral music event.

When Simon from Squarebox Events approached us with his idea of a socially distanced outdoor music festival, he was looking for a local event production company in Surrey who would be able to supply outdoor stage, sound, lighting and outdoor LED screen. Hence why he came to us!

”Surrey’s Leading Festival Stage Hire Company”

The events were to be spread across 10 weekends with the addition of 3 outdoor cinema nights across this time period as well. It was imperative to make sure that the artists were safely, socially distanced whilst on stage performing, so they opted for a 10m x 8m outdoor covered stage which gave them a minimum of 2m distance from one another, allowing licensing officers to sign the event off.

The event was capped at 350 per event where guests were to be separated and sectioned off into 3mx3m grass squares with the option of upgrading your ticket and hiring a raised stage platform for better viewing experience.

The events primarily took place in the daytime with all events finishing by the early evening. This meant that lighting acted more as eye candy rather than the need for a full-on lighting show. With this in mind we installed a comprehensive package of 24 B-eye moving head washes, 18 LED tourcans and a pair of 5m x 3m LED screens hung either side of the stage.

The screens allowed ticket holders to text and have their text displayed as digital signage on the large LED screens when artists were not performing, footage was not being played or they weren’t using the screens for the outdoor cinema.

The orchestral performances were stripped back so there was no need for lots of visuals as they are incredible talented people, gripping the attention of the audience with simple basic lighting and calming content displayed on the screens. The screens were really for interaction for the audience and for displaying the film.

When it came to the outdoor cinema events customers would be sectioned off into their area, lights would be turned off on the stage, sound system turned up and voila what do you have an incredibly sounding, amazing viewing experience.

It is at this point we must give you some more information about our LED video screen.

Previously event organisers would opt for a trailer style pop up mobile LED screen. These cheap inferior products don’t have the pixel density, the refresh rate or the overall quality to reproduce video content.  Mobile screens are great for events where you need logos or signage put up or messages displayed but when it comes to showing live event footage or films there is a vast difference between that an a modular screen like we use. Also most of these screens have a pixel pitch of 8mm or even 10 or 12 mm and when your audience is only 10-15m back this isn’t acceptable these days and event organisers / planners are looking for a company that can supply LED screens with superior HD quality.

Outdoor LED screen has a pixel pitch of 3.9mm with a refresh rate of over 4000hz and a maximum brightness of 5000 nitts. You can watch your film outside even in direct sunlight and with such a small pixel pitch you can stand just 2.5m back and watch a seamless video in incredible quality.

To accompany the LED screen they needed a decent sound system. Without a well-designed sound system the event would be nothing! As with any event it is nothing without good sound.

Hire Outdoor Screen Hire From The Sound & Light Hire Company

What did we provide for this orchestral music event…

The client wanted a flown PA system with the addition of distributed PA speakers around the site as the clientele at this event would be of a slightly older generation and to meet the regulations of the licensing a flown array of cardioid subs was put forward by the licensing officer. As well as this to minimize offsite noise a CSA sub array across the front helped with this.

Due to the restrictions on how many artists could be on stage at one time, any act that played were relatively small and compact. We opted to use the trusted Midas M32 digital mixing console for front of house with the smaller Midas M32r on stage monitor duty.

Shure, Sennheiser and DP mics were used on the production giving us a vast and professional choice for these incredibly talented musicians.

Stage monitoring was taken care of by an 8-way mix using the proven and reliable formula (the d&b Audiotechnik M4 stage wedge) while processing and system delay was the job of our XTA digital sound processors.

Lighting control was via the Chamsys MQ60 and although not supplied by us we instructed production company On Tour Events to install 1500m of festoon across the site lighting up walkways, entrances and exits and public toilets across the site. There were also some large trees that the client wanted lit up so outdoor lights were supplied by On Tour Event as we generally don’t deal with architectural lighting.

The events were highly successful with lots of positive feedback from audience goers. People were delighted they were able to get out and enjoy themselves again in a slightly different way to before. This allowed further events to be planned for summer 2021 in a socially distanced organized format, complying with the current state of affairs.

The next section to this blog leads us onto the future of our company and where we see our events going, We don’t see events going anywhere, but we foresee most event organisers planning on outdoor productions just like the above.

Although we have discussed stage, sound, screen and lighting nothing happens without one thing…..

Power!

When Simon first contacted us, it was made noticeably clear whoever the production company was they had to supply everything, under one contract and power was included in this. As we all know in this industry finding a reliable generator company can be tricky and it is common knowledge that unless you are hiring a lot of generators you are left with a very small number of suppliers.

With this in mind it was to be that we would invest in a brand-new state of the art road towable generator. So, what are the specs or skip this part if you are not into reading the technical jargon!

We invested in a 70KVA road towable generator, UK manufactured and UK built this generator has an overspecd alternator, deep sea control panel for power and load monitoring and we stock a vast and extensive range of rubber box power distribution enabling us to safely distribute power across your stage.

It must be noted we don’t currently, nor do we plan to offer full site power for festivals or catering power at events. We would rather leave that side of the industry to power companies who specialize in site power. A lot of our events are for 1 / 2 stages and the event organisers are looking for a company to supply everything within a package.

One of the reasons we invested in a road towable generator is even if you don’t need to hire a stage for your outdoor event most events for the next year or so are most likely going to be outside. Outdoor cinemas will become more popular and the want and need for showing content outside on large screens is becoming ever more popular. As with most locations or fields, or larger outdoor spaces there is no power on site. So before organisers can plan anything they need to source where the power is coming from.

If you are an event planner it is a lot easier when one production company can supply everything, If you are using that company because they have a very good reputation for delivering an exceptional sound & lighting production it makes sense they would need the power to come from the same company so although we aren’t the biggest power company in Surrey or London we plan on being one of the most reliable power companies.

If you are planning a festival or event outside, that requires lighting, sound, stage, LED screen or power you know you can turn to that long and well established sound & lighting hire company that started 15 years ago and that company morphed from True Sound Hire rebranded into the Sound & Light Hire company.

For more information on our event services / hire stock we would love to talk to you to understand more about what you are trying to achieve and in turn give you a competitive & comprehensive quote.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog, and here is to a happy, malleable 2021!

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

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

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