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The Sound & Light Hire Company reflects over the past 12 years of serving as a production company in Surrey, Hampshire & London areas.

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Well where do we being! I suppose from the start is a good place….

The last 12 years have gone past so quickly, and we have grown as a company in so many ways since we first started. Things have changed hugely within the events industry, the most significant change being the current pandemic situation we are all experiencing.

It all began back in 2008 when we decided to make a go of offering some sound services to club promoters and event organisers within the Berkshire and Hampshire areas. Reading was a popular town for us as we knew several up and comping promoters who were keen to start their career in the same industry. As young people we grew up around music and have a great passion for it and the acoustic spectrum, so we were keen to delve into this as a career.

The first few events we offered our services free of charge to just get our name out there as a starting point for the business venture. The events we were involved with back then were late night raves so the hours we worked were extremely long for not much profit! It didn’t matter too much though as we were so keen to make it work we kept pushing through. We used too supply an Opus sound system (Opus CS750 & CS1200 with SB218 & HB415 & even the Opus Audio SB221) which was extremely heavy to load in /out of the van and get into venues. At the time this sound system was just what the promoters had asked for, a lot of bottom end and a lot of noise came out!

Once we had conquered Reading’s busy nightlife, we found we were getting a lot of requests for London areas as well, so we were slowly branching out. The hours were the same, long and tiresome at unsociable times of the evening/morning dealing with a lot of inebriated individuals!

Whilst we maintained supplying club/ bar and pub venues, we also wanted to expand being able to offer some form of lighting as well. It took a while to save up enough funding to then stock some basic disco lighting to accompany the sound, but we got there eventually, and it worked well for what it was intended for.

In order for us to try and break into the wedding and private party sector we decided,

It would be a good idea to offer a DJ mobile disco service for Hampshire, Surrey and London areas. After a couple of gigs, we utilized our small car to transport the equipment, obviously the current bulky Opus system did not. This meant we had to re-invest in a different PA system.

In fact, the very first mobile disco gig we got we had to use a van to transport the top speakers and subs to a pub in Surrey. Arriving there we were greeted with a steep staircase into the venue which held about 100 people! The PA system we had brought would have done a mini festival; it was quite funny looking back.

Needless to say, the client was absolutely gobsmacked and over the moon by the undercharged PA system we rocked up with. Luckily it just managed to fit, and I say luckily as it took 3 of us to get it up the stairs! We didn’t have that long to set it up either but the guys were pros at this by now after the club events so that wasn’t too much of an issue.

I believe we supplied them with some sound to light activated disco lighting effects on a lighting t bar stand. A more appropriate set up for the room it was being held in.

Going back to our choice of PA for this type of service, we knew then we had to invest in a more suitable system for smaller parties so we had a pair of Mackie SRM speakers on stands which seemed a more sensible option for mobile discos. Back then there was no downloadable music to your phone / laptop we had to supply a mixing console and download music in advance of each party onto a CD using different software applications around at the time which took absolutely ages! We would spend hours and hours just waiting for songs to download onto CDs.

We used to advertise our services in the local paper and Yellow Pages, social media was extremely new at that point, it sounds very old fashioned now, but this is how businesses put themselves out there back then. I think we only just managed to land a considerably basic mobile disco website on the internet.

The majority of enquiries we used to get through were for weddings, and with this the requirements were becoming slightly more variable than just a couple of disco lights and couple of speakers.

We then invested in some more speakers and subs for additional bass sound,

As well as a professional wired microphone to attach to our compact CD mix unit for speeches and announcements. As mentioned before we couldn’t use a laptop with downloaded music already on there, so we would transport cases of CDs all labelled with a variety of genres of music to adhere to all ages of party goers for each event.

We decided to try and get our own speakers made for the larger events as we weren’t completely satisfied with the current speaker’s sound they produced. The project took a few months but eventually when they were ready, we took them on a few club events which turned out to be highly successful! We still had our large PA system for the club events but the demand for the mobile DJ service was becoming more and more so we really needed some more smaller speakers with subs to suit that type of function. EV ZLX active speakers were suggested to us, and we were impressed with the sound quality as well as them being robust units we decided to invest in these.

