There’s a good chance you’ve either seen, been part of, or been the organizer of a performance that suffered from bad sound.
Being realistic, we aren’t expecting arena touring grade lights and sound for a school performance. We are, however, hoping to hear students and music clearly during the show with minimal feedback.
Getting that desired outcome while relying on untrained staff or students can be frustrating and the prospect of hiring a professional may seem daunting and expensive.
Fortunately, most professional sound companies charge a reasonable rate to provide their services at schools and here are a few ways you can utilize their expertise and equipment.
“we aren’t expecting arena touring grade lights and sound”
One Less Thing to Worry About
Who doesn’t want a lighter workload? Let’s start out with something that should be obvious, but is frequently overlooked. When you hire a professional your workload and showtime responsibilities are significantly decreased.
Set yourself and your engineer up for success, be sure to have any stage plots and music tracks prepared in an easy to use format. If a script or performance order is available please leave one with the engineer, they’ll be appreciative and the end result will be much cleaner.
It’s Your Equipment and It’s Already Setup
This may not be the case at every venue, but a majority of the time it is likely that your performance will be taking place in a venue with ‘house’ sound, lights, microphones, cables, and consoles. Use this to your advantage by hiring a sound engineer for the rehearsal and performance only.
Nothing makes an engineer happier than when they don’t have to load in or out any heavy equipment and they can focus on their mix.
Professionals Are Good Under Pressure
There is a good chance that your performance is not the highest stress event a professional has encountered and that’s a good thing.
When something goes wrong and you’re in the middle of conducting a show, a small problem can feel like the end of the world. A professional knows how to either mitigate problems before they occur or quickly solve them on the fly.
Let your hired professional be your teammate!
Sound That Audience Members Will Appreciate
Performances come and go quickly, but every person in the audience will talk about how great a performance is when they can adequately hear everything.
When you have a professional on-board for your show you should rest assured that those solos and important lines will be heard. Good sound can create a big impact on the audience being engaged with your performance.
Feedback can always occur, but wouldn’t it be nice if it was significantly decreased or eliminated entirely? An engineer will know how to ring out a venue to help combat feedback and can spot trouble frequencies quickly as they arise throughout a performance.
