What Sound Equipment to Hire for Your Event
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The Sound & Light Hire Company Talks About Sound System Hire and What Sound Equipment to Hire for Your Event
Sound hire is a vital consideration for any event. No matter if you’re hosting a significant conference in London or a wedding in Surrey, without high-quality sound equipment, your occasion might turn out to be a little more than a damp squib.
Clearly, you’re not all going to be sound equipment aficionados. So how can you ensure that you make the right decision when it comes to sound system hire in London, Surrey, or Hampshire?
Fortunately for you, this post will set out what you need to be thinking about concerning sound equipment specifically, before tackling what you need to see from your sound hire company.
The first step of any sound hire process is to consider the needs of your event carefully.
Determine the Sound Equipment Requirements for Your Event
Sound equipment requirements will vary massively depending on the context of your event. As you can imagine, a wedding DJ is going to need a very different sound set up than if you’re giving a company presentation in an auditorium to potential investors. So it’s best if you make a start here, by envisioning what you’re going to need.
If you’re having a birthday celebration or a lower-key wedding then our iPod, laptop or small DJ speaker hire packages are incredibly popular. These speaker setups are incredibly easy to use, even for those uninitiated with specific sound equipment. All you have to do is plug in your phone, laptop, or mixing decks via a 3.5mm jack cable, turn the speakers on, and that’s it! You’re good to go! (N.B. you may need an adapter for the latest mobile phones as they have done away with the 3.5mm headphone jack slot!)
In this particular category, we have a wide range of “off the shelf” packages made for you. From the small speaker hire packages to large sound system hire bundles, all you have to do is match the size and scale of your event with the speaker size. Still not sure? Each of our packages comes with a recommended guest capacity, which may give you a better idea of the size of speaker system hire you require.
Of course, while hiring a few speakers may be perfect for some occasions, that specific solution may not suffice for other events. For instance, what if you’re hiring a live band for either a wedding, birthday, or anniversary celebration?
Those sounds equipment requirements are likely to be a little more extensive. Along with stage hire and lighting equipment hire (which we have no problem providing for you), you may also need to hire backline equipment such as stage monitors, guitar amplifiers, and a mixing desk to name but a few. In some cases, you may also need to hire musical instruments such as a keyboard or a drum kit.
Your needs will be different again if you’re looking to hire sound equipment for a conference in London. Not only will you need speakers for your projector, but a lot of your sound hire attention will be focused on the microphone to make sure that your audience has no trouble hearing your keynote speakers.
Once you’ve decided which type of sound equipment you’re going to hire, the next apparent task is to start allocating a budget.
Allocating and Shaping a Sound Hire Budget
Price is obviously a critical determining factor of any sound hire process. Your task is to discover a provider who has the sound equipment you’re looking for, at a price you’re happy to pay. Sound hire in London and surrounding areas is not always cheap, but you should rarely (in fact, never) choose your sound hire package based on price alone.
In any industry, whichever company offers the lowest price of a range of quotes, is usually cheapest for a reason. It could be that they don’t provide real-time customer support (not great if you plan on dry hiring sound equipment), or because they offer older sound equipment that is no longer adequate when compared to contemporary standards.
Either way, when allocating and shaping your sound hire budget, you need to look beyond the price and delve into the details of what you’ll receive for what you pay. Otherwise, you might end up in a situation where you are comparing apples to oranges. One company may be more expensive because they include on-site delivery and setup within the price. By contrast, another company may expect you to travel to their warehouse to collect the equipment and have prior technical knowledge.
So what can you expect to pay? Without giving the usual line of “how long is a piece of string?” it’s clear to state that the price you will pay will depend predominantly on the scale of your event. Small family get-togethers such as birthday celebrations where you only need to hire a small sound system, could cost you as little as £60.
But remember that for dry hire packages, some companies will leave you to it, meaning there’s no out-of-hours help on hand should something go awry. Here at the Sound & Light Hire Company, due to the nature of our work, we are always on call to help customers no matter the hour, but that’s often not the case for other outfits within the industry.
If, on the other hand, you’re hiring sound equipment for a live band in the Surrey or Hampshire area, you’re likely going to need to budget several hundred pounds for all of the speakers, stage monitors, subwoofers, microphones, mixing desk, and all of the associated stands.