Suddenly our inventory was growing and we could now cater for club events for 400-500 people as well as run mobile disco parties for 70-200 people. I should mention at this point that all the equipment was stored inside our house which was fun and games when mixing this with everyday family life.

Once we had done a few mobile disco events word got around that we were a company to rely on so more and more enquiries came in for private functions, birthdays, Christening celebrations and corporate functions. We had never not turned up for an event and the equipment we used to supply for the parties was of a very reasonable quality which made a huge impact to how the night would go, the sound and lighting had to be adequate enough to create a real party atmosphere, which I believe it did.

Now we had smaller PA systems, lighting and the larger PA, we wanted some other type of product to offer people, so we started to supply smoke machines and lasers as extras. These became really popular especially for younger people- birthday parties or Halloween events.

The club / bar events we supplied PA for also requested lasers and laser shows became a popular option for certain promoters we worked with. We thought about just becoming a laser hire company but decided against that as our passion was more for the sound then special effects.

New Years Eve parties were a big thing, we would have large PA systems out for club hires and smaller sound & lighting packages out for mobile discos but this would be our limit for supplying any services as we didn’t have a huge hire stock inventory just enough to cover 2 different scaled events at the same time.

The time had come to change up the PA again as more time passed,

We became friendly with different people within the industry who demonstrated other brands of speakers to us such as OHM and RCF. We have stocked both brands and during that time we had to make a very big decision on whether we continue to store equipment at our home premises or try and rent a unit nearby. Not only did we have to make this decision we also were becoming inundated with enquires for disco services, so we then had another conversation about the direction we saw the business going. With this in mind we decided to take the plunge and rent a warehouse unit and with that start offering a hire service where not only can we deliver and setup the equipment but people were able to hire the equipment from us to take away.

It started small we only had a few sets of speakers and lighting effects. In time the club/ bar events we used to supply equipment for had subsided and the hire enquiries had become more and more.

We started to slow down offering mobile disco services and concentrate on the hire/ rental side of the business.

It was a good thing we did as our stock grew to multiple sets of speakers, subs, sound to light disco lighting effects, smoke machines, moving head lighting effects, wireless battery powered up lighters and LED tourcans. All these items were and still are easy to set up once taken home, so the essential party pack was something people loved and love to hire from us.

Being set up in Guildford we were in a prime location between Surrey, Hampshire and London,

And people were happy to travel to us. For those slightly further away or limited to transporting the equipment back for their party, we offered a delivery service at a very reasonable rate, just charging fuel at cost. A couple of unit changes over the years, we are still located in Guildford and happy to still offer the same hire service for dry hire or delivery.

To appeal to other types of events and those after a supplier who will deliver and setup for birthday, corporate and wedding functions we went on to stock white LED dance floors, backdrops, LED furniture, AV equipment and more. This broadening out allowed us to cover all party & events.

Finally, we moved over to the popular and versatile brand of d&b Audiotechnik sound which until this day remains our favourite, reliable PA system. We use this for all our outdoor events, as well as indoor events for events/ parties where a very slick coherent sound is required.

The next thing on the ever-growing list was staging…

It became apparent that a lot of people enquiring for outdoor productions required some sort of staging as well as sound and lighting. We wanted to be the company people could rely on as supplying everything in house without adding on hidden charges for hiring in equipment from 3rd parties. So that is what we did, started to supply outdoor covered stages.

We were thrilled with our 10m x 8m covered outdoor stage so shortly after this we invested in a 6m x 4m covered stage. The smaller stage is incredibly popular for all types of events such as Christmas light switch ons, school fetes/ productions, small festivals and weddings.

Lastly and the most recent addition to our hire stock just before the horrendous pandemic hit our industry, we are able to supply outdoor and indoor LED video screens. The cinema experience is currently one of the more popular choices for event organisers at this moment in time so we are very lucky to be stockists of LED video screen offering this to customers looking to put on a socially distanced functions.

Now we are a production company, going from small supplier of PA hire for clubs, mobile DJ services, dry hire party equipment rental to a production hire company. All this being run as a small family business after all these years. We are proud to still be running and are trying to press on forward through this difficult time for the events industry but are confident summer of 2021 will be one to remember. Here is to another 12 years!

