What is included in sound system hire: sound, lighting and stage

A good event rests on technology nobody notices: sound that reaches every corner, lighting that sets the mood and a stage that is ready for the performers. If you are comparing offers, the first question is what is actually included in sound system hire, and what is left for you to sort out. This guide answers that for sound, lighting, stage and screen at events across Spain.

What is included in sound system hire?

• Sound, from a buffet for 30 guests to a full concert rider;
• Lighting, both stage and architectural, chosen for the atmosphere of the evening;
• A stage, with modular structures for live performances;
• A screen, for broadcasts, greetings and visuals;
• Delivery, installation and tuning, with a technician looking after the kit through the event.

Hire on its own, or together with a band

If you book live music from us, the equipment comes with the band and you do not need to look for it separately. But we also provide sound and lighting by themselves, for your own event, a guest artist, a conference or a show. The commercial details of the service sit on our sound and lighting hire page.

Which events need hired sound and lighting

• Weddings: the ceremony, the banquet and the first dance;
• Concerts, with a full technical rider for the artist;
• Corporate events and conferences, with sound for speakers and presentations;
• Shows and presentations, where the sound follows a timetable and has to be synchronised.

How much equipment do you need?

The calculation depends not only on the number of guests but also on the type of venue.

• An enclosed room: the walls reflect sound, so less power is needed;
• An open site: nothing reflects the sound, so we calculate with a reserve;
• A garden with trees: foliage absorbs sound, and the reserve must be larger still;
• A spot by the sea: wind carries sound sideways, so the speakers are placed differently;
• A stone hall: strong reverberation calls for careful mixing, not more volume.

Tell us where the event is. Some venues we have worked at before; for the rest, a single phone call to the venue is usually enough to learn what we need.

What decides the cost of sound and lighting hire?

The cost depends on the scale of the event, the set of equipment and the city. The most accurate route is to send the date, the city and a short description of the event, and we come back the same day with a calculation for your scenario.

Why equipment without a technician is only half the service

The most common reason for a spoiled evening is not the equipment but the lack of anyone at the desk. Somebody has to keep the levels right as the programme changes: a band after a quiet dinner, a speech in the middle of a toast, a room that gets louder as the night goes on.

That is why we never hire a kit out for collection. The price always covers installation, tuning, a soundcheck and an engineer at the desk from the first song to the last. Each element has its own page: lighting, stage and screen.

Typical mistakes that make the equipment fail

• Not enough power: an old farmhouse or villa cannot feed a full kit and needs a generator, and the day of installation is too late to find out;
• No microphones for the ceremony: the music plays, but the people in the last rows miss the vows;
• No backup microphone, so a flat battery in the middle of the toasts ends the speech;
• A volume limit at a hotel, discovered an hour before the start;
• Too little set-up time: the room opens an hour before the guests arrive, but building a full kit takes several hours.

All of this is solved in advance. Read the guide to the technical rider and how to choose an event venue.

What sound, lighting and stage hire does not include

Hire covers the technical side, and everything outside it stays with you.

Included: every piece of equipment and its installation, a check of the venue’s technical conditions and a soundcheck before guests arrive, with an engineer on hand until the end. We also keep the timetable, dismantle and remove everything, and, where musicians are needed, pick a line-up for the format and the site. A generator comes along if power is short, and a smaller vehicle makes several trips if a large one cannot get in.

Not included: hiring the venue and telling them when we will arrive, the food, a photographer, the music you want played and any videos you want shown. Decor and filming can be added through partners. The contract with the venue is yours, and we only suggest the questions to put to it. You do not need to know anything about speaker power, and we stay out of your arrangements with the restaurant.

Where we deliver

There is no fixed radius. Jobs are possible anywhere in Spain and beyond into the south of France; recent destinations include Torrevieja, Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, Málaga, Murcia, Marbella and many other cities. The kit, the installation and the running of it are all ours. A full example of turnkey support is the wedding near Girona.

Why sound, lighting and musicians from one team

The usual route is to find musicians first, hire equipment somewhere else, and then agree the installation with yet another person. We shorten that chain to a single link, which is our main difference.

• There is nobody to pass a complaint to, so “that is not our equipment” never comes up;
• The equipment is familiar to the performers, who do not struggle with an unknown mixer at the start;
• The person at the desk knows the programme, having heard these numbers hundreds of times, and knows where a voice needs more and where less;
• The crew arrives in one trip, so the venue does not have to admit three crews at different hours;
• You hold one thread: a single person for every question instead of three.

Technical failures at celebrations are born mostly in the gaps between contractors, not inside anyone’s own part of the work.

How to order sound, lighting and a stage

Tell us the date, the city, the venue and the type of event, with a rough guest number. We look at our calendar and the venue’s conditions (power, noise rules, build time, access) and answer with a price the same day. Once the date is agreed, the running order, playlist and must-play songs are fixed a few weeks before. On the day the crew comes early, builds the kit and tests it before any guest arrives. At the end we remove everything. There is no fixed lead time for hire: tell us the day and we confirm if the kit is available.

Frequently asked questions