Sound reinforcement

For a typical conference of two hundred people you need two speakers on stands, two to four wireless microphones, a desk and an engineer. Microphones follow the format: a lavalier for a presenter who moves, a handheld for audience questions, a table microphone for a panel. The check is run in an empty room in the morning and again once people are in, because a full room sounds different. Sound is settled first, not last.

Why it is the most important kit at an event: an audience tolerates bad lighting for an hour and bad sound for ten minutes. At one conference where the back rows could not follow the speaker, a third of the room left at the break and did not return. Yet sound is the line most often cut from a budget, because it is not visible. Our advice is the reverse: if you must save, save on screens, not on audio.

What it connects to: if the event is recorded or streamed, the camera audio comes straight from the desk rather than from a microphone on the camera. Agree that one thing in advance, it is the most common gap between the venue technician and the crew. You supply the number of speakers, the format of each block and whether there will be music or video with sound.

Where it gets underestimated: rooms with long reverberation, an atrium or an industrial hall where sound bounces off glass and concrete. There louder does not help, more small speakers closer to people does. And wireless microphones need clear frequencies, which in a city centre with other events in the building is not a given, so they are tuned in the morning.

At every event we ask where the most important guest will be sitting, and the sound is tuned for that seat. It sounds petty, but it is a better criterion than the average of the room. Try it today: at your next event sit in the back row and listen to the first two minutes.