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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Whether it’s a Wedding, Festival, Gala Dinner or A Small Sound Package for Your Garden Party, The Sound & Light Hire Company Can Help

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Here at The Sound and Light Hire Company, we have one of the broadest range of services when it comes to both audio and visual equipment. As the title suggests, whether you’re hosting a little get together in your garden, or you need complete technical production services for your wedding, there’s nothing we can’t accommodate.

With that in mind, we thought we would give you a more in-depth rundown of our equipment hire and support services so that you can understand just how broad the spectrum is when it comes to providing hire services to clients. Let’s make a start with sound equipment hire.

Sound Equipment Hire 

Whether you’re hosting a party, a wedding, or planning a high-level corporate awards dinner, we have the capacity to match any requirements when it comes to sound system hire in London, Surrey, Hampshire and surrounding areas.

We are experienced in handling requests on both sides of the coin. Whether you are a well-established DJ that needs a state-of-the-art PA system to deliver the goods at a series of local venues, or you’ve booked a live band, and you need help with the sound setup, we’re on hand to guide you through our vast range of options.

We offer a range of dry-hire sound packages that are suitable for a broad range of events. For instance, if you’re hosting an anniversary party with 150 attendees, then we can provide a do-it-yourself sound hire package that will more than blow your guests away for less than £100. Better yet, we’ll be on hand to show you everything you need to know regarding the operation of the equipment, and we’re never more than a phone call away (even after hours) should you need any help with anything.

But our sound services go far beyond mere party equipment hire packages. We are part of one of the largest event production companies in the UK. What that means for you, our lovely customers, is that we can provide sound equipment to leading commercial events such as gala dinners, music festivals, and arena concerts. We have industry-leading speaker systems available for hire that are literally used by acts such as Rihanna, Coldplay, and Eminem when on tour, such is their quality.

The best part? All of that expensive gear is owned and maintained by us. Many companies simply locate sound equipment, pay to hire it, and then pass on a specific profit margin to their clients. We don’t believe in that model, since there’s no way to validate what state the sound equipment might be in. For all you know, it could have been used thousands of times and might be moments away from letting you down on your big occasion!

We take pride in our sound equipment stock, continuously rotating our sound systems 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. In over a decade of operations, we’ve yet to experience any equipment failures on the job. We put this down to our stringent care we take over our equipment as well as putting our faith in standard-bearing brands such as d&b audiotechnik.

But of course, the sound is merely one piece of our rather large event services puzzle, so let’s take a closer look at lighting hire.

Lighting Equipment Hire 

In the case of most events, where you might need to hire sound equipment, you’re very likely to be interested in hiring lighting equipment. We found this out the hard way when starting out as an audio visual company back in the early 2000s. Every event we provided equipment for, we were asked if we could handle the lighting requirements. After getting sick of saying “no,” we took the plunge into the lighting, and haven’t looked back since!

In fact, we’ve somewhat become lighting hire specialists, in many cases focusing our hire and support services specifically on lighting for events. Whether it’s wedding lighting or dazzling product launches, we’ve designed and executed so many spectacular lighting shows that have left those in attendance stunned.

We’ve managed to achieve this feat by investing heavily in the latest and greatest lighting fixtures, the majority of which are powered by LED technology. From LED uplighting, to LED-powered PAR cans, we’ve harnessed the power of this incredibly versatile lighting medium to wow our clients. The sheer scope and scale of our lighting capabilities (of all which is also our own equipment, by the way) is difficult to cover in such a short space, but below you will find just a glimpse of the number of distinct types of lighting we have on hand to supply to your wedding, award show, party, festival, or gala dinner:

  • Spotlights
  • Fresnel lanterns
  • PAR cans
  • Wireless LED Uplighters
  • Gobos
  • Pendant lighting
  • Festoon (fairy) lighting
  • Textured lighting
  • Backlighting
  • Lasers
  • Pinspots
  • DMX intelligent moving-head lights

Again that list is by no means exhaustive, but by now you’re probably starting to understand just how vast our Guildford warehouse is! But don’t worry, we’re not done yet! We also supply kinds of related audio visual hire in addition to our sound and lighting hire services.