Another critical consideration that is often forgotten in the budgeting process is on-site technical support, particularly if you’re hiring a complex sound equipment setup. Which brings us nicely onto our next point.
Don’t Forget Your Technical Support Requirements
As we mentioned above, not many of you planning on hiring sound equipment are technical experts. Don’t worry; we don’t expect you to be! However, it’s something you have to bear in mind when hiring sophisticated sound equipment. If you don’t know your way around a Midas M32 mixing desk, for example, then you need to hire someone that does.
We’ve found in our long years of service in the industry that for events that require a live band, the more expensive the group, the less likely they are to include the sound (and lighting) equipment as part of their fee. You don’t want to potentially ruin your event by taking a “have a go harry” approach to your backline sound equipment. It’s far easier to rely on industry experts who’ve been leading sound production teams for high-stakes affairs such as award shows for decades.
Not all sound equipment hire outfits can provide this service, so it’s something you need to think about both in a budgetary sense, and when it comes to planning your event more generally. As a rule of thumb, the larger your event is, the more likely it is that you’re going to need technical support. You might also want a technician(s) on hand for occasions that are of vital importance, such as a company conference in central London.
Here at the Sound & Light Hire Company, we have been blessed with some of the most talented sound and lighting technicians in the industry thanks to our partnership with On Tour Events. As highlighted above, they’ve done it all, from fashion and awards shows to company product launches and extravagant birthday and wedding celebrations. If you want to relax and focus on planning other significant aspects of your special day/evening, then it makes sense to hire an “all-in-one” sound hire package to put your mind at ease.
Ensure the Sound Equipment You’re Hiring is Up to Scratch
It’s no good hiring sound equipment that isn’t up to the task. Not only should you focus on hiring the top brands in the industry (so you can rely on their quality), but you should ensure that your equipment hasn’t “been around the block” a few too many times. While not always practicable, it pays to be able to go and view the sound equipment before you hire it.
Not only can you assess the quality of the sound equipment itself, but you can meet face-to-face with sound hire company representatives that will be supporting your event. Here at the Sound & Light Hire company, these are aspects we pride ourselves on. There aren’t many sound hire companies in the London or Surrey area that will let you pop into their warehouse for a cup of tea and have a full demo of the sound equipment you’re thinking of hiring, for instance.
We also pride ourselves on the quality of sound equipment inventory we keep, and the level of care we take over our sound assets. We regularly test and inspect all equipment before it is allowed to go out on hire, and we service all of our amps, mixing desks, and DJ equipment every six months to ensure we consistently offer a reliable hire service. We only associate ourselves with top brands such as d&b, audiotechnik, XTA & Pioneer too, to provide an unrivalled calibre of quality.
Lastly, we continuously rotate and replace our sound to make sure not a single piece of our sound equipment is over three years old. Over our decade of operations, we have never had any equipment failures. How’s that for a company track record?! We put this down to our commitment to only using the best sound manufacturers in the business and continually refreshing our inventory.
Having worked in the industry so long, we know this isn’t a level of commitment shared by some of our counterparts, so if you’ve got an important event on the horizon, don’t forget to assess your sound equipment before hiring it (if you can).
Look for a London and Surrey-based Sound Hire Company That’s Flexible to Your Needs
While many occasions such as conferences, birthdays, and even weddings may fit neatly into an “off the shelf” hire package, you might be looking for something a little bit more unique. You might also want to receive a touch of guidance to put you in the right direction.
We are well aware than it’s often not just as simple as typing in “Surrey Sound Hire” and then picking a pre-made speaker system hire package. For instance, you could be running a small festival with 5,000+ attendees and needing technical expertise and advice to hone what you require in terms of sound equipment.
While many sound hire companies may not have the resources to shape your vision, we are more than happy to spend some time with you and discuss your requirements. We’ll ask you about room sizes, outdoor venue restrictions, live band requirements, technical support, and anything else you can think of. We can then use that information to tailor a suitable sound package to your exact specifications.
We understand that not everyone’s sound hire requirements fit neatly into a pre-made package, which is why we’re always available to talk you through your options, either in-person or over the phone.
If you would like to do precisely that, don’t hesitate to contact us using the information below, or if you feel you’ve got a pretty good handle on what you’re looking for, you can browse our sound equipment hire packages here.