Audio Visual and Event Production Equipment Hire

Our services really do run the full gamut when it comes to event production. For instance, if you’re looking to put on a conference in London, we can provide all manner of audio visual equipment such as projector and screen hire, LED screen hire, and even the podium if you’re short! No matter what you need on the technical side of your event, the Sound and Light Hire Company can provide it for you.

But of course, we don’t just offer all manner of audio visual equipment. We also offer up all manner of necessary event production equipment for hire. For example, as lighting experts, we understand the need for special effects equipment to really bring out the best in your light show. Let’s be honest; no light show would be complete without the supplementary hazers that help to make the lasers stand out so much. Or what about making your stage the centre of attention by adding flames? They work at small children’s parties just as well as they do as music festivals, so why not add they to one of our party equipment hire packages?

We’re also well-versed in providing all manner of staging requirements. From small wedding productions to large-scale music festival stage hire capable of accommodating up to 10,000 attendees, we have expert teams on hand that can not only assemble stage equipment, but that can design sets and stages from scratch if necessary. Need a tiered stage for an upscale London awards show? That’s not a problem either. We can genuinely offer all aspects of technical equipment hire for your event, which brings us neatly onto our next point, our event production services.

Event Production Services for Corporate Events and Music Festivals

Providing event equipment for hire is one thing, but sometimes event organisers need much more support in bringing their vision from concept to reality. Whether it be a corporate event or a music festival, you will likely need the help of professional event production services on top of hiring all of the necessary equipment. In case you hadn’t already guessed, we can do that too!

In case you were wondering what we mean by event services, we are referring to the work that goes into the production of the evening you have planned. For instance, you may have hired a sound and lighting package, but do you or your staff have a technician capable of creating a fantastic light show? Or how about someone that is an expert at sound mixing for the live band that you hired for later in the evening?

These are the critical services that can make all of the difference in the world. To use a sporting analogy, an F1 car is no good to someone who doesn’t know how to drive one, so what’s the point in hiring one? In other words, there’s no point utilising our admittedly brilliant sound systems and lighting arrays, without employing the on-site personnel that understand how to unlock their maximum performance.

Fortunately, we’ve got some of the best in the business in this particular arena. From stage crew to sound engineers and light technicians, we can provide a turn-key package for your event, which includes all equipment, staff, and event production services. We’ve provided these services to some of the most significant events in the UK, including the cage fighting at the 02 in London. Therefore, you can trust that we have the capacity and ability to provide our industry-leading event services to the smallest weddings to the biggest music festivals.

We can either listen to your specific requirements and point you to towards one of our “off the shelf” complete event packages, or we can hold your hand through the entire process, advising you every step of the way. We’re flexible to work with almost all budgets, and while we never aim to be the cheapest, we are NEVER beaten on value for money. What we charge compared to what you receive in terms of both hardware and personnel cannot be beaten by any other provider in the UK.

Talk to the Sound and Light Hire Company About Your Event

Whether you need to hire a small PA speaker system for your children’s birthday party, or you need the entire event production of an industry gala dinner, we are just adept at excelling in both environments. We have one of the biggest inventories in the whole country when it comes to sound and lighting equipment, and what’s more, we never skimp on quality. If you’re hiring from us, you’re receiving brand names that are widely regarded as the best in the business.

As for our event production services, we are the first to acknowledge that our staff are the best in the business and we’re immensely proud and fortunate to have them represent us at each event. From lighting displays that could literally bring a tear to your eye, to sound so immersive that you simply get lost in the moment, our event production team are capable of handling any challenge your event could possibly throw at them.

Even if you are only dry-hiring a PA system and you just want a touch of on the spot training, our team are just as happy giving advice in this environment as they are under the pressure of getting the mixing right for a headline act at a music festival, such is their enormous range of capabilities.

So if you’ve got a corporate event lined up at a swanky London hotel, or you’ve got a wedding booked at a Surrey venue, we can supply everything you could ever need, and run it all for you on the night should you wish. Just give us a call any day of the week on 0800 8611136 to have a chat with a member of our friendly team. We look forward to hearing all about it!

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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 Talks Festival Stage Hire & What Other Event Equipment You Might Need to Hire

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

The Sound & Light Hire Company Logo

Despite the cancellations across the board in 2020, the music festival industry is still in a strong position for next year’s summer season. In fact, we are a nation of revellers with over a quarter of all UK adults attending a music festival last year.

As a festival or music event organiser, you should know that the stage is the cornerstone of any successful musical event. It focuses the attention of your attendees, provides an elevated platform for your performers to look out over their adoring fans, and it houses of all the technical production equipment required for artists to sound their best.

Get your festival stage hire wrong though, and both fans and performers will be quick to notice that you’ve missed the mark. So if you’re organising a music festival or event for the spring or summer of 2021, what are the factors that you need to be thinking about now for your event to be a rip-roaring success?

Let’s take a look with a little help from our sister company Outdoor Stages, the arm of our operation dedicated to providing all manner of festival and music event stages.

Determine Your Requirements Based on the Scale of Your Event

It may sound obvious, but you’ve got to start with the scale of your event to make sure you’re choosing the right size of stage to hire. Hire a stage too small, and the performances can look awkward and cramped. By contrast, go way too big, and your attendees will think you have suffered from delusions of grandeur and you’ll likely lose money given the costs involved with hiring a much larger stage.

If this is something you’re initially struggling with, it’s often helpful to determine your needs based on the size of the audience. Generally, the larger your anticipated attendance, the larger your stage hire requirements will be. But this is not always the case. For instance, you may prefer to hire several compact stages to accommodate multiple performances in one central festival site location.

Once again, the larger the number of attendees, the more likely you are to invest in a large stage that provides a central focal point, an unobstructed viewing experience, and that can accommodate the technical event equipment hire required for clear sound and visuals for audience members hundreds of yards away from the stage.

Consider the Needs of Your Performers 

Next, you’ve got to factor in the requirements of the performers. If you’re hosting a classical orchestra, then obviously they are going to require a stage with a larger surface area than a local rock band, for example.

But it goes beyond merely space requirements, think about the technical specifications of your performers. While the acts scheduled to perform earlier in the day may not require much in the way of technical support, headline acts will often demand all kinds of additional technical support such as special effects, lighting shows, and superior sound equipment hire.

That’s without mentioning the offstage and backstage demands of top musical performers. Many will require at least a changing area. Some will specify a specific stage monitor mixing area or a musical instrument changeover zone. You might also need to put on a hospitality area and a side-on viewing platform for esteemed guests. By contrast, if you’ve booked an orchestra or a dance troupe, you’re going to need a sizeable backstage area to accommodate the sheer number of performers and their warm-up routines.

As the event organiser, it’s crucial that you receive each musical act’s rider in advance of booking in your festival stage hire so that you can make the necessary accommodations without any hassle.

Nature of Your Event Will Influence Your Event Equipment Hire Choices

Of course, you’ll also have to consider the nature of your event. For instance, are you running a festival with 12 local bands spread throughout the day? If so, it may be the case that you can have the artists share much of the technical equipment, saving on space and auxiliary event equipment hire requirements.

On the other hand, if you’re planning more of a one-night musical concert with two or three well-known national performers, each may demand their own specific technical setup. That means you’ll have to budget extra space for equipment storage in the wings ready for changeover between performances, even if the acts in question are solo performers.

Next, think about your preferred setup, which was briefly referred to previously. Are you going to out for one large stage for all performances, or are you going to over a couple of smaller breakout stages for solo performers? If so, you may want to spread you hire budget over several stages, rather than investing everything in your allocation on just the one.

Are There Any Venue/Location Restrictions?

One of the biggest mistakes we see from new festival organisers is not considering the limitations or restrictions of the venue. Erecting a stage requires significant engineering and logistical planning.

One of the first considerations you should make before you hire an outdoor stage is the ground. You need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of concrete and grass. If it’s going to be grass, is it even? Very rarely is the location proposed for a stage exactly flat in the case of those erected on lawn areas. But if it’s smooth and even, then it’s usually a suitable location for a stage.

Next, make sure that the area is free of any trees and human-made obstacles which might not necessarily be visible. Think underground pipes or wiring, as well as drainage systems. You can investigate the location of underground obstacles by obtaining ground surveys for your local council.

Lastly, turn your attention to logistics, even in their component parts, outdoor stages are not small. That means you’re going to need space for several HGVs to gain access and unload. Without sufficient access, your stage may never make it to the intended location, so don’t overlook this critical factor!

Other Considerations for Stage Hire That Are Often Forgotten

Perhaps the most underestimated factors of stage hire by festival organisers are the factors that are outside of their control, namely the weather. We don’t have to tell you that we live in one of the most unpredictable climates on the planet, and it’s par for the course to experience four seasons in one day, even in the middle of summer!

The important takeaway for you as the organiser to realise is that poor weather causes issues with building an outdoor stage. Firstly, it can cause access issues (particularly for grass setups). Secondly, poor weather means slow-going on the building of a stage. That’s why you must budget enough time for the building phase. You don’t want to find yourself on the morning of the event still having little bits and pieces to finish off on stage construction.

Speaking of time, don’t underestimate how long stages take to build regardless of weather conditions. While we can erect our smallest mobile outdoor covered stages in a matter of hours, our large 12m x 9m arc roof stage can take well in excess of a day to build and set up with the necessary technical rigging.

For allocating time allowances for stage set up, we say plan for the worst, hope for the best. That way you’ve got plenty of slack in your schedule should the weather, or any other unforeseen issues, cause any snags.

On a similar note, don’t wait to book in your stage hire once you know what you need. Most stage hire companies need advanced notice to build you into their schedules. While we don’t need as much as half a year, we do ask for at least three months to give us enough time to make the necessary adjustments to our inventory and works schedule. We can work off less in emergencies, but we can’t promise anything.

Stage Hire is Just the Beginning

For the less experienced among you, it’s important to point out the stage hire itself is only just the beginning. The structure is not going to achieve much for you without the help of professional lighting, sound equipment, and all other aspects of event production.

We believe it’s crucial to source these items from the same company that’s building the stage. It’s a better arrangement for several reasons. For a start, it’s fewer contractors to deal with on-site, all of which would turn up with lorries and several staff members. But it also eliminates any confusion between contractors.

By instructing one company to look after the stage, lighting, sound, and event production, every single team member is singing from the same hymn sheet. The stage builders erect the trusses the way the lighting team are used to working with, and the sound production team are using PA speaker systems and mixing desks they know like the back of their hand.

Given that you could have dozens of suppliers to work with on a musical festival, including caterers, performer booking agents, ticketing websites, wristband suppliers, and merchandisers to name but a few, it makes sense to hire just one company to handle all aspects of event production. We can handle all elements including staging, lighting, sound equipment as well as extras such as LED screens and special effects.

Why Choose Outdoor Stages for Your UK Music Festival?

The Outdoor Stages arm of the Sound and Light Hire Company has been providing stage hire and associated event production services festivals right across London, Surrey and Hampshire for over a decade.

We’ve taken a fresh approach to the festival stage hire industry by combining all required aspects of live musical performance and providing them bundled together as part of all in one stage hire packages. We genuinely offer an end-to-end solution for event organisers.

Take our biggest stage hire package as an example. Not only does it include an arc roof stage of 12m x 9m with a maximum roof height of 6.5m and a payload of 3500kg, but it also comes complete with a full-touring-spec sound and lighting system. We’re talking about the best in the sound business with the d&b audiotechnik PA systems used by the likes of Coldplay and Rhianna paired with over 70 lighting fixtures from 17R beams, moving heads washes, pixel battens and stage blinders!

When you also add in our highly-skilled and experienced crews and technicians who love what they do, you’ll receive an all-in-one event production package capable of amazing up to 10,000 music fans! Not bad for one easy-to-understand price, right?

We’re also on hand to help you through every step of the process should you need our consultation. We can assess venues, make recommendations, and provide bespoke quotes that match the specific challenges of either your site or the nature of the event in question.

In short, we are your one-stop shop when it comes to event production for your music festival or event. We have expert technicians, engineers and crew members, we offer top-of-the-range event equipment hire, and our stage hire options can cater for over and above 10,000 attendees giving us one of the largest capacities in the South East.

So if you’re putting together a music festival in the Spring or Summer of 2021, don’t hesitate to get in contact with a member of the Outdoor Stages team to arrange an initial consultation.

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